If you are a manager, executive or sales professional who delivers
PowerPoint presentations, this message is for you. On Friday
September 28th at the Think Outside The Slide workshop in Seattle,
you will learn the four words that will instantly focus the audience
on your message, the six methods you must know in order to earn the
right to use those four words and the one technique that if you
forget, will leave your audience dazed and confused. Register at
http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/powerpointseminar.htm and
prepare to change the way you present forever.

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Meet me at NSA in San Diego

The annual convention of the National Speakers Association started
last night in San Diego, CA. I am attending and will be doing a
session as part of tomorrow morning's Experts Expo on Technology.
The session will focus on improving your use of visuals - it will be
interactive and full of great ideas. If you are at NSA, look for me
in the halls and I'd love to meet you.

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PowerPoint Tip - Why Not Use a Map?

If you have geographic based data to present, it is important to
organize it into a logical manner for the audience. Usually this
means organizing it left to right in west to east order so that the
data on the slide is the same order as the regions or territories
would be if you looked at a map. Typically this will be a column
graph with the western data starting on the left moving to the far
right where we find eastern data.

A recent client slide from a Canadian client is a perfect
illustration. They were showing market share in each region. They
used a column graph and had one bar for BC, one for Alberta, one for
the Prairies, one for Ontario, one for Quebec and one for the
Atlantic provinces. It was a well designed slide. But it could
have been even more effective.

When showing market share, a pie chart is a great visual because the
proportion is instantly clear to the audience. But how do you
create a pie graph that would show market share in each of six
regions? The answer is you can't. But you can use a pie chart for
each region.

What I used was a map of Canada as the base graphic for the slide
covering most of the slide. On top of the map, I created a small
pie chart that showed the market share in BC. Then I positioned the
pie chart over British Columbia on the map. Then I did the same for
each of the other five regions. So the slide had a map with six
small pie charts showing the market share in each region.

The result was a much clearer picture of where the company had
strong market share and where they needed to focus efforts at
increasing market share. There was very little text needed because
the pie chart and the positioning on the underlying map said it all.
The next time you have geographic data to present, think of how you
can use a map to give the audience context that is far more
effective than just words.

Members of the Think Outside the Slide Members Site have access to a
new video that shows the slides I refer to above and shows you how
to get clean, simple maps that you can use on your slides without
using complex mapping software. If you are not a member yet, you
can join at http://members.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com . You can also
learn more about using diagrams instead of text in chapter 6 of
"Guide to PowerPoint" available at
http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/guidetoppt.htm .

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Best of the Blog - Princess Diana knew the power of a visual 

Yesterday I watched a fair bit of the telecast of the Concert for
Diana from London, England. Inbetween the musical and other
performers they showed video segments about Diana. One of the
segments focused on photographers who had taken pictures of her,
from official royal photographers to fashion photographers.
Something one of them said was very interesting.

He commented that Diana really knew how to use the press, especially
when it came to helping charities through having herself
photographed in a way that helped the cause. One photo they showed
was of her walking and she had a T-shirt with the name of the
charity on under her jacket. She walked with her hands in her
pockets holding the jacket open so that the name of the charity was
clear for everyone to see when that photograph was published.

Another story concerned her trip to a leprosy hospital in Southeast
Asia. When she came in, she deliberately went over to a man
suffering from the disease and shook his hand and spoke with him.
The director of the hospital commented to an observer that the one
photo of Diana speaking to this man would do more for the cause than
his 30 years of work at the clinic.

That's the power of a visual. They could have written letters, grant
proposals, met with delegates of many nations, but the visual
trumped them all.

So what's the point for business presenters? That visuals have the
power to stick in people's minds. People remember images and the
emotions they bring forth. In your presentations, look to create and
use images that tie your key message to an emotion and you will have
a much better chance of your message being remembered and acted
upon.

Other recent blog posts at http://pptideas.blogspot.com :
How many features do you need to know?

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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:

July 6-14 San Diego, CA
July 15-17 Los Angeles, CA
July 24-25 Detroit, MI
August 1-3 Bala & Huntsville, ON
August 14 Lexington, KY
August 15 Cincinnati, OH
August 17-20 Chicago, IL
August 24 Toronto, ON
August 28-30 San Diego, CA & Mexico
September 7-9 Winnipeg, MB
September 28 Seattle, WA one-day public workshop - register at
http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/powerpointseminar.htm September 27-30 Seattle, WA
October 10-12 Washington, DC
October 18 Barrie, ON
October 25 Ottawa, ON
October 26 Huntsville, ON
October 29-31 New Orleans, LA (tentative)

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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