For beginners, the key to creating successful PowerPoint presentations is planning and simplicity. Good planning will result in a complete presentation, and keeping it simple allows beginners to use their time most efficiently while allowing the creative process to unfold. The biggest mistake new users make is having over-expectations for their first few PowerPoints. They envision image- and text-heavy presentations that they believe with WOW the crowd and tell their entire story. Instead, the presentation becomes cluttered, is hard to follow, and can put an audience on information overload.
With good planning, you will make wise decisions that are best for the audience. The goal is not to show them how creative you can be, but how organized you are and how well you can lead them through a lesson, training, sermon or other message. When starting out, use more backgrounds than you do clipart and use plenty of bullets in place of lengthy text.
In many cases, church volunteers are elected to design PowerPoint presentations and operate the system. Some of these volunteers are eager for the new challenge, while others agree to learn because there is no one else to do the job. No matter which category you fall into, you should commit to doing your best and in the end you'll discover that creating successful PowerPoint presentations is fun and rewarding.
Planning your PowerPoint presentation involves several key processes, including but not limited to:
The overall creative style of the presentation
Ask yourself what type of visuals will work best. You can use photo backgrounds, clipart or simple graphic textures and borders. Often, new beginners want to use several styles within a single PowerPoint to show their artistic skills. This can actually lower the impact and cause your audience to become confused. The visuals must complement and promote the text, not dominate it. However, you may decide to feature the imagery and let that tell the story.
The overall message of the presentation
Be clear about the message you are offering. First, it is vital to define a goal. For example, if the topic of your PowerPoint is Unity, then a goal would be to have the audience understand the biblical basis for unity, or to identify a lack of unity in their own lives. Taking the personal assessment goal, your PowerPoint might include the biblical basis, but only briefly. The majority of your bullets would be in relation to identifying the signs of disunity, such as:
- Feelings of resentment
- Being disconnected from the rest of the body
- Quarrels with those close to you
- Wanting to quit the church
Writing is a skill, but PowerPoint provides you with an opportunity to feature the main points so you can verbally expand on the concepts. If you are the presenter, your job is to highlight the bullets and discuss their finer points. In that case, it isn't necessary to reveal every word of text on the screen.
For churches who are new to the PowerPoint world, it may be wise to use presentations that already exist. There are several Christian web sites that design PowerPoints for the churches, including FaithClipart.com. Since the designers are artists and graphic designers by trade, these pre-made PowerPoints won't overwhelm the text you include, if you keep the words to a minimum.
Ultimately, you will be successful using PowerPoint when you have carefully crafted a presentation and offered supporting visuals that feature the information in a meaningful way. It is always a good idea to get early feedback and make changes accordingly.