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Recently I have been looking at a couple of free on-line alternatives to Powerpoint for producing attractive and effective visual aids to support a presentation.   There are now a whole host  and how many will survive  only time will tell.  Thankfully  this morning I found a great post that gives you links to 13 great looking alternatives.

So far I have only really played with Sliderocket and I have to say I really like it.   If you have tried any of the others, how about posting a comment here and sharing your experience with your fellow presenters.

Have you ever had the need to jump to a live website whilst in the middle of a Powerpoint presentation?   It is possible by inserting a hyperling to the site you want, within a slide or image.   The problem is that doing so results in you having to come out of Powerpoint and into your web browser and then you have to close the web browser to return to Powerpoint.

There is however a much easier and neater way.   Checkout the liveweb add in for powerpoint

All you need to do is download the appropriate version of this clever little visual basic add in and it will allow you to display a live website within a powerpoint slide.    I just tried it out and it works a treat!

My thanks go to Jerry Kidd and his excellent makeuseof.com blog for drawing this great little tool to my attention.

This video clip serves four purposes for students of presentation and public speaking skills:

1. It demonstrates the value of a clearly structured message
2. It shows how things like eye contact, body language and vocal variety engage the audience
3. It shows how simple visual aids with well chosen images add to the presentation
4. It contains a valuable message that we all should learn and take heed of.

Enjoy

Recently I was invited to give a talk on presentation skills tips to JCI Southampton.  We had a lively evening in the lovely Jury’s Inn  Hotel and I was able to record the talk so that you all could hear it to.   You can listen to it from the web or download it to your ipod.  Just click on the link here and scroll down the page till you see the audio player.

The talk lasts about 45 minutes and covers a range of public speaking related topics including; handling nerves, setting objectives, slide design, & engaging your audience.   Listen to it and let me know what you think.

Olivia, One of my regular readers  posted a comment on my last post regarding  the issue of slide design in relation to whether the slides are  meant to be a backdrop to a presenter or are meant as an online presentation to be read without any audio component,   here is my reply

“Thanks Olivia you make a very valid point.
Often one of the reasons (excuses!) people give for wordy PPT slides is that the power point presentations they write most of the time are  are internal information dumps designed to be read rather than presented.

They get so much in the habit of writing those type of wordy,  bullet point laden, information dense, slides that they cannot break out of the mould when they have to design for a “real” presentation.

My challenge to them is to create interesting and visually stimulating power point slides that can stand on their own without too much data.   Think about it!  The way a book or a text document designed for reading is laid out, including use of diagrams and pictures,  has a huge impact on its readability.   If the slides are dull and boring will anybody read them anyway and, if they do, will they remember what they read?  let’s not limit good design to  presentation slides?  Lets transform the way we use power point in all arenas

Why not tell me what you think -

I have been getting some great feedback recently regarding the quality of my slide sets.   Of course all are built using the principles I advocate in this blog and in my workshops i.e. no bullet points, minimal text, great pictures and logical story flow.

At one recent talk a delegate said that he didn’t know it was even possible to construct a presentation without bullet points!   He had never ever seen one like mine before!   Based on that kind of comment I just had to post an example to show that it is possible.    Take a look and use the arrows below the player to advance the slides

Why not upload your own examples to slideboom and I’ll be delighted to showcase the best ones.

I was running a workshop on Making the Most of PowerPoint the other day and almost the first tip I shared with the group caused an audible WOW! throughout the room! Not a bad start to a days training. So what was the secret I shared?

I suggested that instead of going to PowerPoint you open up a simple text editor such as Notepad (The free one built into Windows) and that you create your headlines and if necessary your indented bullet points in there as an outline.

This text file, once saved can be imported directly into PowerPoint using the File then Open and then selecting All Outlines from the drop down file type menu. Select the notepad file you created and then click Open.

PowerPoint will instantly create a set of plain slides with each non-indented text line as a slide title and the tab indented text as bullet points. All you need to do now is choose a template and add any appropriate images.

Why bother doing it this way?

1) If you cut and paste text directly from word, it also imports words funny formatting codes and the text and font are all messed up.

2) If you create the story outline in a test editor you can read through it to see if each headline flows logically on from the next and tells a story. This will help to keep your presentation flowing rather than thinking of your slides as a set of disjointed images.
Let me know how you get on.

Gavin.

I came across a post from Eric Zeman who drew my attention to a recent additional feature in Google’s Online Software offering Google Docs.   I looked at their alternative to PowerPoint when it was first Launched last September and was not impressed.  Now however it looks like it has moved on considerably and now includes online collaboration where two or more people can work on the same presentation online without having to email copies back and forward.   I’ll certainly be checking it out further and so should you.

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/04/google_docs_add.html

Due to popular demand I am running two special open workshops in April 2008

Personal Productivity Secrets Workshop -Friday 4th April 2008
Our time is finite but the demands upon it are not.   More and more people like you are suffering from too much work abnd too little time syndrome.   If allowed to continue this results in stress, ineffectiveness, poor work/life balance and burnout.

If you have had enough, book a place on this course for just £167 plus Vat and learn how to regain control of your time. You’ll go away with a host of simple and practical life changing strategies.  If you think you are too busy to attend the course then you really do need to be there.   Places limited to 15 so book early (and receive an extra discount!)  See website for further details. 
www.inter-activ.co.uk/ppw

Confident Speaker and Networker - Thursday 24th April
If I had a pound for every poor business speaker I have heard, I’d be a very wealthy man.   How much are your nerves costing you?  How many prospective clients have you turned off with a poor presentation?   How many opportunities have you missed by being too scared to present at all?    Isn’t it time you did something about this irrational fear?

With a maximum limit of 8 people, you will get lots of personal and practical support whilst learning with others who are in a similar position.  You won’t believe the difference and day can make!  

Only £199+Vat  See our website for further details then book your place today!   www.inter-activ.co.uk/csn