Item: Microsoft Powerpoint
Rating: 9
Author: Hanna Musto

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Powerpoint

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I'm in Advancement for education and much of my job includes writing specific, customized proposals for prospective donors to the organization. Often, the gift officers I'm working with don't have experience with Adobe, so I needed a solution to be able to design a document, lock certain elements, but leave some accessible so that a regular person would be able to edit as needed on the road. It's an unconventional use for Powerpoint, but it's also exactly what I needed. Of course, I also use it for presentations both professionally and personally.

Pros and Cons

Pros

The ability to integrate with other Microsoft apps
A decent array of design elements that make it possible to create beautiful presentations and documents
Presentation modes that allow the presenter to take notes unseen by the audience—helpful for collaborative work

Cons

For my typical use, I'd love more options for print export
I'd like the ability to lock a theme for a document so that my collaborators don't accidentally go off-brand
Animations still feel rudimentary

Return on Investment

Increased engagement. Powerpoint allows us to create a standard template for donor proposals but change any elements for the specific donor so that they feel they're getting a totally custom product every time they interact with us.
Staying on brand. My coworkers struggle to adhere to brand standards to the extent that we in the marketing department would prefer. Powerpoint allows us to lock certain elements in a presentation, share a prepared theme, etc.
Because I tend to use Powerpoint outside of its intended purpose, it lacks some features that would make it more convenient for me, like the ability to export with marks and bleeds, etc. Projects can take longer because of this.

Usability

Usability is extremely high with Powerpoint. I find that some features are less accessible for my coworkers who didn't grow up with computers, like the recording and animation options, but I don't typically need those features anyway.

Key Insights

Do you think Microsoft Powerpoint delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Microsoft Powerpoint's feature set?

Yes

Did Microsoft Powerpoint live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Microsoft Powerpoint go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Microsoft Powerpoint again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Miro, Adobe InDesign

Likelihood to Recommend

I find Powerpoint to be extremely user-friendly. It's helpful for a variety of projects and can be used outside of its intended uses for create effective documents. I often prefer it over Microsoft Word for that purpose, especially for my older coworkers who are frustrated by the formatting limitations of Word.

Comments

Please log in to join the conversation

Get Creative with Powerpoint