Please forward this newsletter to anyone you know who wants to
strategically use PowerPoint visuals to enhance their presentations.
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 .

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In this issue:
Unlock a Secret Vault of Knowledge
PowerPoint Tip - Collaborating on Presentations
Best of the Blog - Making Words Stand Out
Dave's Travel Schedule
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Unlock a Secret Vault of Knowledge
On June 28th, I am officially launching my new Members Site. Many
of my subscribers are content getting the great information that I
write in this newsletter but some of you want exclusive access to my
latest ideas and specific video instruction. Now I am making that
opportunity available. The Think Outside The Slide(tm) Members Site
will offer short, focused videos, exclusive articles, reviews of
academic research that top presenters need to know about, the chance
to have a "makeover" done on your slides and a monthly live webinar
consulting session. This is certainly not for everyone. It is only
for those who know that presentation success is critical to their
career and want to stay ahead of the competition. This newsletter
will not change, but you will start to see references to content
that members can access to go deeper in certain subject areas. On
Thursday June 28th at 1:00 pm Eastern I'll be doing a live preview
webinar to take you behind the curtain and show you exactly what is
included in the Members Site. I will also be recording the webinar
so if you can't make it live, you will be able to watch it when it
is convenient for you to do so. You can register for the live
preview webinar at https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/113507703 

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PowerPoint Tip - Collaborating on Presentations

In my consulting work, I get a chance to collaborate on developing
presentations with people in many different geographic locations.
Sometimes it is face-to-face and other times it is done virtually.
Collaborating on presentations instead of doing it yourself is
becoming more common. Today I have some tips for making
collaboration work no matter if you are in the same room or oceans
apart.

Tip #1 Get on the same version
If at all possible, everyone should work on the same version of
PowerPoint that will be used to present with. I had a situation
earlier this year with a client where their older version of
PowerPoint did not support some of the animation and transparency
features that I had used in designing the slides. In this case I
had to design down to the version they were using.

Tip #2 Use viewer if necessary
One solution to different versions of PowerPoint being used is to
use the PowerPoint Viewer to be able to see the presentation as it
has been designed. The Viewer is available for download from
Microsoft and will allow you to show the latest features even if you
have an older version of the full PowerPoint program.

Tip #3 Keep Updated
Make sure that everyone on the team has updated their version of
PowerPoint with the latest service packs from Microsoft. I recently
had a client that kept seeing a black box around some graphics I had
created. It turned out that it was because I was using a
transparent background in the graphic and without the service pack,
it would not appear properly. Once they updated their PowerPoint,
everything looked fine.

Tip #4 Meet via the Web
One of the best investments I made last year was signing up for a
web meeting tool. It allows me to schedule a web meeting to review
slides or to spontaneously show examples to a client who has just
called me. Last year I completed a project that had people in the
U.S. and the U.K. and myself in Canada where we never met each other
in person. It was all done via web meetings and they were thrilled
at the way it worked at the time and cost savings. You can check
out the service I use at http://snipurl.com/webinarhost 

Don't be concerned the next time you have to collaborate with
colleagues on a presentation. Follow good presentation practices,
like setting goals and preparing an outline before you start, and
use the above tips to make the creation run smoothly.

Featured in the Members Site this week is a video on how to download
and use the PowerPoint Viewer mentioned in tip #2 above. I carry it
with me on a USB drive just in case the computer I am presenting
from has an old version of PowerPoint. Not a member? Join at
http://members.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com .

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Best of the Blog - Should you buy content for your presentation? 

In a recent newsletter for trainers I spotted an ad for a company
that sells materials for presenters. Interested in what they might
have, I checked out their web site. They offer workbooks, handouts
and even full PowerPoint presentations on a variety of topics. The
idea is that instead of creating your own content, you can just buy
theirs and be ready to go. Is this a good idea?

I don't think so. It seems to me to be only a slight step up from
the content wizards that PowerPoint contains. These wizards create
such poor presentations that they are laughable. In fact, one of the
most widely viewed presentations is The Gettysburg Address re-
created in one of the content wizards. This is regularly used as an
example of why PowerPoint itself is bad (it's not the tool but the
user of the tool - but that's another issue altogether).

Instead of thinking that you can buy some standard content, put
together a proper presentation structure to guide your message and
your visuals. Audiences today will not put up with a presentation
that is generic. You need to customize it. And that's only possible
when you create the content that the audience needs to hear. That's
why the first two chapters of "Guide to PowerPoint" don't even deal
with slides. They deal with developing a clear structure so that
when you get to creating slides, you understand how visuals fit in
to your message. If you haven't got the book yet, get it at
http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/guidetoppt.htm .

Other recent blog posts at http://pptideas.blogspot.com :
Don’t Miss a Golden Opportunity 

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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:

June 13-15 Indianapolis, IN
July 6-14 San Diego, CA
July 15-17 Los Angeles, CA
July 24-25 Detroit, MI
August 3 Huntsville, ON
August 14 Lexington, KY
August 15 Cincinnati, OH
August 17-20 Chicago, IL
August 24 Toronto, ON
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 (tentative)
October 25 Ottawa, ON
October 26 Huntsville, ON

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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