Meet ClearSlide!

ClearSlide is revolutionizing the relationship between sales teams and customers. You can launch web presentations with no technology hassles, and seamlessly show web pages, videos, and demos. You can share presentations with just a link and track how prospects interact with your slides with presentation analytics. And your sales team has access to a library of up-to-date presentations so their content is always fresh.

By acquiring SlideRocket, ClearSlide will expand its rich presentation capabilities for sales teams to engage customers more effectively and close more business.

Get a demo of ClearSlide!

SlideRocket Continues Its Rapid Ascent

SlideRocket users will continue to be able to create and share stunning presentations. Eventually, we’ll bring the best of SlideRocket into the ClearSlide platform, and we’ll keep you informed as new features and integrations are introduced.

There’s a presentation revolution underway and, together with ClearSlide, we’ve only just begun!

Trouble is many of us are better thinkers and/or speakers than we are presentation designers. And this gap can lead to a deflating experience.

Fortunately our friends at Ethos3 have stepped in to help SlideRocket users quickly turn their big ideas into inspiring presentations. The first in a series of free presentation templates from Ethos3 is embedded below. SlideRocket users can get a copy from the Templates library in the app. If you’re not yet a user, you can get a free SlideRocket account here.

Ethos3 has been an outstanding design partner for SlideRocket and many of our customers. If you’re looking for help creating an outstanding presentation we encourage you to give them a call.

You’ll find it’s quite easy to customize this template with your own text, colors and images while sticking with the general layout of the presentation. You’ll likely have more slides than are in this template, so you can easily duplicate existing slides for the additional content. There’s nothing wrong with having the same layout repeated a few times in the presentation. Good luck on your presentation!

5 Fun Presentation Skills Facts

1. 11% of people are “Terrified” of delivering a presentation. 7% “Feel Like Superman”. So, the majority of us fall somewhere in between. Not bad!
2. Just like with presentation design, we skew towards thinking we’re a bit better than average at delivering presentations.
3. We’re surprising good at practicing with 64% practicing their presentation at least twice. Good on you!
4. Above all else (designing nice slides, being energetic, funny or well rehearsed), your audience (38%) wants you to tell them a story, not lecture. Point taken!
5. When viewing presentations online, 75% prefer your slides to have voice-over rather than having to read them.

Hopefully this infographic will help direct you to effective ways to bone-up on your presentation skills. Be sure to also check out our other recent infographics:

• Content Marketing New School vs. Old School
• Slide Design by Pompous Cheaters
• Death by PowerPoint

From budgets to targeting, videos to blog posts, we tried to reach across the key content marketing topics to uncover what folks are thinking (and doing).

5 Key Findings From the Survey

#1. The majority of us do a good job of targeting our content. But still, 31% of us do not target. Hmmm, there’s certainly some low-hanging fruit here.

#2. Cost is the biggest challenge when creating content. Perhaps we’re not looking at content as the “gift that keeps on giving” that it really is?

#3. We’re splashing the cash. It was refreshing to hear that the vast majority of folks are spending at least 40% of their marketing budget on content.

#4. Guerrilla marketers prefer blogs and slide presentations. Scout’s honor we didn’t load this question. But those were selected as the “least expensive but most effective marketing content”. Of course, our respondents likely skewed to presentations.

#5. Big budgets like video and events. Not surprisingly perhaps, video and events were ranked tops for content that “costs the most and delivers the greatest benefit”.

#6 Social media rocks content distribution. Probably not surprising that social media is king for content distribution. But I was surprised that SEO and blog were lowest on the list. Kind of thought they’d be #2 and #3.

What, exactly, is a flipped classroom you ask? A flipped classroom is one in which the teacher produces a series of lectures, presentations, and/or resource materials via internet links. Students are responsible for watching the lesson before coming to class. That way, class time is almost entirely devoted to accessing deeper layers of the material, answering student questions, and working with small groups – or one-on-one – to make sure students are really “getting it”. All a teacher needs is a camera, creativity, and innovative online presentation software.

SlideRocket offers free online presentation software for educators and students. Sign up here.

3 Reasons Flipped Classrooms Work

1. Setting the Pace. Regardless of how great your classroom lecture is, there will still be students who are absent, can’t write fast enough, or don’t pay attention. Online lecture formats allow students to set their own learning pace. They can watch the presentation as many times as they want, pause it to take notes, or fast forward through concepts they already understand. When class begins, they are familiar with the material and can use you as a resource for any challenges that may arise. Plus, parents can watch the lessons as well in order to better help their children with homework.

2. Students get to use their gadgets. How many times have teachers brought up smartphones, iPads, and the downfall of the student intellect? Now, these same gadgets which many teachers bemoan can become your best teaching tool. Listening to you drone on in the front of the classroom – not so interesting. Watching a creative, graphic-rich, online lecture with pictures and video – much more exciting.

3. Classroom Management. One of the less obvious benefits of the flipped classroom is that classroom management begins to take the back burner. If teachers aren’t having to “teach” at the front of the room while writing notes on a whiteboard, they are able to continuously circulate throughout the classroom keeping mis-behaving students in check.

Try using the Flipped Classroom concept in your classroom and watch how creative lecture formats promote learning in unexpected ways.

More Great Educational Resources To Explore

6 Newsletter Ideas to Keep Parents Reading

Free SlideRocket EDU Accounts

Just Say NO To Boring Lectures

Extra Extra, Check Out This School Newsletter Template

Beginner’s Guide to Presentation Design

For beginners the road to better presentations is simple. And at this point you’ll probably experience the greatest degree of improvement in how your slides look. Use this Ebook to learn how to inject more pop into your story, keep it brief and introduce eye-catching imagery.

Intermediate Guide to Presentations

Ok, so you finally ditched the clip art, the comic sans and the bland color combinations. Now you’re ready for the big time. Let’s talk video, maybe some music, and graceful ways to handle numbers and complex concepts.

Rockstar’s Guide to Slide Design

Ready to break out of the traditional presentation mold? Welcome to the world of the presentation design rockstar! Here live Twitter feeds, audience polling and “Instagramming” of your photos is the norm, not the exception. Whether presenting live or online you’ll find this Ebook stocked with unique ideas.

Presentation Skills for Newbies

Many of us present only occasionally. And let’s admit it, we often do so unwillingly. Whether you’re a newbie or have been around the presentation block, use these presentation tips to check off the critical elements you should consider before hitting the podium. Included are tips on how to physically present, research audiences, and prepare.

Presentation Skills for Intermediates

Here you are again. Ready to deliver another presentation. Wondering what you can do to make this one stand out from the rest and be truly memorable? This Ebook shows you the way to “steal” from other presenters, how to connect with your audience, and be authentic.

Presenting to Executives

Presentations are often delivered in conference rooms to folks from your own company such as *gasp* executives. But you should take special care to ensure your presentation casts you in the best possible light. Heck, presentations to executives can be silent career killers or career makers! Follow these design and delivery tips to make sure you’ve got it all together.

Each element in these infographic templates can be customized from the images to the colors and animations. You can then display your infographic as a slide presentation to share on your blog, via email and on social media via your presentation link. If you can use PowerPoint or Keynote then navigating your way around is a cinch!

Interactive Infographic Template

Hyperlinked images, text, and a top navigation allow your audience to select the information they most want to learn about.

Animated Infographic Template

Animations and transitions are the key to making this infographic template eye-catching and engaging.

Infographic template

Deep colors and urban fonts help this infographic to stand out with your audience.

Content Marketing Infographic

You can keep or replace any element on the infographics, or just use the concepts and color/font/layout/animation combinations as inspiration. To get the templates simply visit the SlideRocket Templates library in the app. Not yet a SlideRocket user? Signup for free.

We have a number of additional infographic templates in the works that we’ll roll them out over the next month. We’d love to hear your feedback on what you find helpful and what you’d like to see in future templates. This is our first cut at infographic templates, so we’re ready to learn from your experience!

Org Chart – Dark Theme

Org Chart – Contrast Theme

Org Chart – Tech Theme

Org Chart – Diamond Theme

Company Divisions Org Chart

Infographic Org Chart

Org Chart With Descriptions

Icon Org Chart

From conservative to a bit more flashy, this org chart template collection offers eight different views. It’s simple to customize each org chart, duplicate branches and change the colors. You can even mix and match parts from each chart to create an entirely new template!

These organizational chart templates are in slide presentation format. But you can easily repurpose them for use in a PDF, Word doc or (gasp!) PowerPoint presentation. Just screen capture your completed org chart and drop it into whatever format you need.

Other great templates to explore include:

• Timeline Template
• Venn Diagram Template
• Business Plan Template

Or view all our free presentation templates here.

Here is a quick look at the survey results to date:

Leave the jokes at home, we want to hear a story

While we’re still collecting results for the presentation survey, a few surprises are already emerging. When asked what advice they would give to presenters I expected folks to shout from the rooftops “stop with the ugly slides”. It turns out it’s the “Storyline” that people care most about. Granted, providing good looking slides was the 2nd highest answer, but we certainly took the guidance to heart.

Here are the top 3 answers so far:

• 35% Tell a Story Rather Than Lecture
• 22% Provide Attractive But “Clean” Slides
• 19% Be Energetic
• 13% Practice For a Smooth Delivery
• 11% Be Funny

Me? Nervous? Well, maybe a little.

Of course people are nervous when they are presenting. But it appears they are not unduly nervous. In fact, it was a pretty even split between nervous and confident.

When presenting to a group, responders are reporting they feel:

• 28% Neutral
• 27% Jittery
• 25% Confident
• 12% Terrified
• 7% Feel Like Superman

Surprise! People do practice their presentations

I expected folks to give their presentations just one dry run. But I was pleasantly surprised to see presenters are pretty darn dedicated when it comes to practicing. How often do people practice a “dry run” of their presentations?

• 16% Never
• 20% Just Once
• 20% Twice
• 21% 3 Times
• 19% 4+ Times

We’re all a little better than average at presenting

Not sure how the majority of people can be better than average presenters, but just like we found with our recent presentation design survey, the folks we surveyed so far are feeling like they’re a cut above the rest. Here are the stats on how people rate their presentation delivery skills relative to their peers:

• 46% Average
• 31% Above Average
• 23% Below Average

We’ll wrap up the data collection for this presentation survey in the next week or so. We’ll then create an infographic from the data we collect and share that here on the blog. Much like we did with the animated infographic on presentation design.

SlideRocket will be at SXSW in full force. By that we mean we’ll have a rock’in booth right next to the SX Saloon bar! You’ll also see us at your presentation cheering you on and helping you drive attendance on Twitter via our 28,000+ followers, and our blog’s 50,000+ monthly visitors. So go ahead and get your account today via the link above.

What You’ll Get

• Full-featured SlideRocket Pro account for 1-year
• Cinematic transitions and effects
• Free presentation templates
• Ability to add videos and music
• Share slides on Twitter, Facebook and websites/blogs
• Presentation analytics
• A dedicated “SlideRocket Coach” to handle any questions

It’s easy to get started by uploading your existing PowerPoint presentation or starting fresh with one of our free templates. Either way, SlideRocket will help you stand out from the crowd at SXSW!