How often do you walk away from a business presentation with an unclear idea of the purpose of that presentation? There is no excuse for a dull presentation - even in the business environment. In fact, presentations in the workplace may be the most important to you! A lot of your own success in the workplace depends on your presentation skills and your ability to clearly explain your ideas. The central goal of any presentation is to communicate. Effective communication is achieved when ideas are shaped simply, concisely, and interestingly.

1. PowerPoints with SmartDraw
The Key to Effective Business Presentations

2. Before Your Presentation

3. Presentation Guidelines
Tom Peters, a presentation and management specialist, recommends you
not overwhelm yourself with trying to talk about too much and to keep
your presentations clear and direct. For more info, you can look up
his "Presentation Excellence" slides.

4. Tips for Effective Presentations
Planning an effective business presentation takes time, so a well-developed plan is
critical. Do not leave your preparation to the last minute! With a well planned
presentation, you will be more confident and deliver an effective presentation.

5. Upgrade Your Presentations to
Visual Presentations

6. A picture is worth a thousand
words!
Visuals convey information six times more effectively than words alone. With
visuals, the main point is delivered more immediately and succinctly. Just
compare the layout of these two PowerPoint slides:

7. Plan Your Presentations Using
Storyboards
SmartDraw allows you to easily change and share presentation storyboards with your
team members!

8. Summarize all the main points

9. Add supporting information to the
main points

10. Refine and Create!

11. Delete Those Bullets!
The first step is to think outside of those text boxes and think more about what visual
would better represent the message we want to convey on each slide of our
presentation.

12. Creating Your Presentation
Storyboard
Storyboards are typically panels of rough sketches that outline the sequence of
information presented. In SmartDraw, the storyboard is represented by a series
of shapes connected by arrows. The top area of each shape is the title and the
bottom area is typically the visual that will short below the title on the PowerPoint
slide.

13. Creating Your Presentation
Storyboard
When you open the PowerPoint builder, SmartDraw helps you get started by
providing some common default slides. You can add the title to your
presentation by clicking the top area of the slide and typing it in.

14. Creating Your Presentation
Storyboard
To edit a visual already there,
double click on the visual. When
you double click on the visual, a
new instance of SmartDraw
opens. Here you can edit the
visual however you wish. When
you are done, just close the
instance of SmartDraw and
return to your storyboard.

15. Adding and Editing Visuals
To add new slides and visuals, just use the appropriate buttons on the SmartPanel
located to the left of the work area. The new slides will not have visuals already
included, so you can use the SmartPanel to add a new visual, existing visual, or a
picture located on your computer.

16. Adding and Editing Visuals
At any time, you can delete any of the slides and you can drag the slides to a new
and different order.
I've just provided some tips on getting started, but for more detailed
information, click here for a more detailed tutorial.

17. How to Choose the Right
Presentation Software

18. Choosing the right presentation
software
If you are one of the many that use PowerPoint, using SmartDraw with PowerPoint is
incredibly simple and absolutely essential. PowerPoint is often expressed as a
standard for business presentation, but does not easily lend itself to creating
dynamic and engaging presentations.
SmartDraw has a PowerPoint builder, which will help you create your presentations
using a storyboard format. With a storyboard, you will easily see how your
presentation will flow and with SmartDraw you will easily be able to create the
needed visuals to tell your story. For more information, watch this video clip.

19. What to look for in presentation
software
If you are intrigued, read
the white paper we wrote
with Rick Altman on how
SmartDraw reinvents
PowerPoint.

20. For More Information
This presentation was based on the
following series of blog posts:
The Key to Effective Business
Presentations
Upgrade Your Presentations to Visual
Presentations
How to Choose the Right Presentation
Software
How to Create a Business Presentation
Using SmartDraw
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