PowerPoint Tip: Using photos when telling stories

Last week at the PowerPoint Live conference, more than one speaker emphasized how important it is that we tell stories when we are presenting instead of reading slides full of text or data. I agree with them and this issue I want to talk about how we can enhance our stories by using photos.

What a photo can do is transport your audience right into the story with you. Photos work at an emotional level, which is where stories work as well. With the detail of your stories, you help the audience form an image in their own mind and feel what you felt when the story happened to you. A photo helps take the audience there more rapidly and makes it more real.

Here are some examples of photos that can transport your audience. If you are talking about a location, such as a field of flowers or a busy city, a photo can take them there. If you are talking about a time of day, like sunrise or late afternoon, photos take you to that time on the clock instantly. If the story takes place in a particular season, a photo of a snowy winter day or a hot summer day will make people feel like they are there with you. And if your story involves a recognizable city or place, show a photo of the city skyline or famous building.

I suggest you use photos to help set the scene of the story and not use photos to try to illustrate people in the story. People are best explained using your own words and facial expressions. Photos of people are also harder to use because they require permission of the person in the photo. One use of a person in a photo would be to use a stock photo to show an emotion if you feel you won't be able to adequately portray the emotion yourself.

When you use photos to help your story have an impact, be careful not to leave them on the screen too long. You should place the photo on a black slide and make it as large as you can so it is easy to see for everyone in the audience. Show it only for the sentence or two that you need to say, then go to a black slide so the focus of the audience comes back to you moving the story along.

Stories are powerful and I am convinced that they can help any presentation have greater impact. If you use photos you have taken with your digital camera and your PowerPoint file gets too large to e-mail, check out the video I have at http://www.PPtHowToVideos.com for an explanation of how to reduce the file size without having to redo your slides.

Presenting when you are not allowed to use a handout

A participant in one of my workshops recently presented me with a new challenge. In his position as a sales professional, he has now encountered two large organizations who have stated that when he presents to them, he is forbidden from bringing handouts for the audience. This ban is part of their environmental efforts.

Research has shown that people remember better when they can concentrate on what the speaker is saying and take down key points relevant to their situation instead of madly writing notes of what is being said. The challenge is how to deal with the potential downside of this policy – decisions being made on poorly recalled ideas and facts.

Let me suggest an approach to designing and delivering your presentation that has a high potential to get the key messages remembered and acted upon in this no-handout scenario. It involves planning in a slightly different way and delivering your presentation in a somewhat more direct manner.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

September 23/08 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, online or through my YouTube channel. Whether you are comparing two positions, results at two points in time or two concepts, your audience needs to be able to keep context to understand the differences. This makeover shows two slides that lose the audience transformed into a clear visual that people will be able to remember and act on after the presentation.

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.
***NEW*** You can now watch all the podcasts on my new YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/ThinkOutsideTheSlide



If you have subscribed via iTunes or YouTube, please provide your positive feedback on the videos in the Comments and Ratings areas of the service so others know the value you get from the videos.

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.

Funny PowerPoint video and my response

About every two weeks someone sends me a link to a video of Don McMillan on YouTube explaining what not to do when using PowerPoint. If you haven't seen it, here it is:


(URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLpjrHzgSRM)

While I agree that he is funny, what I find missing is some information on what you should do instead of the mistakes he so humorously points out. So let me add to what he has said and share a few tips to help you avoid being in a future video on PowerPoint mistakes.

1. Use visuals instead of overloading on text
Don clearly shows the problems with too much text on the slide which leads to reading the slides to your audience. Reading slides was the #1 annoyance for audiences in my survey last year. So what should you do instead? Look at the words on your slide and look for clues as to how to represent the idea with a visual - graph, diagram, photo, etc. Many people struggle with this, that's why I wrote "The Visual Slide Revolution - Transforming overloaded text slides into persuasive presentations". Get more info and read a chapter for free at www.VisualSlideRevolution.com.

2. Select a slide design (colors & fonts) that works
If you need help selecting colors that work well together, use the Color Contrast Calculator on my site at http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/colorcontrast.htm. It will tell you whether the colors you have chosen will work. When it comes to fonts, use a sans-serif font like Arial because research shows that it is easier to see when projected.

3. Focus on clarity
The primary focus of any visual you use should be to have the information as clear as possible for your audience so there is no guessing as to what your point is. This means limiting data to only what is needed and using callouts on visuals so the audience knows where to look and why. It also means not using goofy animation that distracts people from what you are saying.

While we may laugh at what Don shows us in the video and we cringe at many of the presentations we see that make the same mistakes, we need to know what to do instead so our presentations are more effective.

PowerPoint Tip: Going green when creating presentations

Last newsletter we looked at ways to be more environmentally responsible when creating handouts for our presentations. This time we'll look at some tips when developing our presentations.

1. Plan before you create
The more time we spend at the computer, the more electricity we use. So, instead of starting your presentation by sitting at the screen and typing away, spend some time planning the structure of what you want to say first. Let me share an example with you. Yesterday I finished my slides for my presentation next week at PowerPoint Live. But earlier this month I sat down with some sticky notes and outlined the structure and what support I needed for my main points. When it came time to create my slides, I spent less time at my computer because I had already outlined what needed to be on my slides. Not only does this save on the electricity you use, but it saves you time and lets you get on to the things you'd rather spend your time on.

2. Copy content instead of printing it out
If you have content from a spreadsheet or document that needs to be used in a presentation, don't print it out and then type it on your slide. Open both applications and copy and paste instead. Many of you may feel that this is a bit of a simple tip and not worthy of inclusion, but you'd be surprised at how often I see people print data or text out and retype it. It's these little things that can add up.

3. Re-use slides as much as possible
One of the advantages of a slide library, as I talk about in my book The Visual Slide Revolution, is that it saves time in preparing future presentations. If you have created a slide on a topic or created a chart or diagram that is similar to the one you need for this presentation, re-use it. This saves time and money. It fits all of the three "R's" - reduce, re-use, recycle. By re-using slides and recycling other slides with new data, we can reduce the time, electricity and cost of preparing presentations.

4. Set your screen to turn off automatically
All PCs today have power savings features that allow you to reduce the energy you use. And with more and more people using larger monitors, the amount of energy we are using is going up. So every minute we can save a monitor from glowing on, is more energy saved. Look at the power saving options on your system and consider setting the screen to automatically turn off after 15 minutes of inactivity. So every time you go to research a fact, find that quote or just take a break, your monitor will shut off after 15 minutes and save all of us from producing more electricity.

Like the last newsletter, these tips may seem small to some, but they can really add up if we all followed them. I encourage you to look for more ways to be kind to our planet, whether you are presenting or not.

Everything on the web is NOT free

Frequently in my workshops when I am talking about sources for good photos to use in your presentation, someone will ask about Google Images. This is the part of the Google search empire that allows you to search for photos based on keywords.

Many presenters are under the mistaken impression that they can just copy an image they find using Google Images and use it in their presentation. They are shocked when I tell them that the images are almost always copyrighted and they need permission to use them.

“But the image doesn’t have the little “c” in a circle symbol, so isn’t that OK?” they ask. No, it’s not. If you look at the web site, it almost always has a copyright notice on it, which means everything on the page is protected – including the images.

The common exceptions are government websites where they have usage guidelines posted because by law they have to give some level of usage rights to the citizens who funded the work in the first place. But always check to make sure how you can use it and what acknowledgement needs to be on the slide.

Instead of possibly opening yourself up to legal issues, why not use sources where you explicitly agree to usage, like istockphoto.com and other stock photo sites. And don’t forget that you can take your own photos and have unique pictures that can show exactly what you want.

September 9/08 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, online or through my YouTube channel. If you have to use a screen capture to show a feature of a program or highlight a section of a web site, make sure your audience can understand what you are showing. This makeover shows a hard-to-read screen capture transformed into a clear visual that people will be able to remember and act on after the presentation.

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.
***NEW*** You can now watch all the podcasts on my new YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/ThinkOutsideTheSlide



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.

Great review of The Visual Slide Revolution

I wanted to share an excellent review of my book "The Visual Slide Revolution" that was published this morning in the Globe & Mail, Canada's leading national newspaper. In his review, Harvey Schachter concludes by saying, "This is a very strong book in an area where most of us are very weak." To read the entire review, go to: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080903.CABOOKS03/TPStory/Business . Feel free to pass this on to others.

To get your own copy of The Visual Slide Revolution, go to http://www.VisualSlideRevolution.com .

PowerPoint Tip: Going green with your presentation handouts

In this issue of the newsletter and the next issue, I'll be sharing some ideas on how we can all be more environmentally responsible when it comes to preparing and delivering our presentations. Today I'll cover what I consider to be the biggest area of potential savings - handouts. Next time I'll cover some tips on creating our presentations. Here are some tips to help you be more environmentally sensitive when using handouts - and they will probably save you money as well.

1. Print four slides per page
Too often presenters print handouts using the three slides per page format with lines beside each slide. In addition to being less visually dense and easier for audience members to take notes on, the four per page option can use up to 25% fewer pages.

2. Print using Pure Black & White
The default when printing slides with a colored background on a black and white laser printer is "Grayscale", which converts each color to a shade of gray and uses a lot of toner to print the background of each slide. By using the "Black & White" option, you use much less toner because all backgrounds are converted to white.

3. Print on both sides of the sheet
By printing your handouts on both sides of the sheet of paper, you can cut your number of sheets used by up to half.

4. Eliminate a contact information sheet
By adding your contact information in the footer of each handout page, you eliminate the need for a separate sheet in the handout listing your contact information.

5. Print only the slides the audience needs
Go through your slides and determine what slides the audience really needs to have in the handout. It is probably not every slide, so use the options when printing to select only those slides that are truly necessary.

6. Check before you print
Use the Print Preview feature to check to see if the last page of the handout has only one slide on it. If it does, see if there is a way you can cut one of the slides from the handout to save a page.

You may know some of the ideas above and may be using some already. They may sound like small things, but consider a 45 slide presentation that prints handouts using the usual 3 slides per page format on one side of the paper. By implementing the ideas above, you can go from using 16 sheets of paper (15 for slides + 1 for contact information) to using 6 sheets of paper (12 sides printing on both sides of the sheet of paper) - that is a reduction of over 62%! Every little effort counts.

If you want to try some of these ideas but don't know how to select some of the different handouts options, you can check out the two short "how-to" videos I have on handouts at http://www.PPtHowToVideos.com .