So this is a little later than promised, but I doubt any of you mind. I hope everyone has had a nice week of holidays and family gatherings – if not this last week, then recently.

Anyway, I've been spending some time with the online incarnation of OpenOffice as served by Ulteo. Oversimplifying the process, because OpenOffice relies heavily on Java for much of its functionality and because Java can be run within a browser window, it is therefore possible to run OpenOffice in its entirety in a browser. It's an interesting and surprisingly competent implementation of the productivity suite, but I can't say I'm ready for it to replace my desktop tools at this point.

To use OpenOffice online, you have to create an account with Ulteo, which should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with using online applications. Once you login to your account, a launch interface appears with some general settings.


do they really need to check these settings every time?

The weird thing is that even though I chose English on this screen as my primary language, I had to remind the spell checker of this fact later. Hopefully that was just a bug that will soon be smoothed over. This launch page would be fine if it didn't load so slowly. The hang-up seems to be with an unsigned certificate, and this affected each browser I tested (IE 7, Camino, and Safari).

Once past the launch screen, a document wizard appears if you launch Impress. (Writer mercifully opens straight into a blank document.) The Presentation WIzard is pretty much the same as that found in OpenOffice, and you can select to never have it bother you again – though I've experienced it forgetting this setting occasionally.


a wizard, of course

Once past the wizard, OpenOffice online sports a surprisingly complete interface for designing and delivering presentations – complete with menus, toolbars, slide organizer, and task pane. I recommend that you leave everything exactly as it's laid out, though. I experienced some serious redraw issues when moving things around.


it looks just like the desktop version!

There are even separate interfaces for creating charts, graphs, and spreadsheets. The application features a full compliment of animations and transitions for text and slides, differentiating it from Google Presentations. There is also a deep set of preferences and support for keyboard commands. You can even use OpenOffice online to display your presentations, but, just like with the Google application, your slides will appear in a browser window that will not fill the screen.

The online OpenOffice features limited collaboration through screen sharing by invite (pictured below) but nothing comparable to the deeper collaboration tools provided by Google Apps.



Also, the online version of Impress supports all of the formats the desktop version does when it comes to saving, including .ppt and .pdf. This allows you to save a document in the format of your choice and download it to be viewed by a desktop application. Unfortunately, the file manager is pretty clunky compared to Google Apps, and my saved document did not appear until I signed out and then back in.

Other problems include generally slow performance and occasional visual bugs. The application also wants to customize your cursor for some strange reason, but the implementation behaves inconsistently. Finally, I ran into some issues retrieving my sample document. Opening it in the online version of Impress after saving it previously resulted in this mess:


attack of the green stars!

Saving the deck as a PowerPoint file and downloading it yielded only slightly better results. The background is noticeably different, and the graph is detected as an image, unable to be edited. On the other hand, PowerPoint retained all animations and transitions included in the original file. Results are similar if you open the PowerPoint file in Keynote.



All said, Ulteo's online OpenOffice project is quite impressive, but the flaws add up quickly. While none would probably be deal breakers by themselves, taken as a whole, they damage the usefulness of these online tools. In terms of features and depth, Ulteo is on to something here. If they can squash the numerous performance issues, streamline their own management interface some, beef up the collaboration features, and fine tune the reliability of this application, they may have a winner. Until then, Impress online is a fascinating novelty but no more.

For more, you may be interested in my own overview of NeoOffice Impress (a derivative work of OpenOffice Impress) that I posted earlier this year.

Tags: online tools, software

Here's a quick tidbit for those interested in online tools. A company called Ulteo has released an online version of OpenOffice. It requires a free registration to use, but what doesn't these days? Here's a shot of OpenOffice Impress in action.



The product is still in beta, but it shows some interesting potential. I have a very busy week ahead of me, so I'll try to put some first impressions together next weekend. Be sure to check back!

Tags: software, online tools

A March 2007 talk by designer Philippe Starck recently appeared on TED.com, and it got me thinking again about why I design slides the way I do and how to continue refining the approach. Here's the talk in its entirety, and you can read a transcript right here. (While accents don't usually throw me, I have to admit I found the transcript very useful in this case.)



While not one of my favorite talks on TED, some of the quotes resonated as applicable even beyond his direct context (as many good talks do). In his presentation, done without the use of slides at all, Mr. Starck talks about three basic philosophies of design. Cynical design, narcissistic design, and humble design.

On cynical design:

The one, we can call it the cynical design, that means the design invented by Raymond Loewy in the '50s, who said, what is ugly is a bad sale, La Laideur se vend mal, which is terrible. It means the design must be just a weapon for marketing...

I think many of us have seen slide presentations that are visually stunning but do little to add to the presentation itself. It's as if the presenter is trying to win the audience over with his mad PowerPoint skills rather than any specific content. I know this is an easy trap to fall into with Keynote, and I can only imagine the temptations in PowerPoint 2007.

Oddly enough, I think some of Microsoft's own slides illustrate this approach:


images from Microsoft.com

In these examples, the slides are visually impressive, but the impressiveness is at the cost of readability and clarity. We can do the same with too many graphics, unnecessary clip art, and a plethora of animations and transitions. We treat the slides as a weapon to attract (or distract?) our audience rather than to augment the important points and concepts.

Then comes the narcissistic approach. In Mr. Starck's talk, he defines these designers as those who design for the appreciation of other designers. In slide design, I see this as designing the slides for my own benefit. These are the slides you look at while talking, reading bullet points to the audience.


I'm not too proud to admit these are mine

These slides are designed for one person alone: me. I may say they are for the audience's benefit, but they really exist so I can read my presentation off the slides. I may even spend significant time with my back turned to the audience in the process. While common practice, such slides are basically selfish. They are used as a crutch rather than a supplement.

Finally, Mr. Starck touches upon a more humble approach:

I try to not make the object for the object but for the result, for the profit for the human being, the person who will use it. If we take the toothbrush -- I don't think about the toothbrush. I think, "What will be [finger in mouth] the effect of the brush in the mouth?"

A toothbrush is about the most basic thing you have laying around the house, but think of how many horrible toothbrushes you have used that look really great (as far as a toothbrush can go). Aren't some of the best toothbrushes the epitome of simplicity? They do the job, and they remain unobtrusive in doing it.

The same principle can be applied to slides. Ask, "How does this slide affect my attention, my eyes, my comprehension, my concentration?" Does my audience have to concentrate too hard to comprehend what the slide is communicating? Does the slide supplant me? Is it basically distracting? In my own slides above, an audience member might have to really concentrate on the slide to read it, concentration that comes at the expense of me. In fact, I could throw those slides up on a screen and walk offstage. They really render me quite useless. In the case of the Microsoft slides, they are simply distracting – cluttered and complex, requiring too much effort to decode and digest.


same presentations as above, revised (and reflection-obsessed)

Our slides are meant to benefit our audience, to help them digest the most important facts and ideas. If we're going to create effective slides, the focus has to externalize and consider how the slides impact an audience's impression of the overall presentation. In this, I think a certain balance must be present between aesthetics and functionality. Looking nice is important – but not to the detriment of meaning.

Next time you're working on a deck of slides, take a moment and remember our friend Philippe Starck. If your presentation was a toothbrush, how would it feel?

Tags: conventions, philosophy, design

Taking a more nuts-and-bolts approach than usual, I decided to write this up after reading a couple of suggestions that presenters should always carry two laptops with them to speaking engagements. The thought is that, if one machine goes down, you have a backup with you that offers no variables or compatibility issues. While this is a good idea for people who get paid well for their speaking engagements, if you are more of an amateur (like me), purchasing two laptops may not be a feasible backup solution.

Still, it's important to have contingency plans in place, so here are a couple quick and easy tips to keep your presentation accessible even if something goes wrong with your computer.

Keep it on your iPod.

image from apple.com

If you have an iPod, Zune, or another device that stores photos, you can save images of your slides to it and use the video out capabilities to share your slides. Both Keynote and PowerPoint support exporting your slides as images, and then you just display them like you would an album of photos. You will lose all animations and transitions, but your content will remain intact.

(In theory, you could also export your presentation as a video and retain your animations, but, since we just have a previous generation nano, I can't test that out to see how it works. If you can try this out, email me about it at crysnrob [at] mac [dot] com, and I'll update this post.)

Keep it on your keychain.

image from Wikipedia

If an iPod or Zune is still too pricey, keep a back up of your presentation on a USB flash drive. Mine is a 2 GB SanDisk Cruzer that cost about $20 at Radio Shack. Since this backup method assumes you might have to borrow a laptop at your speaking venue, it's important to back up your presentation in as many formats as possible to bypass compatibility issues. For example, I'll keep a Keynote presentation I'm planning on giving in its native format, as a PPT file, as an interactive QuickTime movie, and as a folder of images. Don't assume someone else's computer will have the same versions of PowerPoint or Keynote that you do.

We can't all own two laptops and a KVM switch, but it is important to keep your presentation backed up. Between the option of an iPod or a flash drive, most people should be able to find one or the other viable. Just remember to account for compatibility on the off chance you might be using another laptop when you give your talk. With a little bit of preparation, you should be ready for anything – even if you have to present without slides at all.

Also see:

• Wrestling With Technology – Don't Do It
• Slides & Variables

Tags: prep

Head on over to Presentation Zen where Garr Reynolds has listed ten links that offer high-resolution free photography you can use in your slides or other design work. The direct link is below:

Presentation Zen: 10 links to cool, high-rez images

After about five minutes of browsing the sites, I've already bookmarked nine of these resources. Hopefully, you'll find them just as useful.

Tags: graphics

Recently, Google has added an online presentation application in addition to their word processing and spreadsheet applications. Google Presentations is an interesting experience in that it is capable of more than I expected, but, depending on the features you are looking for, it may still not do enough. I took some time testing Google Presentations in Camino (a Mac-specific Firefox derivation) to see how things work. Please note that Google does not fully support Safari at this time in its productivity tools. I had no problems using Safari, but your mileage may vary.

Basic Features

I've never used Google's online productivity tools before. I have certainly been aware of their existence, but I had never seen them in action. As a result, some of the features I cover may be familiar to users of Google Docs and Spreadsheets – such as the document manager.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how efficiently Google manages the documents created with their online apps. Managing your documents is very similar to managing an online email account, and opening a specific document takes you directly to the corresponding online application. In Camino, the document opens in a new tab, leaving the other documents easily accessible. I don't know what I was expecting when it came to document management, but this feature comes as a pleasant surprise.

Once in the presentation application, the abilities and the limitations are immediately visible. You can perform basic text editing on your slides including font, size, color, highlight, lists, and alignment, but I had no luck editing already formatted text. (This may not be the case in other browsers.) It seems you have to plan ahead when it comes to formatting, or be prepared to type a few things over. You can include hyperlinks in your presentation, which can be especially useful since the presentation will already be in a browser when displayed. It's also very easy to save your slides as well as duplicate and delete individual slides. In fact, I found the Duplicate command quite useful, but we'll revisit that in a few paragraphs.

When creating your presentation, Google offers a few basic slide layouts and themes. When you choose to insert a new slide, a dialog appears offering you the available templates. You'll notice none of the slides have placeholders for images, and this is because there is no clip art or word art available in Google Presentations. On the other hand, you can upload your own images for use in the presentation, negating this limitation. Image uploads can also be used for inserting charts and graphs if you export them as images or take screenshots of them.


A similar box appears if you want to choose a new theme. Here are some of the designs available for your presentations:



The themes are very reminiscent of PowerPoint, and those used to the Microsoft-designed themes of that program will feel right at home. However, those looking for something a little more refined will be left wanting. Shelly, Blank, and Gradient Black are the three best themes in my opinion, offering simple color schemes and minimal distraction.

Google Presentations will also directly import PowerPoint files, and the results look pretty decent. Text colors, slide designs, and text formatting remains entirely intact. Unfortunately, due to the limitations of Google Presentations, all text build and slide transitions are lost upon import. However, I was surprised to see that the slides are completely editable.


Garr Reynolds should be proud...

All of this leads up to the ability to share your presentations anywhere you have an internet connection. A published presentation will be assigned a unique URL you can send to others, or you can play the presentation directly from the Google application in a maximized browser window. Furthermore, you can share your presentations with others and collaborate on editing the slides – an especially welcome feature for those times you have to collaborate on a presentation, even if you only use Google Presentations to draft the slides before finalizing them in a dedicated application like Impress or Keynote.

The Limitations

I've already touched on some of this, but these tools are very basic. Don't expect to find automatic builds, slide animations, object paths, clip art, word art, or drawing tools here. If you create your presentation entirely within the Google app, you will be forced to keep things very simple – which might actually be a good thing. While others might bemoan the lack of eye candy in Google Presentations, I think such a Spartan feature set forces users to really think about content and how to present it meaningfully rather than impressively.

One of the only real issues I ran into was the lack of support for text builds. If you enter a list onto a slide, then the entire list will appear at once. This is where the Duplicate command comes in useful. To work around this limitation, I created a bullet-filled slide, then duplicated it several times. Next, I deleted the text I did not want on the slides leading up to the entire list, creating the illusion of text builds. This will greatly increase the physical size of your slide deck, but the difference should be transparent to viewers.


notice the expanding list in the slide sorter

The other major limitation comes from the nature of sharing over the internet. Depending on the connection, your slides may hesitate before loading. Also, some design backgrounds may look pixelated when scaled up to higher resolutions, and the browser window will always be present. This can be somewhat alleviated with browsers that feature full-screen modes.

Final Thoughts

One might be left wondering if it's possible to create attractive slides in Google Presentations at all, and that all depends on what you are looking for aesthetically. Simple can be beautiful, and Google Presentations epitomizes simplicity at this point. It's features are extremely basic, but it is functional and provides one more way to have access to your slides in various settings. It may not serve as a primary presentation package, but it excels at being a good backup or a convenient way of collaborating and drafting slides.

Let me conclude with one more screenshot and hint.

looking like Keynote

In this deck, each slide merely has an image placed upon it. I took a completed Keynote presentation, exported all of the slides (and builds) as individual images, and then uploaded each image onto its individual slide. Now I have a presentation that is accessible anywhere but still looks like it does when presented from my laptop. Again, thanks to the ability to upload images, you don't have to feel constrained by the limited editing tools provided by Google Presentations.

A few years ago, I would have never dreamed I'd be editing slides in a web browser. Google Presentations, while limited in many ways, is a great backup and collaboration tool, and it is serviceable as a composition application as well. The sparse feature set may be unsettling at first, but you might find yourself getting more work done without the many distractions of PowerPoint. Google Presentations is not a competitor to dedicated slide applications. Rather it is an augmentation to those programs, and it makes for a fine addition to the tool set of any presenter.

Other Perspectives

• Ars Technica: Hands On with Google Presentations
• Macworld: First Look: Google Presentations

Other Online Presentation Tools

I discovered these while researching this post and thought I would pass them on. Perhaps I will test these out as well.

• Zoho Show
• Preezo

Like Google, both of these services require you to sign up for a free account.

Tags: software, google, online tools

Over at Presentation Zen, Garr Reynolds writes about Lewis Black going off at TV executives during the Emmys regarding the sheer amount of clutter on the screen these days. Here's a quote from the rant:

"Your job is to tell stories, it's not to tell us in the middle of the story what show is coming on next or which one is premiering two weeks from now! What do you want me to do, stop and get a pencil and write it down? Do you want me to stop watching and prepare myself for the next show?"

(Head over to Presentation Zen for a video of the whole thing.) This reminds of when the wife and I went out to see The Simpsons Movie. At one point during the movie, a mock ad for FOX programming appeared along the bottom of the screen. It recieved knowing laughter from the audience, but I remember hearing some other audience members expressing moments of bafflement – wondering if the studio had in fact resorted to plugging itself during its movies.

Mr. Reynolds goes on to speculate that this visual bombardment reinforces much of the bad PowerPoint design we see in presentations today.

When possible, put more "stuff" in there--more glitter, more boxes of info, more colors, more, more, more. Is this where "bad PowerPoint" comes from? Do we say to ourselves "Well, if CNN (FOX, MSNBC, etc.) does it I guess more text and lines and boxes, more logos and 3-D graphics in assorted colors must be how it's done. That's how serious presenters with serious tools do it," we say.

The same is true of several websites. The main content seems to take a back seat to the self-referencing links and advertisements splattered across the page. I took these screenshots of a couple popular websites and blacked out everything that wasn't article content.

x

The noise ratio on these pages is very high. Contrast this to a couple of (in my opinion) good blogs: Daring Fireball and Cabel's Blog.

x

On both of these pages, there is much more signal than noise. Daring Fireball has two ads and a simple menu while Cabel's Blog has no ads. Both sites feature very clean layouts and priority is given to content – a practice that I think respects the reader more than those corporate sites.

As Mr. Reynolds points out, these same principles apply to our slides. We can follow a traditional corporate approach to our visuals that contains a lot of clutter that overwhelms our audience with graphics and information, or we can take a simpler, more basic approach. Here are a couple of mockups based off Apple's recent fourth-quarter quarter financial results.



The first slide indeed has more information on it, but is that information presented effectively? It is conventional, but does it respect your audience? It took me a lot longer to create that first mockup, but I think the second is actually the better slide. It presents the most important fact clearly and succinctly. The touch of humor adds a human element without detracting from the overall package or insulting the audience's intelligence. It allows your audience to focus on you after the snapshot of information rather than forcing them to concentrate on deciphering small text among competing visuals.

Whatever your medium of communication, simpler is almost always better. Reduce the clutter. Eliminate visual noise, and allow the main focus of your content to shine through.

Tags: clutter, readability, examples

We are trained to expect walls between speakers and audiences. These walls can take many forms – notecards, lecterns, body language, even slides. Often, we don't even notice them, but they are there, creating barriers to our audience members being able to fully absorb the message of our talks.


image from stock.xchng

Look Up. Look Out. Staring down at notecards or back at slides creates a separation between speaker and audience. The speaker is not giving them his/her full attention. The audience will have a hard time giving undivided attention in return. When reading your talk, you tend to not sound interested, and you lose eye contact with with those you are trying to communicate. The only solution is to know your talk well enough that you don't need these aids. Yes, you should have notes if your mind blanks, but they should not be the primary focus of your attention.

Open Up. Body language is powerful. Keep your hands free. Walk around a bit while you talk. Smile. Avoid the humorous mistake of folding your fingers during a presentation No one likes being compared to Mr. Burns!

image by apple
Come Out in the Open. The lectern is a powerful barrier between you and the people in your audience. It's more than a psychological separation. It's a physical one. Standing behind a lecturn and staring down at notes is a convention of many veteran speakers, but it is not the best method of communication. Get out where your audience can see you. Just gaining the comfort level to discard this barrier will be a huge step in more closely connecting with your audience.

Too many public speaking classes actively promote these bad habits as "best practices." We are taught to hold notecards. We are encouraged to create crutch slides. We are trained to stand behind podiums, remaining stiff and formal as we present. However, tradition is not always correct. If we want to connect with the people in our audiences, we have to be willing to tear down those psychological and physical walls and expose ourselves to some extent. To make an impact, we must be open to being vulnerable.

Tags: atmosphere, connections, speaking

These aren't bad presentations by Microsoft executives (but that could make for an entire story), but they are some humorous, if somewhat urban legend-esque, stories of presentations that have gone very wrong.

Microsoft.com: The ten worst presentation moments

Think you can top these with a horror story of your own? Email me your worst at crysnrob [at] mac [com], and I'll share them (anonymously) in a future post. After a bad presentation, nothing is more comforting than sitting down and reading about someone who has had worse!

Edit: Stupid typo in the title...

Time to dust off some old notes and finish this post! Way back in January, I talked about Stan Sigman's yawn-inducing contribution to the unveiling of the iPhone. At the time I wrote:

Mr. Sigman's talk was stiff and formal. It was basically read right off his cards, and it was full of corporate jargon and buzzwords. Mr. Jobs, in contrast, spoke passionately about his company's products. Any notes he might have had were fairly transparent, and he spoke in clear, easily understood language. Also, Steve Jobs kept things moving and kept the audience anticipating the next revelation about these products.

I think one of the most tedious elements of Mr. Sigman's talk was his use of (large) note cards. He actually started out okay, but then he whipped those cards out, and everything went downhill from there. You could almost hear the life being sucked off the stage. (It happens around 1:35:40 in the video for those of you playing at home.)

image from stock.xchng


I have to admit some bias. I have never used note cards (with one or two exceptions). Even in speech classes through middle school, high school, and college that required the use of note cards, I would just walk up to the front of the class with a handful of blank index cards – until I got busted and lost some points! Basically, even with my social challenges, I realized early on that reading a speech created a disconnect between the speaker and the audience.

Reading notes makes for stiff presentations that quickly lose the audience's attention, and the speaker ends up paying more attention to those cards than to those who have come to listen. Even "crutch slides" are preferable to holding notes in one's hands or staring down at a podium for the entire talk. Practice and preparation are essential to being able to speak without relying on notes. Yes, having notes accessible during your talk is a good idea, but they should only serve as a reference tool as-needed.

Breaking away from reading a speech may take some practice. You might catch yourself forgetting to include some information. You might make some mistakes, but the connection you gain with your audience is worth those hurdles.

Tags: impression, prep, connections

In a recent post, I wrote that presentations slides should primarily benefit the audience rather than the speaker, and the same is true of your talks in general. Occasionally, you go see a speaker because of something they've done or because of who they are, and you want them to talk about themselves. My wife and I seeing Jane Goodall a few years ago is a good example of this, but, in most situations where you or I might speak, our identity is secondary to the presentation. Because of this, our talk should be primarily about and for the benefit of our audience.


In many education conferences I've gone to, a standard presentation might include some tips about managing a classroom or teaching a topic but contain very few real examples of how these methods result in tangible results. The talk is purely academic about some good ideas the speaker has, but I don't walk away feeling particularly inspired. On the other hand, other speakers talk about some really awesome things they might be doing in their classrooms, but little to no information is given as to how the audience members might replicate these successes. In these case, I might feel inspired, but I have nothing concrete to build upon.

In this setting and others, the goal of presenters should be helping their audience members kick tail. As a speaker, I should be focused on how awesome I can encourage you to be. Audiences go to these conferences to improve themselves, so the speakers' focuses should be squarely on those who attend these talks. It's not about the cool things I've done as an educator (for example). It's about the cool things I've done, and here's how you can do it too. In this, talking about how you can be awesome should be the majority of the discussion – not how great I think I am.

If our audiences walk away feeling inspired and empowered to improve as individuals in their respective niches, we have succeeded as speakers. We should be storytellers, weaving tales of their potential successes. To begin on this path, though, focus has to come off of self and fall squarely on those individuals who have sacrificed time out of their lives to hear us speak. We owe them nothing less.

Tags: philosophy, connections

Presentation Zen: Learning from Bill Gates & Steve

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Garr Reynolds posts another great comparison between the presentation styles of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, focusing on the contrast between Bill Gates' formal tone of presentation and Steve Jobs' conversational tone as well as their visual styles. While the two presentations he's citing are very different, he shares some very useful insights (and be sure to read the comments for some good continued discussion).

Tags: bill gates, steve jobs, examples, garr reynolds

If you browse the archives, you'll notice quite a few corrupted images. I'm working on fixing those, and I'm also in the process of moving where all of those images are stored to prevent that from happening again. It's taking a while. I haven't forgotten about this little corner. In fact I'm working on it like nuts when I have the time! You just can't see the progress right now.

Thanks for your patience!

I was recently doing a quick makeover for some friends' PowerPoint presentation, and they noticed I simply deleted several slides rather than improving them. They were slides that said things like, "Q & A," "Discussion (10 Minutes)," "Break (15 Minutes)," "Lunch," etc. Some would introduce the person speaking. Another was an agenda. My friends questioned me about the removal of these slides, and I responded that they were gone because they aren't really relevant to the presentation.

To this, one replied, "Well, those are really there for us." This response got me thinking. Who do we prepare our slides for? How we answer this question will decide what we put on our slides.

If I prepare my slides for myself, then I will end up with walls of text that reduce the pressure to memorize my talk. I will use the slides to lay out the structure of my talk, so I remember where I am going. I will use bulleted lists to remind myself of my main points (often resulting in choppy non-conversational speech). In all this, I'm probably setting myself up to face away from the audience throughout my talk as I gaze at my own slides.


these slides are just for me, thankyouverymuch

In contrast, if we make our audiences the main priority, our slides will be far less cluttered. The information will be presented more clearly, and we'll use fewer words, larger fonts, and better imagery. If we focus on audience first, our presentation will have a much more natural feel and flow because we will be talking to the people in the room – not to a stoic set of slides.


these slides are more for you

Making a PowerPoint presentation has become such a rote practice in many fields, and I think we've lost the point. (No pun intended.) Visual aids are meant to help our audiences digest the information and make connections – they are not to be a speaker's crutch. Prepare slides if you must. I know I have an unhealthy addiction to Keynote. However, remember who you are preparing them for. When you are on stage, the audience is your world, and all of your preparations should go into enlightening and inspiring them with your presentation.

Tags: conventions, philosophy, connections

At the recent C4 conference, blogger DrunkenBatman, made a bold statement during his panel discussion: "Black people don't use Macs."


I have a feeling this is not going to go well.
original photo by rtmfd

Reactions by bloggers were mixed. Some criticized his approach (scroll through the C4 Twitter page for more) while others defended his character. I think Daring Fireball's John Gruber has a very good take on the controversy:

There’s a fine line between a moderator challenging his panelists (good) and ambushing them (bad). This came across as the latter; an unanswerable “Do you still beat your wife?” question...

...It was a mistake the discussion never recovered from. Audience reaction ranged from offended to embarrassed (and, by the end, bored). Much like a train, once a discussion like this falls off the rails, it doesn’t come back.

The fact is controversial statements may make your talk memorable. (After all, who can forget this slide once you see it?) Unfortunately, your talk may not be remembered for good reasons. Controversial statements can be polarizing, and they must be used judiciously.

I begin my talk about giving presentations by saying, "Most PowerPoint slides suck." While a little harsh, many audience members will nod in agreement and are now open to suggestions. However, if I said, "Chances are your PowerPoint slides suck," then I put the audience on the defensive. Often, we want to challenge the thinking of our audience, but we have to be careful not to cross a line that will alienate them from us.

DB might have been caught off guard by how many people took his statement as offensive and racist, but we are often not the best judges of our own material. I may not find something offensive, but a whole lot of others might, and Gruber is absolutely right. If a discussion or a presentation is derailed too hard by something someone says, recovery becomes very unlikely. The takeaway lesson? Simply think before you say something potentially offensive.

Tags: atmosphere, impression, connections

Did any of you feel like my last post was kind of forced? Yeah, me too. Anyway:

43 Folders: How I made my presentations a little better

Merlin Mann of 43 Folders writes an excellent piece about his own experienced in preparing presentations. He cites some individuals I find very influential myself. He summarizes many good points, and I'll be bookmarking this link for future reference.

Here's a taste of the post:

I’m not suggesting your slides should undermine you, but consider sometimes showing images and text that make an orthogonal point to what you’re saying aloud to the audience at that moment. Let them discover the point (or the joke) without you leaning on it.

Let the slide serve your message, rather than letting you (and your personality and timing) be governed by the slide. That’s ‘death,’ and that’s “The Wørd.”

Tags: 10-20-30, garr reynolds, examples, stephen colbert, guy kawasaki

Have you seen any of Hewlett-Packard's recent print or web advertisements? These have been around for a while, but I hadn't really paid too much attention to them until two things happened: we got new HP's at work, and I received one of their catalogues in the mail.

In both cases, I kept getting distracted by their font selection. Here are a couple shots of their web ads to illustrate:

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Why do I feel a sudden urge to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas?

We're in the heat of summer, and this whole campaign looks like Halloween. Even the colors reinforce that feeling. I don't know what feel they intended for this marketing, but "slightly creepy" was probably not the goal. ("They're creepy and they're cooky, the HP family...")

Font and color use contribute to the overall feel of your work – even in slide presentations. Sometimes, going with a default font is okay, but in other instances, you may want to pick and choose between fonts for the best results. I whipped these alternatives up in just a couple of minutes in Keynote, so they're far from perfect. However, I think they offer an alternate feel to the ads. (I'm partial to the laptop example, personally.)

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How would you change these ads, or do you think they're fine how they are? Remember, if you are using visuals to communicate a message, every element is important, and this includes the font you choose. The wrong font can send your audience a mixed message, so take some time to browse those many fonts available on your computer.

Tags: font use, text, colors, examples

Apple has posted a short video demonstrating Keynote's compatibility with the Apple Remote that ships with most Macintosh models. The video is kept right here, and you might have to look for the title "Keynote at a Distance" if the video is not in front.



Also, did anyone else see the "Keynote '08" typo when this video was first posted? It might have just been a mistake, or...

Tags: how-to

Between Simply Gospel and Simply Presentation, I'm going to be reposting the presentations that used to be showcased on the previous version of this site. However, they are going to be a little different than before (and if you found the quasi-hidden page on the old site, you know what I'm talking about already). Instead of being a series of silently progressing slides, the presentations will be uploaded as slides with narration. This workflow came out of a podcasting experiment, so I've christened this "slidecasting." (If someone else has already come up with that word, I won't feel bad.)

The Process

Beginning in Keynote, I export all of my slides as images, checking the option to create multiple images for slides with multiple builds. These images get saved into their own folder folder, so I don't lose track of them.

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If you are using PowerPoint, you can do this by selecting "Save As..." from the File menu and choosing one of the graphics options from the list of options at the bottom of the pane. The only limitation is that separate images will not be created for slides with multiple builds.



Once the images are all saved, open iMovie and drop them all into the clips pane. From there, you can drag them into the iMovie timeline in the order you want. Once the images are in the timeline and you get recording, you may want to remove some images of text and graphics builds to simplify the process.

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If your slides pan and zoom while your video plays, this means iMovie is applying the Ken Burns effect by default. To remove this effect, select all of your clips in the timeline, and choose "Show Photo Settings" from the Photos tab of the Media pane. In the resultant dialog window, make sure "Ken Burns Effect" is unchecked.

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Finally, use the record button in the Audio tab of the Media pane to record your voice. I recommend using an external microphone, and record small portions of your talk at a time. Double-clicking a clip in the timeline allows you to edit the length of that clip to better match your voice. (In the dialog box, the time is formatted in minutes : seconds : frames.)

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Once you finish this, you're ready to export the video as a QuickTime movie and share it with the world. Just choose Share > QuickTime from the system menu and follow the instructions. You might want to perform some trial-and-error with the settings to find a result you like at a reasonable file size.

Some Limitations

• Any media embedded into the slides will not play. You can just add that media to the iMovie timeline.
  
  
• PowerPoint and Keynote slide and build animations will be lost. This isn't a big deal.
  
  
• iMovie does not have the same selection of transitions as Keynote or PowerPoint if the loss of animations bothers you.
  
  
• I'm assuming WIndows Movie Maker can do all of the iMovie steps is you are using Windows, but I have no experience with that application.

Wrapping Up

A presentation is more than just the slides and/or the handouts. You are the central figure, but the ways we usually share presentations eliminates "you" from the experience. Hopefully, this method provides you a way to share your slides in a more meaningful way with your intended audience.

Tags: software, keynote, how-to

The most recent QuickTime update has two important changes that affect Keynote users.

1. A bug has been fixed that would prevent interactive QT movies from playing properly on Windows machines.
2. Users can now view files in fullscreen without purchasing a QT Pro license.

KeynoteUser has some more details if you are interested. Either fire up Software Update to snag the update or grab it from Apples' site for Mac or Windows.

Tags: software

To reach the broadest possible audience with your message, you have to care what others think of you. You are being judged by the audience every bit as much as your content, and, if the audience does not buy into you, they will generally not buy into your material. Think of political debates you or your family may get into as well as when the media tackles issues. Inevitably, the person behind the issues will be as much a subject as the issue itself.

Whenever you present, it's important to wear as small a target as possible. To do so, you must be very conscious of self – your appearance, the way you dress, your mannerisms and idiosyncrasies that may distract your audience from your presentation. I've seen perfectly competent presentations fail in delivery (and some great deliveries of poor material) because the presenters seemed oblivious or unconcerned with the impressions they left with the audience.

A good presentation is essentially a small-scale production, and productions need good performers.

Take these presenters as positive examples:


left to right: Steve Jobs, Guy Kawasaki, Garr Reynolds, Al Gore

These individuals are great illustrations of good performers in presentation. They are very conscious of how they carry themselves, how they speak, how they dress. I believe "refined" would be a good word for it. They realize that they are every bit as much a part of the overall presentation as any notes, handouts, slides, or other visuals. They have roles to play in the delivery of their messages, and their presence is just as orchestrated as the technology involved. As a result, the presentations are very engaging and a cut above much of what we are used to seeing.

Being an individualistic society, we value the mantra of not caring what others think of ourselves, but, if we want people to accept what we have to say, we need to make sure we are not getting in the way of our own message. Do some presentations succeed despite the speakers' imperfections? Absolutely. However, giving ourselves as much attention as our notes or visuals will go a long way in removing obstacles between our presentation and our audience's attention.

Additional Viewing and Reading

• Garr Rynolds: Top Ten Delivery Tips
• Guy Kawasaki: How to Get a Standing Ovation
• Al Gore at TED
• Zentation: Guy Kawasaki – The Art of Innovation
• QuickTime Guide – Apple Events

Tags: prep, impression, steve jobs, al gore, guy kawasaki, garr reynolds, examples

Right now, a set of bad PowerPoint slides is probably the least of Governor Romney's public relations worries, but every little bit helps I guess. Anyway, revising slides is a good practice, so, regardless of how you or I might personally feel about Governor Romney, let's take a look at some slides on his site and how we can improve them just a little. (Quick note: I'm checking all political opinions at the door for this post, and I ask you the courtesy to do the same. This is merely an academic exercise on improving some common PowerPoint mistakes.)

From the first slide, it's possible to predict some of the issues we're going to run into while going through Mr. Romney's visuals. Too much text is on the slide. The planet graphic is obviously clip art, and overall, the slide is pretty hard on the eyes.

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Even though the title slide is unnecessary in and of itself, using it sets a tone for the entire presentation. You want it to look nice. In this alteration, most of the text has been cut from the slide, focusing on two words: "values" and "freedom." I retained the global theme but used a higher quality image from Corbis. Also, I used a color scheme that suggests patriotism and bipartisan qualities. The text is a very classic-looking font called Cochin.

I had a hard time deciding what to do with the next slide (only partially because I couldn't read some of the text at all), but I think it would be appropriate to divide this single slide into multiple slides – taking a thematic approach rather than chronological.

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A strong theme that I took away from this slide is Romney's desire to discredit Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I retained the color scheme from the first slide and faded a common media image of Ahmadinejad into the background, focusing on one quote in particular. The presenter could keep this background intact while transitioning between facts and quotes rather than cramming tons of tiny text together. Font sizes on my version of this slide are 64 points and 96 points.

The final slide in this re-imagining contains a couple of quotes by Tony Blair. A similar approach to the preceding slide seems best, and this should be broken up into two slides because there are two quotes.

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Because Tony Blair is placed in opposition to Ahmadinejad in this presentation, he is facing the opposite direction. Also, I removed "Marketing Values" as the title. Talking about war in terms of marketing just doesn't seem to fit in with the themes of freedom and values. I'm not sure what Romney was trying to communicate with that title, but I think it sends a wrong message.

Every aspect of your slides – from the graphics used to the font to the color scheme to the amount of text – creates a feel for your presentation. The visual aspects of your presentation can either be powerful tools that help create a memorable experience for the audience, or they can serve as mindless filler that facilitates the audience in filtering you and your message out. If you prepare slides, create visuals that enhance your message and that serve as an evocative backdrop to your own performance. If you are in politics, such attention to detail might even help your momentum.

Tags: colors, examples, text, clutter, font use, mitt romney

The Wall Street Journal commemorates the birth of PowerPoint this week twenty years ago. Believe it or not, PowerPoint was initially developed for the Macintosh as Presenter by Forethought, Inc. – later re-christening the software as PowerPoint. Microsoft would buy PowerPoint later that year, but the Windows version would not come out until 1990. Unlike the other staples of what has become Microsoft Office, PowerPoint has seen very few competitors emerge over the years.

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powerpoint 1.0 and powerpoint 2007 (both images from wikipedia)

For better of worse, PowerPoint has become synonymous with how we present information today. Even working primarily with Apple Keynote when on a Mac and OpenOffice Impress when on a PC, I still slip into the habit of referring to my slides as my "PowerPoint." It has become a massive time-saver for adding visual aids to a presentation as well as presenting those aids in a medium more easily shared with many. Unfortunately, as the WSJ article points out, PowerPoint has seen its fair share of abuse.

As any tool, we have to accept the fact that PowerPoint is not meant to supplant the presenter – no more than a hydraulic lift can replace an engineer. Too many PowerPoint decks are created as standalone documents that actually fail in the realm of "visual aid." Instead they present overwhelming blocks of data that end of distracting from the presentation due to the effort the audience has to commit in digesting everything.

Even if a tool is misused, it can still be a good tool. As Garr Reynolds points out in his post on PowerPoint's birthday:

We all agree that the majority of presentations given with PowerPoint “suck rotten eggs” ... [But] PowerPoint is not the cause of bad business presentations, but laziness and poor writing skills may be.

He points out that we should not blame Microsoft if our presentations are ineffective. Rather, we should reevaluate the way we prepare for the presentation. However, I have to agree with one commenter on the entry. Guillaume Gete writes:

However, I don't completely agree when you say : "Don't blame Microsoft". I believe strongly that Microsoft DOES have responsibility, not because it produces the tools that everybody uses, but also because it includes its own templates with it. These are presented (no pun intended) to anyone who opens the "Project library" which bangs at your face each time you open an Office app, and are full of advice one should *not* follow.

He has some good points, and I think Microsoft should rethink some of the templates and tips included with PowerPoint, but those are subjective opinions. My personal opinion is that the best presentations are made using the blank templates – avoiding anything but your personal vision to shine through.

PowerPoint continues to evolve, and with alternatives from Apple and OpenOffice (which is free) showing up, Microsoft has continued to refine and improve their presentation app. I'm still a Keynote junkie, but PowerPoint really launched, validated, and defines this genre of applications.

For more, check out Robert Gaskins Home Page. He was one of the creators of PowerPoint.

Tags: software, garr reynolds

I saw a speaker today who was clearly having problems with the technology involved in his presentation. The technology was nonessential, but he still kept stopping every few words to fiddle with the projector and its settings, trying to get things focused, trying to account for some other visual anomalies. This went on for at least thirty minutes, and, each time he stopped, he had a harder time regaining his audience's attention. In fact, he had entirely lost a small chunk of his audience before the issues were resolved (but that may have been for other reasons).

If your technology is giving you problems, and it's time for you to start talking, go ahead without it. If there is something you feel is absolutely essential to your talk that is tied to the tech, get someone who works at the facility you are presenting in to work on it while you begin delivery. Technology is meant to enhance presentations, but, if we give it more attention than we give our audience, it has become a diminishing factor to the message you are delivering.

Tags: prep, atmosphere, time use

On his Presentation Zen blog, Garr Reynolds takes some time to write about the value of real dynamic range in music. In fact, he titles his post "When there is no quiet, there can be no loud," and he ends with a challenge to take this principle and apply it to our presentations.

He writes:

"When there is no quiet, there can be no loud. And where there is no nothing, there can be no something. In what ways, then, can we apply the spirit of “dynamic range” to all aspects of our live presentations?"

I remember seeing a preacher a few years ago who spoke loudly throughout his entire sermon. He frequently overloaded the speakers through which his voice boomed, and the audience was clearly uncomfortable with his volume. He defended his style by saying (something like), "If there's no fire in the preacher, you ought to fire the preacher." However, fieriness does not always equate to effectiveness, and perpetual loudness can cause your audience to tune you out.

A quiet statement can sometimes be more effective than a loud one. Other times, silence can be the most powerful element of all. For that matter, if we prepare slides, they should not be loud themselves. They should not be visually distracting or cluttered. Sometimes, points can be simply made with a single word, a single image, or even a completely blank slide. Lack of aural and visual stimulation can, by paradox, create greater impact. As the saying goes, silence is golden.

Contrast is important. Merely presenting differently than your peers may provide the contrast needed to get you noticed. Discarding conventions and focusing on creating a talk that is uniquely you will differentiate your presence from others who might be more easily tuned out. Sometimes you should be visually and orally bold, but other times subtlety and quiet assuredness will speak even louder.

Tags: philosophy, atmosphere

When it comes to animation in a presentation, I've seen an quite a few examples of two extreme approaches. On the one hand, there are the people who use fancy animations for every slide transition, object build, and bullet point while, in contrast, I see a lot of more professional presenters avoid animation entirely.


a sleek Keynote transition

While overusing animations can distract from the presentation as a whole, it doesn't seem necessary to eliminate their use entirely. Judiciously added builds and transitions can add a level of polish that helps keep the audience engaged in the talk. Good looking slides help maintain a certain perception of professionalism around you the speaker. While we want to avoid overkill (which does not look professional), animation can be beneficial when used in moderation.

I usually use simple transitions between slides. Most of the time, these transitions will consist of dissolves and wipes, but I might use a push transition if the selected background allows for it to be executed transparently enough. However, some of the flashier transitions are reserved for section breaks or shifts in the talk. These type of transitions signal to the audience that we are moving from one section of the talk to another. (Usually, I will use the same transition for every shift in the talk.)

The same is true for text. Big text builds are reserved for big points. The animation says, "This is important!" Again, not every bullet point or every fact will be animated outside of simple wipes and fades. The eye-cathing effects are reserved for big ideas.


an eye-catching text build

Your visuals should be built entirely around reinforcing the message you are delivering, and that principle holds true for animations as well. Do use animations in your slides, but animate responsibly. Eye candy can be a good thing, especially in front of a bunch of ADHD-prone American adults! However, exercise moderation so your animations don't become the show – distracting from anything you might have to say.

Tags: graphics, eye candy

I've indirectly linked to this video before, but here it is for those of you who missed it. Happy viewing.

Life After Death by PowerPoint

Add to My Profile | More Videos

If this type of humor interests you, be sure to check his site out.

Tags: humor

Even though Stephen Colbert is parodying Bill O'Reilly during his The WØRD segments, he also effectively improves on the format. Look at this contrast.

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O'Reilly's screen is much more visually distracting, completely ignoring the fact that a viewer's listening capabilities are impeded when reading. The bullet point is one long sentence, and this distration is compounded by a rotating Fox logo and an ever-present news ticker. This is opposed to The Colbert Report which has a pretty clean visual style (purposefully similar to that of O'Reilly's), no ticker, and brief bullets that add to the presentation without distracting from it.

In a recent post, Garr Rynolds quotes John Sweller on verbal-textual redundancies:

"... It is not effective to speak the same words that are written, because it is putting too much load on the mind and decreases your ability to understand what is being presented."

By putting too much information on our slides – like bullet points that restate our words – we actually place obstacles between our audience and their full understanding of our presentations. The less your audience has distracting them, the more they can focus on you and your content.

Tags: text, examples, connections

Bullet points can be very harmful to your presentation, especially if you begin packing in too many per slide. However, if you've ever seen The WØRD on The Colbert Report, then you've seen a very effective use of bullet points during a talk. Look at these points and quotes below. Can you figure out which bullet point goes with each quote?



images © Comedy Central

1. "... In 2005, the army fell 24,000 short of its recruitment goals ..."

2. "Republicans aren't even telling John McCain!"

3. "... Although I bet you anything if Yo-Yo Ma had 42DD breasts and had just given birth to a love child, they'd be all over it."

4. "Forget everything."

Use your mouse to highlight right after this sentence for the answers (1=B, 2=D, 3=A, 4=C). Really, though, you probably have a pretty good idea of which bullet accompanies each quote.

Here are some quick thoughts on why these bullet points are so effective.

They can't stand alone. If Colbert were to walk away and let his points keep running, it would make no sense. Colbert provides the context, and the bullets fit into the context he creates. This stands in stark contrast to typical bullet points that spell out every detail of the presenter's discussion to the point where they can serves as handouts or notes.

They are short. You can't read and listen well at the same time, yet bullet points often take too long to read – thereby detracting from the presenter. Mr. Colbert's bullet points take a split second to digest, and the audience doesn't miss a beat of what Colbert is saying.

They say what you are thinking. Chances are, you really weren't thinking these points ahead of time, but, as soon as you see the bullet point, you wish you had been. These serve to fill in the blanks of the presentation. Again, they cannot act as the presentation itself, but they enhance the overall delivery.

Even though this format is presented in a humorous manner, it really illustrates an effective use of bullet points. Your slides should rely on you, not vice versa, and keep any text on your slides short and to-the-point. Avoid overwhelming walls of text, and allow your presentation to reinforce you as the speaker – not supplant you. People tune in to see Colbert, not his bullet points. Likewise, make sure your audiences are tuned into you more than your slides.


For some short videos of Stephen Colbert in action, visit his category on Crooks and Liars.

Tags: text, examples

This picture has to be one of my all-time favorites of Mr. Jobs:



While I understand and appreciate the character flaws in Steve Jobs, anyone who reads this blog regularly knows how much I admire his presenting skills. This picture really captures his stage presence in its simplicity and character. It is intriguing in that simplicity, and I think that quality is one of the main reasons Steve Jobs is such an effective presenter and marketer. His speech and his slides align in a clear and consistent message throughout his presentations that challenge the more conventional approaches most businesses take in public venues.



When Mr. Jobs introduces a new product, he does go through the obligatory slides that outline the features. (It is notable, though, that these slides are far less cluttered than one might expect.) However, it does not stop with the slides. More often then not, Mr. Jobs will physically show the product to the audience and demonstrate its functionality on the massive screen he always uses. The audience doesn't just see the specs. They also see the physical product, and they get to experience it in action. Regardless of the presentation topic, demonstration speaks louder than descriptions.



Here is one final picture of Steve in action. Again, he is visibly demonstrating a product (in this case, Microsoft Entourage for Mac). He seldom relies on screen captures, and he never uses his slides to explain how software works. He uses the software, and everyone is able to see the functionality on a screen that absolutely dwarfs the speaker – leaving nothing indistinct or unclear. (Don't you wish every venue had a screen like that?)

Whatever you think of him as an individual, Steve Jobs is a good presenter, and simplicity is at the core of his style. There are some exceptions to this, but it's hard to deny the way this simpler approach helps draw the audience in and enhance, rather than distract from, the overall presentation.

Good videos of his talks can be tricky to track down. Here are some places to look:

• Apple – QuickTime – Macworld 2007 Keynote
• All About Steve: Steve Jobs Live
• Apple QuickTime Guide – Apple Events

Note: These images and more come from All About Steve Jobs.

Tags: examples, steve jobs, impression, stephen colbert

Like buzzwords, acronyms are more beneficial to a speaker or an author than they are to the audience. Some have purpose in life. For example, who wants to go around saying "Bluray Disc - Read Only Memory" when speaking of BD-ROM? "USDA approved" rolls off the tongue much more easily than "United States Department of Agriculture approved." However, with the use of acronyms comes a language bias that assumes your audience knows what you are referring to. These examples are actually abbreviations (sometimes confused for acronyms) and do have a place in writing and public speaking, but they should be used sparingly and only when the reader/listener clearly understands the meaning of the abbreviation.

The real culprit of this post is the acronym, those words that have other meanings when dissected. Granted, some are unavoidable. Did you know that laser, scuba, and radar are all acronyms? These are examples of acronyms that have become words in and of themselves. However, when we present, we can overuse acronyms because we believe they make us sound more intelligent or because we believe they help the audience retain a concept.

How often have we seen slides like these in a presentation?

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This is not so much acronym-use as it is acronym-abuse. Using acronyms like these is actually patronizing to the audience. When I've seen acronyms like these used in presentations, I've asked people around me how they feel about the acronyms. Do the acronyms help them retain the information? The response is almost universally negative, and the most common adjective used to describe these acronyms is "patronizing." These acronyms may make the presenter feel clever, but they fail to make a positive impression on the audience.

How can we make an impact while avoiding acronyms then? I think presenting more visually provides a compelling alternative. Let's take the "WOW" (not World of Warcraft) slide as an example. Could something like this be more memorable to the audience?

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Taking this approach, I don't have to try to cram my message into a specific set of letters, and these slides, while still minimalist and simple, are much more visually interesting than the use of acronyms and bullets. Next time you find yourself trying to create an acronym for some points in your next presentation, ask yourself if the ideas can be presented in a more effective manner that doesn't patronize the audience as much? Think simplistically and visually, and give your audience something memorable and unique.

We all know what to do when we need to present a list of information on a slide – break out the bulleted list layout, and plug in the facts. The results are predictable and reliable but are also, unfortunately, bland and repetitive.



In a presentation I have given a couple of times, I broke one of my rules while revising the slides and had several points on each slide. However, the tidy lists tend to be visually repetitive, and all information is equal. Bulleted lists equalize data – nothing appears more effective or more important than anything else.

In changing approaches, I kept a tidy list when presenting the facts because all of the information was equal in my opinion. However, when it comes to interventions, my experience has shown some more effective than others. In this approach, I scattered the data, and they appear in no particular order. Here, some points are larger than others, non-verbally communicating my experienced effectiveness of that strategy.



In addition to eschewing bulleted lists, these slides are also more visually engaging and the language is simpler. Less reading equals better listening. Even though they are conventionally accepted, bullets are not always the best solution for presenting information. Break the predictable, and arrange your information in a way that is unexpected and fresh, helping your talk be all the more unique and memorable for your audience.

Additional reading: Presentation Zen: Bullets and "delusional" briefing slides

Tags: text, conventions

When working in a rush or on a tight budget, Keynote is an easy solution for editing images that you might want to use in a document or on your website. You will not have near the options that you might have in an application like Photoshop, but it can be good for simple edits.

For this trick, just launch Keynote and drop the image you want to edit onto a blank slide that matches the background color the image will be placed upon. Remember, if your picture is stored in iPhoto, you can just use the Media Inspector to import the picture. Otherwise, you can drag-and-drop the picture from the directory it is stored in. Here's a quick example walkthrough of the process.

First, with the image in Keynote, mask the image. In this example, we'll mask with a shape. This involves drawing the shape. Then select both the shape and the image using shift-click or cmd-click on each.



Next, select "Mask With Shape" from the Format menu. Now adjust your image's mask. When you are happy with the results, click anywhere on the slide. Don't worry about messing up. You can always readjust the mask by double-clicking the image.



Finally, you can use the Graphic Inspector and the Adjust Image window to add shadows, borders, and reflections as well as adjust the exposure, saturation, and sharpness of the image.



There you have it. For comparison's sake, here is the original image right next to the modified image. Of course, an application like Photoshop will give you a great deal more functionality and flexibility, but Keynote is great for quick and simple image editing purposes.

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Tags: software, how-to

We've touched on this issue in a couple of other posts. The size of your font is important if you care about the readability of your slides (and if you don't care, slides become pointless). Your audience does not see your slides from the same vantage point you view them from while preparing them. Something that looks perfectly readable sitting right in front of your display may be difficult for others to see sitting several feet away – even with an enlarged canvas.



In this slide, the title font is 48 points. The bullet text is 26 points. I don't think anyone would be particularly annoyed at me for creating a slide like this. In fact, it may just be ignored because it will be hard to read from a distance. Insisting on thought-mapping in complete sentences will almost always create a cramped slide. If I were to increase the font size of my bullet points here, the text at the bottom would completely disappear.

Consider this approach instead.

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On these slides, the text is between 74 and 144 points. All of this can potentially be contained on one slide by building text out as you are finished and in as you get there, or you can split these into separate slides, and the visual flow will remain just as seamless. Instead of complete sentences, key words and facts are highlighted, and very few words are on each slide – allowing the audience to focus on what's most important and allowing you room to place the text and avoid clutter.

Clear and concise text creates a better experience for your audience. Don't feel obligated to load your slides with text. Pick out important words or figures and let your narration fill in the context. After all, your slides are supposed to be supplementing what you say rather than supplanting you. Guy Kawasaki suggests always using 30-point fonts of bigger in your presentation. If you find yourself dropping below 30 points in order to fit more text, stop. Reevaluate what you have on the slide. Reduce the quantity of words and focus on what is most important, allowing for larger and more readable text.

Larger, more direct text will create a better impact and will therefore better reinforce your message. Bullets and sentences are bland and predictable. Text can be a powerful tool, so use it effectively. You might find your presentations the better for it.

Tags: text, readability

We've probably all seen this happen: The speaker has either not made good use of his or her time, or the presentation is actually designed for a different time allotment than that given in the current situation. Suddenly, the speaker turns to face the screen and begins clicking through slides and bullet points, either just reading the headers to the (literate) audience or making no comment at all.


If you are rapidly skipping slides, you are sending your audience mixed messages. This material is obviously important enough to include on the slides, but it's trivial enough to skip. Only you know what the real importance is to your talk, and that will affect how you handle these slides during preparation.

If all of your slides are important, then you need to be practicing your talk to make sure your timing allows all the material to be covered. It sounds elementary, but practice is a very important element for a good talk. On the other hand, if you know you aren't going to be using these slides, remove them from the presentation entirely. Create long versions and short versions of your deck if you know you'll be presenting the material differently in different settings.

Skipping through slides effectively pulls your audience out of the attention they were giving you. You want your talk to be a smooth experience for your audience. Skipping disrupts the flow. It's something we are used to seeing, but commonality does not make it a good practice. Get your timing down ahead of time, or remove slides as needed. Keep your presentation as fluid an experience as possible for your listeners.

Tags: conventions, avoid

Some days, I feel more smart than others. The day I remembered this feature was not one of those days.

In this blog, I feel it is critically important for me to visually demonstrate what I am advocating in terms of slide design, so there are hundreds of screenshots littering the various posts in this blog. Up until recently, my process of posting sample slides has remained the same: make the slide in Keynote, enter presentation mode, take a screenshot, post on the site. This is not only needlessly complicated, but it doesn't produce good results on my MacBook Pro.

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the same slide - two different screens

Of course it all comes down to the aspect ratio, and I found myself adding another step to the process of slide shots – cropping the image. Then it hit me. This could be much, much easier. In fact, Keynote can do all the work for me.



In an open presentation, choose "Export..." from the File menu. This will cause a dialog sheet to appear with several choices: QuickTime, PowerPoint, PDF, Images, Flash, iDVD, and Safari. Choose "Images."



From here, you can choose which slide(s) you want to export, the format, and the image quality. The slides will be exported at the same resolution as the theme default. In Keynote, this will be 800x600 or 1024x768 most of the time.

Last, the slides need to be given a name, and now they are ready to be posted to a blog. (RapidWeaver allows me to scale the images down within the program. You might need to use a simple editor otherwise.) I only wish I had remembered this option months ago when I started this blog! The silver lining? I get to post a tip that might be helpful to you.

Tags: software, how-to

I was looking something up on Dell's website a couple of months ago and came across this graphic below. I don't remember the context, but I saved the image thinking, "This slide needs a makeover."


© Dell

This slide falls into the same trap as many charts. There is too much in too little space, and the slide becomes indecipherable from a distance. What we have here is basically a Gantt chart, which is used to illustrate start and finish dates of projects – support for versions of Windows in this case. The problem is that Gantt charts really need more horizontal space than a typical PowerPoint slide provides.

If you are using Keynote 3, you may be able to account for this space by using a wide-screen theme, but I chose a different route that should be usable to all Keynote and PowerPoint users.


This is actually made from two slides.

What I did was simply make the chart span across two standard 1024x768 slides. The tricky part is getting things to line up across slides. To simplify this process, I made the first slide. Then I copied the slide and pasted it in the slide navigator. Then I just adjusted the onscreen elements to reflect the second half of the chart. I removed any information that did not specifically pertain to Windows as well as text blurbs that I could just verbally explain or include in a handout. For the best effect, use Keynote's push transition to smoothly move from one slide to the next, reinforcing the feel that these two slides are one visual.

You might choose to discard or keep different information than I did, but think about this next time you have a large chart to include in your slides. Ask yourself if the information can span multiple slides to give you more room to work with and allowing you to create less cluttered, more readable slides.

Note: This method is not original to me. As a matter of fact, I got the idea from a sample clip on Keynote Theme Park, advertising their Keynote theme, The Plan. You can view the clip and see this idea in action right here.

Tags: examples, makeover, graphics

We have to be careful about how much information we load onto one slide. We need to ask ourselves if our content is being clearly illustrated or if the valuable information is being lost in the clutter. I distinctly remember one presentation where a presenter divided his slide into four quadrants and then listed four detailed bullet points under each quadrant. What irritated me more was how an audience member was addressed when complaining that the slides were difficult to read. The presenter's response to this concern? "Get better glasses." He then proceeded to turn around and read these slides to us.

x
Imagine looking at these slides from fifty feet away on a screen only six feet tall.

This is obviously a case of visual clutter. The presenter is trying to cram too much information on a slide. Some people think this looks impressive, but what are you trying to accomplish? Do you want your audience to say, "Wow! That's a lot of information to digest," or do you want them to say, "Wow! It's so clear to me now?"

In these slides, the y-axis represents the Bloom's taxonomy level of a task, and the x-axis describes how broadly-applicable a task is. Items in the A quadrant would have a low cognitive domain and narrow application while items in the D quadrant would require higher-level cognitive skills and have very broad application. This is good information, but the delivery leaves much to be desired. Here is one possible alternative.

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Now no one will need new glasses!

This approach keeps the same basic approach as the example slides. The first slide retains the chart, but it is vastly simplified. I've eliminated the miniscule text that obscured the labels. Also, the numbers are gone. Simple, meaningful labels win over meaningless numbers any day. A simple gradient and translucent border was added to the circles to give the illusion of depth, and a soft white drop-shadow is applied behind the skill set we're going to cover next.

The second slide just highlights important verbs in the skills we're talking about, emphasizing what is done in higher-order, broadly-applicable tasks. The various steps do not need to be typed out word for word. Of course, if you wanted to include more verbs, build out those points you are finished with, and build in the new ones as you are ready. This simply helps to control slide clutter.

This is only one possible approach to this information. What would you do differently? How would you convey this information in your own style? One of the great things about having someone else look over your material and slides before you present is that they may suggest an entirely different approach to your material. However you organize your content, though, cluttered slides will either be distracting and frustrating to your audience, or they will be utterly forgettable because that's how so many other presentations look. Taking the time to illustrate your material uniquely and clearly will make your presentation stand out as something different.

Tags: clutter, examples, text, makeover

We've discussed the length of our presentations in a couple of different posts now, but watching Stan Sigman deliver his talk during the Macworld keynote got me thinking again about length and audience attention span.


Every sentence read adds an hour to each minute...

The saying goes that time is relative. We save time, waste time, borrow time, and spend time. The minutes spent waiting in a doctor's office can seem much longer than the minutes spent playing video games at home. Mr. Sigman was on stage for all of seven minutes – seven very long minutes. When I checked the time in the podcast, I was surprised. I had expected to see him onstage for fifteen or twenty minutes. His talk really did seem that long.

Contrast this to Steve Jobs' portion of the presentation. The entire keynote was 1:45 long, and Mr. Jobs was speaking for all but about twenty minutes of that. Yet his portion did not feel as drawn out as Mr. Sigman's.


"I could talk for days, and you'd hardly notice."

What's the difference? I think a lot of it comes from my previous post. Mr. Sigman's talk was stiff and formal. It was basically read right off his cards, and it was full of corporate jargon and buzzwords. Mr. Jobs, in contrast, spoke passionately about his company's products. Any notes he might have had were fairly transparent, and he spoke in clear, easily understood language. Also, Steve Jobs kept things moving and kept the audience anticipating the next revelation about these products.

Timing is a very important part of your presentation. Sometimes shorter is better, but other times you may have to spend some serious time giving your talk. In either scenario, don't just be aware of the literal time, but ask yourself how long your presentation feels to your audience. Do you look and sound like you actually care about your topic? Are you keeping the flow moving? Is the audience anticipating your next points? If you can positively answer these questions, then relative time will work in your favor.

Tags: examples, time use, atmosphere, impression, connections

So ICE 2007 was this week, and my presentation finished almost two hours ago as I type this. This is my second year in a row being accepted as a speaker at ICE, and I love the experience. Hopefully, next year will make three! This year's talk was very different from last year's. Whereas my ICE 2006 material was very concrete and software-centered, this talk on video games and how they positively reinforce the gamer was much more abstract. It really wasn't a presentation about using technology in the classroom as much as it was a look at how we can apply the principles of motivation and positive reinforcement in our classrooms. I just happened to use technology as the core of how these ideas were presented.

The Good

Presentation Zen: Once more, I have to give a shout-out to this site for being such a great resource. Interestingly, before the talk began, I had the opportunity to converse with a couple of audience members about the approach this site advocates.

Keynote: For the few slides I used, Keynote worked flawlessly, and I'm glad I didn't have to worry about the software-end of the presentaiton. In relation to Keynote, using the Apple Remote was nice for controlling the slides. I seldom had to actually touch my computer during the presentation. The only issue here was that I kept missing the line-of-sight needed for the remote to work correctly, but practice will correct that. (Come on, Apple, make a Bluetooth version of this remote!)

My audience: My audience was very fun and conversational for the most part (except that one guy who sat with his arms crossed the whole time). They responded well when asked for feedback, and they just genuinely seemed like a neat group. The crowd was smaller this year according to my count of leftover handouts, but they made up for it in personality. There were a couple of ladies off to my left who were especially participatory and enthusiastic. (Here's a big shout-out to coworker Ange who came to see my talk!)

The ICE crew: These guys were extremely helpful and accommodating. I couldn't have asked for better support than they gave!

The presentation itself: Things were fairly glitch-free again (save one projector issue). The video games demoed well on the projector, and now I want that big of a screen for home gaming! Overall, I felt I rolled with the flow well. I only had to consult my notes once, and I really think the majority of my audience related to the points I was driving at. Somehow, a participant comment about how "dumb" a game seemed was even spun into a good point. Pacing flowed pretty well, and the talk concluded exactly on time. (Actually, at the time, I thought we had gotten done early, but I quickly realized my error.)

The Bad

The projector: Right off, we discovered the projector had a bad cord. Fortunately, a couple of support individuals there fixed that quickly. Still, the bulb was not as strong as I'd have liked, and we had to dim the lights. I don't like dimming if it can be avoided. Also, the projected image was too dark, and this made it difficult to effectively demo one of the games I brought. I had thought about borrowing a friend's projector, and, in retrospect, I probably should have. Fortunately, even if the projector had not worked, I felt pretty comfortable presenting naked.

Carrying stuff: I completely wore my arms out lugging equipment around. The speakers alone were quite heavy and awkward. Fortunately again, the ICE crew came through and carted my stuff back to the entrance for me. Regardless, I need to get two things before I do a talk like this again. First, buy a smaller set of good-quality speakers. Second, I need to find or replace the strap to my laptop bag.

Fatigue: I was nowhere near 100% when I gave the talk, and this resulted in a few moments of rambling and repeating myself. I knew how crazy this week was going to be, and I needed to have afforded myself more time upfront so I could have been better rested by today.

Learning Experiences

• I promised more dialog and really didn't deliver on that. Either I need to track my time better or avoid making promises I don't know I can keep.
  
  
• Again, I don't feel I practiced enough, but I'm getting closer.
  
  
• I'm still addicted to reflections on my slides. I think its a condition.
  
  
• I need to remain aware of my position in relation to the computer, so the slides advance when I press the remote.

Conclusion

I hope my audience was enriched by this experience as much as I was. Overall things went very well, and most of those elements that could have been problems were resolved. I'm glad to have been a part of this, and I'm excited about giving this talk again for my colleagues next month. You can check out the slides and handout on the My Presentations section of this site if you would like to.

Tags: my talks

This is one of a few posts I have had gestating in my brain since watching Steve Job's Macworld 2007 keynote. By now, you probably know the products announced during the keynote, and you've possibly seen and/or read reaction to those products from various sources. However, reading and viewing commentary just doesn't have the same impact as watching Steve Jobs speak.



Throughout his talks, Mr. Jobs will demo his own products, but he does so with an enthusiasm that's contagious. He doesn't just share facts, figures, and specifications about the product – he shares excitement. He connects with the audience at an emotional level. He doesn't just say, "This product is great." He says, "This is why I think this product is amazing, and let me show you! Don't you think this is great?" He exudes passion for the products he is presenting, and that passion is contagious.


"Unbelievable."

Who else can make scrolling through a playlist feel revolutionary? Who else makes Google Maps and HTML email feel fresh and exciting? People notice Apple products (and are polarized by them) partly because of the man who evangelizes them the most – CEO Steve Jobs. You can't ignore how much he cares about his pitch. His enthusiasm and passion demand reaction, whether its positive or negative. The one thing you can't do is remain passive when he speaks.

What about your own presentations? How does your audience see you? Are you viewed as someone just presenting material that is expected to be presented in a totally mundane, dispassionate, and predictable manner? Are you excited about your topics? Do you communicate that excitement in your presentation? Passion connects. Passion engages. Be passionate during your talks, and your audience will respond with greater enthusiasm for whatever topic you are presenting about.

Tags: steve jobs, examples, atmosphere, impression, connections, speaking

In early December, Keynote theme developer Jumsoft released a pachage of themes called Keynote Themes FX. Each of the three themes in the package uses a looping video as the background, creating a dynamic rather than static backdrop for your slides. The result is pretty unique, and, as far as I know, Keynote is the only is the only slide presentation software that can do something like this without additional plugins or enhancements.

You can see the themes in action right here. Go ahead. I'll still be here when you get back.

The question is whether or not moving backgrounds enhance a presentation. They certainly add a certain "wow" effect, and it would come to me as no surprise if a future version of Keynote had a couple of built-in themes that featured moving backgrounds. However, fluid backgrounds will probably provide more distractions than enhancements to your slides.

Back in this post, I recommended using backgrounds that are simple and don't distract from your content. Animations will attract the eyes of your audience and draw their attention away from the content you want them to focus on. Perhaps there are occasions where an animates slide background will create the greatest effect – all "rules" are made to be broken after all. In general though, my recommendation would be to stick with simple, static backgrounds that get out of the way and allow content to be king.

Disclosure: I own a lot of Jumsoft themes.

Tags: themes, backgrounds