Fifteen-year-old Tristan Mona, from Auckland’s Avondale College, has beaten more than 760,000 competitors from over a hundred countries to be crowned the King of PowerPoint.
Microsoft Office Skills is the world’s largest IT certification program, with 2.3 million certifications delivered annually. The Avondale High pupil has been practising his PowerPoint skills since February – spending about three hours a day honing his skills.
A humble and generous winner, Tristan thanked his school, his mother, his grandmother and his friends for all their support. ‘People say hard work pays off, this is proof,’ Tristan said. ‘I was shaking, it was surreal. I’m excited to see what comes next.’
Mona collected his seven-thousand-dollar cash prize at the final of the Microsoft Office World Championship at Hilton Orlando in Florida. Students enter the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship to prove their master skills in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship presented by Certiport, Inc. is a global competition that tests students’ skills on Microsoft Office Word, Excel® and PowerPoint® (2013 or 2016). Top students are invited to represent their respective countries at the World Championship. In some countries or regions, students are required to participate in a National Championship, and the winners of that event continue on to the World Championship.
In an interview with the NZ Herald, he shared his top tips for putting together a presentation, they are;
Tristan’s tips for creating a great PowerPoint:
- Make use of slide markers
- Include animations
- Transitions make it interesting
- Use different forms of media
For the whole article, head over to the NZ Herald here