Youre in a conference room. Youre giving a PowerPoint presentation to several of your colleagues...and your boss.

On a scale of 1 to 5, how sensual is this experience? And just how important is sensuality in business-related PowerPoint presentations?

Believe it or not, live PowerPoint presentations can be sensory, full-bodied experiences. Sadly, many presenters focus primarily on the visual elements of PowerPoint, adding a dizzying display of wild backgrounds, pictures, charts, animations, and bullet points...simply because PowerPoint makes it easy to do so.

While focusing solely on visuals may stroke a presenters ego, it does very little to provoke a positive emotional response from the audience. Thats because information arrives in our brains through all five of our senses: taste, touch, sight, smell, and sound.

Just how sensual are you willing to be when you give a PowerPoint presentation? Put another way, how well do you address each of the following five sensory areas?

See PowerPoint Run... The best sensual presenters only use visual elements to activate the audiences imagination or emotions. As an audience member, when you feel your brain cells spark or your heartbeat increase upon seeing a graphic, youve been visually stimulated! Great visuals can stir your emotionsand spur you to take positive action. Sensual presenters skip endless, needless, hard-to-read, or boring visuals. They might be easy to add, but they do nothing positive for the audience.

Now Hear This... Sound is an incredibly important part of any presentation. I went to hear a widely recognized expert on PowerPoint design speak last week...and almost went straight to sleep! It wasnt his visuals, it was his voice! His slides might have been eye candy, but they werent enough. His bored monotone didnt match his widely purported passion for demonstrating and promoting excellent multimedia visuals. The most sensual presenters use a voice that projects enthusiasm for the subject matter at hand. And they skip the cheesy ta-dahs and other trite sound bites that inspire groans and eye-rolls!

The Aroma of PowerPoint... If you think that you cant smell a PowerPoint presentation, think again. Oh, the fragrance of dry-erase markers on a white board! The odor of perspiration, day-old pizza, and stale cologne that lingers from the coworkers who met in the room before you! What kind of scent best compliments your message? An aromatherapist I know anoints her room with essential oils that elicit audience attention and interest. If this sounds too new-age goofy for you, how about a fresh pot of brewed coffee, a vase of flowers, a bowl of fruit there are many business-acceptable ways to improve the aroma of your PowerPoint!

PowerPoint is a Banquet... Whats a business meeting without a nosh? Tasty little treats can really win over an audience. Sensual presenters score big points for providing a box of donuts, pizza, pastry, boxed lunch or other edible goodies for their audiences.

Feel the PowerPoint... As an audience member, youre always touching or feeling something during a PowerPoint presentation. Super sensory presenters provide pleasant or useful items for their groups to feel. If youre presenting, consider pencils and paper, product samples, and porcelain cups instead of styrofoam. Make sure the room temperature is a little cool...the more bodies you have in the room, the warmer it will get (and warmth can make the audience sleepy!)

All five senses provide a portal to the human mind. The more you can awaken and enliven your audiences senses, the more powerful your PowerPoint presentation can be.

Since 1999, over a million people have accessed free PowerPoint tips, tricks, techniques, and templates at Lauras website, http://www.maniactive.com. Now, you can learn even more about using PowerPoint more effectively by listening to Lauras PowerPoint Podcasts or by subscribing to herPowerPoint blog

An quick and easy answer to a very common customer question: How can I change the color of my hyperlink text in PowerPoint 2007?

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If you are naturally funny, by all means start with a joke. But for most of us, starting with a joke is a poor idea. Why? Because jokes depend upon perfect comedic timing. But, it's difficult to have perfect timing when you are nervous.

Since nervousness usually strikes during the first 60 seconds of your speech, that is the worst time to try a joke. So, what else can you do to grab your audience's attention?

One of the best methods is to recite a startling statistic, famous quote or personal anecdote that relates directly to your speech. Also, if you are using Power Point, you should display this information on your slide.

Here are some tips for using a statistic, famous quote or personal anecdote to start your speech:

1. Statistics: For example, I begin my public speaking workshops by saying, "55% of people are more afraid of giving a speech than dying!" That grabs people's attention and makes them want to learn my technique for dealing with fear of public speaking. So, where can you find startling statistics? One place is the US Government's site at: www.fedstats.gov. For Canada, you can check Statistics Canada at www.statcan.ca/start.html
2. Famous quotes: Here is a great online resource for quotes: www.quotesandsayings.com
3. Personal anecdotes: Here is a secret: start your story in the middle of the action i.e. "I am trapped! Yet another Power Point presentation! My eyes are about to glaze over. I am so bored!" By starting in the middle of the action, and gradually giving more details. you will captivate your audience's attention.

Begin your speeches the simple, easy way. Start your presentation with a startling statistic, famous quote or an interesting anecdote. Grab your audience's attention and set the stage for a great presentation!

2008 Reflective Keynotes Inc., Toronto, Canada

Mike Aoki is a trainer and motivational speaker with 20 years of experience in the telecom industry. For more free tips on public speaking, sales and call center techniques, visit http://www.reflectivekeynotes.com/articles.htm

You can change the formatting defaults associated with a shape, text box, or other object and then make your changes the new defaults for all shapes, text boxes or other objects that you add. For example, you can change the fill color, weight of lines that make up the border of a shape, or the fonts used in a text box.

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