If you have read Cliff Atkinson's Beyond Bullet Points book, you'll want to look at the PowerPoint add-in he developed with NetCentrics Corporation. This add-in uses many of the principles in the book -- only you get doing the same processes faster and easier.
Lisa Allen is the Product Manager for the Sociable Media PowerPoint Add-In, Getting Things Done Outlook Add-In and other products developed by NetCentrics Corporation.
Here's a small interview with Lisa:
Geetesh: Tell us more about the Sociable Media PowerPoint Add-In -- and how the concept evolved.
Lisa: The Sociable Media PowerPoint Add-In is an add-in to PowerPoint built in collaboration with Cliff Atkinson, author of "Beyond Bullet Points" and in line with his methodology. Cliff contacted us late 2004 after reviewing our other products implementing a methodology into technology and after many discussions and design meetings, we planned for a February 2005 release in line with the book publishing.
Essentially this add-in automates the concepts defined in Cliff's approach to building PowerPoint presentations. Learn more about Cliff's Methodology and book at Sociable Media.
Using the Sociable Media PowerPoint Add-In provides the user with a powerful tool to ensure PowerPoint presentations are more interesting and tell a story which entertains and informs. Additionally, through the corporate branding toolbar, enterprises or workgroups can standardize their presentations and ensure all presentations conform to corporate identity, colors and other branding formats.
Geetesh: What can users of this add-in expect as far as improving their presentations is concerned.
Lisa: PowerPoint has become the language of business -- it is how we communicate our ideas, our goals and our business objectives. Yet, often presentations are too dry, stiff and confuse the audience. Beyond Bullet Points presents a compelling case that we should create a story to communicate our ideas. Think about the last time you sat for a presentation that was full of bullet points that you
couldn't read and
trying to read them caused you to miss the point of the conversation?
Well the idea behind this methodology and thereby this product is that you should create points and graphical representation to engage your audience, keep their attention and most importantly, encourage your audience to take your valuable information home with them. In other words, remember what was said.
Two valuable features of the Sociable Media PowerPoint Add-In are the toolbars and the story editor, both assist in this goal. The toolbars provide new buttons and highly used PowerPoint buttons all in one location for easy access. And the story editor interfaces helps you distill your ideas and then structure them following a persuasive story model. When you are finished writing the story, you simply click a button to generate a PowerPoint storyboard that you can begin illustrating.
If you are interested in learning more about the product or even try it for free for 30 days, visit the Netcentrics site...
