Effective PowerPoint Presentation Training

Training and development are essential parts of the modern work environment (Gupta, 2013).  The requirements for the skills, knowledge and abilities change so fast that employees cannot work productively without regular training courses. To make this process effective, the Training Needs Analysis (TNA) should be performed before proceeding to developing a training program, its delivery and evaluation. Current paper will discuss the training needs of the group that includes twenty employees. Training needs will be used to determine the training’s objectives, which are necessary for calculating the cost of the training course. According to the scenario, the training session will last for two days, so the agenda of activities will be also prepared for this period. The developed training program will address the training needs of employees for the reasonable cost.

Training Needs Analysis

Training Needs Analysis (TNA) is the first key stage of the training program. It involves determining the gap between required and existing knowledge, skills and abilities, which are important for business conduct (Dahiya& Jha, 2011). The group of twenty employees was evaluated through TNA. The study reveals that employees have two training needs. First, they are not able to construct a clear story about a product, activity etc. Second, employees cannot design a proper power-point presentation. The training is designed for a large group of twenty employees that largely requires changes. Therefore, the most appropriate approach for this training is a broad overview. The limited skills, knowledge and abilities of employees do not allow applying a detailed overview. In case of power-point presentations, this means that the employees will receive a broad overview of the presentation tools. They will learn the key requirements to the text, visual elements and animations. This will help the employees learn to create meaningful presentations. However, the students will not be able to construct power-point presentations as professional designers.

The Training Objective

The training has a list of objectives. First, employees will be able to explain the value of qualitative presentation design after completing the course. Second, they will lean to create a presentation narrative. Third, employees will be able to create concise slides to support their narratives. Another training objective is learning to connect slides with the parts of the story. Employees will also be trained to search the ways of improving the elements of a presentation. In addition, the training objectives include teaching to choose colors and graphics that would enhance the overall look of the slides. After completing the training course, the employees will be able to apply transition and animation properly. Finally, the employees will be able to develop a presentation template.

Training Cost

Overall, the training program includes six workshops. Each of them costs $1320. Therefore, the total price for the two-day session would $ 7920 for group of twenty people (Business Training Works, Inc., 2015). Besides, the company can pay for some part of the training session. Single-session workshop costs $1500, while the cost of two-session workshop is $2,500 and half-day session costs $3,600. If the company wants to order two half-day sessions run in one day, it must pay $5,000. Full-day session is worth $4,400, whereas one and half-day session costs $7,200. The training program under consideration includes two full-day sessions. Each day employees must visit three workshops. The average duration of a workshop is two hours. There are short breaks between workshops.

Key Training Methods

The key method is two-day face-to-face training. The choice of the method can be explained by the objectives of the program. Leaning to make power-point presentations requires the dynamic relationships between the coach and students as well as between students themselves. In particular, they will not able to learn to articulate the presentation through an e-learning module. Besides, they might have problems with creating their own presentations because the face-to-face interaction with the couch is necessary for determining specific mistakes of each student.

Besides, face-to-face training method is ideal for this training program because it provides a richer experience (Ford, 2014). The students will be able to see, feel, speak and hear. Thus, they would see how other students behave while telling their stories, which is important for making presentations. For example, the employees will be able to observe both verbal and nonverbal language, e.g. gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, body positioning. The students will learn to control their tone and volume of voice (Ford, 2014).

In addition, face-to-face training is reasonable for this training program because employees will be able to improve their teamwork skills. Moreover, the two-day training course could be viewed as a team-building activity. The group members will have to interact with each other while creating presentations, so this will be similar to the real work on the project.

Another benefit of the method is an opportunity to monitor the discipline. Not all employees enjoy studying, so they need somebody, who will force them to do it. The presence of the coach in the classroom is a good motivation for them. In addition, the trainer can not only maintain discipline, but also improve the group motivation.

Agenda of Activities for the Training Program

The main activities of the training program are demonstrating the process of making power-point presentations and creating presentations by the students on their own. The first workshop is devoted to determining presentation objectives. The workshop begins with an open discussion about the audience of the presentation. The students should determine the goals of their presentations and expectations of the audience. For example, if the students create a presentation to demonstrate a new product, they should try to create a presentation that would catch the attention of the audience. Therefore, the main activity of the first workshop includes discussion of the presentation objectives and target audience. The outcome of first workshop is the list of presentation objectives.

The second workshop is focused on telling the story. The students are trained to put different parts of the story together using different options. They are explained why it is so important to articulate the story in a proper way. The employees work individually, in pairs and in groups. This allows them to deal with the fear of speaking in front of the audience as well as enhancing their presentation skills. These kinds of activities are very important because many employees will be able to create good power-point presentations but not able to tell the story (Wecker, 2012). During this workshop, the couch will pay particular attention to common mistakes of every student. For example, she/he will determine the words, which are used too frequently and should be avoided in the speech. Besides, the coach will give recommendations about the linking words. The minimum requirement is to articulate the story individually, to the partner and to the group. The outcomes of the second workshop are a written story and an ability to articulate it to the audience.

The third workshop is creating slides to support the story. During this workshop, the students will be shown numerous slide makeovers. The coach will explain when it is reasonable to use all these options of slide makeovers. After that, the students will be asked to create their own presentations. They will be encouraged to create a few samples of the same slide. This will allow creating presentations with different objectives and for different target audiences. Therefore, the main activities of the third workshop include discussion of slide makeovers and creation of a power-point presentation. The expected outcome of the third workshop is three samples of a presentation that support the story created during the previous workshop.

The fourth workshop is learning to create visual aids. The students will be explained how to combine texts, photos and colors to receive a harmonious slide. This is a very important part of the training program because many employees lack such skills. Most of them know how to write a text, add photographs or change color. However, they are not able to combine everything on one slide. Therefore, the major activities of the fourth workshop are discussion of the visual tools and adding harmony to the presentations. The outcome of this workshop is a presentation that has a proper mixture of visual elements. The students will then enhance all the three samples of the same slide.

The fifth workshop is focused on special effects. They add movement to the slide presentation, which strengthens the message. First, the couch will demonstrate the different kinds of animation and explain how to add them to the slides. She/he will also tell about the situations where the main types of special effects are used. After that, the students will be able to try to add different types of animation. This activity will require the help of the coach’s assistant because most of the employees do not know how to work with special effects. Therefore, the major activities of the fifth workshop are demonstration and discussion of the animations as well as adding animation to the slides. The outcome of this workshop is the creation of an animated power-point presentation that will include all three samples of the slides).

The sixth workshop is making templates. These templates should be flexible enough to be used for various types of presentations. The students work for one organization so they will be encouraged to create templates in the same style. This will allow sharing templates among the employees and making the slide presentations in the same format. Therefore, the major activity of the sixth workshop is creating templates. The outcome of this workshop is a flexible template, which could be applied as part of a presentation at work.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the training program within the organization begins with Training Needs Analysis (TNA). This tool allows determining the skills, knowledge and abilities necessary for performing job duties. After that, the existing skills of the employees are measured. The gap between the required and existing skills composes training needs that should be addressed during a two-day training session. Thus, it was determined that the company’s employees have weak presentation skills. Besides, they often cannot create meaningful power-point presentations. This means that they need training that would teach them how to present something in front of the audience and create power-point presentations. The total cost of the two-day training course is $7920.

The size of the group and training objectives determine the key training method. In this case, it was decided to choose a face-to-face training program. This training method provides a long list of benefits. First, employees will have a richer experience. They will be able to speak, listen to others and interact with the coach. Second, the employees will be constantly monitored, which would increase their motivation and discipline. Third, the training course will help improve relations between the employees and their teamwork skills.

The training program includes six workshops. The employees will study for about seven hours per day. Their learning process will be divided into distinctive stages. In the beginning, the employees will identify presentation objectives as well as write and learn to tell their stories. After that, they will start creating slides  choosing proper visual elements and adding animation. In the end, the students will make templates, which will be used in their work.