PowerPoint Blog
Labels: books, opinion, presentation_skills
Carmine Gallo is a communications coach for the world�s most admired brands. He is a sought after speaker and author of the new book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience.
In this Indezine exclusive article, Carmine discusses how you can create better slides, and become a better presenter -- all techniques are inspired by Apple CEO Steve Jobs' presentation skills.
Read Carmine Gallo's article here...
Categories: books, opinion, presentation_skills
Labels: opinion, powerpoint
"Oh, no, not again! Don�t tell me I have to sit through another boring meeting staring at line after line of text on a wall," she mumbled. "Why can�t these people learn how to make their PowerPoint presentations more interesting?" We've all wondered the same thing, but monotonously bullet-pointed, text-filled slides continue to be the norm in most presentation venues. Be different: Show, don't tell.
This article by Robert Lane and Dr. Stephen Kosslyn provides you with better options that will allow you to dump so much text! Learn more here...
Categories: opinion, powerpoint
Labels: legal, opinion, powerpoint
A lot is at stake�power, money, reputation, future plans, justice. You need to win this case. Your presentation materials surely will play an important role in helping the judge and jury experience the sights, sounds, and details of the case � or not. The choice is up to you, says one tech-savvy attorney. It all depends upon whether you are willing to push PowerPoint beyond its normal boundaries to maximize its interactive and persuasive potential. 
This article by Robert Lane and Bruce A. Olson provides a better idea of using PowerPoint in court.
Read this now...
Categories: legal, opinion, powerpoint
Labels: interviews, opinion, powerpoint 
Brent Dykes has used PowerPoint for more than 10 years in various marketing and consulting roles. His presentations have been seen by executives at Fortune 500 companies and various marketing conferences. In 2008, he started the PowerPoint Ninja blog. Brent has an MBA from BYU and is Director, Consulting at Omniture.
In this conversation, Brent discusses his PowerPoint involvement and his blog.
Geetesh: Tell us more about your involvement with PowerPoint.
Brent: I�ve been working with PowerPoint for more than 10 years in a variety of contexts: sales and marketing, business school, business start-ups, consulting, and management.
My first significant exposure to PowerPoint came when I interned at Microsoft for a couple of semesters in the late 1990s in Vancouver, BC. As a sales and marketing intern, I gained access to Microsoft�s vast marketing slide repository so that I could build presentations for various speaking engagements. Seeing what other very skilled users had created with PowerPoint really opened my eyes to what could be done with this presentation software.
After graduating from Simon Fraser University with a BBA in Marketing in 1999, I joined a successful web design agency, Blast Radius (WPP), as a marketing analyst. A core responsibility of my role was to create reusable marketing presentations for our sales and executive teams. I also worked on several sales pitches for Fortune 500 companies.
In 2002, I went back to school for my MBA from Brigham Young University. As an MBA student, I was able to leverage my PowerPoint skills on a weekly basis in my various class projects. I was also able to participate in a couple of business plan competitions where my presentation skills helped my team to place as a semi-finalist in the 2004 BYU competition and second in the 2004 Utah Entrepreneur Challenge. It was great to get exposure to VC pitches.
For the past five years, I�ve been working for Omniture as a web analytics consultant, manager, and director. In that time I have worked extensively with PowerPoint in building various client presentations for Fortune 500 companies, which focused on data analysis and strategy. I�ve also been fortunate to present at several marketing conferences including a 2008 keynote presentation in Japan. For better or for worse, PowerPoint continues to be a big part of my life.
Geetesh: How did PowerPointNinja evolve? What sorts of thoughts do you post?
Brent: Throughout my career I�ve had several co-workers, managers, and clients praise me on my PowerPoint skills. In 2004, I finally decided to purchase a web domain that related to my PowerPoint expertise. I chose �PowerPoint Ninja� because ninjas are skilled, mysterious, and just plain cool.
After a few years of sitting on the domain and telling people that I would eventually create a PowerPoint presentation website, I decided it needed to happen in 2008. Eventually, I�d like to publish a PowerPoint Ninja handbook.
In terms of the types of thoughts I post on my site, I believe I bring a very practical or pragmatic perspective to PowerPoint design and business presentations. As someone who is using PowerPoint in a corporate environment, I can relate with many of the limitations and challenges that business users run into because I�m battling those same issues.
I post tips and tricks on how to use PowerPoint features and how to design effective business presentations. I try to focus on all three phases of PowerPoint presentations: planning, design, and delivery. If you�ve already read some of my articles you�ll also know that I like to have fun with my posts.
Categories: interviews, opinion, powerpoint
Labels: design, opinion, powerpoint
A prospective customer has invited you to showcase your company's products and services, and the stakes are high. This contract could be huge. Your marketing department and executives have been fretting over the necessary PowerPoint slides for weeks. Every word has to be perfect. Every slide must be in exactly the right order. Your mission is to lay down a faultlessly planned and executed sales strategy that persuades this customer to buy exclusively from you ... but you are worried! 
This article by Robert Lane and Andre Vlcek explains how you can sell better using PowerPoint.
Read this now...
Categories: design, opinion, powerpoint
Labels: opinion, techedindia2009
I write this as I am in the keynote being addressed by Steve Ballmer at Tech Ed India being held in Hyderabad.
Steve discusses how changing times and economic conditions make the IT industry cope up in different ways. Steve's session was preceded by a rock band performance that performed a specially created Tech Ed India song! More about Tech Ed in future posts!
Picture Courtesy: Shutterstock
Categories: opinion
Labels: authorstream, online_presentations, opinion, powerpoint, slideboom, slideshare
You can easily boost your business and your SEO / SEM efforts with the help of an old friend: PowerPoint. All you need to do is pick a topic that you want to relate your business to, prepare a presentation on that topic and then publish it on presentation plattforms like SlideShare, Slide.com, etc. You can then bookmark your online content and enrich it with keywords and descriptions to further promote your content and boost your SEO / SEM efforts.
J�rg Hahn tells you more in this Indezine exclusive article...
Categories: authorstream, online_presentations, opinion, powerpoint, slideboom, slideshare
Labels: design, opinion, powerpoint
This article by Robert Lane and Andre Vlcek explains why including pictures in presentations is a simple and powerful way of expanding your expressive potential as a speaker. Pictures communicate at levels beyond the descriptive possibilities of words and bathe the brain in much desired visual stimulation. At the same time, not all pictures are created equally.
Choosing the right images, and using them in the right ways, can greatly impact your effectiveness.
Read this now...
Categories: design, opinion, powerpoint
Labels: design, interviews, opinion, powerpoint 
Olivia Mitchell has been a Toastmaster, a management development trainer for a major bank, and a political candidate. Now she teaches others how to become more confident and effective presenters - through face-to-face training courses in New Zealand (Effective Speaking) and her blog Speaking about Presenting.
Geetesh: Can you tell more about what got you interested in design changes for PowerPoint slides? And how did the idea of a group blog come about?
Olivia: Most of my course participants, and visitors to my blog, already know that bullet-points are awful but they don't know what to do about it. I want to make it easy for people to transition from bullet-point slides to visual slides.
Many presentation design bloggers have a particular design style and that comes through on their blogs. So I see my role as digesting all the great design and styles that are out there and showing people how they can adopt those styles. For an example see my post The Top 7 PowerPoint slide designs.
The group blog came about because of post by Laura Bergells from the Maniactive blog. Laura argued that in some cases we need a return to more detailed slides. I started composing a blog post to respond to what Laura had written but realized that initiating a wide-ranging debate would be more interesting. I broadened the debate by suggesting that the theme of their posts should be "What you'd like to see in PowerPoint slide design in 2009."
I invited presentation bloggers and selected experts to contribute. There's now a total of 40 contributions. It seems to be an issue that people wanted to write about.
Geetesh: What's your opinion about changes in design?
Olivia:I totally support the move away from bullet-point slides.
But I think there is an issue with integrating new design approaches into everyday business culture. It's all very well to say that businesses should put as many resources into their PowerPoint slides as their brochures or annual reports, but that's not going to happen. The reality is that everyday business people will continue to put together the majority of PowerPoint slideshows. They are not going to read design books or read the archives of Presentation Zen. They need quick and simple ways of putting together slides that don't suck.
Geetesh: Can you quote some opinions from the numerous blog posts that have been put up as part of this group blog initiative.
Olivia:Here are some of the themes that have come through.
First, from the presentation bloggers who are in the trenches working with business people, there comes the theme that most presentations still suck. Here's Bert Decker:I would estimate 90% of all types of presentations are created by people who go to their computers and start the process by using the PP outliner or going right to writing text and bullets on the slides themselves. So the end result is totally PP driven, and we have information without influence and data without emotion.
Many other bloggers echoed this.
There are two main controversies that came through. The first one is "Does Design Matter?". On the one hand you have Joey Asher saying:But ultimately my position on PowerPoint is this: it�s largely irrelevant to whether you accomplish your goals. That�s because PowerPoint and other visuals, now matter how graphically pleasing, don�t inspire audiences, sell ideas, or win business.
and on the other, Ellen Finkelstein:I�d like presenters in 2009 to know that design is important. Good design provides a professional, custom look that says that the presenter cared enough about the audience to do more than slap on a default background. Companies hire professionals to design their web sites and printed brochures; why not their presentations, which are just as important?
The second controversy is "Simplicity versus Detail". This is the issue that Laura Bergells discussed in the post that sparked the project. The majority suggested that there should be one idea per slide and that should be supported by a visual.
But there was also a significant minority who suggested that it should depend - this from Brent Dykes:I am concerned that rather than adding the simple, visual approach to presenters' "toolboxes", presenters will use it as a hammer for all presentation situations. .. Just because bullet points may be perceived as the duct tape of PowerPoint design (inelegant and ugly), it doesn�t mean bullet points aren�t effective in certain situations.
Many bloggers used this opportunity to reiterate key design principles - there's a lot of unanimity around these -- which will provide clear guidance to presenters. For example:
Finally, many bloggers also looked at what might be ahead. The most interesting theme here was the influence of social media techniques on PowerPoint and presenting. Laura Bergells suggested that:The brevity of Twitter can make you a better designer. A better headline writer. A better presenter. Using and studying Twitter can be a powerful exercise in how to get your point across swiftly and succinctly.
I'll be publishing four round-up posts to highlight these themes. The first one is already published: PowerPoint Slide Design in 2009: Does Design Matter?
See Also: Slide Design in 2009: Changes -- by Geetesh Bajaj | PowerPoint Design in 2009 -- by Olivia Mitchell
Categories: design, interviews, opinion, powerpoint
Labels: design, opinion, powerpoint
This article by Robert Lane and Dr. C. June Maker explores how the human brain handles visual input and the implications for PowerPoint presentations. We recommend eliminating most of those carefully thought-out words on slides and replacing them with certain kinds of rich imagery. 
Doing so efficiently feeds the brain what it likes to see, and allows you to communicate messages in ways not possible with words alone.
Read this now...
Categories: design, opinion, powerpoint
Labels: design, opinion, powerpoint
This article by Robert Lane and Dr. Stephen Kosslyn explores how the human brain handles visual input and the implications for PowerPoint presentations. We recommend eliminating most of those carefully thought-out words on slides and replacing them with certain kinds of rich imagery. Doing so efficiently feeds the brain what it likes to see, and allows you to communicate messages in ways not possible with words alone.
Read the article here...
Categories: design, opinion, powerpoint
Labels: design, opinion, powerpoint
I came across this interesting blog post by Andrew Dlugan that's actually an open letter to the PowerPoint programming (development) team. It talks about making some changes to the program, and I do agree with several of them. About those I don't agree with, those are mainly wishes to curtail how the program operates by providing users with less options for transitions, words, and color. That's like debating the intelligence of users, and putting a road block to creativity.
I like the requests that pertain to including Nancy Duarte's book with every copy of PowerPoint. But asking everyone to pay for visuals and give Microsoft a cut -- well, that's a no-no. Lots of PowerPoint users are students, teachers, and churches that cannot afford to pay for every graphic that they use on a slide.
Andrew's opinions form a great starting point -- and the comments on the page prove that!
Categories: design, opinion, powerpoint
Labels: design, opinion, powerpoint
Life changes every day, and the world goes around. And even if we did nothing, said nothing, or put ourselves in the deep depths of contentment, change will still happen. Change is akin to growth -- and that growth might be a sapling sprouting from its seed or a conglomerate increasing its reach in world markets.
Both the sapling and the conglomerate can use PowerPoint slides in different ways -- and that's the ironical twist in the tale that brings me to the subject of this blog post. Before I tell you where PowerPoint slides come in the picture, let me share some info about the inspiration for this post.
Olivia Mitchell of the Speaking about Presenting blog sent me a note about this new group blog initiative that she was spearheading to collect opinions about PowerPoint design changes in 2009. I had just got back from vacation, was writing my next book, and had a full inbox! But Olivia was persistent -- and she even responded to my request to view posts by others.
Ellen Finkelstein, a dear friend says "design" rhymes with "2009". And half a dozen posts later, I knew I had different (but not opposing) opinions than the rest -- so I got started with this post.
So now about PowerPoint slide design, and what I am hoping will change in 2009. I kept my list very simple with ideas you can use straightaway -- if this helps, do come back and read this post again because most of my thoughts seem to indicate that "repeat" is a great word! Of course, feel free to comment on that as well.
Something, Nothing, and Everything: First of all, as I mentioned earlier change happens if you do something -- or if you do nothing. However, that statement is not an incentive to do nothing, but it certainly does indicate that don't do too much. I think at some time or the other, we all fall in the trap of doing too much, getting loads of info on our slides, and drowning the actual message of the presentation with gobbledygook. Not doing too much is probably the easiest thing we can do to make better slides, and it might also be the most effective part. By all means though, keep all that extra info, and try to make this supporting info available as handouts or downloads. Since you end up with less content, you can spend more time on the design of your slides.
Think Ahead of Time: If you don't spend enough time creating the message and flow of your presentation, it shows in the design as well. I know there may be occasions when you are hard-pressed for time -- in that case, make concept slides you have to use often even before you know you have to design or deliver a presentation.
Start with Paper: Always start your presentation on paper -- draw your ideas, link relationships between concepts, and create a storyboard. Take another sheet of paper, redo the entire thing -- this time, remove all unwanted info, and fine-tune further. Repeat as often as required -- show this to a trusted colleague or friend, and use their opinions where relevant. Think of the entire presentation from the audience point of view, and make more changes. This process will create an effective slide design in your mind -- subconsciously. It just works!
Next, the Computer: Now move the concept to the computer -- and don't start with PowerPoint yet. Use a mind mapping application if you are comfortable with it, or just use Notepad or Microsoft Word -- create a sequence and flow between successive concepts. Rethink, reorder, and reorient as required -- repeat as often as you want. This keeps your design clean.
Read more books in 2009: Get to read more books in 2009, but don't think they are the end-all. Consider them as inspiration to learn more, think about presenting concepts, and experiment with your design. I'll recommend these books:
Categories: design, opinion, powerpoint
Labels: opinion, powerpoint
Every year, Lisa Lindgren coordinates with the media for this professional survey on presentations for InfoComm -- and this year too, she sent me these details. All participants will receive a free survey report. Make sure you participate.
Are you a Presentation Professional?
Compare yourself with your peers in InfoComm International�s annual Presentation Professional survey. This year it�s shorter, easier and faster to complete. Whether you�re one of many in a corporate setting, or a one-person shop wearing all the hats, see how you compare in the skills you have and the challenges you face.
To thank you for sharing your opinions and experiences, you will receive a free survey report by e-mail.
This survey is completely confidential and anonymous. All data will be consolidated with other participants and will not be available to anyone as individual responses.
To participate, click here...
Categories: opinion, powerpoint
This guest post is by Daniel Park, author of Camtasia Studio: The Definitive Guide. Daniel has just launched a new screencasting newsletter, and this is an excerpt from the first issue -- make sure you subscribe to The Screencaster...
The other day, I got a solid lesson in good screencasting from a most unexpected place.
Most Americans, at some point in their academic careers (could be high school, college, or in my case, both), have an English composition class foisted upon them by the local administration. This is done with the supposed motivation of churning out graduates who can express themselves succintly and coherently in written form. Persons armed with this knowlege will be able to master business reports, research studies, doctoral dissertations, you name it.
Or, at the very least, have the most eloquently written MacDonald's employment application on the block...
One text that's basically regarded as standard issue in these courses is The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White, and has been thus since its initial publication in 1959. I bought my first copy back in 1989, when the book was a mere pup at the tender age of 30. In its nearly 50 years on the shelves, this tiny grey paperback has prevented millions of grammatical foibles the world over, defusing everything from awkward sentence structure to the careless use of non-words like irregardless.
I recently pulled my dog-eared copy of the shelf in an attempt to decide the correctness between "None of us were there" and "None of us was there" (it's the latter, by the way), when I came across an essay at the back that I hadn't remembered. It was called "An Approach to Style," and moved away from the specific prescriptivist "grammar police" ruleset that comprised most of the book, and instead just offered up a list of basic guidelines to bear in mind when communicating with words.
I was astounded by how many of these suggestions were readily applicable to narrated visual media as well, despite the fact that it was written a good 45 years before Jon Udell ever coined the term "screencast." I wanted to share a few of these with you.
Place yourself in the background. "Write in a way that draws the reader's attention to the sense and substance of the writing, rather than the mood and temper of the author."
This is a particularly sticky one for marketing screencasters. When crafting a video advertisement or marketing spot, it's vitally important to focus on your audience. Their lives, their problems. With luck, you can be there to offer the solution. There are instances (such as this newsletter), where it's appropriate for the author to be more "present" within the content. But you can't ever lose sight of your users and the benefit to their lives that you're attempting to bring to the table. More on this next month.
Do not overwrite. And this goes hand-in-hand with two other basic tenets of theirs, Write in a way that comes naturally and Avoid fancy words. "Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating."
As you write your narration script, you must take care to avoid the kind of thick, jumbled wordiness that makes your video impossible to penetrate without a dictionary in hand. Most people won't bother, so don't use a 75-cent word when a 10-cent one will do. This goes doubly for industry terms and other technical jargon. Only use a technical term when no other more common replacement exists, and when you're certain that at least 95% of your audience will understand it. Take a second in your narration to clarify the term if you're not sure.
Do not explain too much. "It is seldom advisable to tell all."
Amen, brothers. Amateur screencasters often make the classic rookie mistake of explaining every field and button. Even a comprehensive tutorial should exist to show completion of a given task or set of tasks. Clarify only those features and aspects of the application that are directly involved in getting the user from point A to point B. In screencasting, the hackneyed slang phrase "Too much information!" really does apply, so don't inundate your audience with a lot of extraneous info.
Revise and rewrite. "Revising is part of writing. Few writers are so expert that they can produce what they are after on the first try."
Revision is a necessity in the screencast production process. If possible, try to segment your revision as much as possible. What does this mean? Well, take a quick look at my workflow, which generally goes something like this:
Write narration > Craft storyboard > Record footage > Edit silent cut > Record and clean up narration > Produce final output
You should be giving the decision-makers (clients, managers, etc.) access to your work at nearly every point in this process. If there's an unnecessary paragraph in your narration, it's a lot easier to correct early on, when it's just words on paper. If something's destined to get the ax, you're wasting valuable time by coming up with visuals, recording clips, and cutting it all together.
Don't overstate. "When you overstate, readers will be instantly on guard, and everything that has preceded your overstatement as well as everything that follows will be suspect in their minds because they have lost confidence in your judgment or your poise."
Overstatements are dangerous territory, particularly for marketing screencasts. Yes, you want to convey the benefit of your product or service, and yes, those benefits should be as compelling as possible. Just don't promise them the moon. Or, promise them the moon, provided you're ready to deliver on that promise and you can provide good testimonials and other proof that you're not just full of hot air.
Good stuff. The advice of these two men from nearly a half century ago is as relevant as ever to those of us who create content for a living.
Categories: books, delivery, opinion
Labels: opinion, powerpoint 
The linear presentation approach has gone fundamentally unchallenged until recent years when something changed. It wasn�t the presenters (they actually liked the straight-forward simplicity) and it wasn�t really the software. It was certain audience types and we had better pay attention.
In this month�s column I want to challenge a long-standing norm and offer a simple solution. You see there�s been a fundamental change in how many of us interact with certain audiences � especially in a sales context when our goal is to persuade and move them to action.
Jim Endicott explains more in this article...
Categories: opinion, powerpoint
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Carmine Gallo is a communications coach for the world’s most admired brands. His client list includes Intel, Chase, Barclays, IBM, Nokia, and many others. 
