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Using PowerPoint's Presenters Tools Wednesday, July 27, 2005 If you're presenting with Microsoft PowerPoint and you want to see your upcoming slides, a run-time clock and your notes all without revealing these items to the audience put PowerPoint's Presenters Tools to work. The catch is, you need multiple monitor support. To see if your Windows OS computer has this support, go to Start » Control Panel » Display, and when the Display Properties box appears, select the Settings tab. If you see two blue boxes labeled "1" and "2," you're in luck.To use Presenters Tools in the Windows version of PowerPoint, go to the SLIDE SHOW menu and select SET UP SHOW. In the dialog box, find the "Multiple monitors" submenu (lower-right) and under "Display slide show on:" select "Monitor 2 Plug and Play Monitor" from the pull-down menu. Check the "Show Presenter View" box and click OK. The next time you present, your system will automatically show the Presenters Tools view for you, while the image projected to the audience will be the current slide only. Blogged on ~~~ Lighting direction gives shapes a 3-D look Thursday, July 21, 2005 Once you create an AutoShape on a slide in Microsoft PowerPoint, the 3-D Style icon on the Drawing toolbar gives you access to the 3-D Settings menu. This offers you a number of interesting tools that can change the look of the drawn shape. For example, you can change the source-direction and intensity of the light falling on the object. Look for the Lighting icon (in the shape of a spotlight) to access its tools. Other 3-D settings include Tilts, Depths, Direction, Surface and 3-D Color.Blogged on ~~~ Putting Power Point Online Tuesday, July 19, 2005 Craig Wiesner has used a variety of PowerPoint conversion/management products, including Breeze and Brainshark. "My absolute highest priority was getting the PowerPoint files converted into Flash files that were as small as possible (for fast Web delivery) and maintaining PowerPoint animation features and graphics without corruption."According to Weisner, all the "gee-whiz" features of polling and tracking are nice, but if the key reason to use a product is to get information out to an audience in an easy-to-consume format, and to do so with an easy-to-use, no-brainer conversion process at a reasonable cost, no product works better than i-Create, which was originally developed by a company called Wanadu and now is called PointeCast Publisher and is offered by PointeCast in Lindon, Utah. If the reader is looking for a product that "does a really terrific job” of converting PowerPoint to Flash, getting files easily onto the Web, and maintaining the features of PowerPoint slide-show settings, “give this product a shot.” The desktop version sells for under $500, he says. “You convert and then ask your Webmaster to post the files and add a link. You're done." If the reader needs tracking features, he can "go for the expensive portal version and poll and track his little heart out." According to Weisner, the portal version is SCORM-compliant and works with both Learning management systems and learning content management systems. Amy Leschke-Kahle has been using Articulate for the last year and says the program is "very easy-to-use" and produces "very professional" Flash-executable files. "It also comes with some built-in quizzing capabilities. You can purchase additional quizzing capabilities if you want more options, but I have found the ones that come with the package very suitable for my applications. I put the completed programs on an internal server for easy learner access. The program itself is very inexpensive." ARTICULATE KUDOS Meanwhile, Leschke-Kahle's colleague Jon Goodney offers these Articulate kudos: o Easy publishing interface. "We cut our development of SCORM-compliant test questions from a six-week turnaround with an outside supplier down to 30 minutes doing it in-house. Although we added slightly to our payroll, it is possible to use temporary help to do the final publishing. It is simple enough to train people who have very little knowledge of Web applications. We found that a person with a graphic-design background works best." o Final product is efficient on the Web with a 56K connection -- even with high-end audio, graphics and learning interactions. o Simple licensing agreements. o Excellent, timely customer support. "You ask a question; they get back to you immediately." o Reasonably priced desktop license available. "You don't have to buy a complete package of licenses to test the water. At the time of our research, Macromedia Breeze was offering an online conversion, not a desktop version, which conflicted with our firewall -- not to mention several other bugs we identified." Finally, Goodney's colleague Tony Loyd offers these Articulate pointers: o Create a nice master slide for your PowerPoint to add visual nterest and to guide learners. "For example, we have the lesson title and the topic in the header." o Stick with the good old systematic approach to training. Start by listing your tasks, breaking them down to skills and knowledge and writing good objectives. o Don't just digitize your lectures. People only retain about five percent of what they learn through lecture. In order to increase retention, you need to engage the learner. Be sure to use the built-in activities in Articulate and also be sure to package it with Quizmaker. o Understand where Articulate content fits in with your total training package. "We use Articulate to build required prerequisite online learning. Everyone must complete the course and pass the test prior to showing up for the hands-on training. This greatly reduces the amount of time required for training, and it also is more satisfying to our students, who want to get their hands dirty instead of sitting in a dark room looking at PowerPoints." o "We have the course professionally narrated and insert the audio. We also create a .PDF of the presentation as an attachment. If your learners prefer to read for themselves, sit back and listen, or a combination of the two, they have the power to choose." o Think upfront about whether you're going to translate. Keep text on screen to a minimum. "As you know, when text is translated, it can grow in size significantly. We use Transware to translate the PowerPoint. Then, they publish using Articulate. They have native speakers who can insert the files and time the animations." Blogged on ~~~ Encouraging employee innovation The following question was recently posted to the Communicators' Network:
taken from ... Blogged on ~~~ Straighten slanted graphics If you have an image that appears slightly slanted, it can be fixed quickly using Adobe Photoshop's Free Transform tool (also found in Photoshop Elements). To start, use your cursor to stretch out the window around the image area so you can see the canvas on all sides of the image (the cursor will turn to double arrows, indicating it's ready to stretch). Then select the image (CTRL + A) and click EDIT » Free Transform. Move the mouse cursor to a corner of the image until it becomes a curved double arrow. Next, move your image to straighten it. When you're finished, hit ENTER, then deselect the image (CTRL + D). You can now edit and crop the image as needed. Blogged on ~~~ Adjust the space in PowerPoint bullet points Sunday, July 17, 2005 It's easy to adjust the space between a bullet point and its corresponding text on a presentation slide. In Microsoft PowerPoint, begin by displaying the ruler (VIEW » RULER), then select the line of bullet-point text. On the ruler, locate the left-indent marker (the marker on the lower side of the ruler, pointing upward; be careful not to move the square marker below it). Drag the indent marker to the right to increase the space between the bullet symbol and the text; drag it to the left to decrease the space. The marker moves in increments of half the distance of the ruler marks. To further fine-tune the spacing, hold down the CTRL key as you drag the marker.Blogged on ~~~ Six Crucial Rules for Keynote Speakers Friday, July 15, 2005 Stephen DenningIn presenting to a convention, having the right story to tell is only half the battle. Just as critical is to tell the story right. 1. Choose a plain style of storytelling There are many styles of storytelling. However the basic style of storytelling that is most suitable for the modern fast-paced organization is a style that is plain, simple and direct. This will be the foundation that you can customize for particular settings and requirements. It is close to the classic style of writing described in a wonderful book by Thomas, and Turner, Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose. (1994, Princeton University Press.) Let's take an example. It happens to be Lou Gerstner, talking at a press conference in New York on June 5, 1995 about the events that led up to the IBM's purchase of Lotus. As a story, there's nothing unusual or remarkable about it. It's a typical example of business storytelling: plain, simple and workmanlike. It's not a story that would be considered "brilliant." Nor is there anything that would draw attention to Gerstner as a storyteller. Listen:I think it is useful to step back and look at the evolution of this industry to really understand the strategic rationale of this transaction. The industry began as a very centralized model of computing. It was the world of mainframes, large central processors.And while there will be the need for central processors for many, many years to come, that first phase ended a decade or so ago -- and the second phase began, which is the era of the PC.And so powerful, stand-alone computers were put in the hands of workers around the world, and we had the PC revolution. It provided enormous personal productivity benefits to workers in enterprises, small businesses, and even at home.But it's clear to me and to many others that the industry is now entering a new phase of the information technology industry. And it is a phase in which all of the computing power of an enterprise is linked together -- so that the mainframes or servers and the PCs become linked in a network......but not just a hierarchical network, so that the PCs can talk to the mainframes or servers -- but very importantly, a world in which all of the users can talk horizontally to each other, and to work together in what is known as "collaborative" or "team" computing. That is a very, very powerful need of our customers around the world. [1]While not being in any way remarkable, Gerstner's story illustrates a number of important characteristics of a style of storytelling that is effective for leaders in organizations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. Tell your story as if you were talking to a single individual ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gerstner's idiom, and the idiom of most effective organizational storytelling, is the voice of conversation. The model is that of one person speaking to another. The style appears to be spontaneous and motivated by the need to tell the listeners about something. It's as if it has just occurred to Gerstner to tell his audience about what has been going on in the computer industry, and so he begins to do so. What he has to say doesn't feel like a set piece. There's no sign that Gerstner has labored over the language beforehand, systematically refining and arranging his thoughts, editing their expression, checking with his lawyers, and then reading the final, cleared text aloud. It's as if something has just occurred to him and so he says it.As it happens, Gerstner is talking to a crowd of journalists, but he might just as well to be talking to each person in the audience, one on one. His voice is the voice of dialogue. Gerstner says one thing, and after another moment, something else occurs to him and so he says that too. It happens to be a useful progression from his former thought. So the listeners follow along. His speech has the rhythm of conversation. It's a series of movements, each one brief and crisp, beginning at the beginning and ending with a suitable conclusion.The appearance of spontaneity is of course an illusion. Gerstner has carefully rehearsed the story and knows exactly where it is heading. In retrospect, the audience may see that these movements of thought are in fact organized into a flawless order, but at the time, the illusion is created that this order is simply the consequence of Gerstner's logical, penetrating, uncluttered mind. His words appear to come out the way they do without any special effort. The order is never referred to. Its existence is not even acknowledged. Everything that is dispensable has been edited out, but the result doesn't sound edited. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3. Avoid hedges ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gerstner avoids indicating that he is doing anything other than the presenting the situation as it actually is. Thus he avoids the kind of hedges that writers often adopt, to protect themselves against possible objections or provide insurance that they may have overlooked something that might change the audience's view as to the import of the story.Gerstner has banished from his vocabulary phrases like, "As we shall see…" and "Before I move on to my next point…" and "As far as I know…." He doesn't bother with disclaimers that he doesn't have time to tell the whole story, or that he has skipped over important events.In telling his story, Gerstner presents the situation as being obvious to anyone who will take a hard look. "It is clear to me and to many others…." He refrains from indicating alternative points of view. He doesn't, for instance, say, "My predecessor in IBM took an entirely different view of the situation and was on the verge of breaking up thecompany…"In his more philosophic moments, Gerstner might perhaps recognize that all human beings are liable to leap to conclusions with insufficient rational backing, are unable to be both honest and consistent, have no good grip on the future and that his account of the history of the computer industry is at best a very partial one.Perhaps Gerstner never has such philosophic moments. But even if he does, he doesn't encumber his listeners with them during the telling of his story. This makes sense, since nothing is more irritating than to listen to a speech is clotted with hedges of ignorance or frailty or the possibility of error. So Gerstner simply presents his story: "This is the way things have happened in our industry." From his bearing and demeanor, listeners tend to conclude that it is indeed so. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4. Keep your storytelling focused, simple and clear ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The virtues of Gerstner's story, like most good organizational storytelling, are clarity and simplicity. These are also its vices. Gerstner doesn't acknowledge ambiguities, qualifications or doubts. Gerstner has made hard choices silently and out of the listener's sight. He presents the story on the basis that this is what happened. Once made, the choices are presented as if they are inevitable.Gerstner's language doesn't draw attention to itself, but rather serves as a window that reveals the content of the story he is telling. If the audience were to notice Gerstner the person, through a dazzling use of language, or some unusual mannerisms, or some striking gestures, rather than the content of the story, then he would have been less effective. How he tells the story is understated. At the end of his presentation, no one says, "My heavens, that Lou Gerstner is a wonderful storyteller!" Instead, the focus is on what he says. The audience is more likely to exclaim, "How fascinating!"Gerstner presents his story in a way that is seemingly transparent, as if the listeners are looking at his subject through a perfectly clean and non-distorting window. The window doesn't draw attention to itself. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5. Present the story as something valuable in itself ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gerstner doesn't spend time justifying the telling of this particular story. He gives no indication that the listener will have any question about the value of his story. He doesn't raise any question about whether the listeners are interested in what he has to say. As storyteller, he presents his story as something that is inherently valuable. The value comes from the story itself and from its role as part of a larger whole. He has selected elements that are common knowledge and put them together in a way that gives them broader significance. In so doing, he gives the events a meaning that the audience might not otherwise have grasped.Gerstner presumes upon the listeners' attention as his right. To justify his presumption, he offers something important, complete, self-contained and intelligible. He presents his story as being valuable independently of any special knowledge he might have or his hierarchical position. What he says is something that is clear to him "and to many others." The implication is that anyone who takes the trouble to see what is going on in the industry would see what Gerstner is seeing. The value of his story emerges from the listeners' ability to grasp the story and its implications because of their own clear and focused minds.As storyteller, Gerstner enters into a kind of tacit contract with his listeners. He agrees to tell the listeners a story and they agree, at the outset at least, to listen to his story. As he repays the listeners' attention with something valuable and self-contained, they continue to listen. His story begins by breaking silence and ends by returning to silence, leaving nothing unresolved. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6. Be yourself ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Style isn't something separate from the person. Nor is it detachable from the content of what is said. Gerstner performs his story in a style that lets the content shine through. He stands behind what he has to say because he has seen it, and experienced it, and thought it out independently. He may be stating what is a common conclusion among experts in the industry at the time, but in expressing it, he is neither joining a chorus nor embracing a platitude.Instead, he presents his story as if it has the freshness of a discovery. He talks as though what he is saying doesn't come from following what he has been told to say by his public relations team or from a briefing of his technical experts. He doesn't point to the acceptance of others as grounds for accepting it. It is not the opinions of other people that gives force to his story. It is his conviction that he knows what he is saying to be true. As a storyteller, Gerstner presents himself as a thinking human being, not the head of a large bureaucracy or the construct of his handlers. In the apparent absence of these encumbrances, his utterances have a freshness that no committee of speechwriters can give. Gerstner simply presents the evidence that he has found and the reasoning that has led him to the conclusion that he has reached, just as anyone else would reach it independently with the same evidence and reasoning.He speaks, not as if he is trying to persuade, but rather as though he is presenting reality as it is. The implication is that listeners are free to draw their own conclusions, but if they were to draw any other conclusion than Gerstner's, they would be in error. Once he has shared his take on the situation with his listeners, his account becomes part of their lived experience of what is going on in the computer industry. They may conclude, just as Gerstner already has, not only that the experience has a bearing on the future but also that there is a need to update their previously held views.As a storyteller, he doesn't suggest that the listeners may be mistaken in their current views. He tacitly accepts that the listeners may well be justified in whatever views that they currently hold, given the range of experience to which they have had access, prior to hearing him speak. In telling his story, he is enabling the listeners to expand their lived experience so that they may conclude of their own accord that the views they have held up to this point need to be adjusted in the light of this newly acquired experience. It follows that the views the listeners now espouse are more likely to be aligned with his, because they derive from the same base of experience.1. Gerstner, L., IBM Press Conference Upon the Purchase of Lotus. (June 5, 1995). This article is based on Chapter 2 of The Leader's Guide to Storytelling Additional from Thomas Stirr Here's a few more: 1. Have a clear understanding of your audience and how your presentation fits into the overall program the audience will be exposed to - this will allow you to add value to the entire program by bridging and linking with other program components. 2. Make sure your client paints a clear picture for you on how they want the audience changed as a result of your specific presentation, then build your presentation with that goal in mind. 3. Only accept engagements on topics that you are absolutely intimate with. Ask yourself if you know your material so well that you could still present it for the entire duration of your time allotment if you lost all of your notes, props, or A/V support. If that thought makes your knees shake and makes you feel queasy... perhaps you shouldn't be presenting the topic. 4. Remember that you are there to serve the audience, not your ego... they are giving you the gift of their time... always respect it and give them full value. 5. Being allergic to a podium is a good thing! 6. Mentally rehearse your entire presentation until it becomes a part of who you are - then you can present while being in the moment with the audience. 7. Remember that people learn different ways - build a variety of learning styles into your presentation. 8. Expect some resistance and push-back from members of the audience – and celebrate them as opportunities to facilitate learning. Blogged on ~~~ Perfect Timing Wednesday, July 13, 2005 Worried about how long each slide will be up in front of the audience, or wondering how long your slideshow will really take? It may be time to rehearse using Microsoft PowerPoint's Rehearse Timings function. When you're ready to do a run-through of your PowerPoint presentation, pull down the SLIDE SHOW menu and choose REHEARSE TIMINGS. The slideshow will begin automatically, and as you change from slide to slide, PowerPoint will record the time it takes to present each slide, along with the accumulated time. When you're finished, PowerPoint will offer to show all the slides in Slide Sorter mode. This view shows the time, in minutes and seconds, it takes to present each slide.Blogged on ~~~ More slides, less time, less satisfaction Wednesday, July 06, 2005 As a presenter, you are creating more presentations with more slides, but you are less than happy with the time it takes, the quality of the result and the amount of time you actually rehearse. These are the findings of an Internet survey conducted by PowerPoint MVP Geetesh Bajaj and presentation coach and author Claudyne Wilder.The survey, conducted over two and a half months in 2004, polled 750 professionals who create slideshows and deliver presentations as part of their jobs. Sixty-one percent of those surveyed said they create between one and 30 electronic slideshows annually, and two-thirds present the slideshows in front of an audience. Although the respondents are creating and presenting regularly, only 22 percent of them said they were "very satisfied" with the quality of their presentations. And 25 percent of the respondents suspected that some of their presentations were "a waste of time." From the survey results, Bajaj and Wilder were able to identify four major trends: 1. Too many slides When asked what they would change about their presentations, an overwhelming 88 percent said their presentations were overly packed with slides, even to the point of being detrimental to the message. Half of the people said they would like to cut down on the amount of slides they present by 20 percent. 2. Too much prep time Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they spent more than three hours creating a slideshow for a 30-minute talk, and 61 percent used a canned template with content that required them to "sometimes or always" redo the template. Some 60 percent of participants said they could save between one and three hours of preparation time if they did not have to regularly redo the company presentation template. 3. Lack of effective images and graphics Many of the presenters wished for more effective slide templates and images in their presentations. Among those who used company designed templates or backgrounds, more than 40 percent felt these were ineffective or not worth using. Only 15 percent said their company provided predesigned tables, graphics and images that were actually relevant to their presentation's subject matter. The other 85 percent said they spent a great deal of prep time creating their own images and charts. 4. Not enough rehearsal Despite the admonition of presentation experts to practice, practice, practice, only 38 percent of survey participants said they rehearsed for their presentations. Among those who admitted this, 83 percent agreed that rehearsing would have improved their skills. Survey co-author Claudyne Wilder suspects that the high amount of slide-preparation time cuts into delivery rehearsal time. "People don't practice because they are busy trying to organize content and animate their slides," she says. The survey results in their entirety can be found at www.indezine.com/articles/buspres.html. Geetesh Bajaj is a regular contributor to Presentations magazine. Originally published in the June 2005 issue of Presentations magazine. Blogged on ~~~ It's easy to adjust the space between a bullet point and its corresponding text on a presentation slide. In Microsoft PowerPoint, begin by displaying the ruler (VIEW » RULER), then select the line of bullet-point text. On the ruler, locate the left-indent marker (the marker on the lower side of the ruler, pointing upward; be careful not to move the square marker below it). Drag the indent marker to the right to increase the space between the bullet symbol and the text; drag it to the left to decrease the space. The marker moves in increments of half the distance of the ruler marks. To further fine-tune the spacing, hold down the CTRL key as you drag the marker. Blogged on ~~~ |
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