******************************************************************* Dave Paradi's PowerPoint Tip     Issue #176 January 13 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 PowerPoint Tip - What’s in your Deleted Scenes special feature? Best of the Blog - PowerPoint design in 2009 Dave's Travel Schedule ******************************************************************* The Visual Slide Revolution in Top 10 Business Books of 2008 Last month, 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------- PowerPoint Tip: What’s in your Deleted Scenes special feature? Recently I was watching a movie on DVD with my family. As with many DVDs today, it included a special feature with Deleted Scenes. As the director usually explains, these scenes were originally shot with the intention of being in the movie, but during the editing stage, they found that the scene did not move the story along or develop a character in the way that they thought it would. Since it wasn’t a strong enough scene, it was cut. In your presentations, what would be in the Deleted Slides special feature? Too often, that special feature would be blank. I see many presentations where the presenter should have cut some slides and material that wasn’t strong enough in moving the audience to understand the message. But they left in every slide and the presentation has dips where the audience loses focus during a weak spot. Not cutting out material also leads to presentations that are longer than they need to be. I rarely, if ever, hear a complaint that a presentation was too short. Most of the time the complaints are that the presenter went too long and their message could have been delivered in far less time. Why don’t presenters do the editing that a movie director does and end up with a Deleted Slides special feature? I think it is due to two reasons. First, they don’t budget the time for editing. They are rushing to get the presentation done at the last minute and don’t leave any time to step back and see if what they have created is what the audience really needs. Take the time to edit your presentation, looking for slides or pieces of information that do not strongly move the audience to the conclusion you want them to reach. Then cut those weak parts. The second reason that presenters don’t edit their presentations is that they are under the mistaken belief that the audience wants to see and hear every small detail. Most audiences, especially decision-makers, don’t want every detail. They want the conclusions that matter to them. If they want the detail, they will ask. But they trust that you are the expert and your work is good. Focus on presenting only the ideas that the audience needs to make decisions or to do their job better. For your next presentation, budget the time for editing. It will make a tighter, more powerful presentation that will get noticed. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Best of the Blog - PowerPoint design in 2009  Olivia Mitchell has asked a number of experts in the PowerPoint community to comment on what we think 2009 will bring in the area of PowerPoint design. I think we will see a clear split into two camps. One group will be those who can afford and desire the highest end design. The other group will be the in-the-trenches presenters who need to get better to survive in the tough economy. Let me expand on each of these groups. The first group are those for whom design is very important. They are looking for the latest design ideas and have the capacity to pay others to create their presentations. These presentations will incorporate high end graphics, be created by professional designers and may embrace some of the recent trends such as a rapid delivery of hundreds of slides containing just a word or two on them. I think that this group will continue to get the press but will actually consist of a very small minority of the presenters since most can’t afford the time or money. And many of the new trends in presenting simply won’t cut it in most corporate settings. The much larger group will be those who are trying to sell ideas, products and services in a tough economy. In 2009, presenting effectively will impact your results and ultimately whether you get to keep your job or not. These presenters, who live in the corporate, government and non-profit worlds, make the vast majority of presentations that are delivered each day. They don’t have time for elaborate design. They need to become a little more effective every day. They will look for simple ways to make their message more visual without spending a lot of time and money. They don’t need to be miles better than their competition, one notch above will do just fine. They look at the design folks and conclude correctly that a design-focused approach just won’t work in their world. I have come to realize this split just recently. In my business, I am happy to give the first group of design focused presenters to the talented designers that exist out there. I will focus on the vast majority of presenters for whom design is nice, but effectiveness rules. This much larger group of corporate, government and non- profit presenters need practical help they can use right away. I will serve them with the ideas for transforming overloaded text slides into persuasive presentations in my book The Visual Slide Revolution, the content templates that allow presenters to copy and customize slides instead of starting from scratch, my short how-to videos for those who want to learn new techniques, and my workshops that include showing the ideas applied to the slides already being used in an organization. And I’ll be sharing examples every two weeks in my slide makeover video podcasts so presenters can get new ideas for their presentations. I think most of you reading this are in the large group that I intend to focus on. I look forward to serving you this year. Other recent blog posts are 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 - Chicago, IL (MBA students) February 26 - Quebec City, QC (Association) March 2-3 - Cincinnati, OH (Healthcare) March 16-18 - Los Angeles, CA (Association) April 8 - Ottawa, ON public half-day workshop, details coming in early 2009 April 18 - Calgary, AB (CAPS Chapter) April 21 - Toronto, ON (Association conference) April 22 - Toronto, ON IAPA post-conference workshop open to the public, details coming early in 2009 May 8-9 - 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.