5 Reasons to Love PowerPoint
We have all seen the good, the bad, and even endured the horrible when it comes to PowerPoint presentations.
We’ve been through plenty of poorly designed decks — “Death by PowerPoint”, we called it — and a bad presentation isn’t the fault of the tool we use, but the design and storytelling themselves. At ZUM Communications, we are PowerPoint enthusiasts! From storytelling to presentation design, ZUM does it all, and here are our 5 reasons you should love PowerPoint too.
1. Made for the Everyday Users
Microsoft PowerPoint entered the presentation market back in 1987. At that time, it was among the most downloaded and used presentation software available, and this stays true today in our modern society where visual communication is one of the most effective ways to share a story. One reason for its success is because it was engineered for the everyday user. The tools and features are simple and straight forward making it a very accessible way to deliver an impactful story. Just dedicate a few hours to learn the software and, you too, can be an expert!
2. Team Collaboration
Microsoft PowerPoint is for everyone! For most Millennials and Gen Zs, it was introduced as far back as preschool. Following them through high school, college, and now into the boardrooms of a wide variety of companies — from start-ups to multi-million dollar corporations. PowerPoint became the standard tool to have in classrooms, as well as meetings and conferences. Due to the popularity of the software, it also became the preferred tool to use for team collaboration and file sharing. The PowerPoint format (.ppt) is one of the most widely accepted formats across all devices, so users can be confident that anyone has the capability to open and edit the file when shared.
3. Storyboarding
When creating any type of storytelling content or visual communications, it is always good to start by drafting up a storyboard to outline your idea flow. With PowerPoint capabilities, you can easily add, delete, and move slides around. You can group slides into sections, link one slide to another, or add images and messaging, thus, making it the perfect tool for storyboarding!
4. Not Just for Presentations
Did you know PowerPoint is not just a presentation tool, but is also great for creating handout materials and note cards for print? PowerPoint allows you to adjust slide dimensions so you can make any type of creative materials you need. Exporting PowerPoint files to print-ready PDFs is a simple three-click process, and because everyone has the software, clients can easily make changes to a file before sending it off to the printing press!
5. Illustration Capabilities
Microsoft PowerPoint is also a creative tool. When we think of graphic/visual design, we think of shapes, colors, and typography. PowerPoint allows you to scale, merge, intersect, subtract and manipulate points of an object to create any shape you need — design tools that hold up surprisingly well against competing design software like Adobe Illustrator and InDesign. Having these tools allows you to create beautiful vector graphic elements straight from PowerPoint, making it even more accessible for anyone else you're sharing the file with.