WE’VE ALL HEARD the term “death by PowerPoint.” We’ve all also, no doubt, been subjected to several-hour-long meetings, training sessions, or seminars and consist of a hundred or more torturous slides. To be lit on fire would be sweet relief. However, what really makes these presentations so horrible? The presentation platform or the content?

PowerPoint is the most common presentation platform today for large conferences and other training purposes. The reality is that PowerPoint saved us from transparency paper and the overhead projector—PowerPoint by hand! Granted, the various forms and ways that PowerPoint can be managed and formatted has played a huge role in covering up people’s mistakes.  The use of PowerPoint has been the leading cause to using and discovering various individual talents. People who formerly suffered from paralyzing fear of public speaking have found PowerPoint to be the transparent curtain to hide behind.

In its formatting, there is a way that everything is put into consideration.  This includes the formatting of the slides so that they look appealing and capture people’s attention.  They should stand out and the order in which they are arranged should be in sync with the presentation.  All of these reasons combined have aided the permanency of PowerPoint.

PowerPoint is also very useful in classes for the purpose of teaching.  It helps teaching become a fun experience and the students are less likely to fall asleep during lectures.  Due to its ease of use, it also has ease of understanding and the students are able to learn more.

Until the next evolution of presentation media is invented, PowerPoint should be considered a permanent tool due to its convenience in the usage. All you need is a computer and basic software and your presentation is as good as you can make it.