Presentation Summit 2024: Conversation with Stephy Hogan


Presentation Summit 2024: Conversation with Stephy Hogan

Created: Monday, September 16, 2024 posted by at 9:45 am


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Stephy Hogan 2023

Stephy Hogan 2023
    
Stephy Hogan has been a digital designer and front-end developer for almost 20 years and in that time, she’s seen a LOT—of ego-based design. It’s been her mission over the years to educate as many people as she can about the importance of accessibility in digital design, whether we’re talking about websites and apps or presentations.

In this conversation, Stephy talks about her participation at the upcoming Presentation Summit 2024, being held on location in Oxnard, CA this year from October 20 to 23, 2024, and virtually from November 3 to 6, 2024.

Indezine.com is the official media partner for the Presentation Summit.

Geetesh: Stephy, you deliver the ChatGPT Unscripted session at this year’s Presentation Summit, which you call “a live adventure in presentation making.” What can audiences expect from this session. Please do share your thoughts.

Stephy: I’ve been using ChatGPT, specifically, in my work flow a LOT this past year. I’ve discovered that there are a lot of nuances to using it, many of which can make ideation, outlining, and slide building so much easier. So instead of presenting a polished final presentation, we’re going to make one together as a group. I want those who attend to give me crazy presentation ideas. We’ll choose one and bring in ChatGPT to go through the process live: the good, the bad, and the ugly (including accessibility considerations).

Hopefully, attendees will end the session with some really helpful tips and tools to make their workflows faster. At the very least, we’re sure to have a few good laughs.

Geetesh: As a regular at the Presentation Summit, how does it feel to see the curtain close on this final event? And what has this conference meant to you throughout the years?

Stephy: I cannot tell you how sad I am for this to be the last Presentation Summit. Little did I know just how much my life was going to change as I stood in the hotel watching breakfast being served on the first day of my first Summit in 2013. That year, I was working at a retirement plan services firm, begrudgingly working in PowerPoint all day. The first session I went to was Nolan’s “In the Trenches” session. (I know because I still have my sketchnotes from that year.) And then I learned from Julie, Echo, Rikk Flohr, Bob Van Duuren, Mike Parkinson, and Carmen Simon. The list goes on.

When I came back in 2014, imagine my surprise when people remembered my name! (I mean, MAYBE it had something to do with the fact that I used to be a pole fitness instructor and in 2013, when we saw that there was a pole in one of the restaurants, Tom Howell told everyone. After which, I ended up teaching a few people how to climb, spin, and do other feats of strength.) At any rate, I was quickly adopted into the “cool” crowd and suddenly all of those brilliant people I learned from were now my mentors and friends. Today, they’re family.

From that point on, I was determined to get to the Summit as much as possible. Since then, I’ve been to every summit except 2022. It’s because of the Summit that I ended up being one of the founders of the Presentation Guild. If it weren’t for the Summit, I wouldn’t have met a hundreds of amazing people. Or become a speaker myself. Or taken Sally Z’s Signature Talk Studio to develop my signature talk—which was accepted at a TEDx event! Or worked at Duarte teaching others how to make beautiful slides. (The fact that Nancy has said, “oh I know Stephy” in her cheerful voice still makes me grin like a little kid.)

Because of what I’ve learned over the years at the Presentation Summit, and having become friends with those I’ve met there, my life is completely different. I wouldn’t have the career I have. I would still be struggling with having something to say or teach, but no forum in which to teach it. I wouldn’t be speaking at AIGA or Dreamforce this fall. And it makes me sad knowing that after this year, people who would have come to future Summits are going to miss out on something that would have changed their lives in the most amazing of ways.

Geetesh: You’re authoring a book called The Reluctant Designer’s Field Guide to PowerPoint. Please share more information about how this book was conceptualized, what it will contain, and when will this be released?

Stephy: This book has been a LONG time coming. I’ve been wanting to write a book for at least a decade. At one point, our good friend Tom Howell said I should write a field guide, and it stuck with me. For years.

The idea for this book came from the very strong feelings I had when I was an Adobe snob who was suddenly “only” the PowerPoint girl. I was kinda angry about it, looking down on PowerPoint, because I didn’t know what possibilities it held (which was rectified by the Presentation Summit). Now, after having dived deep into PowerPoint for 15 years, I know so much that I wish I had known sooner. And as my pile of friends’ books was growing rather tall, I knew it was time to just write the book already.

The field guide is primarily for all of the designers who are loyal to Adobe products and who are very reluctantly using PowerPoint. I want to help y’all get comfy in PowerPoint faster and to shed some of that cynical “it’s PowerPoint, you can’t do cool things with it” mindset. How? Well, let’s see…here are some of the things I’m including:

  • Mac vs. PC issues
  • Examples of amazing things designed in PowerPoint
  • The Interface Showdown (“what you may be used to” vs. “what PowerPoint offers”)
  • Cool tips, hacks, and timesavers
  • A whole section on accessibility (to include everything I’ve ever publicly spoken about.)

It’s a bit snarky. There are a couple of swear words in it. And all through it, there are illustrations that are basically the manga version of myself.

I’ll be officially released at the Presentation Summit in October, as is only fitting.

What is the Presentation Summit?

Presentation Summit 2024: Conversation with Stephy Hogan

Presentation Summit 2024: Conversation with Stephy Hogan

For over two decades, Rick Altman has been hosting the Presentation Summit, a highly popular event that is geared towards users of PowerPoint and other presentation platforms.

Indezine.com is the official media partner for the Presentation Summit.

In-person: October 20 to 23, 2024 at Oxnard, CA
Virtual: November 3 to 6, 2024

Register now!

      

The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.




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