How to Learn PowerPoint Online

If you’re just starting to learn a new skill, you can find dozens of tips and resources online; learning PowerPoint is no different.PowerPoint is used to create evocative and memorable presentations for professional settings like offices and seminars. It is the most commonly used presentation software across most professional industries. If you’ve always wanted to learn PowerPoint, there are plenty of options at your fingertips. From free tutorials to live classes, your options are here so you can decide how to learn in a way that works best for you. 

What is PowerPoint?

Microsoft PowerPoint is the most commonly used presentation software across almost all professional industries. PowerPoint is one of the most important parts of Microsoft’s Office 365 programs, alongside Word and Excel. PowerPoint lets users easily create vibrant and memorable presentations that quickly communicate meaning in a professional setting. Users can add animations, transitions, graphics, and other imagery to their slides, ensuring they produce both communicative and impressive presentations for their audience.

PowerPoint is a slideshow editing tool built to give users the tools they need to organize information, communicate effectively, and produce presentations to deliver through live address or without a presenter. PowerPoint makes the job easier and more efficient, whether you manage important information in advance of a meeting, prepare a sales pitch to a potential client, or compile important workplace policies and procedures in a single place. This versatility has made PowerPoint an industry-standard tool in almost all professional contexts.

Read more about what PowerPoint is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with PowerPoint?

PowerPoint allows users to create vibrant and memorable visual presentations that can serve a wide variety of purposes. PowerPoint’s advanced features let users integrate dynamic animations and 3D modeled graphics into their designs, allowing them to create more complex presentations than simple text projected onto a screen. Whether you are attempting to keep an audience engaged during a critical seminar or make a sales pitch as memorable as possible, PowerPoint gives you the tools to wow your audience.

Some users will use PowerPoint to create informative slideshows that condense complicated information into a single, easy-to-digest presentation. This makes the program ideal for both instructors and professionals looking to host informational seminars regularly. In fact, many online classes you take will use PowerPoint to provide students with the main takeaways from a lecture. Some users, who need to persuade audiences, such as entrepreneurs meeting with potential investors, will use PowerPoint to create memorable and persuasive presentations that convince their audience to invest in their product.

Live Online PowerPoint Training

For some students, learning PowerPoint in person may not be an option. They may be too far away from a training center, or they may be unable to commute. For these students, live online training classes are available to provide them with professional instruction from the comfort of their own homes. These courses provide students with many of the same perks as an in-person training session, mainly by letting them interact directly with live instructors who are prepared to answer their questions and guide them through a PowerPoint education. The downside to these courses is that students won’t have access to any hardware or software and may need to acquire PowerPoint independently.

Noble Desktop offers all of its in-person PowerPoint courses as live online seminars. These courses come with Noble’s free retake option, expanding students’ ability to get even more hands-on experience with PowerPoint. Even in a live online course, class sizes remain small, ensuring students can work directly with Noble’s professional instructors. Online training providers such as Coursera and Udemy also offer PowerPoint training in a live online format. Students can compare their options for live online PowerPoint classes using Noble’s Classes Near Me tool.

On-Demand PowerPoint Classes

Some students may find that their schedule doesn’t allow them to enroll in a live training program. On-demand training options may be ideal for students with these work or family commitments who still want to learn PowerPoint. These classes, which vary in form and content, give students greater flexibility over the pace and structure of their instruction. Rather than working on an existing schedule, students can learn and practice when it is convenient for them, which can be necessary for some students. The drawback to these courses is that because they lack a live instructor, it can be easy to get stuck on complex concepts with no source of feedback.

A wide variety of on-demand PowerPoint courses are available to students, and Noble Desktop can help students find the one that is right for them. Some of these courses are free, while others require students to pay a flat fee or enroll in a subscription service. Some of the courses are pre-recorded lectures that allow students to work at their own pace. Other courses are individual modules that students must progress through in a particular order. Each model has advantages and disadvantages, so students should carefully consider their options before enrolling in an on-demand course.

Free Intro Courses & Tutorials

For students who aren’t ready to enroll in a PowerPoint bootcamp or who just want to learn the basics of the program, free introductory resources may be an ideal place to start. Noble Desktop provides students with a free PowerPoint Presentation Design seminar in which students will learn the fundamental theories of design that go into creating evocative and memorable presentations. No one wants their presentations to bore audiences, and this seminar is designed to ensure that students have the skills required to keep audiences engaged.

Other service providers, such as Udemy and Coursera, offer additional free introductory courses teaching students how to use PowerPoint to design presentations. These courses won’t provide comprehensive skills training, but they are ideal places to start learning the basics of PowerPoint. In addition, Microsoft offers students with free training tutorials on subjects ranging from PowerPoint templates to using 3D models in a presentation.

Read about more free PowerPoint videos and online tutorials.

Comparing Online Methods with In-Person Learning 

Students may find that the number of different options they have for learning PowerPoint can be intimidating. The options can be overwhelming between concerns about where they will learn PowerPoint and how they will learn it. Students must consider their own needs and limitations when deciding what courses to select.

The primary form of PowerPoint training is through live instruction, either in-person or online. These courses will let students interact directly with live instructors who are ready and available to provide students with feedback and assistance. Many students find these courses the best way to learn professional skills like PowerPoint.

In-person instruction will let students receive immediate feedback from instructors, and they will be able to collaborate with like-minded colleagues in their classrooms. In addition, they are likely to have access to a service provider’s computer equipment. However, they will need to commute to a campus, adding both time and cost to what is already the most expensive and time-consuming option for learning PowerPoint.

Live online courses address the need to be in a specific location for training. These courses let students learn from expert instructors without having to leave their own homes. However, they may need to provide their own hardware and software, which can be a barrier for some students, and they will lose out on the advantages offered by working close to other students.

For students who can’t attend a live training session, on-demand PowerPoint classes provide students with an alternative option. These courses give students greater flexibility over the pace and style of their training, making them perfect for students who need control over when and where their training takes place. These courses lack live instructors, so students who become lost in the material need to find other means of assistance, which can be time- and labor-intensive.

Tips to Succeed when Learning PowerPoint Online

There are many reasons students prefer in-person learning to online learning, though most of these are resolvable. Students new to online learning environments may find adjusting to the new setting difficult. Students who are worried about their ability to succeed in an online environment should take a few steps to maximize the effectiveness of their online learning.

One of the significant advantages of classroom learning is that the classroom space is designed to minimize distractions and funnel student attention towards the instructor. Students looking to replicate this in their home workspace will want to ensure they can keep outside distractions to a minimum. This can be as simple as closing a few windows and informing a roommate or partner of a class, or it can be as involved as moving to a different office or asking someone to watch children or pets during a class session.

More challenging for some students will be ensuring they resist the temptation to multitask or do other work while in a training session. Moving out of the classroom and into one’s home can make it very easy to lay in one’s bed and zone out while an instructor is lecturing or open another tab on your computer and start shopping or filling out paperwork. This will make it more difficult to work, as studies repeatedly demonstrate that students are much worse at multitasking than they think. The only way to address this issue is through an honest self-assessment of their abilities.

Students may also want to ensure they have a stable workspace and can troubleshoot common computer issues. Students won’t need to spend a great deal of time learning IT skills, but a bit of work to ensure that they don’t miss coursework due to computer problems or connectivity issues can go a long way toward helping students succeed in online learning.

Key Insights

• PowerPoint is a presentation design application used in almost every industry and professional context. Anyone working in an office or professional environment benefits from learning PowerPoint skills.
• Students may find they want to learn PowerPoint skills online, either because they cannot attend an in-person course or prefer learning online.
• Students who hope to learn online can choose live instruction courses or on-demand classes.
• Some students may want to consider assessing and altering their home workspaces to minimize external and internal distractions to succeed in online learning.
• While not necessary, learning to troubleshoot common computer problems can help online learners avoid missing class time due to computer failures.
• Students looking for comprehensive, live online PowerPoint training should consult the options available through Noble Desktop.

Learn PowerPoint with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Professionals looking to learn PowerPoint may consider skills development training through Noble Desktop. These courses, available in person at Noble’s Manhattan campus and through live online instruction, will give students hands-on training in designing and organizing information using PowerPoint. These courses, which expert instructors teach, will provide students with the experience needed to build evocative and memorable presentations. Even in online courses, class sizes are kept small, so students can interface directly with their instructor to receive assistance and feedback. Plus, Noble offers free retakes on all its courses, giving students more opportunities to practice building presentations in a professional environment.

Noble offers a PowerPoint Bootcamp, which teaches students, even those without prior PowerPoint experience, how to design compelling and evocative presentations. In this certificate-granting program, students will learn how to work with PowerPoint layouts, add animations and graphics, and work with layers, charts, graphs, and other objects. Then, students will receive advanced skills training, such as creating reusable PowerPoint templates, utilizing multimedia features in a presentation, and recording a presentation for later use. These skills will take students from novices to PowerPoint experts and prepare them to use the program professionally.

Since PowerPoint is a design program, Noble also offers students a PowerPoint Presentation Design course. This class focuses on the rhetorical and theoretical side of communicating through PowerPoint. In this class, students will learn design principles related to color, typography, graphic images, and other visual design elements. Whereas a bootcamp course teaches students how to use the tool to build presentations, this course will teach students how to design them, giving them the composition and design theories they need to make their presentations memorable and effective.