| ******************************************************************* Dave Paradi's PowerPoint Tip Issue #172 November 11, 2008 Published & Copyright by Dave Paradi of ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com Circulation over 8,200 ******************************************************************* Please forward this newsletter to executives and professionals who want to create PowerPoint presentations that sell their ideas, products or services more effectively. 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 . ******************************************************************* In this issue: Honouring those who serve Transform your text slides into persuasive visuals PowerPoint Tip - Shortcut keys when presenting Best of the Blog - Does great content trump poor visuals? Dave's Travel Schedule ******************************************************************* Honouring those who serve Today in many parts of the world we honour those who have served and those who currently serve in our armed forces. It is because of their sacrifices that you and I have the freedom to share the information we do in presentations, e-mails, newsletters and in person. Take a moment today to remember those who fought and continue to fight for freedom around the world. And if you want to watch an inspirational video, check out Terry Kelly's song "A Pittance in Time" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kX_3y3u5Uo . We saw Terry perform this live this summer at the NSA Convention in New York and there wasn't a dry eye in the room. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Transform your text slides into persuasive visuals Don't know how to start transforming your overloaded text slides into persuasive visuals? The solution you have been waiting for is here. My latest book, The Visual Slide Revolution, explains my five-step KWICK method that I use to create persuasive presentations for my clients. The Globe & Mail said, "This is a very strong book in an area where most of us are very weak." Read chapter 2 and order your copy at http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/vsr.htm . ------------------------------------------------------------------- PowerPoint Tip: Shortcut keys when presenting In the workshops where I cover the topic of presenting your persuasive visual slides, one of the areas that gets the most interest is the shortcut keys you can use while you are delivering the presentation. In today's tip I want to alert you to some of the most useful shortcuts and when you would use them in a business or professional presentation. Probably the most useful key when presenting is the "B" key. Why? Because it allows you to toggle to a black screen at any time. Why would you want to hide your wonderfully created slides? Because sometimes the greatest power comes from the audience focusing only on you. Take away the visual, and they focus more intently on what you are saying. Any time the visual is not relevant to what you are saying, like in a story or when you are answering a non-related question, press the "B" key on your keyboard to make the slide disappear. The "B" stands for the colour "Black", so if your operating system and PowerPoint is in a different language, your key will likely be the first letter of the word "Black" in your language. Another useful shortcut to know is how to get to any slide almost instantly. There are two ways to do this that do not involve exiting slide show mode. First, if you know the slide number, you can enter the number using the number keys on the keyboard and then press the Enter key. This jumps you directly to that slide, regardless of where it is in the presentation. The second way to jump to a different slide is to press Ctrl+S and then use the list of all slides to select the one you want to view. This is useful if you want to display a slide that answers a question that has been asked, if someone asks you to go back to a slide earlier in your presentation, you need to jump to the last slide if you are running out of time, or if you want to display a hidden slide because it is relevant to the discussion. I think using hyperlinks in your slide presentation is a good idea and can help bring in outside content or enable non-linear presentations that will make your presentation much richer. The challenge is how to activate the hyperlinks on the slide. Most people use the mouse to move the cursor over the hyperlink and then click on the link. This is distracting because the audience focuses on the moving mouse. There is a better way. By pressing the Tab key on your keyboard, you can move to each hyperlink on the slide in sequence. It is like moving your mouse over that link. You will know which link is selected because there is a thin dashed white line around the link text or shape. Once the link is selected with the white dashed line box around it, press the Enter key and the link will be activated just as if you had pressed the mouse button. Hyperlinks allow you to open Word, Excel or PDF documents in the middle of your presentation, access a web site or jump to another presentation, all without leaving the presentation slide show. You can discover more shortcuts by pressing the F1 key while in slide show mode. If you'd like to see these techniques demonstrated along with how to draw on the screen, you can check out the short "how-to" video at http://www.PPtHowToVideos.com . You'll also find videos on hyperlinking at the same site. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Best of the Blog - Does great content trump poor visuals? I was at an academic presentation recently and it presented a dilemma in terms of evaluating the effectiveness of the presentation. The presenter is an expert in the topic and had done some ground breaking research in the area. The conclusions were interesting and he could back it up with evidence based on data that he had exclusive access to. Powerful stuff. But his slides were awful. And he didn't use them well at all. He shared that he had been presenting this work at other institutions and had received great feedback from other experts in the field who recognized the usefulness of the conclusions he had come to. They saw his work as significant in the field. So I was left wondering whether great content trumps the poor use of visuals? I'm not sure I have the answer, but here's what I was thinking. I know that fancy visuals can't save poor content. No matter how flashy your slides are, the audience won't leave excited if your message lacks substance. But I am not sure it works the other way around. If your content is great but presented with lacklustre visuals, the audience will still leave enlightened. They just may not be as informed or inspired as if you had also used great visuals to drive home your points. That's why I start almost every presentation by talking about the importance of properly structuring your message before you even consider your slides. Without a good structure, making sure that you have points that move your audience from where they are now to where you want them to be, the rest doesn't matter. Next time you start to develop a presentation, don't sit down at your computer. Go to a quiet place with a pen and paper and allow yourself the time to concentrate on your desired outcome and the best way to achieve it. Only after you've got great content should you look to create persuasive visuals. Other recent blog posts at http://pptideas.blogspot.com : The one thing that will make your videos better ------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave's Travel Schedule I work with business presenters who want to transform their overloaded text slides into persuasive presentations that effectively sell ideas, products and services to decision-makers. My research based PowerPoint Presentation Effectiveness System helps my clients achieve greater productivity and deliver presentations that close more sales. 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 (type of client is in brackets): November 21 - Toronto, ON (University staff) November 30-December 2 - CAPS Convention in Toronto, ON (doing a Meet the Experts session on creating your own YouTube channel) December 9 - London, ON (Manufacturing) February 21-23, 2009 - Chicago, IL (MBA students) March 2-3, 2009 - Cincinnati, OH (Healthcare) April 8, 2009 - Ottawa, ON public half-day workshop, details coming in early 2009 April 23, 2009 - Toronto, ON IAPA post-conference workshop open to the public, details coming early in 2009 May 8-9, 2009 - Chicago, IL (MBA students) 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Privacy Policy: I will never sell or distribute your e-mail or information to anyone. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Need articles for your newsletter? 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