Dave Paradi's PowerPoint Tip Newsletter - Issue #179, February 24, 2009
Published & Copyright by Dave Paradi of ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com.  Circulation over 8,200
In this issue
Latest Slide Makeover
Public workshops in March & April
Using FLV videos in PowerPoint
Infocomm survey
From the blog
The Visual Slide Revolution book at www.VisualSlideRevolution.com
One of the Top 10 Business Books of 2008
Click on the cover to learn more
Book Dave to do a live program for your group:
1) Transforming Text Slides into Persuasive Visuals
2) Hands-on Creating Persuasive PowerPoint Visuals
3) Cutting Presentation Preparation Time by Using Content Templates and Creating a Slide Library
4) Creating and Delivering Effective Web Presentations
Click here to learn more and book Dave.
Dave's Travel Schedule
Feb 26 - Quebec City, QC (Association)
March 2-3 - Cincinnati, OH (Healthcare)
March 16-18 - Los Angeles, CA (Association seminar open to the public, for details click here)
March 23-25 - St. John's, NL (Utility)
April 8 - Ottawa, ON public half-day workshop, details here
April 18 - Calgary, AB (CAPS Chapter)
April 21 - Toronto, ON (Association conference)
April 22 - Toronto, ON IAPA post-conference workshop open to
the public, for details click here
April 24-26 - Mississauga, ON (Participating in Speaker Boot Camp, e-mail me for details)
May 8-9 - Chicago, IL (MBA students)
May 11 - Toronto, ON (CAPS Chapter)
May 12-13 - Winnipeg, MB (Association Conference)
June 28-30 - New Orleans, LA (SHRM Conference)
 Latest Slide Makeover Video
When explaining a technique, it is better to show than to tell.  This makeover, supplied by a reader of "The Visual Slide Revolution", shows how he transformed a simple, mostly text explanation, into a visual that makes the technique crystal clear to the audience.  Click on the video below to play it in your browser via YouTube (or click here to watch it on my web site in QuickTime format).

Slide Makeover Video at www.YouTube.com/thinkoutsidetheslide
Public workshops coming up in March & April

March 17, Los Angeles/Santa Monica, CA: half-day workshop
On March 17th in Santa Monica, I'll be delivering a half-day workshop that you can register for at a discounted rate.  Get details and register at
http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/powerpointseminar.htm .

April 22, Toronto, ON: full day workshop sponsored by IAPA
On the last day of the IAPA Conference in Toronto, I'll be delivering a full day of ideas on how to transform your overloaded text slides into persuasive visuals.  You can register for this workshop as course PD300 at
http://www.iapa.ca/Main/Micro/conference_2009/registrate.asp (Click on the Register Now button and follow the registration process)

PowerPoint Tip: Using FLV videos in PowerPoint

There are two types of video files that do not work well in PowerPoint for Windows: MOV QuickTime files and FLV Flash video files.  In a previous newsletter I dealt with how to play QuickTime videos in PowerPoint (if you missed that issue, click here to read it in the archives).  Today I will deal with Flash video files.

Flash video is the most popular video format on the Web because virtually every browser has the Flash player installed and the video plays automatically.  You may have a Flash video file on your web site that you’d like to use in your presentation, but you will run into two problems.  First, how do you get the video off the web and on to your computer.  Second, how do you get the video file to play in your presentation.  Let’s address each of these.

To get the Flash video file off the web and on to your computer, you may need to follow one of the following methods.  If you can right-click on the web page link to the video, you can save the file directly to your computer as an FLV file type.  Many flash videos are run from within an HTML web page and need a special method to capture the video that plays on the page.  You can use a free tool located at http://komando.com/myvideo/ to capture the video from a web page (Thanks to Kim Komando for creating this download utility and suggesting a good FLV player).  Now that you have the file, you need to be able to play it.

PowerPoint does not natively play Flash video files, and, while you will see instructions on some web sites on how to include a Flash video by inserting objects and setting parameters, it can be complicated and prone to problems if you don’t set every parameter just right.  I think it is easier to download a Flash player program like the VLC media player at http://www.videolan.org/vlc/.  Once you have installed the player application, you associate FLV files with that application in the Tools – Folder Options – File Types tab in Windows Explorer.  On your slide, create a hyperlink from a shape or text to the FLV file on your computer.  When you activate the hyperlink in your presentation, the Flash Player will open and play the video.  It is a good idea to open the player in full screen mode or know the key combination to switch it to full screen as soon as it starts.

I know some of you will say that integrating the Flash video using the object method is a cleaner way to play the video and I would have to agree.  But the reality is that for most non-technical presenters, setting object parameters is too complex and the above method, while not as smooth, is more reliable, which is what most presenters are looking for.  If you do want to try the object method, click here to see the instructions at indezine.com.
Are You A Presentation Professional?
Compare yourself with your peers in InfoComm International’s annual Presentation Professional survey. This year it’s shorter, easier and faster to complete. Whether you’re one of many in a corporate setting, or a one-person shop wearing all the hats, see how you compare in the skills you have and the challenges you face.

To thank you for sharing your opinions and experiences, you will receive a free survey report by e-mail.  The survey is at http://infocomm.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_56aKHqv6ZbwQi3O&SVID=Prod. Contact marketresearch@infocomm.org if you have any questions.
From the Blog at PPtIdeas.blogspot.com: Cutting design & graphics costs 
After a recent presentation, an audience member approached me and wanted to talk about how much her company was spending on graphics with a design firm. It seems that the design firm charges a fee every time a minor change is made. The graphic for the slide is a single image, so any minor change needs to go through the design firm, costing a significant fee, no matter how small the change. She was asking me if there is a better way. I think there is.

When you are contracting for some graphics to be designed for your slides, make sure you select a design or graphics firm who is willing to design the graphics in a way that you can make minor changes yourself or re-use parts on other slides. Ask them to provide the finished graphics as individual images grouped into the completed graphic. That way, if you need to make a minor change, you can ungroup the individual elements, make the change, and re-group them.

Another way to create professional graphics is to do them yourself using high-quality vector images. Combine individual elements and you can create the exact graphic you need. For example, you can combine a truck graphic and a factory graphic with one of a retail store to show the movement of goods through the process in your firm. Where do you get these vector images? I’d start with istockphoto.com and search for your keywords while specifying that the results should be vector images. I am using some vector images in my own presentations that I got from istockphoto.

Can you use professional graphics and not break the bank? Yes you can. Create them yourself or leverage the graphics you have created by a design firm.
Comments on the new look of the newsletter? Click here to e-mail me.
Contact Dave: Dave@ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com or call 905-510-4911
To learn more about Dave's workshops, click here. To get Dave's books or videos, click here.
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