This sample presentation shows you how you can use motion path animations in PowerPoint on ungrouped vector objects to create a very effective introduction or section slide.
Parts of a Shoe: This is a sample presentation we created in-house at Indezine so that we could create a presentation that had lots of internal hyperlinks to other slides in the presentation. And yes, it was a good topic -- we haven't found any visual representation of a shoe that shows its various parts -- anywhere on the net!
We uploaded this to authorSTREAM, and their Flash conversion is awesome -- it retained all the hyperlinks in the presentation.
Jeff Brenman (pictured to the right) is the founder and director of Apollo Ideas, an award winning presentation design and consulting firm based out of North Carolina. Jeff regularly works as a communication consultant to top executives in corporations around the globe, empowering their business communications with better visual storytelling. His presentation won the last The World's Best Presentation Contest held by SlideShare -- and he won it again this time!
Geetesh: How does it feel to win consecutively for the second time?
Jeff: Surprising. There were a lot of great presentations entered in the contest this year, so it's an honor to have been chosen as the winner by such accomplished judges. Honestly, I was more concerned with entering the dialog than entering the competition this year. The SlideShare contest is a fantastic way to bring good design to important issues, and spread critical messages to people around the world.
Geetesh: Tell us more about the type of research you did on the topic – also what made you choose Water as the topic of your presentation.
Jeff: Everybody drinks, but hardly anyone is talking about water. The fresh water crisis is a fascinating topic because it's one of those things not a lot of people know about, but is going to affect all of us very soon. In my opinion, that also makes it a perfect topic for a web-based educational presentation.
The water crisis is a big issue, so to do it justice required spending a lot of time researching the storyboard. The full list of books, articles, and news stories that went into THIRST can be found at http://apolloideas.com/thirst.
Putting together a presentation is kind of like making a pizza. There are dozens of delicious toppings you could add to a pizza, but you have to be selective and choose just a few. A pizza with every topping imaginable wouldn't taste very good. In the same way, a presentation with every piece of research you discover isn't going to be very interesting — it'll be overwhelming. You have to be selective with the information you include.
THIRST is far from comprehensive, but intentionally so. It doesn't offer a list of suggestions for how to conserve water. It doesn't get into the politics of who controls the water resources around the world. It doesn't even go into detail about the problems surrounding the bottled water industry. Instead, THIRST is a conversation starter, designed to inspire people to explore the topic deeper on their own. As a story, THIRST was created to act as a beginning, not a beginning, middle, and end. Based on the feedback it has received so far, I'm proud to see it's working.
Almost everyday someone is criticizing PowerPoint because they believe it makes people dumb -- and that's not even the larger problem. The larger problem is that it's so much easy to mention a problem without providing a solution!
It is not everyday that someone actually does provide detailed solutions -- Tom Taulli is a noted financial blogger -- and he provides a wealth of knowledge on how you can create a better investor slide deck by creating something "that tells a story, clearly showing the company's path to success". Tom looks at the "framework every investor deck should include" on the BusinessWeek site. This is a must read.
Jigsaws can add a whole new level of interest to a PowerPoint slide, especially if the jigsaw shapes are cleverly placed and animated. However easy it might be to create something like this from scratch in PowerPoint, it cannot be as easy as Jigsaw Maker, the PowerPoint add-in that I am reviewing today.
The PowerPoint Expert Club is among the largest PowerPoint cafes in Korea. Their new Intro Animation Contest requires participants to create a showcase in PowerPoint with the club/cafe as the topic. The main criteria for the winners will be based on PowerPoint animations -- submitted works will be judged through members' voting. The current, top two submissions are now available on PowerPoint Heaven, the site of Microsoft MVP Shawn Toh.
The winning entry for Intro Animation Contest 1 is by Coolguy7, which can be found here...
Ted Thayer whips up cool PowerPoint presentations with amazing animations. He's 14 years old, but that did not stop him from taking part in iFilm's Best PowerPoint Moment contest and becoming one of the winners. Visit Ted's site here...
Geetesh: Tell us what got you started with creating such amazing PowerPoints at this age?
Ted: I started using PowerPoint when my friend showed me a short animation he had done in PowerPoint. It was very simple and had very few pictures and animations. After that he basically forgot about it. I however was really interested. First I made a few take offs on the original. Then when I understood the basic concept, I decided I had to get more. I convinced my parents to upgrade to version 2003. With this, I discovered more and more features. When I thought I knew them all, I came across PPTHeaven. By looking at those PowerPoints, I realized there was so much more I could discover with PowerPoint. That was a couple of months ago.
Geetesh: Tell us more about your entry in the iFilm PowerPoint contest.
Ted: The biking presentation was one of three presentations I made to be submitted. It was also the only one that made it to the finals. This was kind of a spur the moment presentation. I sat down one day, thought of an etremely original topic, and created from there. As I look back I can see things that I could have developed more or cut out but overall im proud of what I did.
There's so much you can do with PowerPoint these days -- and showcasing your best PowerPoint moment is the concept behind a new contest at iFilm.com. Microsoft is sponsoring prizes worth $10,000 for the contest -- and results are less than a day away!
There are some amazing entries -- I'm surprised that there is so much of a difference in both the quality and concept of the entries. Of all the entries, some of them do juggle the balance between concept and quality so well -- and showcase the capabilities of the new PowerPoint 2007. Check them for yourself and vote!
Jeff Brenman (pictured to the right) is a graduate from Northwestern University where he studied psychology and business. It was pretty early on in his college experience that he became disenchanted with the conventional presentation styles, and started to independently study the theory behind what makes great presentations great. It wasn't long before he was helping out professors and student leaders on campus with their slide decks, eventually having a position created for himself with the university as a presentation design consultant. He started a design firm called Apollo Ideas, based out of Chicago that specializes in presentation design and consulting.
Geetesh: Tell us more about Apollo Ideas, and the type of presentation related services you provide.
Jeff:Apollo Ideas was created from the collision of a huge demand in the market for innovative communication methods and my personal passion for creating and developing stories and presentations. I first started presentation design consulting while in college, working for professors and lecturers who were speaking at academic conferences and delivering grant proposals. After I graduated, I branched out from the academic market into the business markets, forming Apollo Ideas and building a team of people who share my passion. We're a storytelling company. Services range from taking an existing slide deck and restyling it (similar to what was done to Karl Fisch's original presentation for ShiftHappens), to a full consulting process in which we help generate the original content for the slides, working with the client to design the story from the ground up.
Geetesh: How did your prize winning entry in SlideShare's World's Best Presentation Contest evolve -- and what do you think set it apart from other entries in finally emerging as the winner.
Jeff: I came across Karl Fisch's "Did You Know" presentation online, and thought the content was fantastic. I had just finished reading The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman, so the globalization themes in Karl's presentation resonated hard with me. I decided to re-stylize the presentation as a challenge to myself, to re-make it how I'd like to see it. I am glad ShiftHappens has received so much attention through SlideShare because the reality of the 21st century is a subject we all ought to know about.
I think what set ShiftHappens apart from the other entries was its visual style and the power of its content. At over 50 slides the presentation contains a lot of information. It was a challenge creating a visual style that would be bold but still stay visually interesting in a stand-alone presentation with so much content.
Scott Schwertly (pictured to the right) Founder/CEO of Ethos3 has loved giving and hearing presentations since he gave his first big speech in the 7th grade. Scott has spent the last eight years working for television network affiliates helping them create story-telling visuals and doing marketing for both the private and public sector. He has a B.A. in Communications and an M.B.A. from Harding University. Helping others design and deliver captivating presentations is his passion.
Geetesh: Tell us more about Ethos3, and the type of PowerPoint work you do.
Scott:Ethos3 Communications is a presentation design and training company. We essentially help businesses and individuals with building, designing, and delivering better presentations. Therefore, our focus covers three main areas:
Content,
Design, and
Delivery.
This includes everything from theme development to slide design to non-verbal presentation tactics. Under our design services umbrella, we offer our clients services such as basic slide design, video production, audio enhancements, storyboarding techniques, and much more. Presentations can be delivered in any format and in as fast as 24 hours.
Geetesh: Your entry to the World's Best Presentation Contest on SlideShare won a prize -- tell us more about how this presentation was different from normal presentations, and what sort of planning and storyboarding went into developing the concept and slides.
Scott: Together, Cheree and I created the Meet Henry presentation.
The concept of Meet Henry was inspired by the need for a presentation revolution which happens to be the name of our Ethos3 Communications blog -- Presentation Revolution. Today we live in a business culture that abuses the art and science of presentations and public speaking every day. It is a sad reality when every presentation is an opportunity to make a difference, to make an impact, to change the world. Thus, Ethos3 believes that if we can help others change the way they present, then they will be empowered to present change to the world. This is the message we wanted to articulate through the characters of Henry and Erica.
All in all, creating Henry and Erica was very simple. All images were found via Google or iStockPhoto and the entire presentation was done in Apple's Keynote. After everything was gathered, we wanted to simply state the problem (Henry) and then offer a solution (Erica). Presentations are not about egos, fancy suits, or MBAs. Presentations are about hard work, diligence, and practice. If someone simply focuses on every facet of their presentation - content, design, and delivery... then they are set-up to succeed. This is the story we wanted to communicate.
About Cheree:
Cheree Moore, Creative Director, brings five years of professional experience to Ethos3 Communications. She has worked in several different types of companies, acquiring her skills as a graphic designer. Cheree's combination of knowledge, marketing and design experience will help make your presentation memorable. Cheree also heads up the design services that Ethos3 offers.
The results of World's Best Presentation Contest on SlideShare is now up on the site. Two of the three top presentations won in both the judges and people's choice award sections.
