This course explores how to use PowerPoint effectively in the business environment.  The course not only covers the features of PowerPoint, but also how to use the features to create presentations that stand apart and engage the audience.

In this course we explore how to use PowerPoint as an effective visual aid to supplement any presentation.  We also discuss how PowerPoint can be used to create our own graphics and customize imagery to share our ideas visually with our audience. 

Learning Objectives
  • Discover how to prepare presentations using all the major features of PowerPoint
  • Recognize how to develop multi-media assets using the various features of PowerPoint
  • Identify best practices for using PowerPoint as a visual aid for any presentation
Last updated/reviewed: March 6, 2024
76 Reviews (239 ratings)

Reviews

5
Anonymous Author
Blair did a great job in keeping me engaged during his presentation. He did an amazing job in providing a great overview of using powerpoint, and the animations he used was fantastic when zooming in and highlighting certain features of powerpoint. The course is great when learning how to create effective and appropriate presentations within Powerpoint.

5
Anonymous Author
Blair Cook does it again with another engaging and effective presentation. What I liked the most was how Blair highlighted the strategic aspects of creating a great presentation to get your message across. This course is a must for anyone who needs to create a professional looking presentation.

5
Member's Profile
Blair Cook one of the finest presenter.All projects, Present & Future need presentation.This course equips with mid-level mastery in a very cohesive manner.Bonus lesson in end caters for the advance audience in running polls during or end of your presentation.No Pdf included for this Course

5
Anonymous Author
Blair Cook provides a great overview of some of the PowerPoint features. I will need to use another course to get more details on how he did certain things, but this course provides a good explanation on how to improve presentations. Blair is a great presenter.

5
Member's Profile
The teacher did a great job sounding interested in the subject matter and definitely had a powerful mastery of powerpoint. Definitely gained some useful information about powerpoint from this class! Would recommend to anyone who uses powerpoint often.

5
Member's Profile
An interesting combination of Powerpoint concepts to use to improve presentations, and how to use various Powerpoint features to create more effective slides. Definately need to pactice what was shown to be able to create better slides.

5
Anonymous Author
Clear, informative, engaging, and well laid out presentation. Blair is a wonderful presenter and is able to present and articulate in a way that both is engaging and leaves a lasting impression / memory of what has been taught.

5
Anonymous Author
loved this class. as someone who uses powerpoint a lot i found it very useful to remind myself of basic concepts as well as new tricks. I will be using a lot of what I learned from this class. The teacher is great.

5
Member's Profile
Great class! The Bonus presentation is fantastic- will definitely be using that format. I am also excited to utilize his method for creating graphs in ppt using shapes rather than copying over from excel.

4
Member's Profile
Liked : Screensize 16:9, presentation mode. Dislikded: The downloaded slides ... there are hardly 10 slides? What about the rest... I thought its incomplete. 5 Starts if you make a good attachment.

5
Anonymous Author
Great points to consider about improving presentations. A very engaging presentation in its own right. I literally laughed out loud in my office at a couple of points during the course.

5
Anonymous Author
Great course. Stated prerequisite requirements were appropriate and sufficient. Program materials were relevant and contributed to the achievement of the learning objectives.

5
Anonymous Author
Instructor was very effective and structured the course in an organized, easy to follow manner. This approach kept me engaged and allowed me to easily retain the key concepts.

3
Member's Profile
The course is very well designed for the beginners but it is very slow and gains interest and speed only in the bonus lesson. At some places it seems some steps are missing.

5
Anonymous Author
Very helpful. Will likely watch again and take notes - some good tips in how to do things more efficiently and make the presentation look more ptofessional in Powerpoint

5
Anonymous Author
This course provided a good overview for building an effective PowerPoint deck. A nice refresher highlighting many tips and tricks as well as basic functionality.

5
Member's Profile
This was informative and interesting. I would recommend it to others for an understanding of making more effective/powerful presentations using power point.

5
Member's Profile
Excellent short and informative presentation!!!! Anyone interested in making a PowerPoint presentation should definitely watch this video presentation.

4
Anonymous Author
The instructor was energetic and very easy to follow. I learned a lot of new techniques and information about PowerPoint that I never realized existed!

4
Member's Profile
I like this course so much because it includes some good tips on PowerPoint presentation that I did not know previously. I like the bonus lesson most.

5
Anonymous Author
Excellent course for any accounting professional. Great practical examples. I wish all the slides of the presentation were available to download.

5
Member's Profile
I found this course entertaining as well as informative. The instructor demonstrates many methods to help make Powerpoint presentations engaging

5
Member's Profile
Easy to follow, didn't try to cover too much so it was easier to retain the information and potentially try out new tricks in the future.

4
Anonymous Author
Great course and lively presentation made the content very interesting. Some good takeaways to keep in mind for the next presentation.

5
Member's Profile
Exactly what I need it! Thanks a lot Professor Cook! I really enjoy learning more about presentations and Powerpoint new features.

5
Anonymous Author
I like this course so much because its a step by step procedures on how to make your presentation useful to the audience.

4
Anonymous Author
As a relatively experienced user of powerpoint, still found a few nuggets of great new information, engaging presenter.

5
Member's Profile
Excellent course that will be of enormous practical use in improving my PowerPoint presentations...starting tomorrow!

4
Anonymous Author
Good to know how to activate the animation as I've seen it in many presentations but didn't know how to turn it on.

4
Anonymous Author
Good hints for effective use of PowerPoint's features. Would like to have a PDF or outline of entire presentation.

2
Member's Profile
it was difficult to pass because PDF doesn't really contain much of answers, so I need to watch lengthy video clip

4
Anonymous Author
This course had lots of useful tips about presentation strategy itself in addition to PowerPoint techniques.

5
Member's Profile
I am not a user of Powerpoint and this was a great intro and provides a great foundation to learn more!

5
Member's Profile
This course provides useful and insightful tools and methods to increase the quality of a presentation!

4
Anonymous Author
This was a good refresher course. I learned some new tricks which I will use for future presentations.

5
Member's Profile
very good course. I like seeing the presenter. I would like to see an updated version of this course.

5
Member's Profile
Well taught overview of the subject matter by a very engaging , entertaining and effective instructor.

5
Member's Profile
Very informative and interesting. I got a lot from this course that I can share with my co-workers.

5
Anonymous Author
I really like this course. I want to have more powerpoint related trainings. Very good speaker.

4
Member's Profile
Really appreciated the bonus lesson with a sample project. Blair Cook is an excellent trainer.

5
Anonymous Author
It allowed me to look under a different angle on things that I am doing for more than 15 years

5
Member's Profile
A lot of good ideas. I plan to use this info to improve my monthly meeting presentations.

5
Anonymous Author
Another great course by Blair Cook. I have not had a bad course yet on performative.com

3
Anonymous Author
Could use a more in depth review at creating charts / graphics in the presentation.

4
Member's Profile
Good class with great ideas that I plan to use in my PowerPoint presentations.

2
Anonymous Author
The visuals that were recommended to be created were not professional at all.

5
Member's Profile
Excellent course; instructor is interesting and effective. Useful material.

5
Member's Profile
Excellent suggestions for making your PPT Presentations unique and impactful

4
Member's Profile
Lots of tips and tricks to create a professional and engaging presentation.

5
Anonymous Author
excellent course - I look forward to putting the lessons into practice.

5
Anonymous Author
Author's presentation is crisp and relevant. Good refresher course.

5
Member's Profile
Course is good. It is using Powerpoint 2013. Enjoyed the bonus lessons!

5
Anonymous Author
Nice pace and practical instruction/ tips on improving presentations.

5
Anonymous Author
This course was insightful and the speaker was exciting to listen to.

5
Anonymous Author
Good information to know. Course met its objectives. Learned a lot

5
Anonymous Author
Really great presenter and good course. Trying to make text longer.

5
Anonymous Author
Excellent illustration. we need more course on presentation skills

5
Anonymous Author
Great presentation skills. Useful info. Cool family feud game.

5
Member's Profile
Good to learn specially if you're into a lot of presentations.

5
Anonymous Author
Learned new things about powerpoint, very engaging. Thank you!

4
Member's Profile
Some good tips on Powerpoint that I did not know previously.

5
Member's Profile
Truly great content. It's a great and helpful presentation.

5
Member's Profile
Clearly explained and easy to follow along and understand

4
Member's Profile
Very Useful Course. I have picked some pieces of advice!

3
Anonymous Author
It was a much more basic course than I anticipated.

4
Anonymous Author
Some unknown posibilities of PPT. Good to know.

4
Anonymous Author
Clear explanations and easy to use references.

5
Member's Profile
Great tips to quickly edit presentation.

5
Member's Profile
Useful PowerPoint tips and tricks.

4
Anonymous Author
The course is very helpful

5
Anonymous Author
Definitely interesting

4
Member's Profile
nice tips

5
Member's Profile
Great!

5
Member's Profile
Good

5
Member's Profile
Good

5
Anonymous Author
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Prerequisites
Course Complexity: Foundational

No advanced preparation or prerequisites are required for this course.

Education Provider Information
Company: Illumeo, Inc., 75 East Santa Clara St., Suite 1215, San Jose, CA 95113
Contact: For more information regarding this course, including complaint and cancellation policies, please contact our offices at (408) 400- 3993 or send an e-mail to .
Instructor for this course
Course Syllabus
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
Planning, Orientation, Design
  Planning a PowerPoint Presentation8:47
  Get Oriented with PowerPoint8:15
  Slide design10:20
Visual Aids
  Visual aids: Text4:45
  Visual aids: Charts4:17
  Visual aids: Pictures9:31
  Visual aids: Embedding audio and video2:20
  Visual aids: Creating graphics3:49
Delivery
  Delivery enhancement - transitions2:13
  Delivery enhancement - animation5:34
CONCLUSION
  Using presentation mode4:25
BONUS
  Bonus Lesson8:00
Continuous Play
  Powerful PowerPoint Presentations 1:17:46
SUPPORTING MATERIALS
  Slides: Powerful PowerPoint PresentationsPDF
  Powerful PowerPoint Presentations Glossary IndexPDF
REVIEW & TEST
  REVIEW QUESTIONSquiz
 FINAL EXAMexam