When you run a live online presentation or webinar, you literally can show people anything you put onto your screen. This means you can show your desktop, web browser, or any particular desktop program.
To get started, I would recommend you show people your Mind Map outlines until you get the hang of real presentations. But when you get good at webinars, you're going to want to use PowerPoints to present most of your content. Using PowerPoints in webinars allow you to dramatically display your bullet points, show exactly what you want every time, and talk as you show information.
What do I mean by dramatic bullet points? I mean, you've seen plenty of PowerPoint presentations, maybe back in school, at work, or at seminars where the presenters who are presenting it live on stage only show the bullet points one at a time on the presentation slide. This way, they can make a very specific point and then show that bullet point right there on the screen to drive the point home. For me this is way more effective than popping out a set of Mind Maps notes or even displaying an entire PowerPoint slide at once, you show the bullets one at a time.
Another reason why PowerPoint is far better than Mind Maps on webinars is because with PowerPoint, you only have to show what you want. In a Mind Map, even if you're only focusing on one area of the map, you can't help but show what's before and after. So people watching the webinar are going to be able to guess or read ahead about where your presentation is going.
One thing I like to do especially in PowerPoints is to take screenshots of some kind of software program I'm presenting about and put each screenshot on a different slide of the PowerPoint. This means I can demonstrate functionality of a piece of software and I know that every single time I demonstrate it, it's all going to go the exact same way. Nothing can break because I'm only showing screenshots and I can use this presentation not just on webinars but in real life from the stage as well.
After all, when was the last time you saw somebody on stage running back and forth from the stage to the computer to pop out the Mind Map note? Never. PowerPoint is the industry standard and that's why you should use it.
But like anything else, it's always open to abuse. Use common sense. Don't use tons of bullet points, don't use ugly templates. And whether you're now an expert at PowerPoint or a beginner with Mind Maps, use the visual aid as a tool, not as a crutch.
Get started with webinars at first using Mind Maps and then with PowerPoints at www.webinarcrusher.com/blog.
