******************************************************************* Dave Paradi's PowerPoint Tip Issue #131 April 3, 2007 Published & Copyright by Dave Paradi of ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com Circulation 8,584 *******************************************************************
Please forward this newsletter to anyone you know who wants to strategically use PowerPoint visuals to enhance their presentations. If this newsletter has been sent to you by a friend, sign up to get your own copy at http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/newsletter.htm .
******************************************************************* In this issue: Should I come to Seattle? Public Sessions in Toronto April 10th & 20th PowerPoint Tip - Color Contrast Calculator Best of the Blog - Good Example of Non-Linear Presentation from UPS Dave's Travel Schedule *******************************************************************
Should I come to Seattle?
I have been asked to speak at a small conference in Seattle in late September and was thinking of holding a one-day public workshop while I am there. It would be on Friday September 28th. I need to decide whether to go no later than after Easter, so if you are in the Pacific northwest and would be interested in coming to a Think Outside The Slide(tm) workshop to improve your strategic use of PowerPoint visuals, just reply to this e-mail and let me know. The more people who are interested, the greater the chance it will be a go.
------------------------------------------------------------------- Public Sessions in Toronto April 10th & 20th
Last call for the two public sessions in Toronto this month. For the investment management community only the morning of April 10 - register at http://www.paicr.com/events/roundtables.asp . A public one-day workshop on April 20th as part of the Health & Safety 2007 conference - register at http://www.iapa.ca/conference . This one is filling up quickly, so register soon to reserve your spot.
------------------------------------------------------------------- PowerPoint Tip - Color Contrast Calculator
One of the most common audience complaints about PowerPoint slides is that the presenter picked colors that don't have enough contrast. This means that text, lines, shapes or graphs can't be seen well on the slide and the message is negatively affected. If you don't have a background in design, how do you ensure that the colors you have chosen have enough contrast?
This same complaint was made about early web sites, so the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) created a standard that tests the contrast between two colors. There are actually two tests. The first is for color brightness contrast. This measures the difference in brightness between two colors. The second test is for color difference, which measures the difference between the attributes of two colors.
Both tests are calculations that use the Red, Green and Blue (RGB) attributes of the two colors to determine if there is enough difference between the two colors. The RGB attributes of any color are easily seen in the Custom tab of the color selection dialog box when you are selecting a color for a background, text, line, shape or area fill.
You are probably saying about now, "OK Dave, enough with the theoretical stuff, how can I make this work for me?" Glad you asked. I am launching today an online Color Contrast Calculator that you can use to test your background color and a color you are thinking of using for text, a line, a shape or to fill an area on a graph. The page also contains detailed instructions on how to find the RGB attributes of a color and some ideas on what you can do to improve the contrast of two colors if they don't pass the tests.
The page is http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/colorcontrast.htm . I have also included a button on the page to bookmark this web page for your future use. And if you want to be able to access the page from within PowerPoint, I've given instructions on how you can add a toolbar button to your copy of PowerPoint that will take you directly to this calculator with one mouse click in PowerPoint.
Feel free to make use of this new tool and pass it on to as many others as you want to. By getting better contrast on our slides, we make it easier for our audiences to see and understand our message. If you want to go beyond just selecting colors and create your own custom look for your slides, check out my e-book at http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/customtemplate.htm .
------------------------------------------------------------------- Best of the Blog - Good Example of Non-Linear Presentation from UPS
UPS, the package delivery people, have a current ad campaign going on centered around a man drawing on a whiteboard. I like many of the ads because they use effective graphics to visually make the point. I went over to the campaign web site at http://whiteboard.ups.com/ and found something even more interesting. They have a great example of a non-linear approach to their information. Sure, every web site has a menu, but what they have done differently is that they have their whiteboard guy give you context, briefly explain each option, then invite you to choose where you want to go. Go check it out to see what I mean. The lesson for presenters is to think non-linearly and invite your audience to pick where they want to go. Imagine a sales presentation that doesn't drone on and on about the company and the product, but instead gives you options of what is most important to you in the buying decision and lets you direct the presentation to get the information you really need. That would be different than 98% of the sales presentations given each day. Being different is not the point. Being more useful to the audience in giving them what they need is the point. A non-linear presentation is one way to do this. If you need to learn how to create and deliver a non-linear presentation, check out my webinar on it at http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/wtnonlinear.htm .
Other recent blog posts at http://pptideas.blogspot.com : When to unplug your remote or mouse Reminder of the importance of presentation structure
------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave's Travel Schedule
If you have been sitting through too many presentations that did not relay the key information needed to make critical decisions, you should schedule an in-house or web based seminar or workshop. You can save money by booking me to speak to your organization or conference when I am close to your area for other clients. Here's where I will be in the next few months:
April 10 Toronto, ON (2 hr session for professionals in the Investment Management industry only, details at http://www.paicr.com/events/roundtables.asp ) April 13 Toronto, ON April 16 Toronto, ON April 20 Toronto, ON (1 day Think Outside The Slide(tm) workshop that you can register for at http://www.iapa.ca/conference ) April 25 Toronto, ON May 10 Mississauga, ON May 23 Bala, ON May 26 London, ON July 6-14 San Diego, CA July 15-17 Los Angeles, CA July 24-25 Detroit, MI August 3 Huntsville, ON September 7-9 Winnipeg, MB September 27-30 Seattle, WA (tentative) October 25-26 Huntsville, ON E-mail me at Dave@ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com to discuss how my Think Outside The Slide(tm) sessions can help your organization be more productive and improve communication throughout the organization.
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