Look Smart Presentation Tips

How to look smart when projecting the presentation from your laptop

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    Written by

    Paul Moss

    Posted on

    February 19, 2020

    Categories

    Articles

    Fortunately’s there’s a few tricks you can master that will give you some extra confidence while projecting, and maybe even help you impress a few people while you’re at it.

    For many, standing up and presenting in front of a group of people is a terrifying experience. But for many people, there is something that is only slightly less unnerving: projecting the presentation from your laptop. 

    While you may not be the one talking, you have the tough task of managing the only technology in the room that actually matters during the meeting. And if there’s anything more awkward than matching with your client on Tinder, it’s having your NSFW Spotify playlist start blasting through the conference room speakers during a client presentation (okay fine, one of those is way worse).  

    Fortunately’s there’s a few tricks you can master that will give you some extra confidence while projecting, and maybe even help you impress a few people while you’re at it.

    Tip #1: Pull up a list of all slides

    When you need to skip ahead to another slide in the deck don’t tab through each slide one-by-one. Instead hit Control + S and a list of slides to choose from will magically appear!

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    Tip #2: Turn your screen black or white

    When you need to hide the content of the slide for any reason just hit the B or W keys. It instantly turns the screen either black or white but won’t stop the presentation. This one comes in handy more often than you’d think!

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    Tip #3: Use a pen or highlighter

    If you need to highlight a certain concept during a presentation please don’t use an actual marker on the screen. Instead, hit Control + P to activate a digital red pen, or Control + I to activate the highlighter.

    Bonus tip: Hit Control + M to save your markings for later or E to erase!

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    Okay here’s some more good news… There’s plenty more where that came from!

    For loads more tips just like these check out our flagship course: Advanced PowerPoint for Consultants. Or, you may be interested in learning to structure and design slides like a consultant in our course Presentation Storytelling.

    Disclaimer: We do not condone swiping right on your clients. Ever. Ever. Ever. 

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