What are some of the best practices for using presentation software remotely or online?

I’m my opinion PowerPoint is the best software for presentations due to its user-friendly interface, extensive features for creating visually appealing slides, seamless integration with other Microsoft Office applications, and widespread compatibility. It offers a robust platform for creating engaging presentations that effectively convey information and captivate audiences.

There are now a lot of awesome tools out there, but PowerPoint is probably still the most recognised and used. However, they also can become boring quite quickly. Recently discovered Canva which is great if you want to have a more visual presentation. Makes presentations far more interesting and entertaining for the audience.

The 10/20/30 rule in presentations is a guideline popularized by venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki. It suggests that a presentation should have no more than 10 slides, last no longer than 20 minutes, and use a minimum font size of 30 points. The rule emphasizes concise content, brevity, and readability to keep the audience engaged and focused.

Two main things have been important for me: (1) Practice, practice, practice, and (2) taking notes. These two things can significantly enhance your presentation delivery and boost your confidence. Here's how they can help: (1) Familiarity with content: By practicing your presentation repeatedly, you become more comfortable with the material, allowing you to deliver it with ease and confidence. Practice helps you internalize the key points, transitions, and flow of your presentation. (2) Note-taking as a reference: Writing notes in the notes section of PowerPoint provides you with a handy reference during the presentation. You can include key talking points, reminders, and cues to help you stay on track and recall important details.

Interaction is important, but also keeping your story flowing and being able to complete within the planned time frame. Make sure that the icebreakers and polls / quizzes are approriate to the audience and the presentation topic. If possible, have someone else to monitor the Q&A / Chat for you, so you can focus on the presentation but someone else can either answer the questions, or raise the awareness to you at a convenient moment.

Test run, test run, test run. Have a back up device; have your presentation at-the-ready on a cloud. Think through your worst case scenario and prepare. (Then do another test run).

It happened to me once, I was at client and had my presentation all ready. Opened by PPT and all red crosses. Didn't have a pen drive with back up nor had emailed the presentation to anyone. Harsh lesson learned. Since then I have at least one copy in the cloud and if possible I send the presentation ahead to client contact or whoever organised the meeting.

The presentation coach function in PowerPoint is a feature designed to assist and provide feedback to you while you practice. It uses artificial intelligence to analyze various aspects of your presentation delivery, including pacing, slide content, language, and use of inclusive language. As you rehearse your presentation, the coach provides real-time suggestions and tips to improve their delivery skills. It offers insights on speaking too quickly or slowly, using excessive filler words, or relying too much on slide text. This feature can help you refine your presentation style, enhance engagement, and deliver more effective and impactful presentations.

When presenting online, it's a best practice to avoid too many involved transitions and animations. Lag time can cause animations to appear jumpy and not give the effect you were going for and distract your audience. Keep it limited to simple fades, dissolves and appears.