All About Presentations

My article on LiveMint

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:03:00 +0000

Dear readers

I recently wrote an article for the popular Indian business newspaper LiveMint. You can click here to read the article. It is called '5 ways to make your (power) point. It contains 5 simple tips on how to use PowerPoint more effectively in order to make better presentations. Your comments are welcome on the LiveMint website or on this blog.

How I reduced the file size of an image by 94%?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:30:00 +0000

Yesterday a colleague of mine came to me with a problem. He had an image (a photo taken from a digital camera) which was 3.52 MB in size. He wanted to make it under 1 MB because he had to email the images to a senior colleague.

I used an old trick which I have always found useful. If you want to email images or use it in presentations, you can easily reduce the image size by using this trick. It goes like this.

Step-1 Open the folder where the image is stored. Right click on the image file, choose 'Open with Microsoft Office Picture Manager'. This software comes free with MS Office.

Step-2 On the Formatting tool bar above, click on Edit Pictures.

Step-3 Under 'Change picture size', click on Resize.

Step-4 Under 'Size setting summary' you can see the original size (in pixels) of the image. Now type a number in 'Percentage of original width x height'. Press OK.

My colleague entered 20, and the software reduced the image pixels to 20% of the original dimension (example from 1000 pixels width to 200 pixels in width). Using this method, we were able to reduce the file size of the image to 212 KB (a reduction of 94%). From 3.52 MB to 212 KB in 5 seconds!

And this reduction in file size did not affect the picture quality much. If you have very high resolution images, a reduction of 50% to 60% will make the file less bulky and easy to email. Even if you use it in your presentations, the image quality will not suffer.

As I understand, this is just one way of reducing the file size of an image. Do you know of any more ways? If you do, please share it with all of us here.Thank you.

How to password protect your presentation?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:30:00 +0000

Case #1 You have a confidential presentation on your desktop and you don't want anyone else to see that presentation. How do you password protect your presentation such that no one else can open the presentation? Only people who know the password can open the presentation.

Case #2 You are a sales manager and you are sending a presentation to a client. You want the presentation to be 'read only', which means that the recipient can only view the presentation but not modify it. How do you do that?

We will first figure out how to address Case #1.

Password Protect the Presentation File in MS PowerPoint 2007

Click on the Office Button -> Go to 'Prepare' -> Encrypt Document. After you click on it, you can enter the password and press ok. Then you will be asked to re-type the password.

Whenever, someone tries to open the presentation, he/she will be asked to enter the password as well. Once they enter the correct password, they are allowed to open and edit the presentation (which includes changing the password or removing the password).

To remove the password, you can go to Encrypt Document and delete the password and press ok.

Make a Presentation Read-Only in MS PowerPoint 2007

Click on the Office Button -> Save As -> Tools -> General Options. To make the presentation read-only, enter the password ONLY in the first box which reads 'Password to open'.

If you send this presentation to someone, they will be asked to enter the password, to open and view the presentation. On entering the correct password they will be allowed to view the presentation but they will not be allowed to modify anything.

If you wish to have another password which allows people to modify the presentation, then also enter a password in the second box which reads 'Password to modify'. If you do not wish to create this password, leave the space blank.

Think of situations when you need to password protect your presentation? How have you been protecting your presentations in the past?

Best of the Month: Feb '10

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:30:00 +0000

February has been a hectic month for me professionally. That's why the month saw a lower number of posts. I got to attend my first TEDx in Hyderabad on January 31 and I shared my learnings from the various speakers in my Feb 10th post. This post was also the most read post of the month. This month saw two guest posts, highest for the blog till date. This post by a trainer Joel Xavier is worth reading. He shares his experience of conducting a 3 day training session. At the end the month, I shared an interesting tip on how to create a presentation which runs in a continuous loop. Check it out here.

If you want to share your experience or problems, shoot it to vivek [at] allaboutpresentations [dot] com.

How to run a presentation in a continuous loop? (Useful tip for Conferences)

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:25:00 +0000

I discovered this trick when my superior at work asked me to run a presentation in a loop. The requirement was something like this:

You are organising a conference where you will address a large gathering. Before the actual speech can begin, while the audience is settling down, you need a presentation to run in continuous loop. First the company logo appears, then the tag line, then the screen goes blank, then logo appears again, then the tagline and so on...

A similar example can be found in many multiplexes where they keep running the movie schedule in a continuous loop.

The question in front of me was how to do this. Before you read on to find out how I managed to crack it, think about how you will create this trick in PowerPoint.

The solution: To find out how to do it let us take a case. The logo will be of All About Presentations and there will be the URL coming below it. And this will be in a continuous loop (without any manual intervention).

Step-1: Place the objects on the slide: Place the logo and the URL on the same slide.

Step-2: Animate the Logo: Click on the AAP logo -> Animations Tab -> Custom Animation -> Add Effect -> Fade (give the desired entrance effect)

Step-3: Automate the animation: By default all the animation happens when you click the mouse. But we need automatic animation. So we choose 'Start: After Previous' in the Custom Animation panel. This means that when the presentation starts, there will be a blank screen and 'after' that this animation will come automatically.

You can choose how many seconds after the effect should start. You can also modify the speed of the animation (how fast the logo fades in).

Step-4: Animate the URL: Click on the text -> Animations Tab -> Custom Animation -> Add Effect -> Color Typewriter (give the desired entrance effect)

Step-5: Automate the animation: Similar to Step-3. If you choose 'Start: After Previous' then this effect comes after the logo has appeared fully. If you choose 'Start: With Previous' then the URL will start appearing along with the logo. Both animations begin together. We will choose After Previous in our case.

If you view the presentation in slide show mode now, then the logo will appear on a blank screen and then the URL will appear and then it will remain that way. There will be no loop. What we need is for the logo and URL to disappear and the animation to start all over again. And this should happen non-stop.

Step-6: Changing the Slide: Go to Animations Tab -> There is an Advance Slide option on the extreme right -> Select 'Automatically After'. You may keep the seconds to 00:00. You may or may not select the 'On Mouse Click' option. This effect makes sure that the slide changes after the URL has been typed (that is, the slide advances after the last animation effect has taken place).

Step-7: Create loop: Go to Tab Slide Show -> Set Up Slide Show -> Under Show Options -> Loop continuously until 'Esc' (this means the presentation will run in a loop until you press the Escape button).

Run the presentation in slide show mode (shortcut: F5). Your presentation will now run in a loop.

If you liked the trick, try it out and have fun!

State of PowerPoint Presentations in India

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:05:00 +0000

Dear friend,
There is a small update which I want to share. I would be writing a few articles from now on for the website www.24Point0.com. This is after the website approached me and wanted me to write for them. Every once in a while. Here is the first article I have written on the website.

State of PowerPoint Presentations in India
I have shared some of my thoughts about what ails PowerPoint Presentations in India. I have also shared what I feel are the reasons for the same. To read the article click here. I would love to have your views on the topic.

TEDx Event in Hyderabad: Lessons & Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:30:00 +0000

I was among those fortunate people who were invited for TED x Hi-Tech City, an independently organised TED event at Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. TED is a great platform for amazing people to come and share their ideas which make a difference to the world around us. TEDx is a program run by TED which allows local, self-organized groups to organize TED-like talks.

The Experience
I went to TEDx with a lot of expectations. After having seen so many TED talks online, I was expecting some good stuff here as well. And I was not at all disappointed. None of the speakers except Nagesh Kukunoor, the famous film director, was a known celebrity. Yet each speaker was doing something in life which was so very different from normal people like us. They all had a great story to tell. How well they told their story, is where their presentation skills come to play.

Lessons I Learnt as a Presenter
I am not going to talk about the life lessons I learnt from each speaker. Let me talk about the lessons I learnt as a presenter. I critically evaluated every speaker on stage and here is what I make out of it.

1. Getting audience attention: Karuna Gopal used a simple trick which I really liked. Suddenly in the middle of the presentation she said, "this is the most important slide of my presentation." This really got my (and everyone's attention) to whatever she showed and said next. You should use this trick once in a while. Use it just once in your presentation though.

2. Simplifying technical presentations: Syed Maqbool, one of the talented men behind the Indian Moon mission, talked about how the Indian scientists actually went to the Moon. His topic was interesting but his presentation became too technical. He also tried to cover more than what the time permitted and hence could not explain all the complex terms and the technology which took the probe to the Moon.

I have a simple suggestion for people who present technical stuff to laymen. "Show your presentation to a group of people who know nothing about the topic, who are like your audience and then take their feedback. Then tweak the presentation to make it easy to understand."

3. Transitions do look good: Deepak Menon from Microsoft showed to the large audience at ISB and to me that transitions can be made to look great. After seeing his presentation, I have had a change of heart (and opinion). I have always recommended people to stay away from transitions. Rather than wasting time thinking about it, use the time to rehearse. But seeing Deepak present, I also felt like playing with transitions in my next presentation.

He used simple transitions after every slide. Once the slide is complete, the entire slide moves up and gives way to the new one. Something like a 'Push Up' transition effect in MS PowerPoint 2007. He used it less and used it very well to add drama to his content. Another speaker Sharath used a simple 'Fade In' and it looked great.

4. Credibility booster: Dr. Neeraj Raj is working towards digitalising content for MBBS courses in India. So that students get access to best in class medical teachers sitting anywhere in India.

While he was making his point, he showed us some news clippings; scanned articles from newspapers. I don't remember what topic it was, but it did help him add credibility to his point. If you are stating some facts which might not be so obvious to your audience, rely on external sources of credibility like newspapers to drive the point home. The audience surely trusts the national newspaper more that it trusts you.

5. Humor works: Everytime a speaker used humor effectively, there were smiles all over. Film director Nagesh Kukunoor used it, Jyotirmaya Sharma used it, Animator Prosenjit Ganguly used it and so did Kanthi. But all these people used humor differently.

While Nagesh talked about some unknown facts about the industry which made people laugh, Kanthi played with words. Jyotirmaya's humor was at times self-deprecatory. Prosenjit created humor by his behaviour and his funny videos. One thing that I learnt from all of this was, humor works. Use it the way you are comfortable. Everyone has a sense of humor. Use humor the way you do it with your friends and colleagues; the natural way.

The next time there is TED or TEDx in your town/city, make sure you visit it. Even if you have to pay for it.

Guest Post: Introduction to Creative Presentations

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:30:00 +0000

This is a guest post by Edmond Mahony. Edmond is an independent digital strategist and brand planner based in London, UK. One of his current projects is The Ideas Forum – Spotlight Ideas.

Introduction
I worked in a large IT company for many years. My experience of working in that company was that most presentations were left-side-thinking in approach. I imagine most other people in business in general have a similar experience of presentations (?) This article is about presentations that are about being right-side-thinking in approach.

Difference between “normal” presentations and creative presentations What’s the difference between left-side and right-side thinking? Left-side is about linear, logical thinking. Right-side is about creative, lateral-minded thinking. Left-side in presentations, involves, most typically, imparting information with a certain degree of analysis (what many might consider the typical or “normal” presentation). Right-side in presentations, might involve, for example, facts and figures, insights, and analysis, but, most typically, is about getting others to think laterally.

Creative, lateral thinking is crucial in business. Without it you can’t have a business that in some way offers a better product or service than the competition to customers. Without creative, lateral thinking you can’t start a successful business nor can you develop a business and keep it going in a competitive marketplace. Without creative, lateral thinking you can’t have a successful brand, brand story, social media strategy, customer-service approach, and so on.

Creative, lateral thinking involves being creative in:

1 the imaginative sense (most typically in, for example, in advertising, graphic design, industrial design, architecture)

2 the problem solving sense (most typically in, for example, in environmental projects, engineering projects)

3 the entrepreneurial sense (i.e. in setting up an exciting, vibrant business)

4 the leadership sense (i.e. in developing a business, in creating a positive and pro-active work environment)

Creative, lateral-thinking is crucial in business. But how often do we focus on linear, logical-thinking than creative, lateral-minded thinking (?)

The creative presentation is an effective way of injecting creative, lateral-thinking into your business. The “creative presentation” is a broad term. It’s a broad term for many reasons.

1 Business environments differ and require different creative, lateral-minded approaches.

2 A particular business environment might require different creative, lateral-minded approaches. For example, an advertising agency requires a problem-solving approach when coming up with the marketing idea behind a campaign (i.e. is there a particular audience you could focus on and what type of marketing message would work best for this particular group?). And it requires an imaginative approach when coming up with the creative concept (i.e. you have discovered who best to target in your campaign, and what your particular marketing message is – now you have to come up with an idea that captures the imagination of this particular audience i.e. colourful balls bouncing down streets in San Francisco as in the Sony Bravia ad ).

3 Everyone is different. If you copy someone else’s approach, it’s not going to be original. People will see thought it. You must be original. You must surprise your audience. You must do things that makes them sit up. If you don’t get them to sit up, then there is no way you’re going to get them to think creatively. Your focus in to get people to think creatively. Your main focus in the creative presentation is to get people to think creatively

We’re all accustomed to thinking in a linear, logical fashion. Our schools and universities are modelled, largely, on linear, logical thinking. The same with the environment we live in. The same with much of our work in work. The same, probably, with most of the presentations we experience at work. Not easy!

Difference between brainstorming and creative presentations
Brainstorming is getting a select group of people to focus on coming up with as many creative ideas as possible within a certain timeframe. The creative presentation is more relaxed. It’s about getting people to think creatively but not within a certain timeframe. You could get people to give you some feedback at the end of the presentation. But your real goal is to get them to go away and think creatively in their own time and space about some issues or a particular issue . Brainstorming is about quantity of ideas (an idea could be expressed in just one word or a few words). The creative presentation is more about getting people to develop and draw out their own particular ideas (so that they could write pages, if required, on a particular idea). Brainstorming is about intense creative-thinking. The creative presentation is more about getting others to think creatively, in an expansive fashion.

Creative Presentation Rules
Don’t follow rules when preparing for, and giving, creative presentations! Rather, follow general guidelines and then inject the rest with your own, personal, unique approach.

Importance of images in creative presentations
There are various techniques you can use in creative thinking. You can use words, music, props, and so on in a particular, creative ways. This article is only an introduction to creative thinking, and doesn’t go into the details of the various techniques. But if there is one technique to focus on, it is images. The image is a powerful tool in the creative presentation.

Communication tool. An image is often able to communicate a complicated idea more easily than words can. An image can be used on its own or in combination with words. Scientists often use images to describe complicated ideas in their subjects.

Emotional response. An image can be effective in drawing out an emotional response in audiences. This is particularly important in creative-thinking where imagination is important (i.e. in advertising, design, architecture, and so on).

Lateral-thinking. Related to the last point, although different, an image is able to get audiences to think laterally in general.

Provocative. Related to the last point, again, although a bit stronger in emphasis, images can be provocative in a creative sense. For example, you could use an image in conjunction with a word or phrase where there is some disparity or tension. A sort of tension that leads to productive ideas. Or, for example, instead of word/phrase and an image, use a pair of images where there is, again, some sort of disparity / tension.

Conclusion
The creative presentation is challenging. It’s risky. People might think your presentation is silly or whacky. You might give a good presentations but your audience just happens to be barren of creative ideas for whatever reason.

Social scientists have observed a strong correlation between enjoyment and creativity. So whatever, you do, don’t be boring. If you can’t, initially, engage with people, then you’ll never get to the stage where they will (or want to) think creatively. A good tip here is to adopt an ad lib approach. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t prepare for your creative presentation. You should prepare for it like any other type of presentation. But you want a certain amount of spontaneous, human engagement.

And, lastly, if using slides, never allow them to become the main focus of attention. You might get away with this, to a degree, with the “normal” presentation. But not with the creative presentation where the slides are props that you refer to, casually – only.

Presentation: A Trainer's Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:10:00 +0000

This is a guest post from Joel Xavier, an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad. He is based out of Pune, India and trains students for various entrance exams including MBA.

This is a slightly long post but is very insightful. It is based on Joel's presentation experience during his recently concluded 5 day training session.

I shot out an SOS email to Vivek one day asking him to provide me with ‘whatever’ content he had on ‘making presentations’ [He is a senior from my MBA days who even back then, was known for his slick presentations]. Why? I was to teach a bunch of engineers-to-be the nuances of making good presentations in about 3 day’s time and I had no clue how I was going to approach it. Who better to ask for guidance than your own senior? I got more than I bargained for.

Within no time I had a long list of twenty odd links pointing back to this blog which was his pick of the best of the basics. I got to work. I was carefully copy pasting the content to a word document for offline reference when it hit me. At the end of almost every article I was reading was an introspective question. Which of these habits are you already following? Which are the ones you would like to try out in your next presentation? Each question was making me think about how exactly I relate to what has just been discussed.

What is my learning out of the whole experience? The whole concept of relating something you have just come to know to some experience you have had in your life, or some particular aspect of the presentation that appealed to you personally was a revelation. It made me sit up and reorganize my entire 5 day training schedule. At the end of each session I would ask the participants in my workshop about what were the one or two specific things that they would remember from the session that just concluded. I was surprised to find that though my topics were very generic, like how to build your CV, and how to participate in discussions, the things the students mentioned as their learning were very personal. Sharing them with the entire group was an amazingly effective way to personalize and retain learning. Participants actually began to look forward to the last 10-15 minutes of each session which were dedicated to this activity.

Among the various articles, there were a few on how to represent data in a presentation. My audience for this workshop comprised third year and final year students of Electrical, IT and Agricultural Engineering. Students who were academically very sound, but had completed most of their education in the regional language. I realized that they would not need much of the charting tips right now, important as they are. And then it dawned on me. I needed to tell them what I was doing myself, understanding the audience. File formats for images and charting tips would come a long way down the line. They would first have to understand their audience.

This entire process was turning into a big learning exercise for me as well. So I decided to reassess the situation. What is my purpose? And as you would have it, I dramatically went into flashback mode. Circa 2005, my first day in Prof. Abhinandan Jain’s class on market research [Jain baba as we referred to him, respectfully]. We had designed a survey and Prof. Jain was making it clear in no uncertain terms that we had failed miserably in our effort. “What is your purpose?” He would bombard us with the same question for every point we made as a class. The words still ring out in my ears. 73 bright managers-to-be racked their brains that day to understand why simplicity and a clear sense of purpose are so absolutely necessary. I now had the opening note to my own presentation. Before you start working on any presentation you need to have a clear objective as to what you aim to achieve through that presentation.
Just remembering about Jain baba brought back another gem of an insight to calm the turbulence that was surrounding my preparations. We used to pride ourselves in making the most dramatic presentations with the best of embellishments, presented with great flourish in those much loved classrooms. Then one day Jain baba punctured our egos in a way which we were to get used to over time.

The presenter was facing a technical problem and the projector decided to play truant. So Jain baba asked him to go ahead and make his point without using the projector. The presenter was petrified and tried to wriggle his way out of the situation claiming he could not do it as there was a lot of important data that the audience had to be shown. What Jain baba said next put the class in a stunned silence. “The power needs to be in your point.”

Over a period of time presentation skills have come to mean Power point skills for a lot of people. I knew I would be laying the right foundations for the participants if I made it clear that MS Power point and projectors are only some of the tools available to you as a presenter. It is necessary to use them as tools and not as crutches.

That said, I had some very strong points to begin with. While preparing a presentation:

Be clear about your objective
Understand your audience.
Focus on the content and not the embellishments.
Get the audience to relate to the content and make their learning personal

Through my interaction with the audience I realized that the majority of them, like so many of us had come to the workshop thinking of presentations as the thing you do standing in front of a PowerPoint show. I decided to try and break this myth. I had to make it clear that there are innumerable occasions in real life when you are actually required to do a presentation. I gave them the traffic cop presentation.

I asked my audience how many of them had tried making a presentation to a traffic cop to avoid being fined? I got these incredulous looks which made it amply clear that the audience was having a tough time connecting traffic cops and presentations. Then I proceeded to explain how once you are caught violating traffic rules, the entire purpose of your interaction with the cop is to get away with a minimal punishment [your objective]. How the traffic cop actually intends to only censure you and has the power to waive the fine for a warning if he is convinced that you are a responsible driver otherwise [understand your audience]. Convince him about your being a responsible driver by showing him more than just your license willingly. Since two wheelers were relevant to my audience this meant things like the helmet, the pollution control certificate, the tax papers etc. Before I knew it, I was getting that look from my audience. The look that says they have done it, but never thought about it this way. Point well made.

I encouraged my audience to make presentations by using the best tool available to presenters: the mind of the audience. If you can make them visualize the point you want to make, I believe you achieve much more than just getting your point across.

A few other notable tricks from the blog that I used in the training were good humor and chocolates. They are surefire winners if you want to engage your audience much more productively.

About Joel:
Joel ‘Cyclo’ Xavier, an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, has worked with Marico and HUL in branding and sales before he got into teaching and training. He is currently based in Pune and trains students for various MBA entrance and other competitive exams. 15 of his students made it to the various IIMs in 2009. He is also a visiting faculty at the University of Pune, department of Management Sciences for marketing. You can find out more about his work on: www.mentorgrid.com

If you also want to share your presentation experience with all of use here, send an email to vivek [at] allaboutpresentations [dot] com.

Best of the Month: Jan '10

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:30:00 +0000

Yet another month passed by. In January the blog completed one year of existence. 164 posts, 13.7 posts a month and 1 post every 3 days. A huge amount of time and effort has gone in the last one year and will continue to go in every month.

I would like to list down the most read posts of the blog in the last one year. Here is the list:

#1 How to make sponsorship proposal presentations?
#2 How many slides should your presentations have?
#3 How to make a business review presentation?
#4 7 lessons from Dr. Steven Covey's presentation
#5 An introduction to SmartArt graphics
#6 How to create your own template in PowerPoint?
#7 How to add hyperlink to SmartArt?
#8 Checklist for making any presentation
#9 Free E-Book on 14 Tips to make awesome charts
#10 How to present one bullet at a time?

Coming to January 2010, I shared a couple of tricks on PowerPoint and talked about the amazing talk by Devdutt Pattanaik. No wonder the most read posts of the last month are:

#1 How to create a lunar eclipse using PowerPoint?
#2 TED India Talk: Devdutt Pattanaik
#3 Why we should avoid the edges of the slide?

In the coming month, I will be sharing with you some interesting developments that have taken place in January. There is a lot in store. Keep reading and keep writing to me. If you have something to share or discuss email it to vivek [at] allaboutpresentations [dot] com.

Are you up for this challenge?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:30:00 +0000

Here is a small challenge I want to throw at you. If you do take it up, share with me the results. If you find any problems with taking it up, do table your concerns.

The Challenge: Deliver a Presentation without any text on your slides. You may use pictures, shapes, whatever but no text.

The only situation you might not be able to try this is when you are in a formal setting. But explore the various informal talks/presentations you give. Try it out.

Why this dare?
To improve ourselves as a presenter.

- So that we stop using excess text.
- So that we stop using text as an anchor to remind us of what to speak.
- So that we get complete attention of our audience. So they stop reading the text on the slides and start looking at us and listening to us.
- So that we develop confidence by taking complete charge of our presentation.

What do you think friend? Are you game?

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Image credit: djcodrin

Keep the lights on while presenting

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:30:00 +0000

Every presentation I attend I try to learn something. Some things that have been done right and some things not quite so. The presentation I last attended was a sales pitch from the business development manager of a large enterprise. The presenter was pitching for some business.

When I entered the room I saw the presenter standing at one end of the mid-sized rectangular conference room. All lights off. I could only see the bright slides and nothing else. The presenter was at standing near his laptop (he did not have a wireless presenter and so had to stand at one place). He was just not visible.

This brings me to the topic of the day:
"How should you manage the room lighting while presenting?"

Well, the focus of this sales pitch or for that matter any presentation is on the presenter. We have come to listen to him. He is the one who is pitching and asking me to shell out my time and money. So should he hide himself while talking? (unless ofcourse I have come to see a video or a movie)

No. The presenter should never be invisible. The lights near the screen should be switched off but lights falling on the presenter and the audience should be on. If I can't see you, how am I going to understand you? It's a recipe for disaster. All the basics of good presentation, eye contact, connecting with the audience thrown right out of the window. There it fell on the road, thud!

It was very difficult for me as an audience to not be able to see the presenter. I was really troubled and so will any member of the audience. So what I did do about it? I asked asked the presenter (after about 15 minutes) to switch on the lights above him and above us. And I advice anybody who is in my position to do the same. Let there be light!

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Image credit: Pixomar

TED India Talk: Devdutt Pattanaik - Why is India different from the West?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:30:00 +0000

Devdutt Pattanaik is the Chief Belief Officer with the Future Group (Big Bazaar), India. His talk at TED India which took place in Mysore last year is fascinating and exciting. It also answers what the words 'Chief Belief Officer' mean. You must watch his talk (18 mins) here:

Devdutt's presentation is on an uncommon topic; linking mythology to business. How is India different from the West? How is Indian business style connected to its mythology? Why the clash of civilisations is imminent and what we can do about it?

There is a lot to learn about presentation making from Devdutt's presentation. Here are a few of my observations:

1. Start with a story: Devdutt is well aware that his topic is kind of esoteric. If not made interesting, he will loose his audience half-way. To make the content interesting and understandable he chose to tell us the story of Lord Ganesh and his brother Kartikeya.

You need to appreciate that this story helps Devdutt firmly establish his model of 'The World and My World'. If Devdutt was an average presenter, he would have started with a table like this:

This is the very first point which Devdutt talks about and the entire presentation is based upon the understanding of 'My World and The World'. Using a story to establish this framework has worked well for Devdutt.

Stories also make the message easy to remember. Days after you would have forgotten about what Devdutt exactly said, you'll remember Ganesh & Kartikeya and Alexander & the Gymnosophist. And once you remember them, you'll remember the core message as well. That's the power of stories in action.

2. Passion: You can see his passion for the subject. It is infectious and it is charming. We listen to people who are passionate about their stuff. Devdutt surely is.

3. Minimal Use of Slides: This is perhaps the biggest lesson that we should take from Devdutt. People have come to listen to what Devdutt has to 'say'. He has used slides as an aid, as a support to help him explain his point better. That's it. When he talks about Alexander, he shows you an image. When he talks of Ganesha, he shows you an image.

He does let his slides overtake his presentation. The focus of the talk is Devdutt and he ensures that people look at him and listen to him and ignore the slides. And that's exactly what we do. If there are too many slides and too much text on it or too much happening on the slides then our focus will move from the presenter to the slides. Remember, you are the focal point of the presentation and not your slides. The less they interfere, the better.

Overall, I consider Devdutt as an actor who has given a passionate performance of what he believes in.

4 Challenges of Talking to an Audience for the First Time

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:30:00 +0000

Few days back I was asked by a popular MBA entrance institute to give a talk to a group of students. This institute prepares students for MBA entrance exams. I was asked to guide them on how to crack Group Discussions (called GDs) which is an essential part of almost every MBA institute's entrance process in India. I had worked with the institute last year on the same thing and so was invited again.

So here I was. Talking to a group of 25 students, all of them working with leading software companies. This was my first interaction with them and my task was clear. I had to connect with them right from the start and to share with them all the tips and tricks I had.

Talking to an audience for the first time is a challenge. There are 4 challenges you need to overcome as a speaker.

1. How to connect with the audience from the very start?

2. How to make a good first impression?

3. How to understand and know more about the audience?

4. How to establish credibility so that the audience listens to you and does what you say?

1. How to connect with the audience from the very start?

Connecting with the audience is a tough task. That too with an audience you have never met. To some it comes naturally while others have to practice it.

Think of the last time you met a stranger for a meeting. What happened? Did you get along well? Did you start talking about things and never felt uncomfortable? If you have this knack then think of the presentation as meeting with people individually. This will give you the confidence and you will be able to connect.

If you do not have a knack of connecting with people immediately, I suggest you become consciously aware that you are meeting a group of strangers. Smile a lot, establish good eye contact, have open gestures and stand close to the audience. Do not park yourself in one corner of the room. Staying close, looking into the eye and smiling helps connect with the audience better.

2. How to make a good first impression?

While you are trying to connect with the audience, your audience is also evaluating you. People judge others by first impressions. So, as a speaker, you have to get the first 5 to 10 minutes right in order to impress your audience. And here is what you should do.

Introduction - At the very start, introduce yourself properly. Share details about yourself which are relevant and places you in the right light. Talk about your relevant experience and achievements without boasting too much.

Dress appropriate - The choice of dress (formal / casual / etc.) should suit the occasion. Do not over dress.

Dress well - Wear your favourite dress. The dress which you like more than others. It helps.

Talk sense - Do not talk things which are irrelevant. You need not start a talk with a joke unless there is some merit in doing so. Be natural, stay calm and start getting into the groove.

3. How to understand and know more about the audience?

To connect with the audience you have to talk about things which the audience can relate to. You have to be relevant. But how can you, without knowing your audience well?

In my case, though I was talking to this group for the first time, I had met similar people the last time around. So I assumed that these people will not be too different. It was a safe assumption to make.

What if it was the first talk I was giving? How did I manage last year when I was actually meeting them (or people like them) for the very first time?

Well there are always ways and means to know a bit about your audience. I could have asked the organisers to share with me the profile of the group. I could have called the organisers and asked them to brief me about the audience, their needs, their expectations and their problems. Worse case, I can ask the group to share their background and expectations right at the start of the talk (after introducing myself).

Whatever it may be, you have to know your audience before you start speaking.

4. How to establish credibility so that the audience listens to you?

As a speaker (and more so as a teacher/trainer), the most important thing for you to do is to establish credibility. Why should the audience listen to you? The audience has never met you and might have never heard about you (unless you are Obama or Steve Jobs or Narayan Murthy). You may be famous in your own circle but you need to prove that to a group of strangers.

So establish your credibility at the start and reinforce it (if need be later on). Credibility can be established in many ways.

- Talk about your experience
- Talk about your educational qualification
- Tell them that you conducted this training last year and how successful it was

All of it need not be at the start. Some of it can be subtly mentioned when the need arises. Remember to be specific when you talk. Generic statements hold no water.

The next time you have a talk in front a completely new audience, don't panic. Understand the audience and their expectations before hand. Make a solid first impression and connect with the audience right from the word go. And make sure you establish your credentials to ensure people listen to you.

All the very best!

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Image credits: Nicholas Tarling, FreeDigitalPhotos.net, vegadsl, Simon Houden.

Download free PowerPoint Templates

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 19:30:00 +0000

On Friday my old friend Sid called. He was going to make a presentation to a bunch of sales guys about Mutual funds and he was looking for a suitable template.

If you type 'free powerpoint templates' you will get 5.92 million results on Google and 6.09 million on Bing. But searching on Google might take some time. That's because you are looking for a specific template. In such cases, all you need to do is prioritise.

What you should do is find out 2 or 3 good websites which provide free templates. Then go and search these sites instead of wandering around on Google.

On of my favourite sites to download PowerPoint templates has been 'MS Office Online'. I used to use this site back in college days. In the last few years I have never downloaded a template.

There are two ways to visit the site. You can bookmark the URL and access from your browser. If you forget the URL you need not worry. The link is part of MS PowerPoint.

In Office 2007

Open a presentation -> Go to Design tab -> Click on down arrow to open the Themes -> Click on More Themes on Microsoft Office Online -> Click on Template categories (in the website) -> Choose PowerPoint. The process is almost similar in Office 2003.

You can go the templates page directly by clicking here.

MS Office Online Templates

There are 9 categories under which templates have been classified. There are 62 templates under Academic and 80 under Business. Though by no means exhaustive I still feel the site has a good collection of templates.

If you have never been on the site, you must definitely check it out. If you have your own favourite websites where you download templates from, share the link and help all of us here :)

1st Anniversary of the Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:25:00 +0000

Image: Salvatore Vuono

I am very happy to share with you that our blog 'All About Presentations' has completed one year of existence. It was on January 14th last year that I started off the blog. I started the blog with two objectives:

1. Learn more about making presentations, and

2. Share all my learnings with you.

I have been trying my best to write useful content in simple language. I hope you have enjoyed reading as much as I have enjoyed writing.

I would take this opportunity to thank my better half (it was her idea to start this blog) and to all the friends/relatives, readers and fellow bloggers who have commented, shared feedback and encouraged me.

As the blog enters its 2nd year, all I would say is: 'Expect more exciting stuff.'

Regards,

Vivek (aka Poza)

Sharing Presentations Online

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:30:00 +0000

How do we share presentations with others online? We email it to them. That is how people have been sharing presentations with me. Recently a reader emailed me a 2MB+ presentation which took quite a lot of time to download.

While most people just email the .PPT/.PPTX file to the receiver there are others who convert it to PDF to save on size. I consider conversion to PDF a good idea (unless your presentation has animation, because animation will not work in PDF). PDFs look nice and occupy less space.

What else can you do to make the sharing easy and viewing experience better?

Slideshare. I strongly recommend you open a slideshare account. Having a slideshare account helps you upload files upto 100MB and then share it with others. You have an option of sharing the files only with the people you want to. After uploading you can choose to show the file to 'Only Me' in sharing. This is called Private Sharing, as opposed to Public Sharing. When you share publicly anyone can view the presentation. Once you share privately, you have a secret URL which you can send to others. To view the secret URL, click on the presentation. To your left you will find this URL. Only people who have this secret URL can view your presentation. It is a wise idea to use slideshare for sharing extremely bulky presentations.

These are the 3 ways I know of sharing presentations online. Which one do you use? Is there any other method which you use? Share your sharing technique with me.

Image: Danilo Rizutti

Create Magic in PowerPoint

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 19:30:00 +0000

Today I am going to share a very interesting trick with you. I read about the basic technique in this post by Jan Schultink. I have added another dimension to the trick to make it more appealing. Learn the trick and then try to use it to amaze your audience at an opportune moment.

How to create this effect on PowerPoint?

This trick is actually very simple. All you need to do is to check this small presentation which explains all the 6 steps:

Power Point Magic Cut Outs

View more presentations from Vivek Singh.

Now that you know the trick, go out and use it in your presentations. Make them more appealing and thrill the audiences. Best wishes for all your presentations.

How to create a Lunar Eclipse Effect in PowerPoint?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:15:00 +0000

PowerPoint is an amazing tool. It can do a lot more than what you think it can. There is nothing impossible with PowerPoint. If you have a crazy idea and you think you can't do it on PowerPoint or it is too complicated, think again.

While playing with PowerPoint just a while back I got this weird idea. Can we create an Eclipse Effect in PowerPoint? How do we re-create a total lunar eclipse where the Earth casts its shadow over the Moon and gradually eclipses it totally and then moves over.

Read to find how to create this 'cool' trick in PowerPoint in just 5 minutes. You can also see screenshots in the presentation below to understand the steps better. For best results, view the presentation in full screen mode.

How To Create A Lunar Eclipse Effect In Power Point

View more presentations from Vivek Singh.

Step-1 You need a blank slide
Open a new file in PowerPoint. Right click on the slide panel (on the left) -> Under Layout, choose Office Theme 'Blank'. Now you have a blank slide with you.

Step-2 Make the background black (to act as the night sky)
Go to Design -> Background Styles -> Choose a complete black slide. Alternatively, you can insert a rectangle in PowerPoint (from Insert Tab). Expand it to cover the slide and make it black.

Step-3 Draw the Moon
Insert -> Shapes -> Choose an Oval -> Draw a circle in the middle of the slide.
Select the circle -> Go to Format Tab -> Enter 8 for Shape Height & Shape Width. This will make it a perfect circle with diameter 8 units.

Step-4 Make the Moon white
By default the colour of the shape is blue. Select the circle -> Right click -> Format Shape -> Choose Solid Fill, colour White -> Click on Line Color option on the left -> Choose no line (this removes the blue outline)

Step-5 Put the Moon in the Center of the slide
Select the circle -> Under Home Tab -> Under Arrange -> Choose Align Center (this places the Moon in the center horizontally) -> Choose Align Middle (this places the Moon in the center vertically)

Step-6 Create Earth's shadow
Copy the circle (CTRL C & CTRL V). You now have two white colour circles on the slides. Choose the newly created shape and make it completely black. Right Click -> Format Shapes -> Solid Fill, colour black

Step-7 Place the Earth's shadow away from the Moon
This black shape is the shadow of the Earth on the Moon. Move Earth's shadow onto the left-bottom corner of the slide. You can drag the object by mouse or use a more accurate technique. Choose the shape -> Home Tab -> Arrange -> Align Left -> Align Bottom

Step-8 Set up the Animation
We need to visualize how Earth's shadow will move over the Moon, eclipse it fully (because it is an object of the same size) and then move across.

Select Earth's shadow -> Animations ->Custom Animation -> Add Effect -> Motion Paths -> Draw Custom Path -> Line.

Now click on the center of the Earth's shadow, drag the line diagonally up (top right of the slide). Try to pass the line approximately from the center of the Moon.

Step-9 Fine Tune the Animation (Reduce the speed to make it look like a real eclipse)
If you have drawn the line well, then in slideshow mode you can see your animation. On one left click, your Earth's shadow will pass over the Moon and move across. But the speed is too fast. By default the speed chosen is Medium.

Click on Earth's shadow -> Under Custom Animation panel on the right -> Under Speed -> Choose Very Slow.

If you want an eclipse even slower than this then: Click on Earth's shadow -> Under Custom Animation panel on the right -> Click on the right of the 'Oval' -> Choose Timing -> Under Speed type 20 -> Press Ok (This make the speed at 30 seconds, which is extremely slow)

Now you can go to SlideShow mode (Shortcut: SHIFT+F5) and on one click the animation starts. Depending on your liking you can enter a speed higher or lower.

Step-10 Fine Tuning (Making the Earth bigger)
In case you are not able to make the Earth's shadow cut the Moon fully, try this trick. Increase the shape height and width of Earth's shadow to 9 units. Then re-align the shape to the right-bottom of the slide. Now it will be easier for Earth's shadow to cut across (overlap) the Moon.

Surprise your friends and colleagues with a 'home-made' eclipse. If there is any problem in understanding the steps write to me at vivek [at] allaboutpresentations.com. If you liked the tip, do share it with others.

Avoid The Edges

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:30:00 +0000

We all want to deliver a successful presentation. But the success of our presentation is not entirely in our hands. It depends on many things. On how you have planned the content, how you have designed the slides and how you deliver the presentation. But even then your presentation can go haywire. And the reason can be as small as 'improper projection'.

I don't know about other countries but certainly here in India a lot of times the projector happens to be a presenter's biggest enemy. Ruining the look and feel of the best of slides.

One possible problem which I have seen quite often is that the edges of the slides get cut due to adjustment problems. The projection does not fall in sync with the screen on the wall.

If you call the IT guy or try your hand and the solution does not come within 5 minutes, stop trying and move on. This is however a 'cure' approach. Curing the problem after it occurs.

One simple preemptive solution would be: Avoid text on the edges of the slides. Maintain a good gap between the edges and your text on all the four sides of the slide.

This solution takes away a lot of unnecessary tension from your mind.

Inspite of your best efforts if your text does get cut you should never say; "The text is getting cut due to a projector problem." Remember one thing. Every single problem which reduces your presentation's effectiveness is YOUR problem. Because it is YOUR presentation which is getting ruined or impacted. An excuse will not help. Tackle the problem and move on. If you can come 30 minutes before the start and check these projector problems, that will be better.

Best of the Month: December 09

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 06:10:00 +0000

Dear friends

December was personally an exciting month for me. I was blessed with a baby boy on December 21 and since then I have been very busy (with work, travel and the baby). The baby and my wife both are doing fine.

The new year is here. This new year I plan to bring some 'new' stuff on the blog. But before we launch into 2010 let's just look back at December 09. Like I do every month, in this post I recap the most read posts of the last month and the most read posts on the blog since inception.

6 reasons you should not ask your subordinate to make your slides was the most read post of the month. It has come out from my own experience of making slides which others present. The post highlights problems like loss of meaning, relevance, time management, flow, etc. The next post to this also offers the solutions and talks about how to outsource your presentation.

Another post which saw reader interest was on designing a fresh template for your presentation. I read it on another blog and posted it with my comments and suggestions. This post shares a new and easy to make template which is very eye-catchy.

The 3 most read posts on the blog till date are:

How to make sponsorship proposal presentations?
How many slides should a 30 minute presentation have?
How to make business review presentations?*

* This post has risen from No. 4 to No. 3 this month and has taken over '7 presentation tips from Dr. Stephen Covey'

Thanks for reading and best wishes for the new year.

Vivek

Do something new this 'new year'

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

2009 is a special year for me. I started my blog this year in January. I thank all the readers, friends and colleagues who provided all the support, critique and feedback. As the last post of this year, I would like to leave you with just one thought.

If you want to become better at presentations next year and are worrying about what are the things you can do. Just relax, listen to me and try just this one thing:

"Do something new this new year. Take the risk to be different."

Whatever style you have adopted till now is fine. But come out of that comfort zone and try something new. Give yourself time and go prepared. But do something new. For once don't worry what others will feel or say. For once put yourself in an uncomfortable position. For once prepare to fail. You will not regret it. If you can't do it this new year you will never be able to do it. So go ahead and do the new.

Wish you a New New Year.

Vivek

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Image: Danilo Rizutti

The 11th hour Problem

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Sometime back I attended a presentation made by a very senior person. I have attended his presentations before and all of them have left me impressed. But the last one I attended left me with a bad taste in the mouth.

It had multiple spelling mistakes.

One or two typos here and there are fine. It happens to all of us (including me). But five or ten of them in the same presentation? This is something I expect from novices. Spelling mistakes attract unnecessary attention of the audience and reflects that you have taken no care while preparing the presentation. It is a trivial thing but puts off your audience. This is a mistake which you must avoid. I had also included it in my earlier post 11 things to check just before you present.

Why did it happen with such a senior presenter?
Well I feel it happens because of preparing your slides at the 11th hour. He must have been busy and started preparing the slides at the last. In this hurry he would have made spelling mistakes.

How to avoid such a situation?
No matter how much you plan, you will end up making many presentations at the last minute. What you then need to do are two things: 1) Run a spell check once your slides are ready, and 2) Always go through your slides slowly in slideshow mode; after your slides are complete.

It would be better if you ask a colleague to review the slides. Your familiarity with the slides will make you overlook some of the typos.

Do you still end up making spelling mistakes in your presentations? What are the steps you take to avoid them?

Image courtesy: Chris Sharp

Best from Blogosphere: Design a Fresh Template for Your Presentation

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:30:00 +0000

In today's post, I want to share a great tip which I read on the blog PRESENTability with DFG by Denis. There is a simple video tutorial by David Anderson which introduces a new and refreshing template design and also teaches you how to make it. Do watch the video by clicking here or see it below:

What David Anderson has introduced is not just one cool template design but a 'new format' which you can use to make anything. He has created a farm and a magazine cutout. You can make a boardroom or a railway station. The possibilities are limitless.

Some Observations:

1. Situation: You need to know when to use this technique and how. This template design should be used for informal situations and definitely not for quarterly review presentations. However, marketers and advertising professionals do have some more 'creative' liberty to use it in formal settings.

2. Space for Text: The designs shown in the video have one problem. They are low on space. In case you need to write a lot you might have a problem. But this problem can be resolved. All you have to do is to design the template in such a manner that you leave adequate space to type out the text. It's all in your hands

3. Choice of Images for Cut outs: To make these templates you need images with single color backgrounds. Be it the farmer or the mail box, the 'Set transparent color tool' (which removes the background from an image) works only on one color. So when you make such templates, use only single color background images.

Use this unique method of template design and give your presentation a fresh look and feel.

Image credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.Net

Solve this Problem: Editing Points in Motion Path

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:30:00 +0000

Eric Pitcher from the US wrote to me a couple of days back with an interesting problem he is facing in MS PowerPoint 2007. It relates to editing points in motion paths (under custom animation). Here is the problem in his own words. See if you can solve it.

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"I was wondering if you have had the same problem that I have when it comes to ‘Editing Points’ on motion paths. If I animate an object with a custom, straight line motion path, most of the time I am not able to edit or add points to it.

For example, I want to make an object look like it is bouncing off of the bottom of the screen. I insert a clip art object on the screen and select to custom animate. In the menu I pick: Add Effect – Motion Paths – Draw Custom Path – Line. I draw the path line across the middle of the screen from left to right.

Now here is the problem: I right click on the motion path to get the Motion Path Menu. However, the ‘Edit Points’ entry is grayed out and cannot be selected. The weird part is that I know this can be done since I am able to select ‘edit points’ once every 100 attempts.

So I must be missing something. BTW: I am using PowerPoint 2007. Any thoughts?"

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If you have a solution to Eric's problem leave a comment here.