The Spin Doctor

PowerPoint Trickery

I've already mentioned how much I enjoyed Nancy Duarte's book slide*ology. Here's an easy but impressive PowerPoint technique from her book that I have used to great effect: the Push Left transition. (Click here to view.)

This works particularly well on a series of slides with mostly images and minimal type. Let's say you have 3 slides in the series. On Slide 1, insert two images. The second image should overlap the right edge of the screen. Then take that image and cut it into 2 separate images using Photoshop or another image editor. The first image stays positioned on the right edge of Slide 1, the second image is positioned to the far left of Slide 2. 

PowerPoint 103: Top 10 Tools

When producing PowerPoint presentations for clients, these are the tools I’ve come to rely on:

1. A digital recorder. When I start work on a presentation, it’s usually for a client. I like  to interview the client first to establish what messages will be delivered (remember only 3 or 4 key points at most). Having a digital recorder let’s me probe the client and get the information I need without the distraction of writing it all down.

PowerPoint 102: Organizing your material

You have a topic, you know the points you need to make — 3 or 4  at most — now you need an overarching concept in which to package your presentation.

As Nancy Duarte says in her book slide:ology, much of what we communicate today is abstract. To make your points vivid and memorable, they need to be given concrete expression in the form of a metaphor or visual concept. I find mind-mapping to be a useful method for organizing information and developing concepts.

PowerPoint 101

This is the first short entry in a series of items I'll be doing on the art of PowerPoint.

PowerPoint — and Apple's Keynote — is a great tool but despite the best efforts of everyone from the likes of Edward Tufte to Nancy Duarte and Garr Reynolds, presentation software continues to be almost universally abused in boardrooms and classrooms. I can't think of any good reason for this other than the very common fear of giving presentations.