| ******************************************************************* Dave Paradi's PowerPoint Tip Issue #177 January 27 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: 1-minute survey: What version of PowerPoint do you use? The Visual Slide Revolution in Top 10 Business Books of 2008 PowerPoint Tip - Using Motion Paths Public workshops coming up in March & April Best of the Blog - A lesson from cracking peppercorns Dave's Travel Schedule ******************************************************************* 1-minute survey: What version of PowerPoint do you use? I want to make sure that in the future I focus my tips and ideas to the versions of PowerPoint that you, my readers, rely on. Please take one minute to fill out a three question survey at: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pP7inVt8CBkA-xaZvns-7QA ------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 . ------------------------------------------------------------------- PowerPoint Tip - Using Motion Paths One of the features of PowerPoint that has the potential to annoy the most is the animation feature, where you can make elements of the slide move. It is annoying when the animation does not add to the message being delivered. Having every bullet fly in may look "cool" as a presenter, but audiences find it annoying. Probably the worst use of animation I have seen was on a slide from a salesperson. They were showing the prospect the inside sales team that would be supporting the prospect after the sale. The slide had the four people in the group, with their picture, name and areas of expertise. To build the slide, the salesperson had each of the head shot pictures bounce in to place. It made the staff look totally unprofessional! I asked the salesperson if they had ever shown those four people how he presented them to prospective clients. After a long pause, he changed the subject. So why would you want to use movement animation? Because sometimes it explains something better than you could with words. You are probably familiar with simple entrance animation, where you make each element on the slide appear on a click so you can talk about one point at a time. Today I want to suggest you consider a more advanced animation technique when you need it. Motion paths allow you to move an object from one specific spot to another on the slide. How can this help? Let me give you two examples that will hopefully stir your creativity. A couple of years ago I was speaking to accounting professors and a motion path allowed me to show a number moving from one spot in the general ledger to the appropriate spot in the T-account. Now I know that may be too much accounting speak for some of you, but the point is that showing the number move was exactly what their students needed to see in order to be able to use the knowledge later on. Using a laser pointer or simple appear animation would not have worked as well. In showing a manufacturing process, you could show a product moving from one stage in the process to another. This can be far more effective than just showing the steps or trying to describe them. If the process involves transportation of the product to a different facility, you can also have the train or truck moving between facilities. In this way, you almost create a movie, but without the expense and hassle usually associated with video production. If you are not familiar with motion path animation, how can you get started? In my collection of "how-to" videos, there are three videos on animation, including one on the topic of creating and using motion paths. You see me build a motion path step by step and see how it is done. You can get this video at http://www.PPtHowToVideos.com . PowerPoint expert Geetesh Bajaj also has some good reference material on his site at http://www.indezine.com/mailers/sent/20081106.html . ------------------------------------------------------------------- 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) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Best of the Blog - A lesson from cracking peppercorns On New Year’s Eve we had some friends over for dinner and we made a recipe that included cracking peppercorns. In the instructions, it said to use a mortar and pestle. We don't have one, so it offered an alternative - put the peppercorns in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin. I set it up and asked our 10 year old daughter to complete the task. She struggled for about 10 minutes and asked me to take over because it was so difficult. I started and found that it was indeed a hard task. Then a simpler idea dawned on me. I went down to the work room and got my hammer. In short order the job was finished. What does this have to do with our presentation slides? Too often we think we need to use fancy techniques or tools. Using fancy graphics software and having a design degree would be equivalent to using a mortar and pestle in the peppercorn story. When we don't have the tools or background, we try to use the tools we do have in PowerPoint, the rolling pin in the story, but sometimes that is hard as well. The lesson is that sometimes we need to step back and think of the simplest way to accomplish the task, whether that is getting our key point across or crushing the peppercorns. What are some simple ways to get our point across? Use a simple diagram or picture instead of trying to create a design masterpiece. Use a pre-designed vector graphic from a site like istockphoto instead of paying hundreds of dollars for a custom illustration. Or use a pre-made slide like those in my Content Templates ( http://www.PPtContentTemplates.com). All ways that you can get your point across in a simple, effective way without needing fancy tools or knowledge. You should certainly improve your knowledge of how to create visuals in PowerPoint if you want to take your slides to the next level (see http://www.PPtHowToVideos.com for some short training videos). But many times there are simple ways to include visuals that don't involve complex work or specialized knowledge. 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 18-19 - London, ON (Manufacturing) 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 public workshop; details and sign up at http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/powerpointseminar.htm March 23-26 - St. John's NL (Utility; tentative) 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 and sign up link at http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/powerpointseminar.htm May 8-9 - Chicago, IL (MBA students) June 28-30 - New Orleans, LA (SHRM Conference) 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? 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