Including videos or audio files in your PowerPoint presentation provides additional opportunities to share information audiovisually with your audience. The use of additional media adds variety and can be used well to present information to viewers in a brain-friendly way.
You know the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and it’s actually true. Our brain can process images better than the spoken word. This, too, can be quickly understood. Imagine that an expert was asked to describe a famous painting to you in ten minutes that you didn’t know yet. Even if he can express himself well and shows didactic skill, at the end of his execution you will have only a vague idea of the work of art. When he pulls out his smartphone and shows you an image of the painting, you grasp what he meant in moments.
Presentations are no different. Imagine you are supposed to explain the prototype of a new sports car from your group’s development department to potential customers. You can tell that the bolide consumes 8 liters on average, that it accelerates from zero to one hundred in 4.3 seconds, and that the designers have outdone themselves. This won’t generate much enthusiasm if you just throw a few slides of technical data on the wall. It will be much more interesting if you show photos of the car from different perspectives.
Videos for more clarity
But how great will the audience’s attention and curiosity be if you play in a film showing the new car being driven at the limit on a test track, ideally with matching sound. A film can make a product vivid and understandable. In addition to a product, such as a sports car, a corporate image film could also be shown at an appropriate point during your presentation. Where not much can be shown yet, such as when construction begins on a new office district, computer animations can illustrate what the building complex will look like when completed
With videos you can boost buying interest
You can also use videos to build buying interest if you want to advertise your offer, for example. Do you want to gain the trust of your audience with your presentation? For example, because you want to promote a seminar or further education? Then short statements from former participants who tell the camera how instructive your seminar is are suitable. It would certainly be impressive for your audience if you could capture a larger number of customer testimonials. So: like a lot of statements, but very short and crisp. As a message should arrive that many people have successfully perceived your offer. You can also try to get a well-known personality from your industry to do a short interview regarding your presentation topic. When a person with great reputation makes a video statement for you, it means a strong boost to your argument chain. It may also confirm one or more core messages of your presentation. Of course, this only makes sense if your audience also knows this personality.
The effort for a video production
How much effort does it take to make a video? You have to leave the production of a professional product film or a corporate video to real professionals. Because the result should also convince with the technical quality. If necessary, you can also produce smaller interview sequences with participants or known colleagues yourself using a smartphone from the upper mid-range and a tripod. Software for cutting the sequences is available from the cell phone manufacturer; in some cases the necessary software is already integrated.
Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Informatiker Matthias Garten as the expert for multimedia presentations and professional PowerPoint presentations knows about the art of professional slide design. He is an entrepreneur, speaker (TOP 100 Speaker), trainer (TOP 100 Excellence Trainer), multiple book author, presentation coach (presentation training), member of the GSA and Club 55, organizer of the Presentation Conference, Presentation Bootcamp and Presentation Rocket Day. In addition to PowerPoint and presentation training, he inspires and advises companies to present themselves even more effectively and thus stand out from competitors. He is the business owner of the presentation and PowerPoint agency smavicon Best Business Presentations and with his team has created over 15,000 professional PowerPoint presentations for over 150 industries since 1993.
