This post is also available in: Spanish

The first thing lots of people do when they have to give a presentation is opening PowerPoint and creating a deck of slides. Have you ever wondered why? PowerPoint can be a valuable tool, but many times, this is the result:

This is not appealing, inspiring or effective at all. The most important thing to remember is that a presentation is not a deck of slides with some comments from your side. No. It’s the other way around:

A presentation is an inspiring talk which is given by you in front of an audience. You can add some visual aids if necessary. It doesn’t have to be PowerPoint. It can also be Prezi, a flipchart or whiteboard or nothing at all. You are the most important part of the presentation, not your visuals.

But how to start designing a presentation then? In my next post I will talk about some steps to follow when creating a presentation without going directly to PowerPoint. Most important: think of the goal of the presentation. What do you want to tell and why? And even more important: Why should they (your audience) care?

Mind that I’m not against the use of PowerPoint. I am against the abuse of PowerPoint.