SmartDraw Reinvents PowerPoint at The Presentation Summit
Posted by marin2008
Saturday, 23 October 2010
SmartDraw has debuted key enhancements that make it possible for anyone to create more effective and engaging presentations to over 150 presentation industry experts, speakers and consultants during The Presentation Summit 2010 in San Diego, CA.
During a special participant reception, SmartDraw demonstrated how SmartDraw VP, the world's first visual processor™, enables the 95% of PC users who currently create only text-filled presentations to reap the benefits of communicating visually. The visual processor empowers them in three ways: 1) by making it possible to create and manage presentations visually, 2) by making it easy to replace bullets with powerful visuals, and 3) by ensuring visuals are presented in the most impactful way possible in presentations.
"Creating a truly visual presentation means more than taking an existing text-based presentation and replacing some of the bullets with visuals," said Paul Stannard, CEO of SmartDraw. "You need to think visually, plan and compose your presentation visually, and present it in a manner that engages your audience. Only SmartDraw makes this possible."
Numerous studies have shown that visual communication is up to six times more effective than words alone, but until now, less than 3% of business communication has included visuals like flowcharts, mind maps and other diagrams. This is because using traditional graphics software to create them is just too difficult and time consuming for the typical business person. The visual processor solves this problem by automating the creation of visuals to such a degree that anyone can do it. With today's announcement, SmartDraw showed how the program not only makes easy visuals possible, but also makes the creation of entirely visual presentations a reality for the everyday user.
"Since its introduction in 1987, PowerPoint has been optimized to make creating a slide of bullets the easiest thing to do," explained Stannard. "Even after two decades, creating a list of bullets is still the default action. That's why so many presentations consist of slide after slide of bullets. With SmartDraw's PowerPoint builder feature, you compose your presentation visually in a storyboard format. You can easily add visuals of all kinds to any slide. Once your presentation is ready, SmartDraw builds your PowerPoint deck with a single click. You never even have to open PowerPoint."
SmartDraw also ensures that the visuals in your presentation are displayed in the most effective way possible by revealing the information sequentially.
"Showing a visual, like a data chart, to your audience all at once can be overwhelming," said Rick Altman, speaker and organizer of The Presentation Summit 2010, and author of the book, Why Most PowerPoint® Presentations Suck and How to Make them Better. "They will be too busy trying to absorb all the information to focus on the specific point you are trying to make. A much more effective way is to reveal the visual step-by-step with sequencing. SmartDraw does this for you automatically."
SmartDraw's PowerPoint builder also makes presentations easier to manage because, no matter how many visuals are added, the entire presentation is always contained in a single SmartDraw file. This eliminates the problem of trying to find the original source files for charts, for example, when last minute changes need to be made.
By enabling everyone in the organization to create visual presentations quickly and easily, SmartDraw VP allows an enterprise to cut through today's information overload and communicate more effectively by distilling complex information into an easy-to-digest visual form.
SmartDraw VP automates the creation of 70 different types of business visuals including flowcharts, data charts and graphs, mind maps, Gantt charts, timelines, floor plans, and more. Built-in integration with Microsoft Office® and Adobe PDF allows users to create and then share SmartDraw visuals with a single click.
For an overview video and white paper by Stannard and Altman describing in detail how SmartDraw reinvents PowerPoint, and to download a free trial, visit www.SmartDraw.com/ppt.
About SmartDraw
SmartDraw helps businesses increase their bottom line by improving communication, refining operations, completing projects on time, and successfully implementing their plans through the everyday use of visual communication. Creators of SmartDraw VP, the world's first visual processor™, SmartDraw enables business professionals to easily and automatically create more than 70 types of common business visuals, including flowcharts, project charts, mind maps, org charts, timelines and more. SmartDraw lets anyone achieve professional-quality results in just minutes. SmartDraw is used by more than half of the Fortune 500, as well as thousands of law firms, police departments, health systems, government entities, educational institutions and private enterprises of all sizes. Founded in 1994, SmartDraw is privately-held, with headquarters in San Diego, California. For more information or to download a free trial of SmartDraw, please visit www.SmartDraw.com.
About The Presentation Summit
The Presentation Summit is organized and hosted by Rick Altman, prominent presentations consultant and author. Altman services an international client base and has authored 15 books on presentations and graphics, including his current one with the inflammatory title, "Why Most PowerPoint Presentations Suck." www.BetterPresenting.com
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MY THOUGHTS
heaven! need to check this out
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Protect Your Flash Drive from Viruses
Flash Drive 101: Protecting Your Drive from Viruses
Rick Broida
PC World
Sunday, October 24, 2010; 12:19 AM
Flash drives are virus magnets. This is a generally accepted truth, but today I learned it firsthand.
As you may recall from my previous post on copying files to flash drives, my wife needed to take a PowerPoint presentation with her to school. The drive was malware-free when it left here--but it came home with a virus!
I found this out when I popped the drive into my PC--and Microsoft Security Essentials immediately detected (and removed, thankfully) an extremely dangerous worm. No doubt it had landed there when the missus plugged the drive into one of the school machines.
This was a catastrophe barely averted. This particular worm propagates over network connections, so it could have spread very quickly to every system in my house. That's why it's crucial to have reliable anti-virus software installed on all your PCs.
Okay, but how do you protect your flash drive when it's "out and about"? How can you keep it from getting infected in the first place--or at least remove any sneakyware before it comes home with you?
My tool of choice: SUPERAntiSpyware Portable Scanner. The program requires no installation; you just copy it to your flash drive (see the aforementioned post if you don't know how to do that), then run it whenever you want to check for and remove infections.
You should also consider running Panda USB Vaccine, which disables a flash drive's Autorun.inf file--a common carrier for malware (including the one that hit me today). Doing so will prevent the drive's Autorun box from appearing when you plug it into your PC, but that's no biggie--you just have to open the drive manually.
MY THOUGHTS
i try to do away with flash drives as much as i can. i go for sending thru email even if i need to send a file to someone who's right beside me. these suggested downloads are worth a try though.
Rick Broida
PC World
Sunday, October 24, 2010; 12:19 AM
Flash drives are virus magnets. This is a generally accepted truth, but today I learned it firsthand.
As you may recall from my previous post on copying files to flash drives, my wife needed to take a PowerPoint presentation with her to school. The drive was malware-free when it left here--but it came home with a virus!
I found this out when I popped the drive into my PC--and Microsoft Security Essentials immediately detected (and removed, thankfully) an extremely dangerous worm. No doubt it had landed there when the missus plugged the drive into one of the school machines.
This was a catastrophe barely averted. This particular worm propagates over network connections, so it could have spread very quickly to every system in my house. That's why it's crucial to have reliable anti-virus software installed on all your PCs.
Okay, but how do you protect your flash drive when it's "out and about"? How can you keep it from getting infected in the first place--or at least remove any sneakyware before it comes home with you?
My tool of choice: SUPERAntiSpyware Portable Scanner. The program requires no installation; you just copy it to your flash drive (see the aforementioned post if you don't know how to do that), then run it whenever you want to check for and remove infections.
You should also consider running Panda USB Vaccine, which disables a flash drive's Autorun.inf file--a common carrier for malware (including the one that hit me today). Doing so will prevent the drive's Autorun box from appearing when you plug it into your PC, but that's no biggie--you just have to open the drive manually.
MY THOUGHTS
i try to do away with flash drives as much as i can. i go for sending thru email even if i need to send a file to someone who's right beside me. these suggested downloads are worth a try though.
Every Great Presentation Needs These 3 Elements
Every Great Presentation Needs These 3 Elements
Bill Rosenthal
Looking for the perfect words to use in your presentation? Put the words aside for a minute and let's create an avatar of a really persuasive presenter. It has three main characteristics:
The audience likes the presenter. “I'd like to know him,” they're thinking. “I trust her; she shares my values.” “He knows what he's talking about.” It all starts with the speaker being liked. Once the speaker establishes an emotional bond with the audience, they'll give him the benefit of the doubt on being trustworthy and knowledgeable about the subject.
The speaker is generating a high level of energy and it’s energizing the audience. He's holding their attention all the way to the end of the presentation.
The audience buys what the speaker’s saying because they understand its payoff for them. An audience won't do anything or believe anything unless there’s a what's-in-it-for-me there.
The words the speaker uses are important, of course. You have to be clear, concise and use persuasive language. Too bad that it's the aspect of the presentation that speakers spend most of their time planning. What you need is more attention to the characteristics that really count: like the avatar, you have to be liked, generate energy and provide a payoff. That will get you a standing ovation.
MY THOUGHTS
we all know how it is - the message gets lost because of the messenger.
Bill Rosenthal
Looking for the perfect words to use in your presentation? Put the words aside for a minute and let's create an avatar of a really persuasive presenter. It has three main characteristics:
The audience likes the presenter. “I'd like to know him,” they're thinking. “I trust her; she shares my values.” “He knows what he's talking about.” It all starts with the speaker being liked. Once the speaker establishes an emotional bond with the audience, they'll give him the benefit of the doubt on being trustworthy and knowledgeable about the subject.
The speaker is generating a high level of energy and it’s energizing the audience. He's holding their attention all the way to the end of the presentation.
The audience buys what the speaker’s saying because they understand its payoff for them. An audience won't do anything or believe anything unless there’s a what's-in-it-for-me there.
The words the speaker uses are important, of course. You have to be clear, concise and use persuasive language. Too bad that it's the aspect of the presentation that speakers spend most of their time planning. What you need is more attention to the characteristics that really count: like the avatar, you have to be liked, generate energy and provide a payoff. That will get you a standing ovation.
MY THOUGHTS
we all know how it is - the message gets lost because of the messenger.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Modify Microsoft Clip Art Pictures In Powerpoint Secrets
Modify Microsoft Clip Art Pictures In Powerpoint Secrets
Busying looking for pictures for your Powerpoint presentation slides? It is not ethical to use unauthorized pictures from other people’s website without owner’s consent. Common alternative is that you can purchase pictures from online picture distributer. You are require to pay some amount of money in order to get free-royalty pictures.
If you are in a tight budget, you can opt for pictures in the Microsoft Clip Art. Most of the Clip Art pictures are extremely lame. So now, you can start producing new and refreshing pictures by using simple picture modifying technique in Powerpoint presentation. These modified pictures are free for non-commercial use only.
To start modifying one Clip Art picture, let’s us begin with step 1.
Step 1: Do a Clip Art search for pictures with suitable keywords.
In this case, I want to show audiences about “The Fate of A Successful Person”. I did a Clip Art picture search with the keyword “Questions” earlier. Look at what I chose.
Step 2: Enlarge the chosen picture.
I’ve chosen a picture of a guy who’s wearing a tie with a dark brown suit. The picture is indeed small and then, I enlarge it to make it look clear enough for audiences to see.
Step 3: Picture modification.
Now, the picture is quite dull and it need some modification. You need to “Ungroup” the picture as shown in the picture above.
Just right-click the picture, then choose ‘Grouping” following by “Ungroup”.
Right after you have clicked “Ungroup”, a menu suddenly appears as shown in the picture above and click “Yes”.
I feel that the guy’s face is quite unclear that makes it quite unappealing. Then I carefully click the face area. Please refer the picture below. A small selection box appeared at the guy’s face. After that, just right-click the small selection box and choose “Format AutoShape”.
Then a “Format AutoShape” menu box appear. Choose any colors from “Fill” row. Finally just press “OK” to confirm changes that you’ve made.
Repeat the selection on your desirable areas including (eyebrows, eyes or the brown colored suit) and change the colors according to your preferences.
Voila! You have successfully learn how to produce your own brand new Clip Art picture! You can enhance your newly modified picture by flanking them with related Clip Art pictures.
From now on, your audiences will be mesmerized by your Powerpoint presentations with your brand new modified pictures.
MY THOUGHTS
very helpful. love this article. will try this soon.
Busying looking for pictures for your Powerpoint presentation slides? It is not ethical to use unauthorized pictures from other people’s website without owner’s consent. Common alternative is that you can purchase pictures from online picture distributer. You are require to pay some amount of money in order to get free-royalty pictures.
If you are in a tight budget, you can opt for pictures in the Microsoft Clip Art. Most of the Clip Art pictures are extremely lame. So now, you can start producing new and refreshing pictures by using simple picture modifying technique in Powerpoint presentation. These modified pictures are free for non-commercial use only.
To start modifying one Clip Art picture, let’s us begin with step 1.
Step 1: Do a Clip Art search for pictures with suitable keywords.
In this case, I want to show audiences about “The Fate of A Successful Person”. I did a Clip Art picture search with the keyword “Questions” earlier. Look at what I chose.
Step 2: Enlarge the chosen picture.
I’ve chosen a picture of a guy who’s wearing a tie with a dark brown suit. The picture is indeed small and then, I enlarge it to make it look clear enough for audiences to see.
Step 3: Picture modification.
Now, the picture is quite dull and it need some modification. You need to “Ungroup” the picture as shown in the picture above.
Just right-click the picture, then choose ‘Grouping” following by “Ungroup”.
Right after you have clicked “Ungroup”, a menu suddenly appears as shown in the picture above and click “Yes”.
I feel that the guy’s face is quite unclear that makes it quite unappealing. Then I carefully click the face area. Please refer the picture below. A small selection box appeared at the guy’s face. After that, just right-click the small selection box and choose “Format AutoShape”.
Then a “Format AutoShape” menu box appear. Choose any colors from “Fill” row. Finally just press “OK” to confirm changes that you’ve made.
Repeat the selection on your desirable areas including (eyebrows, eyes or the brown colored suit) and change the colors according to your preferences.
Voila! You have successfully learn how to produce your own brand new Clip Art picture! You can enhance your newly modified picture by flanking them with related Clip Art pictures.
From now on, your audiences will be mesmerized by your Powerpoint presentations with your brand new modified pictures.
MY THOUGHTS
very helpful. love this article. will try this soon.
Monday, August 30, 2010
How To Create Worst Powerpoint Slides
How To Create Worst Powerpoint Slides
Look at these common mistakes that actually turn off audiences attention when presenters use powerpoint slides in their presentation:
1. Too much text-content in one single slide
You couldn’t put too much texts in one single page. Audiences will not read every single word from it. If presenters opt to follow this presentation method, they might as well distribute handouts to audiences to read rather than giving any presentations at all. Delivering information should be made simple and clear – not to make it hard to transcend to the audiences.
2. Unrelated themes and backgrounds
When you first saw this powerpoint slide, it’s very hard for you to relate with “chocolate” when the themes and backgrounds are not related to the main topic. First, there’s no chocolate in background thus the audiences couldn’t even feel the impact of delicious and alluring taste of chocolate.
3. Unmatched text and background colors
Obviously, text-contents are not totally visible to audiences. If they cannot see things clearly, how could they pay extra attention to your speech delivery? The picture used as slide background is excellent but it is such a waste when you couldn’t get the content clearly from the slide.
4. Over-shadowed Text-contents
Not all fonts require shadows. Over-shadowed text contents will only cause difficulties for audiences to read it. Audiences are more reluctant to read the distorted text-contents even though the slide has a well-organized list.
5. Unmatched fonts
This powerpoint slide can be enhanced with suitable fonts. In this jovial theme, the fonts used are indeed formal and dull. Fonts have played a vital role in slide enhancement. In other words, you need to choose suitable fonts according to the slide layouts or the topic of the presentation.
6. Dull graphical presentation
Using the wrong graphical presentation such as graphs, tables and charts will only make things even complicated. These graphical presentation need to be standalone in every powerpoint slides. It means you couldn’t put to much words along with the graph as shown in the picture above.
MY THOUGHTS
guilty! will take note of this tips for my next presentations
Look at these common mistakes that actually turn off audiences attention when presenters use powerpoint slides in their presentation:
1. Too much text-content in one single slide
You couldn’t put too much texts in one single page. Audiences will not read every single word from it. If presenters opt to follow this presentation method, they might as well distribute handouts to audiences to read rather than giving any presentations at all. Delivering information should be made simple and clear – not to make it hard to transcend to the audiences.
2. Unrelated themes and backgrounds
When you first saw this powerpoint slide, it’s very hard for you to relate with “chocolate” when the themes and backgrounds are not related to the main topic. First, there’s no chocolate in background thus the audiences couldn’t even feel the impact of delicious and alluring taste of chocolate.
3. Unmatched text and background colors
Obviously, text-contents are not totally visible to audiences. If they cannot see things clearly, how could they pay extra attention to your speech delivery? The picture used as slide background is excellent but it is such a waste when you couldn’t get the content clearly from the slide.
4. Over-shadowed Text-contents
Not all fonts require shadows. Over-shadowed text contents will only cause difficulties for audiences to read it. Audiences are more reluctant to read the distorted text-contents even though the slide has a well-organized list.
5. Unmatched fonts
This powerpoint slide can be enhanced with suitable fonts. In this jovial theme, the fonts used are indeed formal and dull. Fonts have played a vital role in slide enhancement. In other words, you need to choose suitable fonts according to the slide layouts or the topic of the presentation.
6. Dull graphical presentation
Using the wrong graphical presentation such as graphs, tables and charts will only make things even complicated. These graphical presentation need to be standalone in every powerpoint slides. It means you couldn’t put to much words along with the graph as shown in the picture above.
MY THOUGHTS
guilty! will take note of this tips for my next presentations
Friday, May 21, 2010
Top Seven Presentation Bloopers to Avoid
Top Seven Presentation Bloopers to Avoid
By Eric Feng Eric Feng
Level: Platinum
ERIC FENG BC (Hons), ACC, ATM-B Associate Certified Coach, ICF Humorous Contest (Div Level) Champ 2005 Straits Time Top 25 Alternative Achiever 2006 Eric’s trademark ...
Blooper #1: Not telling us why we should listen to you
Never assume that just because you have an audience, we are obliged to listen to you. We may love you (that's why we came in the first place) but never take advantage of the trust we have for you. It is an extreme turn-off when the audience has to do the work i.e. figure out how your presentation is relevant to us. We are a bunch of selfish egomaniacs. We love ourselves so much! And we don't care about your experiences unless it teaches us something that we can use for ourselves. So here's a word of advice: If you want to share your experiences, please do. But always include a message, something that will benefit us, your beloved audience!
Blooper #2: Ignoring us throughout your speech
We get bored easily. Period. If you keep talking about you, you, you, you, you... we will switch off. We want to be part of your speech. We really do. Get us involved. It could be as simple as asking us a question. It gives us a chance to hear ourselves talk. It could be as simple as playing a mini game with us. It gets us up on our seat. Please entertain us! Make us love you. We really want to because if you keep ignoring our needs, we will do the same. Lucky for the speaker, he allowed us to ask questions at any point in his presentation and guess what, we did! In my opinion, that was his saving grace!
Blooper #3: Going overtime
No matter how good you are, never ever go over time!!! Unless we paid you thousands of dollars to teach us something and you are about to share with us the ultimate secret to earning another ten million. If you want your audience to love you, end earlier than expected! It tells us that you respect our time. It makes you special because most speakers don't observe that. And guess what, the next time you give your presentation; we will be there to support you!
Blooper #4: Spelling errors on your slides
Imagine sitting in a formal business presentation with a presentation slide like this:
In the gamming industry...?Microfsoft?Upluft and Profit?Generated an annual revenue of $1.000000 dollars (huh???!!!)?Curent Maket size of 30 billion people
Ok, you get my point. When you have these glaring spelling mistakes in your slides, here's the image you are portraying to your audience: sloppy and cannot be bothered. Unless that's what you want the audience to think of you, I suggest you get someone to do a spell check.
Blooper #5: Bad pronunciation of words
It cracks me up when some presenters stumble upon the same word every single time, without any sign of remorse. There was one time I sat through a presentation where the team had to review a company's product named Morange. And throughout the ten minutes presentation, they came up with oh so many ways to pronounce this word.
Moo-ronge?Ma-range?Ma-rangi?Mo-ran?Moo-rock
And I swear one time I heard Moron. They might as well labelled the product Moronic Morange. That would be... memorable. Some "credit" has to be given to the company who named their product mo-range.
Blooper #6: Reading off the script
Although my preference is to go without a script, sometimes there is a need for it. However more often than not, speakers are too reliant on their script. You see them referring to their script even if it is just reading their name and designation??!! Yes, this is very puzzling. I once came across a book that taught me how to read from a script. Here's the golden rule. Never ever speak when your eyes are on your script. Instead, you should follow this three-step process: see, stop, say.
First, look down and take a snapshot of your script. Memorize a chunk of words. Bring your head up and then pause for a second. When you are ready, say what you have memorized in your own words. It's a three-step process: see, stop and say. It is very important that you pause. Yes, it may be weird for you but in reality, the pause helps make your speech conversational. It also creates anticipation, which further deepen the impact.
Let's use President SR Nathan's opening speech at the Parliament as an example. Instead of reading the script word for word, he could use the see-stop-say strategy.
Forty one years ago?(pause)?Singapore was thrust into independence and an uncertain future?(pause)?At that defining moment of our history?(pause)?we resolved to succeed.?(longer pause for impact)?Together?(pause)?Singaporeans made key choices that made us who we are today?(pause)?a united people of different races?(pause)?living and prospering in harmony.
Blooper #7: Starting your presentation weak
Maybe it is just me but I get really pissed off when a speaker starts off his presentation with "Urm.. I guess I should probably start... ah ok, here goes...". Or even worse "I am not really prepared for this presentation because (give some lame excuse). But anyway, I will start..." Trust me, giving excuses of why you may not do a good job will hardly win the sympathy of your audience. Instead, you will make us feel that we are unworthy of your time. You will be better off not giving the presentation since no one will be listening anyway.
As the saying goes, you will not get a second chance to make a good first impression. So make full use of your first 30 seconds to impress your audience. Here are a couple of ways you can start a presentation powerfully. You can tell a personal story and relate it back to the message of your presentation. Starting your presentation with a visual stimulating or humorous video clip will also create impact. Or begin with a thought provoking quote or a shocking statistic, which will create the listening for your presentation. All these are far more superior to your usual good morning/afternoon/evening niceties or worse apologies.
Eric recently won the International Humor Contest at Division level, earning the title of “Philadelphia Funniest Man”. Besides being a member of Panorama and NUS Toastmasters Club, he also writes regularly at his public speaking blog: [http://blog.ericfeng.com]
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Feng
MY THOUGHTS
It pays to listen - so take heed. i particularly like the "see-stop-say strategy". for myself, the worst presentation i ever gave was the one i didn't believe in. how can you convince others if you're not convinced.
By Eric Feng Eric Feng
Level: Platinum
ERIC FENG BC (Hons), ACC, ATM-B Associate Certified Coach, ICF Humorous Contest (Div Level) Champ 2005 Straits Time Top 25 Alternative Achiever 2006 Eric’s trademark ...
Blooper #1: Not telling us why we should listen to you
Never assume that just because you have an audience, we are obliged to listen to you. We may love you (that's why we came in the first place) but never take advantage of the trust we have for you. It is an extreme turn-off when the audience has to do the work i.e. figure out how your presentation is relevant to us. We are a bunch of selfish egomaniacs. We love ourselves so much! And we don't care about your experiences unless it teaches us something that we can use for ourselves. So here's a word of advice: If you want to share your experiences, please do. But always include a message, something that will benefit us, your beloved audience!
Blooper #2: Ignoring us throughout your speech
We get bored easily. Period. If you keep talking about you, you, you, you, you... we will switch off. We want to be part of your speech. We really do. Get us involved. It could be as simple as asking us a question. It gives us a chance to hear ourselves talk. It could be as simple as playing a mini game with us. It gets us up on our seat. Please entertain us! Make us love you. We really want to because if you keep ignoring our needs, we will do the same. Lucky for the speaker, he allowed us to ask questions at any point in his presentation and guess what, we did! In my opinion, that was his saving grace!
Blooper #3: Going overtime
No matter how good you are, never ever go over time!!! Unless we paid you thousands of dollars to teach us something and you are about to share with us the ultimate secret to earning another ten million. If you want your audience to love you, end earlier than expected! It tells us that you respect our time. It makes you special because most speakers don't observe that. And guess what, the next time you give your presentation; we will be there to support you!
Blooper #4: Spelling errors on your slides
Imagine sitting in a formal business presentation with a presentation slide like this:
In the gamming industry...?Microfsoft?Upluft and Profit?Generated an annual revenue of $1.000000 dollars (huh???!!!)?Curent Maket size of 30 billion people
Ok, you get my point. When you have these glaring spelling mistakes in your slides, here's the image you are portraying to your audience: sloppy and cannot be bothered. Unless that's what you want the audience to think of you, I suggest you get someone to do a spell check.
Blooper #5: Bad pronunciation of words
It cracks me up when some presenters stumble upon the same word every single time, without any sign of remorse. There was one time I sat through a presentation where the team had to review a company's product named Morange. And throughout the ten minutes presentation, they came up with oh so many ways to pronounce this word.
Moo-ronge?Ma-range?Ma-rangi?Mo-ran?Moo-rock
And I swear one time I heard Moron. They might as well labelled the product Moronic Morange. That would be... memorable. Some "credit" has to be given to the company who named their product mo-range.
Blooper #6: Reading off the script
Although my preference is to go without a script, sometimes there is a need for it. However more often than not, speakers are too reliant on their script. You see them referring to their script even if it is just reading their name and designation??!! Yes, this is very puzzling. I once came across a book that taught me how to read from a script. Here's the golden rule. Never ever speak when your eyes are on your script. Instead, you should follow this three-step process: see, stop, say.
First, look down and take a snapshot of your script. Memorize a chunk of words. Bring your head up and then pause for a second. When you are ready, say what you have memorized in your own words. It's a three-step process: see, stop and say. It is very important that you pause. Yes, it may be weird for you but in reality, the pause helps make your speech conversational. It also creates anticipation, which further deepen the impact.
Let's use President SR Nathan's opening speech at the Parliament as an example. Instead of reading the script word for word, he could use the see-stop-say strategy.
Forty one years ago?(pause)?Singapore was thrust into independence and an uncertain future?(pause)?At that defining moment of our history?(pause)?we resolved to succeed.?(longer pause for impact)?Together?(pause)?Singaporeans made key choices that made us who we are today?(pause)?a united people of different races?(pause)?living and prospering in harmony.
Blooper #7: Starting your presentation weak
Maybe it is just me but I get really pissed off when a speaker starts off his presentation with "Urm.. I guess I should probably start... ah ok, here goes...". Or even worse "I am not really prepared for this presentation because (give some lame excuse). But anyway, I will start..." Trust me, giving excuses of why you may not do a good job will hardly win the sympathy of your audience. Instead, you will make us feel that we are unworthy of your time. You will be better off not giving the presentation since no one will be listening anyway.
As the saying goes, you will not get a second chance to make a good first impression. So make full use of your first 30 seconds to impress your audience. Here are a couple of ways you can start a presentation powerfully. You can tell a personal story and relate it back to the message of your presentation. Starting your presentation with a visual stimulating or humorous video clip will also create impact. Or begin with a thought provoking quote or a shocking statistic, which will create the listening for your presentation. All these are far more superior to your usual good morning/afternoon/evening niceties or worse apologies.
Eric recently won the International Humor Contest at Division level, earning the title of “Philadelphia Funniest Man”. Besides being a member of Panorama and NUS Toastmasters Club, he also writes regularly at his public speaking blog: [http://blog.ericfeng.com]
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Feng
MY THOUGHTS
It pays to listen - so take heed. i particularly like the "see-stop-say strategy". for myself, the worst presentation i ever gave was the one i didn't believe in. how can you convince others if you're not convinced.
Friday, March 5, 2010
19 things you should never do in a powerpoint presentation
And Now, a Powerpoint Presentation, Redux
Category: Academia
Posted on: August 17, 2009 1:05 AM, by Scicurious
Sci was at a conference last week. It was a REALLY good time. As Sci advances in grad school, I feel I am beginning to come into my own, and it's a good feeling, esp when you can walk around feeling like you have a posse of fellow grad students and post-docs who all want to collaborate.
It's an exciting time, learning the latest stuff, seeing the newest methods, and meeting famous people. It's the craziest thing running into some of these professors. I've read all of their papers, I desperately try to meet all their grad students and postdocs, and my only goal is to see the famous person and say something GENIUS, something that will make them remember me and think that I've got promise. And then I meet them, and I say...I say...oh CRAP. Once in a while, though, the genius does come out, and then I feel that verily, Sci has BLINDED YOU WITH SCIENCE this day.
Last year at a similar conference, I ended up compiling a list of things that one should REALLY try to avoid if at all possible when giving a conference talk. There are more to add, every single time. Behold, the bad, the ugly, and the presentations guaranteed to give your eager listeners a headache:
The 19 things (and counting) you should NEVER do in a powerpoint presentation.
1) Do NOT spend your entire presentation with your back to the audience (I cannot tell you how many times Sci see this, presenters spending the entire time staring up at their powerpoints, gesturing vaguely with their arms).
2) Never use pale green on a white background to emphasize a point, unless you want to emphasize our eyestrain. Similar for neon yellow with pink. YIKES.
3) There is no reason to give a "I will talk about intro, methods, data, and conclusions" outline when you talk will be 20 minutes or less.
4) Make sure you can pronounce brain areas better than our recent president. It is not pronounced "nuke-ulus accumbens" (AUGH, REPEAT OFFENDERS!!!)
5) You have a WHOLE SCREEN! All to yourself, you lucky guy! Use it! Do not make your graph a tiny square in the middle that no one can see from the third row back.
6) If you don't know what to do with your hands, do NOT use then to wave your laser pointer at the screen all the time. You end up with the dreadful, circling laser pointer, like a buzzard over your data. It's one thing to circle the data your talking about, and that's good. It's quite another to have it circling your entire slide, slowly, over and over and over. Use when you need to, and the rest of the time, PUT IT DOWN. BACK AWAY SLOWLY.
7) There is NEVER an excuse for a semicolon in a powerpoint; Ever.
8) If you must use a screen capture, have the grace to crop the image so that we don't have to see the remnants of your Google toolbar.
9) Check your powerpoint for misspellings before you talk in front of several hundred people. If you screwed up it might be "extreem".
10) Try not to leave your mouse arrow hanging out in the middle of the screen for 3/4 of your talk.
11) Avoid the happy trigger finger for your slide advancer. Damn! You just gave away that really cool graphic on the next slide! For the fourth time.
12) DO NOT write it down, read it aloud, and follow it with your pointer. Honestly, at this point you might as well not be there at all.
13) If your hand is shaking, don't try to hold the pointer still over your slide, we're all going to see it and realize how incredibly freaked out you are. Or, being neuroscientists, we will try to diagnose you will Parkinson's.
14) I realize that you might have a monotone voice in your normal daily life, but TRY to vary it up when you give a presentation. We're exhausted, and all the caffeine in the world is not going to make us alert when you sound like the teacher from 'Peanuts.'
15) There are things called 'crutch-words'. You should...um...know what your...um...crutch...um...words are...um...they can be really...um...distracting.
16) There is such a thing as too much animation. Just because *flash* your powerpoint *fly in* can do it *underline* doesn't mean *wave like a flag* that it SHOULD *spin*. Also, if you have animations, know where they are so they don't catch you by surprise and make it obvious to everyone that you're giving a talk that was actually written by your post-doc.
17) I realize that big bad famous profs give a lot of presentations, but please have the courtesy to prep a little. I'm saying, if the presentation is 20 minutes, give a 20 minute talk, not a 40 minute talk that you won't make it through and have to skip through the last 20 slides worth of data. We will either assume that, despite your experience, you can't manage your time, or (more likely) that this is your "stock" talk, that you give all the time, and you (or your post-doc) couldn't be bothered to put something new together. It's not THAT hard. And here's a hint: you know it's going to be too long when you start giving your outline and you're already 10 minutes in.
18) Even if you did it at the last minute, KNOW your SLIDES. I actually heard a "hey, how did THAT get in here..."
19) And never, never, please never, begin or end your talk with a variation on "it's my first talk, and I'm totally nervous". *eyeroll*. In the best case scenario, we should not be able to TELL it was your first talk. We should assume you've got lots of experience. Being told that you don't know what you're doing doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. Statements like that don't earn you sympathy.
MY THOUGHTS!
Guilty! Guilty!Guilty! These are really valuable tips. As we gain experience in presentations and public speaking, we become confident and sometimes fail to take note of the little details that are actually not "little" to some audiences. So, pay attention. What have we got to lose?
Category: Academia
Posted on: August 17, 2009 1:05 AM, by Scicurious
Sci was at a conference last week. It was a REALLY good time. As Sci advances in grad school, I feel I am beginning to come into my own, and it's a good feeling, esp when you can walk around feeling like you have a posse of fellow grad students and post-docs who all want to collaborate.
It's an exciting time, learning the latest stuff, seeing the newest methods, and meeting famous people. It's the craziest thing running into some of these professors. I've read all of their papers, I desperately try to meet all their grad students and postdocs, and my only goal is to see the famous person and say something GENIUS, something that will make them remember me and think that I've got promise. And then I meet them, and I say...I say...oh CRAP. Once in a while, though, the genius does come out, and then I feel that verily, Sci has BLINDED YOU WITH SCIENCE this day.
Last year at a similar conference, I ended up compiling a list of things that one should REALLY try to avoid if at all possible when giving a conference talk. There are more to add, every single time. Behold, the bad, the ugly, and the presentations guaranteed to give your eager listeners a headache:
The 19 things (and counting) you should NEVER do in a powerpoint presentation.
1) Do NOT spend your entire presentation with your back to the audience (I cannot tell you how many times Sci see this, presenters spending the entire time staring up at their powerpoints, gesturing vaguely with their arms).
2) Never use pale green on a white background to emphasize a point, unless you want to emphasize our eyestrain. Similar for neon yellow with pink. YIKES.
3) There is no reason to give a "I will talk about intro, methods, data, and conclusions" outline when you talk will be 20 minutes or less.
4) Make sure you can pronounce brain areas better than our recent president. It is not pronounced "nuke-ulus accumbens" (AUGH, REPEAT OFFENDERS!!!)
5) You have a WHOLE SCREEN! All to yourself, you lucky guy! Use it! Do not make your graph a tiny square in the middle that no one can see from the third row back.
6) If you don't know what to do with your hands, do NOT use then to wave your laser pointer at the screen all the time. You end up with the dreadful, circling laser pointer, like a buzzard over your data. It's one thing to circle the data your talking about, and that's good. It's quite another to have it circling your entire slide, slowly, over and over and over. Use when you need to, and the rest of the time, PUT IT DOWN. BACK AWAY SLOWLY.
7) There is NEVER an excuse for a semicolon in a powerpoint; Ever.
8) If you must use a screen capture, have the grace to crop the image so that we don't have to see the remnants of your Google toolbar.
9) Check your powerpoint for misspellings before you talk in front of several hundred people. If you screwed up it might be "extreem".
10) Try not to leave your mouse arrow hanging out in the middle of the screen for 3/4 of your talk.
11) Avoid the happy trigger finger for your slide advancer. Damn! You just gave away that really cool graphic on the next slide! For the fourth time.
12) DO NOT write it down, read it aloud, and follow it with your pointer. Honestly, at this point you might as well not be there at all.
13) If your hand is shaking, don't try to hold the pointer still over your slide, we're all going to see it and realize how incredibly freaked out you are. Or, being neuroscientists, we will try to diagnose you will Parkinson's.
14) I realize that you might have a monotone voice in your normal daily life, but TRY to vary it up when you give a presentation. We're exhausted, and all the caffeine in the world is not going to make us alert when you sound like the teacher from 'Peanuts.'
15) There are things called 'crutch-words'. You should...um...know what your...um...crutch...um...words are...um...they can be really...um...distracting.
16) There is such a thing as too much animation. Just because *flash* your powerpoint *fly in* can do it *underline* doesn't mean *wave like a flag* that it SHOULD *spin*. Also, if you have animations, know where they are so they don't catch you by surprise and make it obvious to everyone that you're giving a talk that was actually written by your post-doc.
17) I realize that big bad famous profs give a lot of presentations, but please have the courtesy to prep a little. I'm saying, if the presentation is 20 minutes, give a 20 minute talk, not a 40 minute talk that you won't make it through and have to skip through the last 20 slides worth of data. We will either assume that, despite your experience, you can't manage your time, or (more likely) that this is your "stock" talk, that you give all the time, and you (or your post-doc) couldn't be bothered to put something new together. It's not THAT hard. And here's a hint: you know it's going to be too long when you start giving your outline and you're already 10 minutes in.
18) Even if you did it at the last minute, KNOW your SLIDES. I actually heard a "hey, how did THAT get in here..."
19) And never, never, please never, begin or end your talk with a variation on "it's my first talk, and I'm totally nervous". *eyeroll*. In the best case scenario, we should not be able to TELL it was your first talk. We should assume you've got lots of experience. Being told that you don't know what you're doing doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. Statements like that don't earn you sympathy.
MY THOUGHTS!
Guilty! Guilty!Guilty! These are really valuable tips. As we gain experience in presentations and public speaking, we become confident and sometimes fail to take note of the little details that are actually not "little" to some audiences. So, pay attention. What have we got to lose?
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