There are lots of things to be thankful for this time of the year, like family, friends, health, and stuffing. But this year, there’s something a little unusual that we’re thankful for: PowerPoint!
You might think it’s a bit odd to be thankful for software. Most people think of PowerPoint as a necessary evil, something they have to use for their job, or worse, the cause of the dull meetings or uninspired presentations they have to sit through.
We believe that PowerPoint is a tool, one that empowers people to communicate in unique ways. And like any tool, it’s only as effective as the way you use it. When you start to look beyond the slide and see PowerPoint for the potential it unlocks, we think you’ll be thankful too! So let’s take a look at a few of the ways that PowerPoint makes us all more capable communicators and more effective presenters.
PowerPoint facilitates communication
Despite all the breathless blogs and other think-pieces decrying PowerPoint as cumbersome and ineffective, it actually makes communication simpler and more accessible than any other software.
Through its one-slide-at-a-time nature, PowerPoint encourages people to break down complex ideas into simpler, smaller chunks. This encourages presenters to put extra effort into truly understanding their content, and considering how best to express it to others: that’s a benefit to the audience, but it’s also a powerful tool for people to understand their own business needs.
PowerPoint mimics how we learn
Some people learn best by reading. Others benefit from a more visual approach. But whichever side you fall on, some combination of the two is undoubtedly the most universally beneficial approach to conveying information that can be retained and internalized.
And that’s where PowerPoint shines. It is designed to bridge the gap between the written word and the visual, making it easy to lean on either when needed, but more importantly, allowing people to combine them into a powerful vehicle for communication.
It might help to think of PowerPoint not as a slide tool, but as an infographic creator. Because in a lot of ways, that’s actually what it is. It’s a tool that helps you merge words and images into single, cohesive units, and then dial up either side as needed.
PowerPoint lets everyone express themselves
While dedicated designers may (wrongly, in our opinion) see PowerPoint as an underpowered program, this approachability and simplicity is actually what makes it so useful. PowerPoint removes the barriers between the speaker and their message, allowing them to craft effective presentations without years of design experience or rhetorical training. It offers rich tools that empower users to grow their skills and scale their productivity, and it is built to encourage collaboration between users of different skill and experience levels.
PowerPoint brings people together
More than any other single program, PowerPoint has long functioned as an environment for collaboration. While today it (and competing programs) offer a range of collaboration tools, people have been sharing .ppt files back and forth to tweak and improve presentations for decades.
But it does more than improve collaboration. PowerPoint allowed people to gather together to share, discuss, and improve ideas, forge strong connections, and make important decisions. In today’s remote work environment, the impact of this aspect of PowerPoint can’t be overstated.
PowerPoint is always there for you
Whether it’s your first pitch or your last presentation as outgoing Chairperson of the Board, PowerPoint is the best tool for the job. It’s exactly as powerful as you need it to be at every stage of your career, and it’s kept pace with the changing expectations of jobs and technologies for decades.
If you could only learn one piece of software to use throughout your career, you couldn’t do better than PowerPoint.
We hope this has helped you see a few more reasons why you too should be thankful for PowerPoint If you’re feeling inspired to learn more about how it can benefit your daily work, spend a few minutes browsing our blog!