Reading. What are the reasons the software so popular today?

Discussion

What are the reasons the software so popular today?

Reading

Read the following text and answer the questions below:

Who uses presentation software?

How are presentations used?

What are the main components of presentation software?

Presentationis the process of presenting a topic to an audience. It can be anything from presenting a lesson to students to presenting the company mission statement to a group of new employees.

The traditional way of presenting information to people was to stand at the front of a room armed with a set of notes or prompt cards and to speak clearly and slowly.

With the development of presentation software such as Microsoft PowerPoint or Lotus Freelance around the mid 1980s, it quickly became the 'norm' to use a presentation show to illustrate the presentation content. Many people make use of presentation software to support them when they have to give a presentation to others. Sales people often have to give presentations to customers, clients or managers. They need to be able to present facts and figures perhaps to let managers know sales performances or perhaps to show customers their latest products. Most medium to large sized companies have a human resource department who will be involved in training new employees or providing training schemes for existing employees. Presentation software is regularly used as a training tool. Teachers often use presentations so that students have a concise set of notes to copy from the board. Students are also regularly asked to create presentations about a topic they have been studying. They may be asked to show their presentations to the rest of the class. Presentation software is regularly used during conferences. Speakers will project their key points onto a large screen whilst they talk about the subject.

A presentation can be set up to run continuously on a screen. Passers by can stop and watch for a short while. The presentation usually loops automatically back to the beginning once it has finished.

This can be used when you want to give people information. For example, the Post Office use this method to inform people about their products whilst queuing. Slides from a presentation can be printed onto acetates and used with an overhead projector. This method is becoming less common now as most businesses and schools use projectors linked to a computer. The slide show can be printed out in handout form. This puts between 2-6 slides onto one page. Handouts are often given to the audience so that they can make their own notes whilst the speaker is talking and to give them something to take away after the presentation. Another reason why the software is so popular is its ability to let you use multimedia to enhance your presentation.

Text. Sticking to text allows the speaker to keep the audiences' attention on them rather than distracting the audience with what is happening on the screen. The bullet points act as a prompt for what they need to talk about and enable the audience to keep track of what is being covered.

Images. Images can add visual impact to a presentation. They can also help to illustrate the point that you are trying to make. They help to break up a lot of monotonous text and give the audience something to focus their attention on.

Video. Video can be a powerful tool in presentations. It can be used to attract the audiences' attention or to show them something that could not easily be described just using words.

You can use existing footage from company archives, videotape libraries or personal collections or you can film your own.

Sound. Sound can be incorporated into a presentation in many different ways. You can have quiet music playing in the background throughout the presentation. Appropriate music or sounds can be played at a key point in the presentation. Voice narration can be used during the whole presentation or for certain parts. Sound can add a different dimension to a presentation. However, it is important not to allow the sound to distract the audiences' attention from the main speaker.

Дата добавления: 2015-08-27