Dave Paradi's PowerPoint Tip Newsletter - Issue #186, June 2, 2009
Published & Copyright by Dave Paradi of ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com.  Circulation over 8,200
In this issue
Latest Slide Makeover
Tenth Anniversary Special Package of Resources
Equipment to carry when presenting
Book Dave for a workshop
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
June 15 - Toronto, ON (Pension Plan staff)
June 28-30 - New Orleans, LA (SHRM Conference)
July 8 - Toronto, ON (Sales group)
July 22 - Toronto, ON (Sales group)
August 21 - Toronto, ON (MBA Students)
September 15 - Orangeville, ON (Utility company trainers)
October 13-14 - Atlanta, GA (PowerPoint Live conference)
October 17 - Edmonton, AB (CAPS Chapter)
November 25 - Toronto, ON (CSAE National Convention workshop)
 Latest Slide Makeover Video
When showing financial and operational performance against targets, it is common to use a table of figures.  This makeover shows how to transform one of the measurements into a graph that effectively communicates to the audience that planned performance is within an acceptable range.  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
Tenth Anniversary Special Package Deal - This Week Only!

In celebration of ten years in business, I'm offering a special deal on my latest books and videos.  In the package:
1. The Visual Slide Revolution book - click here for details
2. All 47 "How-To" videos on one CD - click here to see the list
3. 912 ready-to-use slides in the PowerPoint Content Templates - click here to preview them
4. Five "Creating Visuals" training videos - click here for previews
Regular retail value $467.50.  This week only $197 - save 58%!
Click here to order this special Tenth Anniversary package

PowerPoint Tip: Equipment to carry when presenting

When I travel to deliver customized workshops or speak at conferences, I carry the normal equipment for a presenter: my laptop, presentation remote and projector if required.  In today’s tip, I want to share with you a few of the other pieces of equipment I carry that come in handy when travelling.  I know all of these are perfectly OK to carry on an airplane since I regularly have my laptop bag searched when going through security.

The first item I carry is a VGA extension cord.  Mine is 15 feet long.  It allows me to move my laptop away from a podium or projector.  Too often, A/V people position the cord to connect the laptop to the projector in places that cause a problem as a presenter.  One common setup is the cord taped to a podium, which I never use because it creates a barrier between the audience and myself.  The other common situation is a short cord right beside the projector, which is blowing hot air right into my laptop, overheating it.  This cord came in handy in March when I was a speaker at a conference in Los Angeles and I used the cord to help out a panel session where the laptop wasn’t close to where the panel was seated.  The cord allowed the laptop to be in front of the panel and made the session more comfortable for the speakers and the audience.

The second item I carry is my wireless mouse.  One reason I carry it is because when I am working in a hotel room, I find it much more comfortable to use a mouse than to use the touchpad on my laptop.  I use a wireless mouse instead of a retractable wired mouse because it can then also serve as a backup for my presentation remote.  If my remote fails, I can use my wireless mouse as a substitute until I can replace the remote.

The final item in my laptop bag that I want to share with you is a small travel alarm clock.  It is easy to set and use.  I use it in two ways.  First, when I am in my hotel room, I always use it to wake me up in the morning.  If you stay in as many hotels as I do, you don’t have time to figure out all the alarm clocks and you learn not to trust them.  So I know I’ll always wake up on time if I use my own.  Second, when I am presenting, I set it to the local time and sit it beside my laptop.  This way, I always know what time it is, even if there is no clock in the room or the time on the clock in the room is wrong (happens often around the change to/from daylight savings time).  It makes sure that I can manage questions or exercises and we finish on time.

None of these items are high-end technically, but they are three of the most valuable items I carry in addition to the normal items presenters carry.  Think back over your own experiences and see how often one of these pieces of equipment would have been valuable to have.  Now you know why I carry them – and suggest you may want to as well.


Book Dave for a workshop and your staff will have comments like these recent attendees

"It was great!  Not only did I learn useful shortcuts, how to think beyond text slides and how to get my point across with graphs and pictures instead of text, but I was engaged the whole time.  Proving that Dave’s process really works.  Fantastic workshop!"
"I’ll never look at my PP screen the same again.  Ideas will allow me to produce a far more convincing, interesting and worthwhile presentation.  Thank you very much, fantastic day."
"I’m shocked – way above my expectations which were already high."
"Very informative ….Great real world examples delivered with intelligence."
Click here to learn about how I customize every workshop to deliver exactly what your group needs.

From the Blog at PPtIdeas.blogspot.com: Use the photos you already have on your web site     

I was doing a slide makeover today for slides from a large corporation. It is part of some work I am doing with a presentation skills expert and we are trying to show her client that their slides could be much better than they are today. The slide I chose was a typical five bullet point slide with some icons used as graphics below the bullet points.

The five points are the top five features that the company wants salespeople to focus on with customers in a retail environment. The problem is that they did not use pictures to illustrate the five features. On the company's web site, they list these five features (along with others). For each of the five, they have a professionally shot photo showing someone using that feature of the product. I copied the photos from the web site onto the slide and instantly had a much more visually appealing slide. It also allowed me to carry the selected photo on to a detailed slide about each feature.

When you are looking for photos to use in your own presentations and you work for a company that has a professionally done web site, start with the images that have been selected for the web site. The photos are easily accessible, easy to copy and will be consistent with what your audience has seen when they went to your web site. In today's situation, many of the retail customers will have already been to the company's web site and by training the sales people with the same images, they will be able to provide consistency of brand throughout the entire sales process.

Don't feel that you have to spend hours searching for the right stock photography or spend thousands of dollars on a photo shoot. Leverage what your company has already created and provide visual consistency for your customers across all points of contact.
Contact Dave: Dave@ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com or call 905-510-4911
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