Presentations can be tricky. You could mess up a lot if you do not practice well or if you get nervous. However, in 2019, Microsoft first released PowerPoint’s AI-powered coach, to help people find a way to make presentations with ease.
The first release was on the web and now, the coach is rolling out to all platforms, including Windows, Android, Mac, and iOS.
In coach mode, the AI will listen to presentations and make a suggestion based on the tone and delivery of the presenter. For example, it will warn you if you use too many ‘umm’s or ‘aah’s.
What is the experience like?
In a test of the coach, we found the word and tone detection to be very functional. After several corrections and goofs, one of us got frustrated and said several bad words. The AI coach was still listening and warned the perpetrator to avoid using profanities.
Microsoft says that the coach will help you pronounce words correctly. There is a problem there though. The training the AI received was in “General American English” so, for now, if you pronounce a certain word differently where you come from, you can ignore the AI’s suggestions.
There’s more
The company introduced a new feature that gauges your body language when you present through the camera. It will track eye contact, the distance from the camera, and how visible your face is.
This will be useful when you are presenting online. However, this particular feature is only available on the web and desktop for now.
When the session is over, the coach will give you a report on your pitch, the average words per minute rate, originality (repeated phrases), and speech refining.
1 hour ago
