PowerPoint Presentation Tips – How to Use Slides

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Introduction: How to Use PowerPoint Properly in Your Presentations

This video explains why PowerPoint is often misused and how relying on slides can weaken your delivery. You’ll learn why you are the presentation, how to build your message without slides and how to add visual aids only once your core content is strong. The aim is to help you avoid the common traps you see at conferences and create visuals that actually support your message.

What you’ll learn: Using PowerPoint Effectively

• Why slides are not your presentation
• How to build your message before opening PowerPoint
• Why starting with a blank sheet leads to clearer thinking
• When and how to add visual aids that genuinely help
• What bad slide use looks like (and how to avoid it)
• How strong presenters separate their talk from their slides

Summary: You Are the Presentation — PowerPoint Comes Last

Many people treat PowerPoint as their presentation, but it isn’t. You are the presentation, and slides are only there to support your message. At Benjamin Ball Associates, we often remove people’s slides at the start so they learn to deliver their core message without leaning on visuals. Once the talk is clear, slides can be added sparingly to help emphasise key points.

If you’re preparing a speech, the worst thing you can do is open PowerPoint first. Start with a blank sheet of paper, plan what you want to say, and only then consider whether visual aids will genuinely help. Most conferences offer daily examples of how not to use slides, but the best speakers show how powerful a clear, simple visual can be. Aim to be one of those.

Mini FAQ: Improving Your Use of PowerPoint

Why shouldn’t I start in PowerPoint?
Because slides distract you from shaping your message. You need clarity first.

Should I remove all slides?
Not necessarily — but visuals should come last, not first.

What makes a slide helpful?
It highlights or clarifies something your audience needs. It doesn’t repeat your script.

Why do so many conference slides fail?
They’re too crowded, too wordy or used in place of actual communication.

Transcript (edited)

PowerPoint, or any similar program, is one of the big problems people have. I often hear, “This is my presentation,” and someone shows me a big stack of slides. That’s not your presentation. You are the presentation. Slides are just visual aids.

When we work with people at Benjamin Ball Associates, we often take away their PowerPoint to start with and get them to deliver their presentation themselves. Afterwards, we may introduce visual aids.

So if you’ve got a speech or talk coming up, the worst thing you can do is switch on PowerPoint. Start with a blank sheet, plan what you want to say and only at the end think about what visual aids might help you get your point across.

If you want examples of bad PowerPoint, go to any conference. You’ll quickly see how not to do it. If you’re lucky, you’ll find one or two speakers who get it right. Your job is to emulate the good ones, not fall into the trap of producing lots of slides.

Suggested Links

• Build your presentation before opening PowerPoint
• Create visual aids that support your message
• Avoid common PowerPoint mistakes
• Deliver confidently without relying on slides

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