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:
Transforming Text Slides into Visual Slides ebook
Seattle Public workshop open for registration
PowerPoint Tip - Use Gantt chart for Timelines
Best of the Blog - Another example of Poor Color Contrast
Dave's Travel Schedule
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Transforming Text Slides into Visual Slides ebook

Many people have moved from sentences to bullet points on their
slides, but are looking for ways to make their slides more visual.
In this ebook, I apply dual-coding theory ideas to the design of
PowerPoint slides. I have taken 15 common business topics and I
show how you can use a visual slide instead of a text slide. There
are 39 slide examples in all. And I also share what the best
practices are in designing each of the visuals. Get your copy at
http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/transformtext.htm 

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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 - Use Gantt chart for Timelines

In a number of presentations that I have worked on for clients they
want to show a timeline of events as a background for their
comments. It may be developments in the industry, evolution of a
competitive landscape or as simple as external world events that
influence their situation. This proves to be a bit of a challenge
for many since often these events are not point in time events but
are developments that may have taken months or years to occur.

Some have used a bulleted list with each bullet containing a date
and the text of the event or development. The challenge with this
format is that it does not make it easy to get a sense of overall
timing because the gap between the dates in the list may not be
consistent. It also does not allow for an easy way to show how long
something took if it developed over, say, 2 years.

Another attempt was to have a timeline of years through the middle
of the slide and add events along the timeline above or below the
timeline. This is better because it is visual, but the challenge is
twofold. First, too often the timeline is what stands out because
of where it is positioned and the text of the events becomes too
small to see. Second, it is not always easy to indicate the
duration of a situation.

A better choice is to use a Gantt chart. Gantt is not an acronym,
is it the name of the man who created this way of showing
information. A Gantt chart has a timeline along the bottom of the
chart with equal spacing representing each time period. Above the
timeline each event is represented with a horizontal bar which
indicates when the event started and ended based on the timeline.
The advantage of the Gantt chart is that it is a good visual
representation of the sequence and it allows for an audience member
to easily put the events in an overall context. By building each
bar on the chart, the presenter can explain each event individually.

On my consulting page I have recently posted five videos showing
examples of the work I have done for clients. One of the examples
is how I changed a timeline slide to a Gantt chart slide. You can
view the example at
http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/consulting.htm (the video
examples are links about three quarters the way down the page).

If you want to learn how to draw diagrams yourself and not spend
hundreds on a graphic designer, check out my video on using diagrams
at http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/vtusingdiagrams.htm .
Another good reference for diagram ideas is the latest book by Gene
Zelazny, an expert we reference in Guide to PowerPoint. His latest
book is "The Say It With Charts Complete Toolkit" and can be ordered
at http://snipurl.com/sayitwithcharts .

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Best of the Blog - Another example of Poor Color Contrast 

I was at the gas station the other day and I saw another example of
poor color contrast on a visual display. This gas pump was one of
the new ones where they play ads on a TV screen above the pump as
you are filling up. In addition to the ads, they have a page of
news and a page of sports headlines in the rotation. Unfortunately,
the person who created these pages does not understand that if the
text color and the background don't have enough contrast, no one
will be able to read what you have on the screen. They chose black
text on a dark blue background - almost impossible to see even in
good daylight conditions. Before you use colors on your slides,
check their contrast using the Color Contrast Calculator at
http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/colorcontrast.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:

May 23 Bala, ON
May 26 London, ON
June 8 Toronto, ON
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 13-15 Cincinnati, OH & Lexington, KY (tentative)
August 17-20 Chicago, IL
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 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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