PowerPoint Tip: Options for using Data from Excel on PowerPoint Slides – Part 1 Excel is commonly used to perform calculations or financial analysis. I use it frequently for these purposes, as I am sure you do. While Excel is a great tool for performing numeric analysis, it is not intended to be a presentation…
Tag: 2010
Using quotes effectively on your slides; Issue #215 July 27, 2010
PowerPoint Tip: Using quotes effectively on your slides You want to use a quote to illustrate your point, so you type it out on a PowerPoint slide. Like most presenters, you show the slide and immediately start talking about how this quote illustrates your point. Unfortunately, the audience is still reading the quote while you are speaking,…
Why do presenters change the organization’s template?; Issue #214 July 13, 2010
PowerPoint Tip: Why do presenters change the organization’s template? I had a conversation recently with a client who is looking to update their organization’s PowerPoint template. The one they have now is out of date, but of more concern is that everyone seems to be creating their own slide design. The organization’s branding is getting…
Break Your Addiction to Ineffective PowerPoint Presentations One Presentation at a Time – Part 2; Issue #213 June 29, 2010
PowerPoint Tip: Break Your Addiction to Ineffective PowerPoint Presentations One Presentation at a Time – Part 2 Last time I gave the first six steps in a twelve step program for breaking the addiction that many presenters have. They have become accustomed to packing their slides with text and data and mostly reading the slides…
Break Your Addiction to Ineffective PowerPoint Presentations One Presentation at a Time – Part 1; Issue #212 June 15, 2010
PowerPoint Tip: Break Your Addiction to Ineffective PowerPoint Presentations One Presentation at a Time – Part 1 The twelve step program created by Alcoholics Anonymous has been used as a model for many people to break their addiction to alcohol, drugs and other destructive behaviours. It has been adapted to many situations to deal with different…
Being too emotionally invested in your slides leads to less effective presentations; Issue #211 June 1, 2010
PowerPoint Tip: Being too emotionally invested in your slides leads to less effective presentations I’ve spent some time thinking about the different reasons why presenters don’t create presentations that are as effective as they could be. One of the reasons is that too many presenters start their preparation by creating their slides. They spend a…
How to create a consistent look when many sources are contributing slides to a presentation; Issue #210 May 18, 2010
PowerPoint Tip: How to create a consistent look when many sources are contributing slides to a presentation In a recent workshop, one of the participants raised the challenge they have when assembling slides from different sources in the organization into one presentation. They said that often you can immediately tell that the presentation has been…
Use these two techniques to get the exact shape you want in a diagram; Issue #209 May 4, 2010
PowerPoint Tip: Use these two techniques to get the exact shape you want in a diagram PowerPoint has a wealth of drawing tools that allow presenters to create a vast array of diagrams to illustrate their points. It is clear from the questions I get in workshops that many presenters are under the mistaken impression…
So what’s all the fuss about the backchannel?; Issue #208 April 20, 2010
PowerPoint Tip: So what’s all the fuss about the backchannel? A lot has been written recently about incorporating the backchannel into presentations. If you aren’t familiar with the term “backchannel”, it refers to comments people in the audience are sharing with the world via Twitter and other social media sharing sites. In my opinion, all…
“You know, it’s just like…”; Issue #207 April 6, 2010
PowerPoint Tip: “You know, it’s just like…” One of the reasons that presenters don’t use visuals instead of text is because they don’t know what visual to use to explain the point they are making. Business professionals tell me all the time that they aren’t graphic artists or designers, so how can they come up…