Whether you’re making a sales pitch or presenting at a conference, the ability to easily jump between different sections of your PowerPoint can enhance your presentation and help you achieve better results. Here’s how and why you should be embracing menu-driven PowerPoint presentations.
Having total control over the direction of your presentation will improve the likelihood of making a sale, winning an investment, or generally achieving success. To enhance your presentation, developing a customised menu system within PowerPoint can completely change the game. By allowing the presenter to jump from one section to another with ease, a menu-driven PowerPoint can create a more interactive presentation that will truly engage your audience.
In 2016, a PowerPoint update introduced budding presenters to something that would open up a world of possibilities for presentations: a handy feature that allows you to create non-linear presentations. The feature, “Zoom”, transforms the traditional format of a PowerPoint.
To give yourself and your audience more of an input into what you present, and to help you achieve the best possible results from your presentation, you should be embracing a menu-driven presentation that really packs a punch.
There’s no one-size-fits-all PowerPoint
While a fixed-path presentation is often a useful way to display content and tell a story, it is not always the most effective means to give a presentation. With the constraints of the traditional slide-by-slide format removed, a world of opportunities opens up.
For example, in a sales pitch, if the potential client is particularly interested in a specific part of the pitch, the presenter can quickly jump to that section.
Oh, you’d like to hear about the product specifications? Let me just click here.
Now you want to know about our pricing structure? Sure, here it is.
This removes the need to frantically flick through ten slides to get to the appropriate part, all the while mumbling “Umm yes, we’ll go back to that bit afterwards…”. Even the most simple menu system will make your presentation appear more professional, seamless and organised.
An interactive menu is also useful if you are giving your presentation to a number of different audiences, with varying levels of expertise on your topic. Obviously, it would be a waste of time presenting an introduction to your topic in layman’s terms to a group of industry experts.
Similarly, you probably wouldn’t want to jump straight into a detailed analysis to a group of beginners. Using an interactive menu allows you to tailor your presentation to the group you are presenting to. You can skip through unnecessary sections and focus on the parts your audience are most keen to learn about, all the while avoiding the somewhat unprofessional frantic-slide-flick-through.
The ultimate flexibility
A menu-driven presentation provides the ultimate flexibility. This is especially useful in a fast-paced business environment where potential clients or investors may have less time to spend listening to your presentation. In these situations, you can utilise your (and their) time better by presenting only the information your viewers are interested in hearing.
It’s under these circumstances that a more interactive format can drastically improve the effectiveness of your presentation. With just one complete PowerPoint at hand, you can tailor the flow of your presentation to ensure your listeners hear everything they need to in the most efficient and fluid way. It’s the most flexible type of PowerPoint yet.
What’s on the menu?
To make the structure of your presentation relevant to your situation, and to help you achieve better results, you should embrace a customised menus in PowerPoint. The ability to click and choose which section of the presentation to jump to at any time offers a level of flexibility that is rarely exploited in PowerPoint.
In situations where a linear narrative is less appropriate, menu-driven presentations can improve efficiency and increase the engagement and interest of your audience.
Breaking free from a rigid PowerPoint structure and pushing the boundaries of the software will allow you to gain more control over your presentation than ever before.
If you need help creating an awesome menu-driven presentation, get in touch with us today. From expertly designed slides, to damn-clever PowerPoint development, no one does presentations like we do.