How to give better PowerPoint presentations and improve your slides to keep an audience engaged

Not every presentation is linear, and you might prefer to jump back and forth from sections of your deck to a common "table of contents," so you can tackle the presentation in any order. This can be handy, for example, if you're using a deck for training or education. PowerPoint's Zoom feature is ideal for this.

Few things look as unprofessional as fumbling around trying to start your presentation in the PowerPoint app. But you can skip all that by setting your presentation to start instantly.

You can format any kind of chart so each segment animates individually. This can help you call attention to specific parts of the chart as you discuss it. Add a chart in the usual way, then:

PowerPoint lets you add objects — shapes, lines, arrows, text boxes, and other elements — to the screen, but getting them aligned can be tricky. You might appreciate knowing you can perfectly align any elements on the screen with just a couple of clicks.