Movie “The Goods” probably funny now, not so funny in PowerPoint later.

I saw the ad for the movie “The Goods” today on television, you know the one with Jeremy Piven and Ving Rhames selling used cars.  Unfortunately, seeing the trailer made me think, oh great, in about 6 months I’ll have to sit through endless video bits from the movie that people have embedded in their PowerPoint to try to make them funnier. Ok, ok so that’s a little harsh, and actually it will probably be the same bit over and over again and I have to admit it will be nice to have something different to sit through rather than “Tommy Boy” and “Glengary Glenross”.

I just get frustrated by how people think that any movie that relates to sales in a funny way, makes the perfect “spicer-upper” for their presentation.  Aside from being illegal (I’m pretty sure you are not allowed to broadcast movie scenes without express written permission or paying licensing fees), it’s pointless and the presenter almost never has a good “segway” into the clip.  Either way, please remember this point:

Movie tickets – $10

Popcorn – $8

Embedding funny sales clips in your presentation 6 mos. later – Worthless.

PowerPoint: It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

Must be a slow cycle in the news, I’ve noticed some anti-PowerPoint sentiment brewing against the business “Culture of PowerPoint” that exists.  The articles are proclaiming that PowerPoint needs to die or it will kill us all,  I’m going with it will kill us all before it dies.  Enjoy:

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/opinion/1496294/powerpoint-bring-world

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052970204619004574318473921093400.html

And if you don’t subscribe to PowerPoint or the world’s rapid demise, you can read more in the new features in PowerPoint 2010:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/13/AR2009071300661.html

Presentations: Take a cue from Calvin and Hobbes

I spent time about a month ago at our family cottage,  which has a nice stock of Calvin and Hobbes books.  As I pour through the pages, I was struck by the greatness of the comic strip and how some of the fundamentals of his design apply to presentations.

Design and Style Originality Matters:

Bill Waterson’s “stroky” inked and watercolor like style of illustration jumped from the comics page at a time when most comic artists were rather static and similar.  Each strip felt more like an original work of art than a comic strip.  The rule for presentations is you can present the content and still have it look nice be conscientious of the layout of your items on the slide and don’t be afraid to leave white space.  Also, develop your own style, use your own types of charts, layout your information differently.

Break the Box:

Part of the genius of Calvin and Hobbes was the way in which Waterson “broke the box” or the conventional three/four box panel when  drawing the strip: sometimes there were borders, sometimes 8 panels, sometimes only one.  Content-wise he let imagination run the gamut from dinosaurs to spaceships and sometimes both simultaneously.  People who present have a tendency to stick to “the box” or the slide.  Try presenting without the slide as a method of differentiating yourself.  Hold up a product example, tell the audience a story with no slide behind you, show an image that seems not to make sense and then incorporate it into your pitch.

Have Character:

Calvin & Hobbes characters were presented in such a way that they were adored by their audience.  The lovable but mischievous boy and the foil and sidekick stuffed tiger charmed the hearts of the public.  Presenters need to capture the audience in the same way.  Let your personality show through your presentation.  Too many presenters subdue themselves and bore the content by presenting in a very staid manner.  Tell a personal story, use some self-deprecating humor, or tie your subject to another passionate hobby.  Make the presentation personal and the audience will feel a tighter connection to you the presenter and subsequently to the content.

Office 2010 coming

Office 2010 is coming with an updated PowerPoint. Microsoft is saying that the new version will have improved picture and video editing capabilities and video embedding (about time).

You can read more about it at:
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/07/office-2010-tech-preview-now-free-web-apps-later.ars

Title Slides – Required Information

A good title slide does two things, first it entices the audience with a fascinating graphic or visual and title and secondly it conveys some important required information.  When I build presentations, I consider these my “required” elements for any title slide:

The placement of these items can vary depending on your corporate branding, but here is the reasoning:

Presentation Title:
I know some presenters like to start with simply a logo or a stark visual, but if you present within the corporate environment you’ll want to title your slide to help you archive it.  Titling will make it easier for you and your colleagues to find the right pitch and information.  Titles should be relevant, but can also be catchy.

Presenter or Author:
Sometime in the future, someone is going to know who the bloke was that came up with either the brilliant or ridiculous information contained in your presentation and if your presentation is being presented and distributed outside the company, you’ve just handed out a business card.  While not required, you can also add your job or position.  This is especially helpful if you are presenting outside of the company but problematic if you change jobs frequently.

Date:
It is always important to add a date as a stamp to future audiences for whether the information contained in the presentation is relevant.

Relevant Image:
I add this as a requirement because even if the rest of your presentation is text, you should set the audience emotional expectations through some sort of visual.  The visual should be relevant but can be metaphoric.  Don’t feel the need to speak to the image, the relevance of the image can be revealed through the presentation.

Legal Disclaimer:
Each company is different in the extent of their legal disclaiming, but a disclaimer or ownership of the presentation should be announced on any external presentation and also most internal presentations.  My understanding is that  disclaiming does three things, first if the presentation is distributed it prevents the information within from being plagiarized.  Second, it keeps competitors from leveraging information in internal presentations.  Third, a disclaimer at the end of the presentation usual helps mitigate lawsuits.  Check with your legal team for details as every company is different.

Five quick tips to designing a global PowerPoint Presetation

If you work for a large corporation or these days even if you work for a mid-size company, there is a good chancethat at some point you will have to present to a global audience.  I’ve seen many of these pitches presented, both in the United States to an audience from another country and also in other countries by Americans.  Presenting to a global audience is always difficult for the presenter and I have seen some presenters be quite successful and I have seen some fail miserably, so with that in mind below are my 5 quick takes on what works and what doesn’t:

1. Match the bullet text and  imagery to the spoken text.

I know, I know, this is normally cardinal rule numero uno for what not to do. However, when presenting to a global audience matched visual to oral reinforcement may aid in the audience’s understanding of the presentation.  Oral comprehension of a foreign language can be very difficult, using text and images to reinforce the oral will aid in the the key concepts understanding.  This is essentially how the Rosetta Stone software works, and other “accelerated” learning programs.

2. Relate to the audience.

At the inception of your presentation there will be a cultural gap between yourself and the audience; attempt to bridge it.  If you are presenting here in the U.S., initiate the audience into a fun custom or fact about where/what/when something of local interest that is going on.  Do the same when abroad, only reverse it:  relate your inexperience or how much you enjoyed something of local flavor when you are abroad.  You may need to pick the brain of your host ahead of time to find the right thing to say.  Building that connection at the beginning of a presentation will help to hold the audience’s attention.

3. Watch out for the culture.

Seemingly inadvertent things like placing a logo at the bottom of a page, or showing a female at work can culturally offend your audience depending on where you are presenting.  Be cognizant of cultural norms as you build the presentation and if possible run the presentation past a “trusted local host” before presenting.

4. Speak slowly

Just because English is your first language, does not mean that understanding English will come easily to your non-English counterpart.  Speaking slowly ensures a better chance of understanding.

5.  Avoid colloquialisms and metaphors

“We can knock one out of the park”… any expressions that has a very culturally American root should be avoided.  Sports expressions can be used but should be contained to more general global sports and analogies: soccer, racing, medals, trophies.  Metaphors being very language and culture based will not retain their meaning and should be avoided.

M.I.A. but gathering ideas

Sorry about being MIA but work comes first. Good news is I have been gathering more ideas that I will post over the next couple of weeks.

PowerPoint Animations: Use Carefully!

This article pretty much reaffirms everything I have been trying to teach through my blog. 

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/06/study-powerpoint-animations-are-comprehension-killers.ars

I hardly use animations, and when I do, I make sure that they are being used in a way that benefits the charts comprehension.  The article supports this philosophy.

PowerPoint Presentation Text: The 45 Degree Test for Text Contrast Readability

This concept occurred to me yesterday while I was I flying home from an event: 

I was watching someone build a presentation (and poorly I might add).  He built one of his slides using black text on a light blue background.  Although I am sure that it might have been clearly visible from where he was sitting, from where I was sitting at a 45 degree – axis across the aisle and behind, I could not read any of the text.

So the test is simple, for those of you who use laptops:

If there is not enough contrast for the text to be readable at a 45 degree angle on a laptop, then contrast-wise the text will be difficult to read when projected during a presentation.

Remember this rule and remember that contrast adds readability and also that generally contrast reduces when you send your presentation to the projector.

A Slippery Slope: Managing Relative Font Sizes in Text Slides

One of PowerPoint’s foibles is that the default text slide does not provide proper relative font size and spacing for readability.  Here is the default slide with a title and three levels of text entered in it:

As you can see, the even line spacing and slow drop off of the text size makes the text “mush” together.   The technique I employ on this slide, first reduces the font sizes between each level to provide more separation for readability.  Since too much text on a slide is not a good thing, our greatest concern should be the separation of the Level One text.  We’re going to give it extra line spacing, and we are also going to bold the text so it stands out.  The rest of the text follows suit, reducing each time by about the same ammount perspective-wise (that is optical separation as opposed to a consistent numerical reduction).  The result looks like this:

Here is what the slope of the drop-off looks like, you’ll notice that it is much steeper than the default:

Conversely, you can have too much drop off.  PowerPoint when auto-sizing will reduce the font size to fit the text into the slide, providing a result that looks like this, again very difficult to read:

By employing the same technique as above, but actually increasing the font size and managing the line spacing to fit the text, you can fit the text and provide greater readability:

You’ll notice that we also reduced the font size of the title.  I have clients who take title size consistency seriously, but from a design standpoint if you are within 20% of the base size on the title, the difference will not be too distracting. 

Reducing the title brings the slope of the relative font size similar to the first slope we examined.  You can see that the drop-off in the default is much sharper with a greater leveling off.  The important lesson here is to maintain optical separation.