| ******************************************************************* Dave Paradi's PowerPoint Tip Issue #148 November 27, 2007 Published & Copyright by Dave Paradi of ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com Circulation 8,538 ******************************************************************* Please forward this newsletter to sales executives and professionals who want to achieve greater sales rep productivity and deliver presentations that close more sales. 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: Do you really need "Guide to PowerPoint"? PowerPoint Tip - Smaller imported PDF images Best of the Blog - Start small with visual slide transformations Dave's Travel Schedule ******************************************************************* Do you really need "Guide to PowerPoint"? A new version of my book from Prentice Hall has just gone to production and experienced presenters often ask me why they need this book. After all, they already know how to use PowerPoint. True, but from what I see, most presenters don't use it effectively. This book is a slim reference guide that shows you how to design effective slides and gives you step by step instructions on how to create the slides in PowerPoint. It doesn't show you everything you ever and never wanted to know about PowerPoint, just the steps you need to know. Recently, Lynne Farrow purchased the book and sent me this comment, "By page 15, I felt I more than got my money's worth." Earlier, a reveiwer wrote "If this is your first business presentation or your 700th presentation, Guide to PowerPoint should be part of your library. It is designed for you to achieve results from your PowerPoint presentations in the business world." Makes a great present to yourself and your future presentation success. Don't delay and get your copy at http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/guidetoppt.htm . ------------------------------------------------------------------- PowerPoint Tip: Smaller imported PDF images Earlier this year I shared a technique for including PDF content on a PowerPoint slide. In issue 135 on May 29 I showed how the capture tool in Acrobat can be used to move content from a PDF file to a slide (see http://www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com/archives.htm for this and all back issues). If you are including a lot of PDF content, you may have seen your file size grow. One way to reduce the size of PowerPoint files that contain graphics is to use PowerPoint's built-in feature to compress graphics. I have used this to compress files up to 96%. But this does not seem to help when you have these PDF images in a PowerPoint file. If file size is of critical importance to you because you need to e- mail the file to others, you may need to use a modified technique that will allow a smaller file size. Here are the steps you would follow: 1. Capture the PDF content using the Acrobat capture tool as you normally would. Make sure that the capture area is as large as possible by zooming in Acrobat so that you get the clearest image possible. 2. Open Windows Paint. This is a utility that comes with Windows and is usually found in the Accessories folder after you click Start and All Programs. 3. Paste the captured image into Windows Paint. 4. In Windows Paint, save the image as a PNG or JPG file (the different file types are available in the Save as type drop down list at the bottom of the File Save dialog box). 5. Use Insert - Picture - From File in PowerPoint to insert the image on a slide. This is definitely a more involved set of steps to get PDF content into your slide, but it may reduce the file size enough to allow you to e-mail the presentation. If you include many screen capture images in your presentation, this technique will also allow you to edit the screen captures in an image editing program and make them available for use in other presentations or documents. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Best of the Blog - Start small with visual slide transformations In a workshop I did yesterday a participant raised a real concern that perhaps you have been wondering about as well. We had just finished going through the exercise where I put up a couple of paragraphs of text and the participants come up with visuals that could be used instead of the text. What this participant raised was that it seemed like it would take a lot of time to think of and create visuals for a whole presentation. And this was time she and her colleagues would not have in the fast paced environment they operate in. When you first start realizing that visuals can make a much larger impact than text, it can sometimes feel overwhelming to look at applying the ideas to an entire presentation. So what I suggested was to start with just one or two slides in the next presentation. Look for ways to make those slides more visual. Then, take another one or two slides in the presentation after that. And keep focusing on only one or two slides per presentation. After five presentations, you'll have ten slides that are now visual instead of paragraphs of text. You'll now be able to re-use these slides and will be more comfortable with creating visuals, which will help you create new visuals quicker. Any time you are making a change like this, start small and build your confidence and skills. In no time at all, you'll wonder what was so hard about visualizing ideas instead of writing long blocks of text. Other recent blog posts at http://pptideas.blogspot.com : ------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave's Travel Schedule I work with business people who struggle with the effectiveness of the PowerPoint presentations they use to sell ideas, products and services to other business people. 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: December 6-9 - Halifax, NS December 10-11 - King City, ON December 12-14 - St. John's, NL December 18-19 - Mississauga, ON January 23-24 - Cincinnati, OH February 23 - Las Vegas, NV February 25 - Chicago, IL February 26 - Kansas City (tentative) March 1 - Sawgrass, FL 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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