A power saw is a wonderful tool, but if you don’t have any training or skills, it’s easy to sacrifice a finger on the altar of ignorance.

Sadly, the same thing could be said about PowerPoint.

How can you use this amazing tool to make your point with power?

Let’s look at one simple principle—windows vs. margins.

What do I mean by windows?

If we use backgrounds for our slides that appear to extend beyond the edges of the screen, the slide becomes a metaphorical window into a larger world—as if our viewers were looking out a physical window.

If you’re watching this video, the background behind me shows only a piece of the setting. You can imagine what lies beyond the frame.

Elements that bleed off the edge create depth—depth that helps the information in front of it pop.

A slide is a square box—there’s no getting around that—but that box doesn’t have to be a constraint.