PowerPoint vs Word: Choosing the correct communication tool
Written by: Sarah Bailey | Professional PowerPoint Design | PowerPoint Design Specialist | PPT Solutions | Creative PPT design | Training solutions
Annoying isn't it? You open your inbox to a PowerPoint presentation that you expect to be beautifully designed, eye catching and easy to read. No? In fact, the presentation is over 100 slides of the bullet points, little to no visuals, so much text you get lost in the detail, and is almost impossible to quickly navigate back to a section that you want to refer back to.
Sound familiar? Yes? Well, unfortunately you are not alone. Today, PowerPoint is often the application of choice for creating any type of document — and quite often the wrong choice.
This article provides advice on which application is best suited for your communication needs.
“In the beginning,” there really was very little difference between how the two applications MS Word and MS PowerPoint were used. It was more often than not a personal preference, as both applications manipulated the content to be communicated. In a way, Word was seen as writing in portrait with a white background and PowerPoint was Word in landscape format with coloured backgrounds with the addition of ghastly WordArt. :O
Thankfully, both applications have progressed over the years, each having their own unique features, which provide a distinct difference between the applications.
PowerPoint is great for VISUALS
POWER - the ability or capacity to do something or act in a particular way.
POINT - Give force or emphasis to (words or actions).
POWERPOINT - Emphasize the actions.
If you consider POWERPOINT, you summarise one particular point or heading or topic in one slide. Usually text is a large font size so that your audience can read it when projected onto a screen.
PowerPoint is the perfect application for communication types such as:
To visualise complex data and information
To summarise and present key information to an audience, e.g. from a large report or survey
Training and tutorials
Toolkits
Digital or multimedia CV's as a unique way of presenting skills and knowledge
Digital portfolio and capabilities
Visual case studies
And yes, you can even make videos in PowerPoint which can be recorded, uploaded and distributed over various platforms
When presenting to a live audience, whether it be a training solution or a business presentation, PowerPoint is only half of the battle. The other half is giving a stellar verbal presentation (i.e. not reading the content on slides) to accompany the presented material.
Considerations
Do you really need to send a 50 slide visual proposal to your client or can you get the same message across in a 2 page Word document for a lot less resource effort and cost to your business?
It is often too easy for businesses to fall into the 'visual trap' of developing lengthy time consuming and often resource intense proposals in PowerPoint, when really all the client wants to know is; Do you understand their needs? How you are going to address their needs? How much is it going to cost them? and when will it be delivered?
Word is great for WORDS
WORD - a single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing, used with others (or sometimes alone) to form a sentence and typically shown with a space on either side when written or printed.
Generally, if you need to go into the detail with a higher quantum of text, tables and figures, then MS Word is probably more suited for these communication types, such as:
Proposals and contracts
Reports with texts and tables
Dissertations and dossiers
Novels and short stories
Letters and newsletters
Policies, procedures and how-to guides
Handouts to accompany presentations or training materials
Forms such as questionnaires and feedback forms
In Word you write everything such as a briefing, explanation quoting examples and you may also include a table of contents, headings and sections for easy navigation.
Considerations
Your Senior Managers have asked you to communicate the results of a recent survey. Before sending through the 100 page full report with quotations. benchmarks, challenges and recommendations, think about what information your Senior Managers need to know. 9 times out of 10, they would want a couple of slides developed in PowerPoint visualising the key points and takeaway messages.
Conclusion
To save you both time and effort and to help deliver your messages in the application that best suits the information being communicated ensure that you choose the right application for your needs.
Although each application allows for collaboration between both types, there are different features available for each of these applications which are unique in their own ways and you cannot easily create the same document types in either application.
While Word is used to create detailed documents such as letters, forms, mailings and reports, PowerPoint on the other hand is used to develop visual presentations for business meetings, seminars, workshops or trainings with as little text as possible to engage the intended audience and allow for presenter/participant discussions around the topic being presented.
For example, using Word to create a graphical representation is much more difficult than creating the presentation in PowerPoint. Likewise, using PowerPoint to create a navigable dossier or text heavy report with headings, subheadings, citations and references has its limitations.
Overall, guided simply, apply Word for WORDS and PowerPoint for VISUALS then you can't go too wrong.
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