For those of you who know me as the PowerPoint Ninja from this blog, you may be surprised (or disappointed) to learn that my recently published book isn’t about PowerPoint or business presentations. In my day job, I work in consulting at Adobe (which acquired Omniture in 2009). Last December, I published my first book, Web Analytics Action Hero
Feb 03 2012
Introducing My New Book
Dec 29 2011
Emergency Preparedness for PowerPoint
Ready for any PowerPoint emergency. (c) Thinkstock
Recently, I was a part of a university event where I needed to present along with a senior executive from my company and several student teams. Rather than switching out the laptops for each different presentation, I decided to load all of the presentations on to my machine beforehand. I hate it when you run into setup problems when one group’s laptop doesn’t work properly with the projector or some other issue — and it throws off the whole schedule. What I didn’t anticipate was that the presentation remote would only work with the desktop computer in the auditorium.
No problem. I had all of the presentations also loaded on to a USB flash drive so I could transfer the files on to the desktop. However, in its infinite wisdom, the university’s IT group blocked any files from being installed on the desktop including a font file that one of the teams needed. After explaining the situation to an IT “support” person, he indicated nothing could be done before our event started. Aaagggh. Luckily, someone had brought their own presentation remote so we could just run the presentations from my laptop.
Often it’s easier said than done “to be prepared”, but we often focus so much on the actual presentation itself and forget the other small technical details that can completely ruin our beautiful slides and well-rehearsed thoughts. In reflecting on this recent situation, I had several takeaways for presenters who want to be more prepared for PowerPoint emergencies: Continue reading “Emergency Preparedness for PowerPoint”
Nov 09 2011
Tips for Using Quotes in PowerPoint Presentations
I love quotes. (c)Thinkstock
When you’re trying to add more emphasis or credibility to a key point in your presentation, a quote can come in handy. I’m a fan of a good, well-placed quote. I’ve even assembled a humble collection of PowerPoint-related quotes. However, just like inappropriate or tired images can detract from your content, so can poorly-chosen or over-used quotes. I thought I’d share some thoughts and tips on using quotes in PowerPoint presentations. Continue reading “Tips for Using Quotes in PowerPoint Presentations”
Jun 20 2011
PowerPoint 2010 Paste Options – Love at First Sight
Paste options . . . it was love at first sight. (c) Thinkstock
Whether you’re building a PowerPoint presentation from a few other slide decks or creating charts in Excel to add into your slides, you’re constantly copying and pasting things into PowerPoint. One of the most frustrating things is when you copy something – a slide, chart, or table – and paste it into PowerPoint 2007, all of the formatting changes. Grrrrr. More work that you didn’t need. One of my more popular blog posts is actually how to retain the formatting of a slide when it is inserted into another presentation in PowerPoint 2007.
You'll see other options depending on what you're pasting.
In PowerPoint 2010, Microsoft has combined the Paste Special dialog box with Office Paste Recovery feature so you have easier access to different paste options. Continue reading “PowerPoint 2010 Paste Options – Love at First Sight”
May 25 2011
Localize Your Slides or Risk Losing Your Audience
Localize (localise) your slides! (c) Thinkstock
If you present in various locations around the world or even within your own country/province/state/county/city, you might want to consider localizing your slides for your various audiences. The path of least effort is to make one generic version of your slides and just present the same version to all audiences. With the generic slides, you pass up any advantage you would gain from making the slides more relevant and meaningful to a specific local audience. There are some real benefits to localization as local examples can really pique the interest and attention of your audience. Continue reading “Localize Your Slides or Risk Losing Your Audience”
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