Please forward this newsletter to anyone you know who wants to
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If this newsletter has been sent to you by a friend, sign up to get
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In this issue:
Collaborating on Presentations
Seattle Public workshop open for registration
PowerPoint Tip - Beyond Templates
Best of the Blog - Presenting with a wireless mouse
Infocomm Presentation Professional Survey
Dave's Travel Schedule
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Collaborating on Presentations

In my consulting assignments I often use a web collaboration tool
called GoToMeeting. This allows my clients to see my computer
screen while we talk on the phone. We discuss what changes need to
be made to their slides and they can see the changes made
immediately and approve them on the spot. It cuts down on the time
to get the presentation done. If you work on presentations with
others, this is much more effective than back and forth e-mails.
Check out the free trial at http://snipurl.com/webinarhost .

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Seattle Public workshop open for registration

The public one-day Think Outside The Slide(tm) workshop on Friday
September 28th is now open for registration. This is strategic
level information, so there won't be any computers to distract you
from focusing on how to apply the ideas to your own presentations.
You get breakfast, breaks, lunch, a workbook and an autographed copy
of "Guide to PowerPoint". And you get to send in some of your own
slides as candidates for makeovers that show you how to apply the
information immediately. Register at
http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/powerpointseminar.htm 

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PowerPoint Tip - Beyond Templates

Many of you will be familiar with the idea of using a template to
give your slides a common look. A Master Slide sets the background
color, text colors and fonts and any branding on the slide. This
way, every slide has a consistent look and the audience is not
distracted by changing slide appearances. Some organizations take
this idea one step further and create a style guide.

Your template is one part of a style guide, but it goes further than
just the look and feel. A style guide can contain elements such as:

1) Guidelines on when to use different slide masters
If you are creating presentations that have distinct sections, such
as a workshop, seminar or longer session, you may want to create
multiple slide masters so that the graphical look indicates to your
audience what this slide is about. For example, you may have one
slide look for the start of a section and another slide look for
introducing an exercise. This type of graphical cueing can increase
the engagement of your audience.

2) Guidelines on the use of notes
The Notes section of a slide can be used for speaking notes that you
print to keep yourself on track. This fall I'll be speaking at a
conference about another use for the Notes section. When you are
creating slides that people with disabilities will view, the Notes
section is a great way to add descriptive text that can be read by
screen reader programs. I recently completed a white paper for my
publisher that goes into more details on this usage. They will be
distributing the white paper to those who create the slides for
their introductory textbooks.

3) Handout Guidelines
If you print handouts from your slides, you can also set guidelines
on how the handouts should be formatted and used. Just like there
is a Slide Master for a common look to your slides, there is a
Handout Master that can give a common look to your handouts. In a
handout master, you can set the header, footer, copyright notice,
and page number. You can also specify the number of slides per page
- I use four slides per page to allow space for notes.

If you haven't created your own custom professional looking
template, get a copy of my e-book "Create Your Own PowerPoint
Template" at http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/customtemplate.htm . 
Then, think about how you can create a style guide that will
speed up slide creation. By making decisions up front on how all of
your presentations should look and feel, you are free to focus on
the content that your audience needs to hear in each individual
presentation.

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Best of the Blog - The trouble with using a wireless mouse to change slides 

I saw it again last night. A presenter used a wireless mouse as a
remote device to change their slides. Initially, this sounds like a
good idea. You already have a wireless mouse, and if you click the
left mouse button, it is just like pressing the arrow key or
spacebar to advance your slide show. But in practice, it usually
doesn't work out so well.

The first thing that happens, and it did many times last night, is
that when you move the mouse, even slightly, the arrow cursor moves
on top of your slide. Last night the presenter was standing at a
podium about 10 feet from the laptop. Every time they got a little
nervous, they moved the mouse around on the podium, thinking we
couldn't see it. But the arrow moved all around the screen, showing
us exactly what they were doing. Movement will always draw
attention, so as soon as the arrow moved on the screen, we instantly
looked at the screen to see what was going on. This is very
distracting for the audience.

The second thing that happens almost every time at least once is
that you accidentally click the right mouse button instead of the
left mouse button. This brings up a menu which you then have to exit
out of. All while the audience watches.

When both of these happen, it makes you look unprofessional. So what
can you do? The best choice is to buy a proper presentation remote.
But failing that, when you are in Slide Show mode, press Ctrl+H to
hide the pointer arrow if the mouse moves. This will at least solve
the most common of the issues.

Other recent blog posts at http://pptideas.blogspot.com :
Earth Day Tips to Reduce Paper Usage 

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Are You A Presentation Professional?

Take a 15-minute survey and learn how you compare with your peers,
from the work you do and the expertise you have, to the challenges
you face. Are you similar to others, or charting your own course?
Find out for yourself in InfoComm International’s annual 2007
Presentation Professional Survey.

To thank you for sharing your opinions and experiences in this
survey, you will receive a free survey report by e-mail.

The survey is available at
http://infocomm.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_0U0yhRg0LijXsBC&SVID=Prod 
until May 18, 2007. Contact marketresearch@infocomm.org with
questions.

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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:

May 10 Mississauga, ON
May 23 Bala, ON
May 26 London, ON
June 8 Toronto, ON
June 13-15 Indianapolis, IN (tentative)
July 6-14 San Diego, CA
July 15-17 Los Angeles, CA
July 24-25 Detroit, MI
August 3 Huntsville, ON
September 7-9 Winnipeg, MB
September 27-30 Seattle, WA
October 10-12 Washington, DC
October 25-26 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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