EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

THROUGH POWER POINT

PRESENTATION

INDEX
1.0

INTRODUCTION

2.0

PRESENTATIONS

3.0

IMPORTANCE OF VISUALS IN A PRESENTATION

10

4.0

USE OF MS POWERPOINT FOR EFFECTIVE

PRESENTATIONS

13

USING POWERPOINT FOR ENHANCING

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

15

USE OF POWERPOINT IN ENHANCING

COMMUNICATION SKILLS OF EMPLOYEES

16

7.0

CONCLUSION

22

8.0

BIBLIOGRAPHY

23

9.0

APPENDIX

-A

24

10.0 APPENDIX

-B

25

5.0
6.0

*****

1.0 INTRODUCTION:
People in organizations typically spend over 75% of their time in an interpersonal situation; thus
it is no surprise to find that at the root of a large number of organizational problems is poor

communications. Effective communication is an essential component of organizational success

whether it is at the interpersonal, intergroup, intragroup, organizational, or external levels.
Business Communication is communication used to promote a product, service, or organization;
relay information within the business; or deal with legal and similar issues.
Business Communication encompasses a variety of topics, including Marketing, Branding,
Customer relations, Consumer behaviour, Advertising, Public relations, Media relations,
Corporate communication, Community engagement, Research & Measurement, Reputation
management, Interpersonal communication, Employee engagement, Online communication, and
Event management.
The Business Communication message is conveyed through various channels of communication,
including the Internet, Print (Publications), Radio, Television, Ambient, Outdoor, and Word of
mouth
There are several methods of business communication, including:

Web based communication - for better and improved communication, anytime

anywhere ...

e-mails, which provide an instantaneous medium of written communication

worldwide;

Reports - important in documenting the activities of any department;

Presentations - very popular method of communication in all types of organizations,

usually involving audiovisual material, like copies of reports, or material prepared in
Microsoft PowerPoint or Adobe Flash;

telephoned meetings, which allow for long distance oral communication; forum
boards, which allow people to instantly post information at a centralized location; and
face to face meetings, which are personal and should be succeeded by a written
followup

What is effective business communication?

Effective communication is the lifeblood of a successful organization. It reinforces the

organizations vision, connects employees to the business, fosters process improvement,
facilitates change and drives business results by changing employee behavior. No matter how you
look at it, communication is an important part of the business landscape and cannot be taken for
granted.
Why Communications Skills are so important:
The purpose of communication is to get your message across to others clearly and
unambiguously.
Doing this involves effort from both the sender of the message and the receiver. And it's a
process that can be fraught with error, with messages often misinterpreted by the recipient. When
this isn't detected, it can cause tremendous confusion, wasted effort and missed opportunity.
In fact, communication is only successful when both the sender and the receiver understand the
same information as a result of the communication
By successfully getting your message across, you convey your thoughts and ideas effectively.
When not successful, the thoughts and ideas that you send do not necessarily reflect your own,
causing a communications breakdown and creating roadblocks that stand in the way of your goals
both personally and professionally.
Communications Skills - The Importance of Removing Barriers:
Problems with communication can pop-up at every stage of the communication process (which
consists of sender, encoding, channel, decoding, receiver, feedback and context - see the
diagram below) and have the potential to create misunderstanding and confusion.

To be an effective communicator and to get your point across without misunderstanding and
confusion, your goal should be to lessen the frequency of these problems at each stage of this
process with clear, concise, accurate, well-planned communications
Key findings

Companies that communicate effectively have a 19.4 percent higher market premium
than companies that do not.

Shareholder returns for organizations with the most effective communication were over
57 percent higher over the last five years (2000-2004) than were returns for firms with
less effective communication.

The 2005/2006 study found evidence that communication effectiveness is a leading

indicator of financial performance.

Firms that communicate effectively are 4.5 times more likely to report high levels of
employee engagement versus firms that communicate less effectively.

Companies that are highly effective communicators are 20 percent more likely to report
lower turnover rates than their peers.

*****

2.0 PRESENTATIONS:
How is presentation useful in business communication?
Presentations are a fact of life in business - whether you like them or not. In fact we'd go so far
as to say that presentations are like taxes: unpopular but unavoidable - fortunately our training

means you'll be much better equipped make your business presentations. This page runs you
through some of the questions we get asked most often about our training.

Need for effective presentation

The central purpose of any presentation, written, oral or visual, is communication. To
communicate effectively, you must state your facts in a simple, concise and interesting
manner.
It is proven that the people learn more readily and retain more information when learning
is reinforced by visualization. You can entertain, inform, excite and even shock an
audience by the proper integration of visual images into virtually any exchange of
information.
Meetings which might normally be considered dull, or a chore to be avoided, can be
transformed into exciting productions that grab the attention of the viewers.
This kind of presentation maximizes the audience retention of the subject matter. The
phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" has existed since the New York Post
discovered the value of visuals in the news business. This remains true to this day.
Simple, clear, concise visual images, briskly paced and sprinkled with attention-grabbing
graphics will lend support to your spoken words. This leaves your audience with a
positive attitude toward you and your product, service or proposal.
Visuals in business should be used in support of the spoken or written word, and not in
lieu of it. A well-developed concept and effective script are the essential elements of any
presentation. Regardless of their form, they should be the first and most important phase
of its development. When the concept begins to take final form, the visuals are developed
around it.
This is not to imply that A-V design should be placed near the end of the project. You
must begin mentally planning your visuals at the beginning of the design process. Hastily
designed and produced visuals can doom a presentation (and a presenter,) where well
planned and executed images add tremendous strength. Concepts that are difficult to
grasp can be communicated quickly and easily through the intelligent use of
professionally produced visuals. This allows you the freedom to communicate more

complex subject matter in a more efficient manner, adding support and impact to your
script.
Finally, your presentation should be entertaining. Leave the audience feeling better and
more relaxed when they leave and that impression will carry over to both your subject
matter and yourself. There is no logical reason that the presentation of routine sales
figures and financial reports should not be as exciting as the unveiling of a new product
or a first rate service proposal.

How to make an effective presentation

1. KNOW YOUR SUBJECT MATTER
While this first point may seem obvious, it is very important that you research every
nuance of your subject. Read reports and look up information about the subject with the
specific purpose of writing a presentation script. When examined in this light, new ideas
and alternative ways of thinking often develop. The ability to present a subject with
confidence directly affects your audience's impressions and will help keep their attention.
2. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
A small amount of research into the makeup of your audience will reap large benefits on
presentation day.
If you were traveling about speaking on behalf of a new construction project you would
tailor vastly different presentations to an audience of engineers and a city council. You'd
should also have a couple of other versions for local community activist groups.
(depending on whether they're for or against the project)

3. KNOW YOURSELF (and your limits)

We all must push our limits and willingly bite off more than we may be comfortable
swallowing on occasion -- this is how we learn and grow. Knowing a few of your limits,
however, might avert disaster, or at least embarrassment.
Intimately related to Know Your Audience above, your 'limits' are just where you may or
may not tread, depending on the makeup of your audience and your relationship with
them.
4. DEVELOP A THEME
All presentations, regardless of their complexity, are designed with a single purpose.
Whether that purpose is to sell, educate, or for pure entertainment, state that purpose to
yourself at the beginning of the development process. Keep this purpose in mind always.
5. PREPARE YOUR SCRIPT
Any presentation script, regardless of complexity is like any other business
correspondence. It should consist of the same four basic parts, an opening, body,
summary and closing.
o

THE OPENING
The opening of the presentation sets the stage for what is to follow. Participants
are introduced and the purpose of the presentation is stated. You should also
present a VERY BRIEF summary or outline of the points to be covered. This
helps keep your audience oriented properly within the framework of your script.

BODY
This is the part of the script in which the bulk of the subject matter is presented.
The body of a long presentation should be separated into smaller, easily
assimilated modules. Each module or sub-section should make a single point or
convey one idea. These sub-sections should each have their own simple opening,
body and summary.

SUMMARY
This portion should be very brief and simple. Here is your chance to reinforce the

central theme and purpose of your presentation. Briefly emphasize the key points
and main ideas of your script in this section.
Question and answer sessions often follow a final summary and are very
productive if managed properly. You should encourage questions from the
audience if time or format permits, but be prepared to answer them. If you do not
know the correct answer to a question, don't try to fake it.
o

CLOSING
In a well structured closing, points raised during the question and answer session
(if any) are summarized and any handout material that was not required during
the presentation is distributed. Handout material which emphasizes each key
point or idea permits your audience to review the subject and assures that your
words will remain fresh in their minds. Handout material should not be
distributed before a presentation unless it is critical to the theme since it
invariably leads to audience distraction.

6. SELECT THE PROPER VISUAL AIDS

Good presentation visuals, however, do not have to be expensive. When properly planned
and produced, simple, well designed graphics add professionalism and impact to virtually
any show. The proper use of text images, charts and graphs as well as the correct type of
chart or graph to use in various circumstances is the subject of another article in this
series. I will, however, touch on a few of the deadly design sins of presentation visuals a
bit later.

*****

3.0 IMPORTANCE OF VISUALS IN A PRESENTATION

You've got to see it to believe it.
--Anonymous
Did you know that most humans absorb more than 80 percent of what they learn through the
sense of sight? That means if you show something to people, they are far more likely to
remember it, at least for a while, than if you tell something to them. Show and tell at the same
time and your audience will remember even more.
Geri E. H. McArdle, Ph.D., who wrote Delivering Effective Training Sessions and has been a
consultant to Fortune 500 companies, says that adding visuals like graphs, charts, maps, or photos
to a presentation increases the amount of retained information by as much as 55 percent. For
example, people who have attended a show and tell presentation will retain about 65 percent of
the information after three days, compared to about 10 percent retention for audiences who have
simply heard the information.
A study done by the Wharton School of Business showed that the use of visuals reduced meeting
times by as much as 28 percent. Another study found that audiences believe presenters who use
visuals are more professional and credible than presenters who merely speak. And still other
research indicates that meetings and presentations reinforced with visuals help participants reach
decisions and consensus in less time. That's a pretty good case for using visuals!
When To Use Visuals
A picture is worth a thousand words.
--Chinese Proverb
Nearly any kind of presentation will benefit from some form of visual aid. Shareholders will have
a better grasp of earnings or losses when presented with pie charts or bar graphs to show them
where the money went. Clients of an advertising agency will have a better understanding of what
a new advertising campaign will look and sound like when they are presented with story boards
for TV commercials and slides of magazine ads. New hires will catch on to customer relations
policies through role-model performances on video. Gardeners will learn how to propagate plants
from cuttings when they actually have the plant material in their hands. A prospective customer is
more likely to understand your product, and feel the need to buy it, if he or she can see it or touch
it. And a message like "sell" or "service" or "quality" takes on greater meaning when it's projected
on a screen or printed on a flip chart.

10

Sometimes visuals are essential components of a presentation. Examples of times when visuals
are a "must" include the following:

Your message is abstract, complex, or difficult to understand.

Your key message or subject is visual in nature.

It is essential that your audience retain your message.

There is controversy or the chance your message could be misinterpreted.

You have more than two or three key points.

You want to add emphasis to a key point.

The presentation includes words or language unfamiliar to the audience.

The presentation is a how-to session involving several steps.

You need to "dress up" a subject that may not be of great interest to the audience.

The presentation includes numbers or mathematical calculations.

You are dealing with children.

Types of Visuals
Visual aids take many forms, for example:

Flip charts on easels

Note-book flip charts

Blackboards with chalk

Whiteboards with markers

Overhead transparencies

Slides

Videos

Multimedia productions

CD ROM

11

Computers

Props

Three-dimensional models

Posters

Banners

Handouts

*****

12

4.0 USE OF MS POWERPOINT FOR MAKING EFFECTIVE

PRESENTATIONS
Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is part of the
Microsoft Office system. Microsoft PowerPoint runs on Microsoft Windows and the Mac OS
computer operating systems.
It is widely used by business people, educators, students, and trainers and is among the most
prevalent forms of persuasion technology. Beginning with Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft
revised branding to emphasize PowerPoint's identity as a component within the Office suite:
Microsoft began calling it Microsoft Office PowerPoint instead of merely Microsoft PowerPoint.
The current version of Microsoft Office PowerPoint is Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007. As a
part of Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office PowerPoint has become the world's most widely used
presentation program.
Creating an Effective PowerPoint Presentation
Hints for a successful presentation:
o

Plan carefully

Do your research

Know your audience

Time your presentation

Practice your presentation

Speak comfortably and clearly

Effective PowerPoint Slides

o

Use design templates

Standardize position, colors and styles

Include only necessary information

Limit the information to essentials

Content should be self-evident

Use colors that contrast

13

Be consistent with effects, transitions and animation

Too many slides can lose your audience

Text guidelines
o

Generally no more than 6 words a line

Generally no more than 6 lines a slide

Avoid long sentences

Larger font indicates more important information

Font size generally ranges from 18 to 48 point

Be sure text contrasts with background

Fancy fonts can be hard to read

Words in all capital letters are hard to read

Avoid abbreviations and acronyms

Limit punctuation marks

Clip Art and Graphics

o

Should balance the slide

Should enhance and complement the text, not overwhelm

No more than two graphics per slide

*****

14

Solution
PowerPoint is a high-powered software tool used for presenting information in a dynamic
slide show format. Text, charts, graphs, sound effects and video are just some of the
elements PowerPoint can incorporate into your presentations with ease. Hence, the same is
very useful to enhance the communication effectiveness of the employees.
Benefits
Very substantial increases satisfaction in employees after getting knowledge and application of
Power point presentations. Surveys administered to gauge employees reaction to the PowerPoint
presentation show that they perceive increased retention, grasp of material, organization, and
enjoyment.
Microsoft Products Used: Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word
Learning with PowerPoint
The employees in various capacities are dealing with diverse kind of intra-organization and interorganization business dealings. Some of the activities are shown below:
i)

Technical Issues

ii)

Safety

iii)

Financial Matters

iv)

HR Matters

v)

Commercial Issues

vi)

Contract & Procurement Dealings etc.

The choice of using Power point for the presentation on the above subjects is due to the
following reasons :
i) Power point is ideally suited to a highly visual approach, particularly in demonstration of
technical details.
ii) Pie charts are used to express budgetary allocations and expenses details under various
heads.
iii) Line and bar charts are used for line outage, line availability, nos of tripping etc.

15

iv) One additional advantage of using PowerPoint is the ability to easily produce handout
sheets with the bullet points clearly printed out.
The purpose of project to provide inputs to employees about Power Point to achieve
efficiency in Communication Skills.

The methodology:
A sample of 10 employees has been taken from the total strength of 40 employees in the Division.
While choosing employees the following criteria has been taken into consideration:
i)

They are having adequate working knowledge of computers.

ii)

These employees are using / may use presentation as a part of their jobs.

The project is divided in two phases:

Phase I - Prior to training of MS Power Point (Questionnaire A : Opinions of participants
before training).
Phase-II After the training of MS Power Point (Questionnaire B : Feedback of participants
after training).
The sample employees were given a Questionnaire-I (Appendix A) to put their views about
presentation for effective communication and use of Power point presentation.
During pre-training survey i.e. phase I, the point wise response from the participants as below:
A) Almost all participants have shown their agreed ness towards necessity of communication
skills for effective working in organization.
Position

Number

Percentage

Strongly agree

70%

Agree

30%

Neutral

0%

Disagree

0%

Strongly disagree

0%

B) Participants have rated their communication skills in good to average range.

Position

Number

Percentage

Excellent

0%

16

Very good

0%

Good

50%

Average

50%

Poor

0%

C) Participants agreed to the fact that Visual Aids are important for effective communication.
Position

Number

Percentage

Strongly agree

30%

Agree

60%

Neutral

10%

Disagree

0%

Strongly disagree

0%

D) Participants have rated their proficiency in MS Power point ranging from good to average.
Position

Number

Percentage

Excellent

0%

Very good

0%

Good

50%

Average

50%

Poor

0%

E) Some participants have agreed that Power point presentations are useful for effective business
communication. The remaining participants were neutral about the same.
Position

Number

Percentage

Strongly agree

0%

Agree

60%

Neutral

40%

Disagree

0%

Strongly disagree

0%

From the above opinion it is derived that the participants feel that Communication Skills are
necessary effective working in an organization, however, they are not very sure about the

17

importance of visual aids and Power Point in Communication. Accordingly, the training of visual
aids and Power point was given to the participants.

THE TRAINING FOR MS POWER POINT:

The participants were made aware of usefulness of presentations and making presentation in
Power point. The subject matter was covered in four lectures (of 1.5 Hrs each) as below:
Lecture-I The importance of communication in a business organization.
Lecture-II How to make a good presentation : Use of visual aids in presentations.
Lecture-III Knowledge of Power Point. Use of menu, short cuts, slide background, slid transition,
sound effects etc.
Lecture-IV Preparing Power Point Presentation: Presenting to the audience.
Suitable personal training given & reading materials have also been distributed to the
participants. Participants have advised to prepare at least one presentation on the subject chosen
by them.
FEEDBACK FROM THE PARTICIPANTS:
During post-training survey i.e. phase II, the point wise feedback of the participants obtained in
the format (Questionnaire II Appendix-B), which is as below:

A) Power point presentation is useful in effective communication

Position

Number

Percentage

Strongly agree

90%

Agree

10%

Neutral

0%

Disagree

0%

Strongly disagree

0%

Number

Percentage

Strongly agree

80%

Agree

20%

B) Presentations made Lectures Organized

Position

18

Neutral

0%

Disagree

0%

Strongly disagree

0%

Number

Percentage

Strongly agree

70%

Agree

30%

Neutral

0%

Disagree

0%

Strongly disagree

0%

C) Presentations made Lectures Interesting

Position

D) Presentations helped understanding the matter you have presented

Position

Number

Percentage

Strongly agree

60%

Agree

40%

Neutral

0%

Disagree

0%

Strongly disagree

0%

E) Graphics, Photos and Clipart are helpful in making presentation effective

Position

Number

Percentage

Strongly agree

70%

Agree

30%

Neutral

0%

Disagree

0%

Strongly disagree

0%

Participants reactions to the use of PowerPoint have been overwhelmingly positive. Their
responses are as mentioned below:
Participants mentioned a number of aspects of the presentations that they found useful and
interesting.
One participant emphasized the appeal of the system to visual-style learners.
It is helpful to see a visual presentation that gives participant better understanding of subject.

19

The use of art, graphics, etc. is very helpful in presenting the information in an understandable
concept.
In summary, the participants found that Power Point is very useful tool in effective
business communication in an organization.

*****

7.0 CONCLUSION :
Effective communication is vital for any organization. In todays complex and competitive
business world, lucid, effective communication is essential. It is the foundation on which
companies and careers are built. Whether the audience is an entire organization or a single
individual, effective communication requires bringing together different points of view and
relaying that information without losing clarity or focus.

Success as a technical professional today means being able to design and deliver persuasive and
effective presentations. So whether its an impromptu discussion, a more structured technical
briefing, formal speech or conference presentation, effective presentation skills are vital.

PowerPoint is a powerful tool that is intended to support presenters for effective presentation.
This can enliven the experience of the audience by align verbal skills, content selection and
strong graphic design to achieve maximum effectiveness of the presentations.

20

*****

8.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Websites:
http://technologysource.org/article/use_of_powerpoint_in_teaching_comparative_politics/
http://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/CommunicatingInAnOrganization.htm
http://www.the-eggman.com/writings/keystep1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/

*****

21

Appendix -A
Phase I : Questionnaire I
Opinion
Name of the employee:
Designation
Area of work
A) Communication skills are necessary for in effective working in organization
1.Strongly agree 2. Agree 3. Neutral 4. Disagree 5. Strongly disagree
B) How do you rate yourself communication skills
1. Excellent 2. Very good 3. Good
4. Average

5. Poor

C) Visual aids are important for effective communication skills

1.Strongly agree 2. Agree 3. Neutral 4. Disagree 5. Strongly disagree
D) Your familiarity with Power Point Presentation:
1. Excellent 2. Very good 3. Good
4. Average

5. Poor

E) Power point presentation is useful for your effective business communication:

1.Strongly agree 2. Agree 3. Neutral 4. Disagree 5. Strongly disagree
Appendix-B
Phase II : Questionnaire -II
Feedback
Name of the employee:
Designation
Area of work
A) Power point presentation is useful in effective communication
1.Strongly agree 2. Agree 3. Neutral 4. Disagree 5. Strongly disagree
B) Presentations made Lectures Organized
1.Strongly agree 2. Agree 3. Neutral 4. Disagree

5. Strongly disagree

C) Presentations made Lectures Interesting

1.Strongly agree 2. Agree 3. Neutral 4. Disagree

5. Strongly disagree

D) Presentations helped understanding the matter presented

1.Strongly agree 2. Agree 3. Neutral 4. Disagree 5. Strongly disagree
E) Graphics, Photos and Clipart are helpful
1.Strongly agree 2. Agree 3. Neutral 4. Disagree

5. Strongly disagree

22