[19G20]

Hello everyone,

I have the final portion of an interview for a retail media marketing company coming up and they would like a powerpoint presentation encompassing personal interests and career accomplishments. I have the content but I would appreciate any comments or help you guys and gals may have. Never had to do this before. Thanks!

[ddk632]

Check out Lynda.com for great tutorials. Or just google PowerPoint tutorials.

The key to good PowerPoints is not too much text.

You can do an outline in Word just for yourself to decide how to organize the PowerPoint, and the sections of your outline will be slides while the bullet points will be the content.

Include a start/intro slide and a final summary slide.

Use pictures to depict what you're showing, and the text can be under the picture or to the right/left of it, no more than 3-5 blurbs (bullet points) per slide. Don't make every single slide with a picture, and also refrain from cramping entire paragraphs onto a slide. A PowerPoint is meant to be a high level overview style presentation, not a novel or a book.

For career accomplishments, if you're in marketing, you can break down by company or major project, with screenshots of your marketing materials which you or your teams have designed (I don't know exactly your position obviously so I'm guessing here) and some blurbs about how your project was successful, benefitted the company, finished on time and on budget, etc.

Organize it into sections by topic, with a slide that delineates when each section starts, with a section title and a picture.

PowerPoint also has lots of themes that will give a consistent look to all of your slides.

Have a play with the application.
It's actually pretty easy.

[19G20]

Originally Posted by ddk632

Check out Lynda.com for great tutorials. Or just google PowerPoint tutorials.

The key to good PowerPoints is not too much text.

You can do an outline in Word just for yourself to decide how to organize the PowerPoint, and the sections of your outline will be slides while the bullet points will be the content.

Include a start/intro slide and a final summary slide.

Use pictures to depict what you're showing, and the text can be under the picture or to the right/left of it, no more than 3-5 blurbs (bullet points) per slide. Don't make every single slide with a picture, and also refrain from cramping entire paragraphs onto a slide. A PowerPoint is meant to be a high level overview style presentation, not a novel or a book.

For career accomplishments, if you're in marketing, you can break down by company or major project, with screenshots of your marketing materials which you or your teams have designed (I don't know exactly your position obviously so I'm guessing here) and some blurbs about how your project was successful, benefitted the company, finished on time and on budget, etc.

Organize it into sections by topic, with a slide that delineates when each section starts, with a section title and a picture.

PowerPoint also has lots of themes that will give a consistent look to all of your slides.

Have a play with the application.
It's actually pretty easy.

Good points Thank you!

[BMW F22]

There is something else that uses adobe flash (dont know what it's called). It is very much like powerpoint but more professional. A group used it in an mba class for the final project and we were blown away by it. It was beautiful and very professional looking. Perhaps you should look into it because part of getting that job is by standing out.

[ddk632]

Originally Posted by BMW E90

There is something else that uses adobe flash (dont know what it's called). It is very much like powerpoint but more professional. A group used it in an mba class for the final project and we were blown away by it. It was beautiful and very professional looking. Perhaps you should look into it because part of getting that job is by standing out.

What's it called?

I've successfully used PowerPoints as part of a pitch before securing a client and I believe the content and presentation is more important than the delivery method; however, if you find the name of the flash-based tool you're talking about, I'd be happy to look into it. Never hurts to have more options!

[ddk632]

Originally Posted by 335itwinsedan

Good points Thank you!

Yep, no worries and best of luck with your presentation and interview!

[direwolfM3]

Don't forget to end the presentation with a picture of your dog, grandma, or your kid (if you don't have a kid, just use a picture of some random kid.)

And for the ultimate way to wrap it up…a slide with all three cuddled together.

Your welcome.

[ddk632]

^^

Bonus points if the dog, grandma, and (your or otherwise) kid are all helping the homeless or handing out packages of food in a 3rd world country after a natural disaster.

Yeah, that's it.

The final slide should be the Big Bang of why you should work there!

Summarize and aggregate your best accomplishments and then elaborate as to how those past successes will benefit the company you're interviewing for!

[Seminole]

Unless it must be in PowerPoint try using Prezi, might be what E90 was referring to.

It's very interactive like the Ford commercials with the text moving around.

[19G20]

Unfortunately is has to be in PowerPoint. Thanks guys!

[BMW F22]

Originally Posted by Seminole

Unless it must be in PowerPoint try using Prezi, might be what E90 was referring to.

It's very interactive like the Ford commercials with the text moving around.

Yeah I think it is Prezi. I couldnt remember the name. Too bad it must be in power point.

[upstatedoc]

Originally Posted by ddk632

The key to good PowerPoints is not too much text.

^^This

Did many powerpoints over the years and the last thing anyone wants to do is read paragraphs of text on a slide.

[Billup]

A lot of good pointers in here. Since you've never done a PP presentation, KNOW ALL OF YOUR MATERIAL and be enthusiastic about every second of it.
- Key points on your slides to accentuate what YOU plan to talk about. Don't let the slide tell the story, you tell the story.
- Don't look at your slides, look at your audience. (should be self explanatory, but a lot of people make this mistake)
- Allow your slides to give you room to be spontaneous, employers wants to see personality that sets you aside from everyone else.

[Myrder]

Prezi is legit. I suggest using it if you have time to learn it quick enough. If you are very skilled in PowerPoint I would stick with that.

[BMW F22]

Take Guy Kawasaki's advice: stick to 10 slides or less.

[schoy]

Nothing bores the listening group more than a PP presentation chock-full of words. The first thing that they think: "Why even show up when I can just get a copy of the presentation?"

[PINeely]

- As few slides as possible. Under 10 for sure.
- Print your slides out and keep them in front of you as you present. Make written notes on your printouts to keep your conversation flowing. Never look at the presentation screen and NEVER read word-for-word from the slide. You will be very tempted to do this as the stress builds.
- Even with printed slides, you must practice. Know how to give your presentation with your eyes closed, backwards and forwards. The printouts are there for if the stress kicks in and you forget where you were going with your point. If you prepare well enough then you won't even need them.
- Text fade/phase/animations are distracting. Minimalism the use of these. Maybe include a relevant picture or diagram here and there but don't overdo it.
-BE CONCISE. This means no long paragraphs, leaving in incomplete sentences, etc. If at all possible each slide should represent a new part of the conversation. One of the most confusing things for an audience is trying to keep track of the last slide because the new one is contingent upon it.
-Be enthusiastic. Nothing is worse than watching a presentation which is clearly contrived and boring to the presenter. If you don't care about your presentation then why should they?
-No "um" "eh" "ah" "hmmm" etc. You have to appear to know your material.
-Finally, don't get upset if you falter, trip over a word etc. Nobody likes doing presentations and we all understand that. Just try to be natural and your preparation will do the work.

[ddk632]

^^

Great advice.

[19G20]

All great tips. Thank you guys!

[19G20]

Thank you guys. It went well. Just a lot of pertinent photos and I talked about everything very colloquially. They asked me questions at the end why I wanted to work for them and if I wanted to eventually focus on management. I think those are good signs. Thank you everyone for your help!

[ddk632]

Awesome and congrats, here's to you getting the job!

[19G20]

Originally Posted by ddk632

Awesome and congrats, here's to you getting the job!

Thank you!