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Your business career is dependent on doing great presentations, and PowerPoint is, of course, the most widely used presentation software on the market today. When making your PowerPoint slides there is a lot to keep in mind. Many do not realize the abbreviated nature of a PowerPoint presentation and how they are meant to interact with it, so let’s look at how to make great presentations.

The most important thing in a PowerPoint presentation is to keep statements concise. You should limit the number of words on the screen. Use short bulleted lists with isolated bits of information accompanied by powerful graphics or eye-catching pictures. That doesn’t mean your listeners will get less information though. It is up to you to have your own notes and elaborate upon each and every point with dexterity. Remember that the slides are just there to sum up the information, not to relay everything one needs to know. It is up to you to provide plenty of detail about each point and, in necessary, supplemental materials to help listeners fully understand each concept.

In business school you probably learned the value of word-of-mouth advertising, but did you know that you can build this type of informal advertising with a newsletter? Whether you have a small business you want to promote or just want to ensure that you and your skills become known, a newsletter could be just what you need. In order to get your newsletter project off the ground, you will need to know the steps.

First, you must gather your contacts. After all, you must have people to send this newsletter to, don’t you? So consider clients, family, friends, past coworkers, other executives in the same field, and classmates. Next, you’ll have to determine the content of your newsletter. A brainstorming session should help you come up with numerous ideas to write about: anything pertaining to your latest ventures and projects will be interesting to the readers. Once you have the articles written, you will want to format them in some way that looks a little more dressed-up than a simple email. There are many templates available for formatting email newsletters, so this should be relatively simple. Finally, send the newsletter out to your list, and you are finished. The whole process is reasonably quick and painless and could have innumerable positive benefits for you in the long run.

When you are in business, there is no room to slack off. In today’s economy, there are always plenty of qualified people looking for jobs. That means that making yourself indispensable to your supervisors is not just a good idea, it is a requirement. In order to do this, follow these three points of action:

• Always be on time
• Avoid gossip
• Continually train

Of course, being on time is always important. I probably didn’t need to even mention it here did I? Wrong! Many executives can sneak in a little late and nobody ever mentions it. In a lot of firms, you can get away with murder—long lunch breaks, early quitting time, and showing up late. Just because you can is no reason to do it! Resist the temptation to take it easy. You must demonstrate every day that your bosses will never find anyone more dedicated than you.

In addition, never get involved with office politics or gossip. You don’t ever want supervisors to lump you in with “the others” who cluster around the water cooler talking about everything but work. If you find out someone has been terminated, don’t ask why, simply say, “I’m sorry to hear that. How can I help?” Finally, you must stay on top of your profession at all times. That means reading the latest journals and news about your career, and it means seeking advanced certifications in important software programs. It all adds to the simple admonition: don’t slack off! In this economy, preserving your job is hard, but necessary work!

If you are looking to get into a successful business career, then take advice from the experts. Those in the know at Fortune 500 companies always say that, for young professions, doing an internship is the best way to begin. These summer jobs are excellent opportunities to get your foot in the door and begin to network with future employers.

There was a time when an internship was nothing more than an exercise in photocopying and filing. Those days are long gone. Today, the competition for good entry level workers is high and companies are offering interns meaningful work that is challenging and tests their abilities. With companies scrambling to hire the cream of the crop of each business school, they are also offering interns the chance to really show their business acumen on the job. Whether you are going into finance, marketing, sales, or any other field, be sure to look into the internship possibilities available. If you perform well, they could help you rise to the top of your field in no time!