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:
Reminder of Members Site Preview Webinar
One slim desk reference for presenters
PowerPoint Tip - Research on Slide Titles
Best of the Blog - Making Words Stand Out
Dave's Travel Schedule
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Reminder of Members Site Preview Webinar

If you haven't yet signed up for the preview web tour of the new
Members Site on Thursday at 1:00 pm Eastern time, register at
https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/113507703 . And for those of
you who can't make it, I will be recording the session and posting
it to the site at http://members.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com so you can
view it at your leisure.

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One slim desk reference for presenters

When we wrote "Guide to PowerPoint", we set out to do something that
had never been done before. We combined the best ideas on what
makes slides effective with step-by-step instructions on how to
quickly do the required tasks in PowerPoint. As one reviewer said,
"If this is your first business presentation or your 700th
presentation, Guide to PowerPoint should be part of your library."
Get your copy at http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/guidetoppt.htm 

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PowerPoint Tip - Research on Slide Titles

In the newspaper recently I saw a short mention that a study was
done recently that showed that a sentence as a title of a PowerPoint
slide was found to be more effective. So I did the research and
found the paper that this report was based on. And as is all too
common, the reporting greatly simplifies what the paper really said.

It is a paper that discusses what the authors call "Assertion-
Evidence Slide Design" (the paper is online at
http://www.writing.eng.vt.edu/slides.html). This is basically an
approach that uses a sentence as the title of the slide and a visual
as evidence to support the assertion made by the title.

In their tests, they compared the effectiveness of slides using this
design method to slides with short phrase titles and bullet points
only. They found a significant increase in understanding with the
slides that used their design. Not a surprise I must say.

But here is where the reporting went astray. The report suggested
that the conclusion is that the title change was the significant
factor in increasing the effectiveness of the slide. Hogwash, I
say.

All the evidence from other research suggests that it is both the
more meaningful message title as I call it, along with the power of
a visual that makes the difference. And in my opinion it is
probably the visual that made the bigger difference than the title.

How can you apply this research to your slides? In two ways.
First, start by thinking visually instead of accepting the default
bullet point layout that PowerPoint offers. Use graphs, diagrams,
charts, photos and any other visual you can think of to break the
addiction to bullet points.

Second, create titles for your slides that communicate a message.
Instead of "Sales 2000-2006", use "Sales up 41% 2000-6" as the
title. This message title will allow your audience to immediately
"get" the slide and allow them to spend more time paying attention
to what you are saying than trying to decipher your slide.

If you need some help transforming text slides into visual slides,
check out my e-book on the subject at
http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/transformtext.htm . Members of
the ThinkOutsideTheSlide Members Site have access to the
Transforming Text exercise that I use during my workshops along with
my explanation of what I did to make the point of the example more
visual. If you want to become a member, go to
http://members.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com .

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Best of the Blog - Could Citigroup Save $47 million a year with this
idea?

Saving Citigroup $47 million a year is a pretty bold statement.
Especially when job cuts are not involved. How can it be done? By
looking at ways to improve what professionals and managers are
already doing in meetings. Read a new article based on statistics by
Microsoft to find out how Citigroup and your company can save
potentially millions at
http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/articles/savemillions.htm .

Other recent blog posts at http://pptideas.blogspot.com :

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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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