Microsoft PowerPoint

Planning Your First Five slides (Using Microsoft PowerPoint) Part 1

WHEN YOU STAND UP to make a presentation, your audience has many other things on their minds that compete with their attention to you and your information. You have to break through the clutter quickly, or you lose your chance to focus their working memory on the new information you’ll present. In addition to the […]

Planning Your First Five slides (Using Microsoft PowerPoint) Part 2

A dozen story types Although the classical story structure of Act I is the foundation for limitless story variations, there is a more limited set of story types that can help you to frame your own stories. In his topic Moving Mountains (Crowell-Collier Press, 1989), Henry M. Boettinger describes a dozen story types, summarized in […]

Planning Your First Five slides (Using Microsoft PowerPoint) Part 3

Can I Apply a Story Structure to an "Informational" Presentation? One objection to using Beyond Bullet Points (BBP) is the misconception that a story structure is not appropriate for informational presentations.The research reality is that people need to actively engage new information, so offering them tools and techniques to do so will help them learn […]

Planning Your First Five slides (Using Microsoft PowerPoint) Part 4

The Blockbuster Motif Some of the most powerful presentation motifs are drawn from popular culture, such as the opening statement of a jury trial using a CSI motif inspired by the popular television show. Finding a blockbuster motif that works well for your audience is a blend of science and art—the science of doing thorough […]

Planning the Rest of Your Slides (Using Microsoft PowerPoint) Part 1

THE HEADLINES you wrote for Act I will prepare the working memory of your audience for the crucial first few minutes of a presentation by orienting, interesting, engaging, motivating, and focusing them. Although you might have made quick work of planning these first five slides, things get much more challenging as you plan the rest […]

Planning the Rest of Your Slides (Using Microsoft PowerPoint) Part 2

Justifying the Call to Action Headline with the Key Point Headlines As you begin Act II, your first goal is to write the headlines for the most important slides you will present. If your audience will remember only three key points in your presentation, you need to know specifically where those corresponding slides are in […]

Planning the Rest of Your Slides (Using Microsoft PowerPoint) Part 3

The Explanation Headlines Test Test the three Explanation headlines by filling in the blanks in this sentence: The three main reasons/ways (insert Key Point headline) are (insert Explanation column, answer 1), (insert Explanation column, answer 2), and (insert Explanation column, answer 3). When you have written your Explanation headlines, you have made sure that you […]

Planning the Rest of Your Slides (Using Microsoft PowerPoint) Part 4

An Intellectual Machete Just as much as you need to identify what you want to include in a presentation, the hierarchy in Act II is equally important for the potential slides it leaves out of a presentation. The built-in hierarchy of Act II guides you through a sometimes difficult but disciplined critical-thinking process that forces […]

Setting Up Your storyboard and narration (Using Microsoft PowerPoint) Part 1

WHEN YOU COMPLETE the Beyond Bullet Points (BBP) Story Template, you have in hand a complete and coherent story that sets the foundation for all your slides. Your story is so clear that even if your technology fails during your presentation, you have the security of knowing that you are able to present using only […]

Setting Up Your storyboard and narration (Using Microsoft PowerPoint) Part 2

Cuing Working Memory with Preliminary Slide Backgrounds One of the big benefits of using the BBP Story Template is that you easily see how all your ideas relate to one another in the Word document. The story template is a particularly effective organizing tool for the Act II scenes because it shows you a visual […]

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