Whoever invented PowerPoint did one of the greatest things for business - and one of the worst.  A good PowerPoint presentation is interesting and useful.  Anyone who has ever sat through a long PowerPoint presentation, though, knows that there is a certain purgatorial quality to bad PowerPoint presentations.  If your company needs to create great presentations, there are eight basic secrets to making your presentations sparkle instead of crash:

1.Keep it short.  Make your presentation only as long as you need to communicate your ideas.  Then stop speaking.

2. Create a presentation that can stand on its own - without the PowerPoint.  Too many people use multimedia as a crutch.  If you create a presentation that is fun and interesting on its own, your audience will thank you for it - or at least sit up and listen

3. Figure out what you want your audience to remember about your presentation ahead of time.  Write down the crucial things your audience should know when they leave your talk and why.  Tell your audience why they should care about what you have to say and focus your PowerPoint slides around your most important ideas.  This will keep your talk short and pertinent instead of rambling

4. Make your PowerPoint slides coincide with your talk - not replicate it. Your slides should reinforce your main ideas, but you should never read from the slides

5. Be sparing with the bells and whistles. Sure, PowerPoint has all sorts of neat features that allow you to use animation and cool fade-outs between slides.  Your goal is to create a presentation, though, not direct the latest special-effects movie, so it’s best bet is to keep these distractions to a minimum.  Keep it professional with just a few graphics and graphs that add to your presentation.  A good rule of thumb is: if it won’t help your audience understand what you are saying, leave it out

6. Use good speaking techniques.  Practice before you give your talk or presentation.  Stand up straight, walk around instead of gripping the podium, and speak clearly and at a good pace.  Smile and act as relaxed as you can - even if you have to fake it.  Watching a poor speaker is just painful.  If you are confident - or just act that way - you will be more interesting to watch and your message will come across more effectively. If you aren’t a great speaker, practice with a good colleague or join a toastmasters group that can help you make the most of all your presentations

7. Never spend more than two minutes on a slide.  Decide what is most important about an idea and communicate just that.  You can also divide more complex ideas into a few slides

8. Take it to a professional.  A professional can create beautiful PowerPoint presentations and can help you figure out how to give presentations that can wow clients and employers alike.  DivaDesignWorld can create show-stopping PowerPoint presentations that are either template-based or fully customized.

About the Author:  Monique Danielle owns Portland Marketing Agency DivaDesignWorld.com, a full service firm that offers web development, graphic design, consulting, and a wide variety of creative services.  She is also the founder of divadirectories.com, a free online resource designed to promote the growth and development of female business owners throughout Oregon, Washington, and the Northwest.