Presentation skills had become a must-have in any work environment. It doesn’t matter your job position; at some point, you will be required to deliver a presentation. And there is nothing worse than don’t feel confident about your ability to deliver it properly. At New Horizons Ireland we have been teaching Microsoft PowerPoint classes for more than 16 years and the best ally to achieve success as a presenter is by combining a deep knowledge about all PowerPoint tools and presentation skills.

Pitching ideas is not easy and can be a challenge at the best of times. Knowing how to use technology and new features can give you the edge and increase your confidence. Being familiar with the latest features in presentation software like PowerPoint can help you stand out from the crowd and impress your audience during a presentation. Of course, it's also a good idea to know the best practices when it comes to presenting, so we will cover both here in this blog post.

Did you know that Microsoft produce quick start guides for Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and OneNote that go some way towards helping people with common tasks and give a nice overview of the software.

Great presentations do not necessarily equal extensive slides full of figures and data. Slides are much more about supporting your point, rather than being main subject of the presentation. Here are some tips to improve your presentations and help you impress everyone in the office.

There are many ways to deliver an effective presentation. 

If you’re a skilled presenter with a clear and powerful message you will most likely succeed in impressing your audience without needing to rely on a host of visual aids.  Even so, presentation tools -correctly used- can certainly increase your impact.

The problem is: How do you know which tool to use?  And once you’ve chosen a presentation tool, how do you get the best out of it?

One of the problems facing PowerPoint users in the past was an inability to separate what they viewed on their own screen from what the audience viewed during their presentation. The presenter view in PowerPoint 2013 allows you to view upcoming slides, speaker’s notes, timers, and access tools to use during your slideshow, without impacting on the view your audience will enjoy. 

So we have put together all the best keyboard short-cuts from Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and more into one convenient cheat sheet for you download and print out.