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Communicating Using Technology
Vol. 4 Issue 9 May 3, 2005
Published and Copyright by Dave Paradi
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In this issue: Announcements 1. PPT - Template Searching 2. Compress Outlook folder 3. Useful Resource - View/Print a calendar -------------------------------------------- Privacy Policy: I will never sell or distribute your e-mail or information to anyone. -------------------------------------------- If you like the tips, pass it on! If you have received this as a forward from a friend, sign up for your own copy at: http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/newsletter.htm --------------------------------------------
Save Money - Book me where I am traveling I am traveling quite a bit in the next few months and this is a great opportunity for you to save the travel costs for an in- house workshop or one on one consulting appointment. Here is where I will be and the dates: May 30-31 in Ottawa, ON; June 24 in Washington DC; July 7 in Atlanta, GA; August 2-3 in Victoria, BC; August 5 in Vancouver, BC; August 19-23 in the San Francisco/ San Jose, CA area. If you want to save some money and book some time with me on one of these dates, just e-mail me at Dave@ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com.
Public Seminars in June Registrations continue to come in for the public Compelling PowerPoint seminars in June in Chicago and Washington DC. My promotion is in high gear, so I expect the spots to start filling up quickly. Get the details at http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/resources.htm and sign up soon to avoid disappointment. If you can't make the place or dates, you can order the live seminar recording through the same link.
1. PPT - Template Searching It amazes me how popular it is to search for a pre-made PowerPoint template. In fact, searching for a template or background is second only to searching for the term PowerPoint! There is a whole industry now dedicated to creating and selling PowerPoint templates. This obsession with templates disturbs me because there seems to be this misconception that if I just get the right look to my slides, the message will be great. Hogwash! Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, your slides need to be attractive and not ugly, but content is way more important than look. If people would invest the time working on structuring their message, finding good backup for each key point and practicing their delivery, we would not have so many bad PowerPoint presentations. Now this viewpoint is not going to endear me to the PowerPoint template industry, but I think it is important for our audiences. Many of these fancy backgrounds include multiple images which look "cool", but only end up distracting the audience from the key text or graphics. And it causes the audience to spend too much time looking at the screen and less time focusing on the presenter, who should be the most important element of any presentation. I recently wrote an article on this issue and described how you can quickly create a simple template for your slides that is attractive and not distracting. Then you have more time to structure your message and end up with a better presentation at the end. You can read the whole article on the web site at: http://tinyurl.com/cpybv
-------------------------------------------- Learn to use PowerPoint in under 2 hrs Why wade through a big book - get a 13 step process that teaches you the 20% you REALLY need to know. "The step-by-step guide for these functions is far easier to follow than the PowerPoint for Dummies book I had!" -Randy Maples "Dave, many people go over the top with claims as to how great their product is - you know the sort - but I can definitely say that your e-book on Powerpoint is a no-frills, punchy and very helpful tool." - Tom Webb Go to this link: http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=45805 --------------------------------------------
2. Compress Outlook folder If you are like me, you deal with hundreds of e-mails each day. And this makes your Outlook mail folder grow quickly. When it comes time to do a backup (which you should be doing regularly), this file is too large to fit on a single CD. In order to get the file size down to a reasonable level, Outlook has a utility to compress the folder to allow for easier backups. I recently did this on my main mailbox folder and found that it reduced the size by almost 20%. Beware that it can take a long time, possibly two hours or more in some cases, so plan to do it overnight. In Outlook 2002, the steps are as follows: Click on Tools->Options to display the Options dialog box. Click on the Mail Setup tab. Click on the Data Files button to display the Outlook Data Files dialog box. Click on the data file you want to compress (your main data file is usually named Personal Folders). Then click on the Settings button to display the dialog box for that folder. On this dialog box, click on the Compact Now button to begin the compacting. I hope this helps if you use Outlook.
------------------------------------------------------- Make Your Next PowerPoint Presentation Compelling Do you have an important presentation coming up? Would you like to make it so compelling that people sit on the edge of their seats listening to you? If you do, let me help you with my ten step PowerPoint presentation consulting approach. This is way more than just slide design, this is professional input on the structure, design and delivery of your PowerPoint presentation. One of my consulting clients wrote "I can confidently say my sales have already increased as a result of this astounding presentation." If you are interested, go to this link: http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=85889 -------------------------------------------------------
3. Useful Resource - View/Print a calendar If you need to view or print a calendar for virtually any country or year, this website will be a resource you have been looking for. I have used it to look up public holidays in other countries when planning trips and it is a handy full year calendar with holidays for your desk or bulletin board. Check it out at: http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/
-------------------------------------------- Tools I use to sell my products: KickStartCart shopping cart system: http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/default.asp?pr=31&id=42487 Credit Card Processor PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/row/mrb/pal=8ADSGLU62YXWW Credit Card Processor 2checkout.com: http://www.2checkout.com/cgi-bin/aff.2c?affid=90267 -------------------------------------------- Would you like me to speak to your professional association or chapter event? I am always looking for opportunities to share my information with others and would consider speaking to your group if you are in or near the following areas: Rochester, NY, Buffalo NY, Detroit, MI, Cleveland, OH, Pittsburgh, PA or Toronto, ON. Just e-mail me at: dave@communicateusingtechnology.com for more info. -------------------------------------------- Check out the books, e-books and other learning tools at: http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/resources.htm ******************************************** This newsletter is: CUT May 3/05 [PPT Template Search, Compress Outlook] If you want to read back issues of this newsletter, click on the following link to go to the Archives: http://tinyurl.com/nhgl ********************************************