******************************************************************* Dave Paradi's PowerPoint Tip     Issue #175 December 23 2008 Published & Copyright by Dave Paradi of ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com Circulation over 8,200 ******************************************************************* Please forward this newsletter to executives and professionals who want to create PowerPoint presentations that sell their ideas, products or services more effectively.  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: The Visual Slide Revolution in Top 10 Business Books of 2008 Chicago February 23rd afternoon Publication Schedule PowerPoint Tip - Where to get inspiration for slides Best of the Blog - Note what works & what doesn't work Dave's Travel Schedule ******************************************************************* The Visual Slide Revolution in Top 10 Business Books of 2008 Last Wednesday, The Globe and Mail, Canada's leading national newspaper with the most respected business news section, named my latest book, The Visual Slide Revolution, as one of the Top 10 Business Books of 2008.  This is a great honour for me and backs up what many of you have told me in e-mails and in person - that my ideas are practical and get you thinking about your presentation visuals in a new way.  To see the article, go to http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/VSRGMTop10.pdf .  To buy the book, go to http://www.VisualSlideRevolution.com . ------------------------------------------------------------------- Chicago February 23rd afternoon If you are in the Chicagoland area and want me to present a half-day session on February 23rd, contact me right away.  I have a scheduling opportunity between a morning session and an evening flight that may benefit both of us. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Publication Schedule I'm taking a break during the holidays to spend more time with family and friends, so the next slide makeover video will be released on January 6th and the next newsletter on January 13th. ------------------------------------------------------------------- PowerPoint Tip: Where to get inspiration for slides We are about to celebrate Christmas at our house and many of you are celebrating this or other special occasions at your home during the holidays.  One of the best loved parts of this time of year for our family is the light and holiday displays seen at so many houses and parks.  We make it a tradition to drive down one particular road Christmas Eve on our way back from my parents' house because of the great displays they have. What do holiday lights have to do with your presentations?  More than you may initially think.  You see, holiday displays and your presentations both need to have visual appeal, and we can learn from some of what we observe at this time of year and, in fact, any time we see visual artists at work, whether it is outdoors, in the theatre or in a studio. One idea from a holiday display we saw this weekend is how to simulate movement of an object on a slide.  The light display was one where it used a series of lights to show a person moving from one spot to another.  There are four different sets of lights and they turn on and off in sequence so it looks like the person is moving in a certain direction.  You can adapt this idea to show movement of any object on a slide.  You can draw the object once, then copy it and place it in a sequence of spots on the slide. Then, using appear and disappear animation effects with timing, you can make it look like the object is moving without a huge investment in creating a video.  For example, you could use this technique to show a part moving from one spot in the production process to another spot for the next step in assembly. I used an idea from the musical Wicked this summer to create a new slide in my presentation.  There is a scene in the musical on Broadway that simulates rain by using small lights moving vertically on the background of the set.  It gave me the idea that I could simulate rain by using white lines moving vertically on top of a darkened picture.  So I spent about an hour creating a slide that looks like a movie, but demonstrates to my workshop audiences that you can use the built-in animation techniques in PowerPoint to create visuals that will connect powerfully with your audience.  The initial investment of time has been leveraged by using that slide in many different presentations this year. So during this holiday season and all year round, look at the work of lighting and visual artists in a new way.  Let their talent and creativity inspire your ideas of how you can create powerful visuals for your audiences. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Best of the Blog - Note what works & what doesn't work  At our recent Canadian Association of Professional Speakers Convention, one of the keynote speakers, Darci Lang, shared an idea that has helped her improve. She is a great speaker and she said that one of the things she does after every presentation is to take a few minutes to note down in a journal what went well that presentation and what didn't work so well. This is an important practice for presenters to follow. I'll share how I would adapt it when thinking about your slides. When using visuals, take note of the expression you see on people's faces when they see the slide. If they are confused, it may be a signal that the slide is not designed as clearly as you thought it was. This doesn't mean that you should necessarily go and change the slide for your next presentation. The benefit of noting it in a journal is that you can see patterns emerge. If you note that a slide didn't work well and see in your journal that this is the third note about that slide, it is a trend that suggests that the issue is with the slide, not the audience. After you make a change to a slide, track whether the new slide is working or whether further tweaks are necessary. Use the trends that appear as a more reliable indicator than the reactions of a single audience. You will end up with a better reading that way. Use Darci's suggestion of journaling what works and what doesn't work with your slides and you will see a big improvement in 2009. Other recent blog posts at http://pptideas.blogspot.com : ------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave's Travel Schedule I work with business presenters who want to transform their overloaded text slides into persuasive presentations that effectively sell ideas, products and services to decision-makers. My research based PowerPoint Presentation Effectiveness System helps my clients achieve greater productivity and deliver presentations that close more sales.  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 (type of client is in brackets): February 21-23, 2009 - Chicago, IL (MBA students) February 26, 2009 - Quebec City, QC (Association) March 2-3, 2009 - Cincinnati, OH (Healthcare) April 8, 2009 - Ottawa, ON public half-day workshop, details coming in early 2009 April 22, 2009 - Toronto, ON IAPA post-conference workshop open to the public, details coming early in 2009 May 8-9, 2009 - Chicago, IL (MBA students) 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Privacy Policy: I will never sell or distribute your e-mail or information to anyone. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Need articles for your newsletter?  Check out my many articles at: http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the books, videos and other learning tools at: http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/resources.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you want to read back issues of this newsletter, click on the following link to go to the Archives: http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/archives.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------- Microsoft, PowerPoint, Windows and other terms are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.  Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.  All books, products and seminars are independent publications and are not affiliated with, nor have they been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation.