Microsoft PowerPoint is part of the Microsoft Office suite of software. This program is used to create slideshow presentations. An important factor in deciding to learn a new skill is researching complementary and related skills. Doing so will help you make more informed decisions about what you want to learn, and it will help you decide whether or not learning a specific skill is the right decision for you. You will also learn what skills you want to learn to complement your training later. Read on to learn more about related PowerPoint training options, such as public speaking skills or other Microsoft applications.

What is PowerPoint?

Microsoft PowerPoint is a slideshow editing tool built to help users organize information, communicate effectively, and produce presentations to deliver through live address or without a presenter. It is the most commonly used presentation software across almost all professional industries. With PowerPoint, users can easily create vibrant and memorable presentations that quickly communicate meaning in a professional setting. They can add animations, transitions, graphics, and other imagery to their slides, ensuring they produce both communicative and impressive presentations for their audience.

Read more about what PowerPoint is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with PowerPoint Skills?

PowerPoint allows users to create vibrant and memorable visual presentations that can serve a wide variety of purposes. Its advanced features let users integrate dynamic animations and 3D-modeled graphics into their designs, creating more complex presentations than simple text projected onto a screen. Some people use PowerPoint to create informative slideshows that condense complicated information into a single, easy-to-digest presentation. This makes the program ideal for instructors and professionals who regularly host informational seminars. Other users utilize the program to persuade audiences, such as entrepreneurs meeting with potential investors, who might use PowerPoint to create memorable and persuasive presentations that convince the audience to invest in a product.

Skills Related to PowerPoint

PowerPoint can be an effective tool for sharing information, educating others, or persuading an audience to a particular point of view. However, people who plan to use this program regularly will find that there are also a number of complementary skills that might help them get even more out of this versatile program.

Other Microsoft Programs

PowerPoint is part of Microsoft Office. Office also includes a number of other programs, such as Word, Excel, and OneNote. These programs integrate easily, meaning that PowerPoint users can easily add elements from programs like Excel or Word to their PowerPoint presentations if they know how to use those other programs. An example of this would be embedding a functioning Excel worksheet in a PowerPoint slide so the presenter can explain a financial concept to the audience.

Learning how to use Microsoft Office can be broadly beneficial since this suite of programs is widely used in the business world and elsewhere. Office is estimated to have millions of users worldwide, including many Fortune 500 companies. One reason for Microsoft Office’s popularity is its relatively easy learning. Students who want to learn programs like Excel will find a variety of different training options, many of which take only a few days to complete.

Public Speaking Skills

Most people who create PowerPoint presentations make those in person, so public speaking skills are often integral to using this program. Thus, it can benefit users looking to improve their public speaking skills and make more effective presentations. 

Influential public speakers know how to engage the audience and how to present information in a way that is persuasive and easy to understand and remember. While some people are naturally better at speaking publicly than others, even people who are shy about public speaking can improve their skills. For example, in a recent Indeed article, the author–a career services professional–suggests mentally preparing beforehand, using visual aids, and being open to questions.

Design Basics

Every design decision has a particular impact on the audience. PowerPoint presentations frequently include visual elements such as images, maps, and even moving features like animations, so it can be helpful for users to learn some of the basics of design. Adobe, known worldwide for its design programs, has a blog article about design principles. It explains, “You . . . need to develop an eye for what design decisions improve your work and what detracts from your message.” 

By understanding how some design elements work, a PowerPoint user can create presentations that affect the audience in a specific way, for example, persuading them or helping them remember certain information. For instance, Adobe says that repetition can help people remember important information, and balance can increase viewer comprehension. There is also evidence that visual elements can make a presentation stronger than one that relies only on text since the majority of people are believed to be visual learners.

Collaborating With Other People

PowerPoint allows collaboration between team members, so learning how to work better with others can be helpful for users who want to work with this program more effectively. PowerPoint users can save a presentation to a place like OneDrive, and other team members can access that presentation from any device or location. The program also allows multiple users to work on a presentation, and they can leave notes for other team members to look at.

This type of collaboration has become increasingly common as a result of the fact that more people are now working from home. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that between 2019 and 2021, the number of people working mainly from home tripled. While the COVID-19 pandemic primarily drove this trend, research also reveals that a significant number of people do not want to return to the office. For instance, according to a recent survey by McKinsey & Company, among workers who were offered the opportunity to work remotely, 87 percent took the offer. Researchers found that remote work was prevalent in tech jobs.

Learn PowerPoint Skills with Noble Desktop

Professionals looking to learn PowerPoint may consider skills development training through Noble Desktop. These courses, available in person at Noble’s Manhattan campus and through live online instruction, will give students hands-on training in designing and organizing information using PowerPoint. 

Noble offers a PowerPoint Bootcamp, which teaches students–even those without prior PowerPoint experience–how to design compelling and evocative presentations. It covers layouts, adding animations and graphics, and working with layers, charts, graphs, and other objects, in addition to more advanced skills. Since PowerPoint is a design program, Noble offers students a PowerPoint Presentation Design course. This class focuses on the rhetorical and theoretical side of communicating through PowerPoint. 

Key Takeaway

• PowerPoint users will find several complementary skills that can help them get even more out of this program.
• Knowing how to use other Microsoft Office programs can be beneficial in many ways.
• Public speaking skills help PowerPoint users make more effective presentations.
• It can be helpful for PowerPoint users to learn some basic design principles.
• PowerPoint allows users to collaborate, so collaboration skills are complementary to users of this program.
• Noble Desktop is a New York City-based school that offers a variety of PowerPoint classes, including in-person and live online sessions.