How do you feel when you get ripped off?

I am in New York City in advance of the NSA Convention starting this Saturday. A group of us went out to see some sites yesterday and one experience got me thinking.

After touring the Lincoln Center, we headed into Central Park to grab a bite for lunch. We stopped at the approved Park Services hot dog cart close to the Tavern on the Green. The four of us each had a hot dog and we ordered two bottled drinks as well. The pricing isn’t easy to see, and the man said “That’ll be $18” so I paid him. After lunch, we walked through Central Park and noticed other similar stands where the price was $2 per hot dog and $2 per bottled drink. That comes to $12, not $18.

How did I feel? Well, as you might expect, I felt angry at being ripped off, mad at myself for not realizing it when it happened, and wondering if all the stories about everyone in New York trying to rip off tourists are true. My concluding thought was that if he was acting that way, clearly he needed the money more than I did. I prayed that he sees the error of his ways and realizes that there is a better, more honest way to behave.

It got me thinking about what I see too often in presentations. I hear presenters tell stories that they found on the Internet as if the story actually happened to them. I see graphs with distorted axes in order to make numbers look more favourable than they are. Why the dishonesty? I think it is because we are afraid of what would happen if we tell the truth. If the audience knew the real situation, they may not buy our idea, product or service.

Well how does the audience feel when they do figure out the truth – and they will figure it out far sooner than you think they will? Probably similar to the way I felt yesterday afternoon in Central Park – hurt, angry and disillusioned. Is that how you want your audience to feel after your presentation? I hope not.

I’d rather you do the hard work to come up with a great argument, dig deep to tell a truthful personal story, and have the courage to report results as they really are instead of making things up. I think your audience will respect you more and will give your message more consideration. And I think that’s what we all want anyways.

Hope to see you at the NSA Convention this weekend. If you are there, make sure to come up and say “Hi”!

July 29/08 Slide Makeover Video Podcast available

Just a quick note to let you know that a new Slide Makeover Video Podcast based on the ideas in "The Visual Slide Revolution" is available for your viewing through the iTunes Store or online. This video podcast shows the transformation of a typical slide used in training. In many training situations, too much text is put on the slide. The reason is that the audience will need to refer to it later. This makeover transforms an overloaded slide into a visual slide and gives a technique for including detail in a PowerPoint file & handout without showing it on the screen.

This slide was suggested by one of the subscribers to the newsletter - someone just like you who is looking for a way to make their presentations more effective. If you want to submit some of your slides to be considered for a future slide makeover, e-mail them to me at Dave@ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com.

If you have already subscribed through iTunes or another podcatcher, the new podcast should be automatically downloaded when you next run the program.

To subscribe via the iTunes Store, click here.
To view online or get the RSS file for other podcatchers, click here.

To get your own copy of "The Visual Slide Revolution", click here.
To access quick "how-to" videos for only $1.99 each, click here. The technique for adding detail to your file and handout without overloading the slides is shown in the printing handouts video.

PowerPoint Tip: Align & Distribute for consistency

On one of the makeover slides I created for a workshop I am giving tomorrow, I created a Gantt chart to show the implementation timeline for the service that was being sold. When you are creating a timeline by hand, it is important to space out the time periods evenly or else the visual does not look correct to the audience. To make it easier, I used a feature that is one of the subjects of today's tip - the distribute feature.

Aligning, having multiple objects lined up at the top, bottom or along one side, and distributing, having multiple objects evenly placed either horizontally or vertically are two important tasks that are hard to do by hand. If you have ever tried to arrange multiple pictures on a wall lining up the right edges or the tops, you know what I am talking about. This has always proven stressful for me as my wife expects me to be able to measure, nail the hook in and everything to be perfect. But few of us are that good.

When you have multiple photos on a slide or other objects, including text boxes, you may struggle as I do in lining them up perfectly by hand. Isn't it OK if they are "close enough"? Unfortunately, no. People infer importance by position and what may be a small difference on your screen becomes a large difference when projected and the audience may interpret someone as the head of the team if their picture is slightly higher in a row than the other team members.
When positioning objects on a slide, people interpret objects that are closer together to be somehow related. So if you don't want to suggest a relationship that is not correct, you need to evenly position the objects across the slide vertically or horizontally. Again, doing this by hand is very difficult and too often does not work out the way you planned.

Fortunately for all of us, PowerPoint has two features, the align and distribute features that automatically do this for us. I often use them to make life simpler as I did to distribute a timeline when preparing the Gantt chart slide for tomorrow. When using these features, here's a trick I have learned. If I want a group of objects to be aligned with their right edges in the same spot, I will position one object exactly where I want the right edges to be. Then I position the other objects left of that one. When I use the right align feature, it lines up the right edges according to the object that is positioned farthest to the right, so I get everything lined up with the one object I placed in position.

When distributing objects, pay attention to whether you are distributing them within the space they already occupy (as I did for my timeline) or whether you want to distribute them across the entire slide (as you would for a group of pictures of team members possibly).

For my Gantt chart timeline, I used both of these features. First, I added text boxes with each of the time points, in my case 0, 2, 4, 6, etc. weeks up to 18 weeks. I placed the 0 and the 18 week text boxes at each end of the timeline. I used the align feature to first align all the text boxes so their tops lined up. Then I used the distribute feature to evenly distribute them along the timeline. Hope that helps gives you an idea of how these features can be useful in your presentations.

If you use these features, you know what a great time saver they are. If you haven't explored these features, you can learn how to use each of them in less than five minutes with the short "how to" videos at http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/ppthowtovideos.htm . You'll be glad you learned how to make your slides look better and save time doing so with these features.

July 15/08 Slide Makeover Video Podcast now available

Just a quick note to let you know that a new Slide Makeover Video Podcast based on the ideas in "The Visual Slide Revolution" is available for your viewing through the iTunes Store or online. This video podcast shows the transformation of the typical "About Us" slide used in many presentations. The "after" slides show benefits to the audience and tell them why these facts are important to them. Feel free to forward this e-mail to others who use an "About Us" slide in their presentations and want to be more effective at doing so.

This slide was suggested by one of the subscribers to the newsletter - someone just like you who is looking for a way to make their presentations more effective. If you want to submit some of your slides to be considered for a future slide makeover, e-mail them to me at Dave@ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com.

If you have already subscribed through iTunes or another podcatcher, the new podcast should be automatically downloaded when you next run the program.

To subscribe via the iTunes Store, click here.
To view online or get the RSS file for other podcatchers, click here.

To get your own copy of "The Visual Slide Revolution", click here.
To access quick "how-to" videos for only $1.99 each, click here.

Worst & Best in Legal Presentations

Recently the Legal Technology section of Law.com asked some prominent attornies and law association professionals what the worst mistakes are using PowerPoint and about the best use they have seen. The full article is at http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/pubArticleLT.jsp?id=1202422808552

Observations from the comments:
1. Connecting the laptop to the projector is still an issue, especially in situations where the projector is not your own and you don't know what resolution it may be. Always best to run your slide show in a standard resolution, like 1024 x 768, to help reduce these problems.

2. The mis-use of animation continues to be a problem. I don't advocate eliminating animation, in fact I suggest careful use of it in my book "The Visual Slide Revolution". But the gratuitous use of wild effects does nothing but annoy. Interesting to hear that audiences actually are starting to laugh out loud at some of the antics.

3. Not taking time to check your slides before you present and having information from a previous client presentation show up seems to plague some people. I know we are all pressed for time, but that doesn't mean we should ignore some of the basics of communication. Use a slide library of generic slides to create each presentation instead of copying slides from a previous deck and you can avoid these sorts of issues. I'll have more on using a slide library in the next few weeks.

PowerPoint Tip: Summer Reading List for Presenters

With the early July holiday over for those of us in the U.S. and Canada, it is the official start to summer. Many of us will be taking some time off in the next two months and today I want to share with you my recommendations for a book to take with you to the lake, camp or wherever you might be spending a few days relaxing.

I know that you want to take a fiction book with you to escape from the daily grind of work. And you should take such a novel. But if you also want to pack a business oriented book, I've got four that I suggest you consider.

The first is a book I read a few years ago and is by the man who has done probably more research in the area of using multimedia to teach than anyone else. The book is "Multimedia Learning" by Richard E. Mayer. While this is an academic book and a little drier than you might like, it does contain valuable insights for those who teach. The ISBN is 9780521787491 and you can get it from Amazon with this link: http://snipurl.com/mmlearning

The second is another book by an academic, Robert Cialdini, and is called "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion".This book is not a dry read because Cialdini has included many examples of the six principles that he shares. Anyone who has to persuade others to adopt ideas needs to read this book. The insights are profound and, as with the other books on this list, based on real science, not the "idea of the month". The ISBN is 9780061241895 and you can order it through Amazon at: http://snipurl.com/influencebook

The third book is "Made to Stick" by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Chip is a professor at Stanford and Dan is a former Harvard researcher. They have put together a solid analysis of six qualities of an idea that make it stick in people's minds. If you need you idea to have shelf life with key decision-makers, this is a must read. It has changed the way I think and I see examples of their ideas in the way I communicate every day. The ISBN is 9781400064281 and can be ordered at: http://snipurl.com/madetostick

My final recommendation is the book I am reading right now. It is called "Brain Rules" by John Medina. It is actaully found in the science section of a book store but don't think that it will be boring. Medina only accepts things when they have been proven multiple times in published journals, so his conclusions are backed up by rock solid research. Garr Reynolds of presentationzen.com introduced me to the book and I am enjoying the great ideas mixed with Medinas wicked sense of humour. I promise you will enjoy this book too. The ISBN is 9780979777707 and the link to buy from Amazon is: http://snipurl.com/brainrules

This list shows my obvious bias towards books written based on research, not based on thoughts that popped into someone's mind one day as they were walking the dog. These books have influenced my work and I hope they will provide some good insight for you this summer as you take time to reset for the rest of the year.

For those of you in the southern hemisphere who are now into your winter months, these books work just as well for curling up in front of a fire at night. Enjoy them no matter where you are.

A day of top notch training for presenters

The annual convention of the National Speakers Association (NSA) is being held August 2-5 in New York City. NSA is an association focused on the business of professional speaking, but if you present in any business setting, you will want to check out the lineup on Monday, August 4th. You can register for just that one day and have a choice of great educational sessions to attend. Here are some highlights for that day (the theme for the year and the convention is NSA Rocks, so the session titles reflect the theme).

1. The morning general session will feature Steve Forbes. Yes, that’s the former presidential candidate and publisher of Forbes magazine. He will be talking about the economy, the elections and what’s next. Take the opportunity to learn from his insights as well as observe his style and the way he crafts his presentation. Any time you get to observe a top speaker work, you can learn a lot if you keep tuned into how they present.

2. In the morning concurrent time slot, here are some sessions you’ll want to consider: I am presenting a session titled “PowerPoint That Rocks! Five Steps to Creating Persuasive Visuals”; Don Crawley is doing a session on becoming efficient and green with your computer technology, Craig Harrison is speaking on selling through storytelling, Judy Jernudd is talking about how to brand yourself like a rock star, Marcia Reynolds will help you create characters to make your stories rock, and Ruth Sherman will show you how to make the most of your voice. Wow, what a lineup for just the morning! I’ll be getting the MP3s from some of these sessions that I can’t attend (anyone can order the MP3 recording of any of the sessions from the convention).

3. At lunch, you will have a unique opportunity to learn how to really rock your audiences. David Fishof, who reunited The Monkees, produced Ringo Starr and founded the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp is bringing along some of his rock star buddies for an unforgettable learning experience.

4. The first of the afternoon concurrent sessions has these great sessions to consider: the incredible Les Brown will be sharing his strategies for connecting with and motivating any audience, the hilarious Tim Gard will show you how to add humour to your presentations, and Curtis Zimmerman will help you incorporate interactive activities that make your message stick. Of course there are other sessions at this time slot, but these are the ones that I think would best fit a presenter who is looking to improve their ability but not get into the speaking business.

5. After a break, the final concurrent time slot features sessions such as: Janelle Barlow and Terry Paulson showing us what we can learn from the campaign speeches during the election, Todd Hunt teaches the difference between a keynote and a training class (great for trainers who get asked to do a general session), and Mikki Williams and Steve Rizzo will demonstrate how to be unique using your background, add humour and tell stories based on your personality.

I have to say that this lineup will knock the socks off almost any one-day public speaking course you could attend. The variety of speakers and styles plus the depth of high-end information will leave you with lots of great ideas to improve your presentations. And all for a shockingly low investment of $415! There may be no better deal around this summer.

Register today at http://www.mynsa.org/newyork.

July 1/08 Slide Makeover Video Podcast available

Just a quick note to let you know that a new Slide Makeover Video Podcast based on the ideas in "The Visual Slide Revolution" is available for your viewing through the iTunes Store or online. This video podcast shows the transformation of a slide used to explain a policy or procedure from a manual - a typical topic for managers and HR professionals. The "after" slides focus the audience and use visuals to bring the message into context for the audience. If you have to present policies or procedures, this will give you ideas on how to make the topics less boring. Feel free to forward this e-mail to others who have to explain policies and procedures and want to be more effective at doing so.

This slide was suggested by one of the subscribers to the newsletter - someone just like you who is looking for a way to make their presentations more effective. If you want to submit some of your slides to be considered for a future slide makeover, e-mail them to me at Dave@ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com.

If you have already subscribed through iTunes or another podcatcher, the new podcast should be automatically downloaded when you next run the program.

To subscribe via the iTunes Store, click here.
To view online or get the RSS file for other podcatchers, click here.

To get your own copy of "The Visual Slide Revolution", click here.
To access quick "how-to" videos for only $1.99 each, click here. The text highlighting effect you see in the video is explained in the "how-to" video on How to emphasize text.