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Empowering Companies to become PowerPoint Experts

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Training Workshop helps employees from FedEx, Whirlpool, Dart Container, American Express and Aramark create world-class presentation visuals.

Valarie Thomas of FedEx with boring presentation

Like her employer FedEx, Valarie Thomas helps companies improve efficiencies and save time and money.  But back in April, 2014, Valarie looked inward and discovered inefficiencies in her own process of creating presentations.

“They were taking too long to create and they looked cheap,” the senior strategic sales analyst explained.  “Management was satisfied with things, but I wasn’t.”

So Valarie invested $500 of her own money for a four-hour, two-part web-based PowerPoint Training Workshop, focused on advanced PowerPoint techniques and skills.  The return on her investment were immediate and measurable.

“My productivity improved, and my manager even commented on how much better my slides looked,” she boasted.

Kevin Lerner presenting to clients

A passion for helping people present

For Presentation Team trainer and founder Kevin Lerner, sharing his knowledge and 20 years of experience is personally and professionally gratifying.  “I’m blessed to have a job where I’m able to help people,” he shares, adding that, “I’ve had clients hug me after our workshops.”

Lerner founded The Presentation Team in 1995, built upon a lifelong passion for presentation design and communications.  Over the years, the firm has worked with some of the world’s largest companies, including Oracle, Motorola, Tyco, and Verizon.  More recently, the firm has augmented its presentation design services with PowerPoint Training and Presentation Skills Coaching services, which in 2013 accounted for nearly half of their revenue.

Confused by PowerPoint

A Popular Program…Poorly Practiced

With over 300 million users and a market-share of 95%, PowerPoint is the presentation standard.1  And yet, most people have a general working knowledge of it.  Most people are left to learn it themselves, or take a basic class.  Simply knowing how to use the program doesn’t make a person a presentation guru.

That’s exactly what compelled General Electric Executive Vice President Michael Dahlweid to seek the coaching of a PowerPoint Presentation expert.  In January 2014, he and a colleague traveled to DC for a two-day coaching program designed to sharpen their skill and expertise in presentation design.  By the end of the second day, Dahlweid was creating top-quality graphics with the ease and efficiency of an expert.

To some companies PowerPoint is embedded within their culture; a meeting without PowerPoint is tantamount to a student not doing his homework.  And although some companies have dedicated departments or individuals focused on presentation graphics, most employees are on their own for presentation production.  Employees who have mastered PowerPoint to support their communications are often recognized as stronger leaders or managers.

Presentation ROI

A measurable and valuable ROI

And there’s often a great disconnect between a company’s brand image, and a company’s typical internal PowerPoint presentation. Some companies are recognizing the importance of improved presentations, and investing time and money to train their employees.

Katie Farmer, an senior executive assistant at Whirlpool traveled from Benton Harbor, Michigan to work with The Presentation Team, spending two intense days learning the intricacies of PPT, practicing keyboard commands and sharpening her skills.  She returned home with a cadre of skills and resources to help her create better presentations in shorter timeframes.

The payoff on presentation training can be immediate and significant.

“If our training can help a client create a presentation that helps win a multi-million-dollar contract, we’ve accomplished our mission,” explains Lerner, who adds that many clients have shared stories of presentation success.

Best presentation practices with hands-on learning

The Presentation Team’s training is more than just a PowerPoint 101 class.  The interactive workshop emphasizes effective design strategies and creative techniques to help make presentations more impactful and memorable. Some benefits include:

  • More focused headlines with reduced body text
  • Greater emphasis on clean design with respect to white-space
  • Telling the story through bold iconic imagery
  • Increased Use of Title & Section Slides for improved flow
  • Spanning key messages across multiple pages for greater memory retention

Under the hood of PowerPoint

The PowerPoint Training workshop also gets “under the hood” of PowerPoint, demonstrating technical strategies, and lesser-known features of the program including:

  • Use of Keyboard shortcuts control keys
  • Development of Themes, Masters, and Layouts
  • Customization of PowerPoint ribbon and shortcuts
  • Resources for finding graphics and digital content
  • Improved development efficiency and better time management

Training that sticks

Most students will they forget the majority of training material.  But for students at The Presentation Team’s Advanced Training Workshops, their training is long-lasting. Beyond a program that’s fun and memorable, the classes apply easy-to-recall techniques. Additionally, students have the full 500-page training program to review long after the course.  And every engagement comes with several coaching calls.  Clients can check-in to sharpen their skills or gain feedback on a presentation up to one-year after their training.

Kevin Lerner is burning the midnight oil, working at 12am to customize a training curriculum for an upcoming class.  He says the preparation has gotten easier, but he still spends time preparing each training workshop for his clients.  He says he’s proud of his accomplishments and has great visions for the future of The Presentation Team.  But his happiness for now, he says, is in the joy he brings to his clients helping them do their job better through great presentation skills and design.

1 Indezine Issue 22

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Presentation Perfection for Clients around the World.

  • arrows
  • aarp-foundation
  • adt
  • american express
  • ash
  • bet
  • celgene
  • comcast
  • crown investment
  • environics
  • faa
  • fse
  • icf next
  • ifa
  • marriott
  • mid florida
  • motorola
  • nasa
  • oracle
  • pepsico
  • ryder
  • software ag
  • traub hospitality
  • true north
  • v2soft
  • velos
  • xscion
  • "We engaged The Presentation Team to do a Presentation training for our team and he did a great job. He spent time understanding our requirements and the skill level of our team members and created a course which met our expectations and goals. I highly recommend The Presentation Team as a Presentation (PowerPoint) trainer."

    Navdeep Sidhu
    Senior Director, Software AG

  • "Kevin Lerner provided best-in-class services when hired to work on promotional materials for the launch of a key product at Motorola. The expertise and quality that he brought to the project were second to none and as a result, he delivered a top-notch presentation that was quickly adopted throughout the organization. Kevin is great to work with, delivers on time, is a great team player and is always willing to go the extra mile."

    Maria Cardoso
    Motorola

  • "Kevin has been a working with Cox Communications to deliver world-class PowerPoint presentation visuals since 2009. His ability to meet our specific needs, timeframe, and budgets has been exceptional. His professional interaction with our team reflects his deep expertise in the industry, superior presentation design skills, and commitment to superior service."

    Jonathan Freeland
    VP, Video Marketing at Cox Communications

  • "Kevin is an enthusiastic, creative, and passionate presentation guru. Our company was impressed and felt the value of his training in 2013 that he was invited again recently to again share his knowledge. Both times he has been energetic and addressed many areas for presentation development. From planning to follow-up Kevin is personable and easygoing, motivating our teams to take their presentations to the next level."

    Yoshimi Kawashima
    Project Coordinator, Nissin International

  • "Kevin helped me immensely improve my presentation slides development, from tips & tricks to aesthetics, all with the intent of getting the message across crisply and creatively. I've already received praise for decks that incorporate the skills obtained from his training. I highly recommend Kevin's services."

    Era Prakash
    General Electric

  • "Kevin helped me immensely improve my presentation slides development, from "The PowerPresentations seminar opened my eyes to all the limitless possibilities in presenting."

    Leah Gordillo
    Saint Francis Medical Center

  • "Kevin helped me immensely improve my presentation slides development, from "[Kevin and The Presentation Team have] always delivered 110% in terms of meeting our objectives for finished product and budget"

    Paul Price
    Watsco Corp.

  • "I had more people come up to me after I spoke, commenting on the visuals you created, than I did on the subject matter!"

    Andy Smith
    Smith & Robb Advertising

  • "As a Fortune 1000 company, we sought to produce a classy, yet conservative presentation for our shareholders. It was evident that you and your team listened to our thoughts as you developed the presentation..."

    Will Flower
    Republic Services

  • "Your expertise in the filed of PowerPoint and general presentation techniques helped elevate us to the level necessary to beat the competition."

    Mike Geary
    James Pirtle Construction

  • "Kevin brought a high level of creativity, enthusiasm, and deep multmedia experience to our team. He worked dillegently with the team to produce an outstanding proposal which we subsequently won.

    Jeff Keller
    Accenture/L3

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