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PowerPoint is just one of the great tools available in the Microsoft Office Suite. With PowerPoint, anyone can make a beautiful presentation for a class, meeting, professional talk, or anything else that may require a sophisticated presentation. On the other hand, a poorly developed PowerPoint presentation can effectively ruin an otherwise noteworthy speech. Although everyone's presenting style is different, here are a few tips that can set the great PowerPoint presentations apart from the tolerable.

1. Power(points)

PowerPoint is set up as a visual aid. This is how you should use it. Overly wordy slides that require the audience to read the speech can make your audience lose interest. Slides that contain lengthy text while the speaker drones on about something entirely different can irritate people. It makes it difficult to decide what you are supposed to be paying attention to. Have you ever had a textbook or business proposal read to you? Did you enjoy it? I didn't think so.

A few bullets with a few words each, please. The slides should serve as a visual reminder for you of the points you want to make, and as convenient handles and headings for your audience to remember and take notes about. Besides, what's the value of a presenter if the audience can print the slides and read the whole thing themselves?

2. No points

The bullet points are actually optional. If you backspace at the first cursor place, the bullet will disappear. When the text you are placing does not lend itself well to bullets, remove them. There is no need for your presentation to look awkward because of a bullet format.

3. Visual appeal

Light backgrounds with dark print are usually best. While dark slides may make a nice impact in short presentations, this is absolutely not true for long speeches. Light print on a dark background tends to strain the eye more, which can lead to a disgruntled audience. Also, in a room that is not very dark, the words on a dark background can virtually vanish.

4. Use those bells and whistlesbut sparingly

One of PowerPoint's greatest features is the ease with which multimedia can be integrated. Pictures, sound, moviesthey can all be there at the click of a button. Just don't get carried away. Too many corny sounds and cluttered pictures can be distracting and annoying. Consider why you are placing media in the presentation. Everything you add to your presentation should add to your performance. In other words, you should add media that drive your point home or add a

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