PPT - Powerful Presentation Techniques

UPDATED - PowerPoint & Presentation Resource Listing (REV 7)

I've updated the PPT - Powerful Presentation Techniques Resource Listing to include several new books, web sites and article links that I've come across or have been submitted to me.  The Resource Listing is now in its seventh revision. 
Download PPT-PowerfulPresentationTechniquesResourceGuideRev7.pdf

If you have additions or changes that should be made to the listing, please send me an e-mail. 

If I can be of any help in assessing your team's current level of presentation or PowerPoint skills or assist you with your training needs, please let me know.

Paul Gibler
(608) 255 4092

Book Reviews - presentationzen

Elegant.

That's the word that I'd use for an overall descriptor of Garr Reynolds' new book "presentationzen - Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery".  The book is beautiful with a "zen sensibility", great graphics and lots of good examples of before and after or just plain good presentations.  The book is well organized into 5 major modules:

1. Introduction
2. Preparation
3. Design
4. Delivery
5. the Next Step

From its foreword by Guy Kawasaki, cleverly "written" using PowerPoint slide to its sharing of the top Slideshare show for 2007, he's got a winner in this book for those looking for a clean overview of what makes for creating and delivering good presentations.  If you're looking for a book on techniques to use PowerPoint 2003, 2007 or Keynote you'll need to look elsewhere.  This book is not software specific, a benefit if you're reading it while on the road as a passenger en route to Minneapolis which I did earlier this month. 

I like how he reminds the reader that presentations involve 3 tools - the slides, the speaker notes and the handouts.  While many people think of these as all of the same, he effectively deconstructs the role of each of them in making a presentation effective.

Another comment, I'd make is that while Garr is very big on the use of striking and memorable photography, something I generally agree with, the reality of corporate budgets, presentation topics and the nature of internal presentations often intrudes and makes these visually rich presentations difficult to pull off.   Plus, not every presenter has the technical knowledge or software to manipulate images in the way that the presenters showecased are able to do. 

Garr does direct the reader to iStockphoto, and includes a special offer for readers. 

All in all, I'd rate this book and his blog an A for your reading list and as an addition to your presentation skills library. 

Share Your Worst PPT Slide Ever

Worst PPT Slide Ever
Originally uploaded by Travelin' Librarian.

Periodically I like to visit the photo and video sharing sites to see what they are saying and sharing about PowerPoint. I always find interesting items to comment on and share on my blog.

For example, this PowerPoint Slide is labeled the "Worst PPT Slide Ever" by the Travelin' Librarian.

What do you think? Have you seen or even created worse ones (in your past I'm sure)? If you have one to share, send it along or post a link to it in the comments and we'll see what others have to say.

In my PPT - Powerful Presentation Techniques educational sessions, one of things that we do is review and discuss a range of slides to determine what we think the message is and how effective the slides are in communicating that message. This is always one of the more interesting points of discussion, so I hope to see some comments generated on this blog.

Color in PPT

PowerPoint novices tend to overuse or misuse color in their presentations.  Probably due to lack of training and to a desire to create their own look they often don't follow PowerPoint's guidelines or standard design considerations for a PowerPoint slide.

Here are some guidelines to follow when selecting colors for your presentation:

• Use high contrast colors - Text, background color and texture are distinct and provide high levels of contrast
• Keep colors contextual with the message - e.g. for a presentation on death, you don't want to use a bright cheery color palette
• Minimize your color selection - Typically have one or two primary and secondary colors, along with one or two accent colors.  If you have corporate identity standards, these can often provide the guidelines to follow.  PowerPoint allows you to customize colors through the drawing toolbar, which determines the colors used for the background, text and lines, shadows, titles, fills, accents and hyperlinks.
• Colors can accentuate meaning and context - Emphasizing text, background shades, image borders, etc. with color can help support the story you are trying to make.
• Colors evoke emotions that can vary by culture - select your color pallete, in part, by the emotions you are trying to create or avoid and be culturally sensitive to the audience you'll be speaking to.  Dark blue backgrounds can be calm, but also boring.
• Standardize your color family within your presentation and across presentations - You can still use color to denote hierarchy of information, but standardization through templates will help you re-use and re-purpose content across presentations.

Microsoft has a good review on selecting colors and a description of the 12 hues of the color wheel that is useful for understanding some design concepts associated with the choice of colors.