Our latest survey brought forward some results that, though not altogether amazing, were very concerning on presentation tools. As you would expect, 95% of respondents organisations used PowerPoint and 35% of these people use it every day. That just goes to show how entrenched into the commerce world PowerPoint is. In the 90% of people who use PowerPoint 83% used it in face to face presentations. Take that in conjunction with 73% of people presenting to customers and 72% to prospects you begin to see just how significant a tool presentation tools is in today's customers facing world.

How much really depends on the presentation? Consider about how much work goes into making that meeting. Market research, cold calls, courting warm leads and afterwards finally persuading the customers to have a meeting. All of that work results this one presentation. This one presentation can justify all the difficult, or it can waste it. If you can see the value that the ultimate piece of the jigsaw has, then you begin to see how significant it is. In our experience in order to harness the potential of PowerPoint you must recognise how to get the most out of it.

By updating your presentations frequently you can ensure you keep up with your market. A staggering 52% of the owners of the content within organisations have had no formal training on PowerPoint slides or on presenting. Coupled with a massive 72% of people who have no proper process for updating their presentation we begin to see how under managed PowerPoint tools is. When you view the cold hard statistics it can be rather scary as the chances of you or I being obliged to sit through one of these substandard sales presentations is extremely high.

A good presentation, like a good story, has an opening, middle and a conclusion. Dividing your presentation into these three sections will help you create the structure that enables to you get your message across. The Beginning - This is the second most significant part of the presentation tool. It should seize the audience's thought and give them a flavour of what's to come. What you use to seize their thought should depend on your audience and be relevant, but some examples are: An attention-grabbing or funny story (but remember, use of humour can be a double-edged sword! A small video cut of no more than 60 seconds, curious statistics about your activity or your audience, or a quote that is connected to what you're going to talk about.