Less is more. Well, sometimes. Maybe not in your monthly pay packet, or in the lack of seats on the morning commute, but life certainly throws up the odd occasion when not doing as much as possible is a wise approach. Take presentations, for example: do you really need to bombard an audience with so much information, so many bells and whistles, that they can't see through to the important message? After all, that message is why your audience is there - they came to see the content of your presentation and not the style of it, they came to see what you have to say, not how you say it.

Microsoft PowerPoint certainly isn't short of style, and offers a veritable cornucopia of bells and whistles. Animations, stylish transitions, arresting graphics, multimedia - all manner of tools are available to enliven a presentation, all serve a real and positive purpose, and there can be a temptation to lever as many as possible into your slideshow. This is only natural, particularly for those with little experience of this kind of software: any of us might happen upon these tools and, thoroughly impressed, decide that 'I could use that in my presentation, the audience will love it'. And then, before long, the message is submerged, and we're unable to free it from the flood of stylish attractions.

How, then, to ensure that the content of your presentation isn't overwhelmed by its style? Certainly not by going to the opposite extreme. As we've already said, PowerPoint's visual tools are there for a genuinely beneficial reason, to turn a drab speech or basic slideshow into something more engaging and involving. The key, then, is not to use too much, like adding a dash of cinnamon to an apple crumble - too little leaves the dessert too bland, too much overwhelms the other flavours. And just as there are standard measurements to use in cooking - a pinch, a spoon, a cup; a pound, a pint, a litre - so there are guidelines we can keep in mind to ensure that we don't use too much or too little of PowerPoint's enhancements.

The first thing to consider is fundamental: if you're looking at adding an improvement to any aspect of your presentation, what benefit does it actually bring? If you have a slide that's just text, there's nothing wrong with using a more aesthetically pleasing style; bullet points can fade in one at a time, or a more attractive font can be used, or a different colour scheme can make the screen easier on the eye (perhaps, instead of black text on a plain white background, you might have the text in a white box on a light blue background - just as easy to read, but more attractive).

But beware any temptation to over-animate the text (graceful fading in is okay, flashing icons may not be), or to include fonts that are difficult to read or colour schemes that clash. Similarly, if you have a video or photographs that would make a key point more effectively than mere words, then there's no reason not to include it - but it's still important to be sure that they really are needed; unnecessary or uninformative images and multimedia are a distraction, and cause more harm than good.

It's also worth thinking about what you're saying, and the context in which you're saying it. Bright colours and interesting animations, for example, might be a real improvement in a class about animals for primary school children, but less so if you're illustrating insurance issues to shareholders. Consider too the intended outcome of the presentation - are you looking to explain or persuade? The latter will often require a glossier and more dynamic approach than the former, a greater focus on style in order to hook the audience, making it easier to win them with the details. On the other hand, a presentation that seeks only to educate will need to make the details as clear and comprehensible as possible - large, simple fonts, straightforward colour schemes and multimedia content limited to explanation alone will be the order of the day.

Finally, it's also important to bear in mind that your audience will not be infinitely patient. Putting too much into your presentation can markedly extend its running time, leaving your crowd restless and with their attention drifting elsewhere. Distracting and irrelevant content (or repetition - it's important not to have slides that just repeat your own words) can also encourage their minds to wander, whilst an unsuitable style can make it difficult for them to engage with the key subject of the presentation. Whatever styles and content you use should focus the minds of the audience on that key subject, not lead them away from it.

And what is the key subject of your presentation? Why, it's you, of course. This is the most important lesson of all to learn about PowerPoint and all it can do for you: the software is there to assist; it's there to complement your presentation. But the audience is not there to see a computer in action; even if you were giving a talk on how to use PowerPoint - not that many of us will, but it does happen - then the focus should still be on you, what you're saying, what you're doing.

Take control of your presentation, interact with your audience, give your words a life and a humanity and an energy that even the most advanced software can't replicate. If PowerPoint is the cinnamon in the apple crumble, then it's still the apples that really count, the spice just makes them taste that little bit better.

Whatever you need to communicate to your audience, you can be confident that - with faith in yourself and with the assistance and enhancements provided by PowerPoint - your presentation will be a real success. There's certainly a lot to be gained from a short training course in using PowerPoint (and, if need be, in developing your personal presenting skills), to give you control over all those tools the software offers, and ensuring you can make the most educated choice in deciding which to use and which to leave out. In the end, achieving the perfect presentation is up to you, but Microsoft PowerPoint makes it easier to get there, and to get there in style.