Presentation Summit 2024: Conversation with Nolan Haims

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    Nolan Haims has decades of experience designing visual communications for the largest brands and organizations. He trains organizations to communicate more visually and create compelling stories with data. Nolan speaks at national conferences, writes extensively on visual storytelling, and is one of the co-hosts of the long-running Presentation Podcast. As one of only 15 Microsoft PowerPoint MVPs in the U.S., he regularly advises the PowerPoint development team on the industry standard software. He is the author of The Better Deck Deck and runs his own design consultancy in Montclair, NJ.

In this conversation, Nolan talks about his 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: Nolan, at this year’s Presentation Summit, you are delivering your signature Business Round Table session, plus two more sessions: Icons, Icons, Icons and 45 in 45, the latter covering forty-five tips in as many minutes. Tell us what audience members should expect from these sessions. Please explain for each session.

Nolan: I don’t think I’ve presented either of these sessions previously, but I may have been carrying them around in my back pocket for a number of years, so I’m glad I’ll have the opportunity to finally share them with attendees. In Icons, icons, Icons, I’m going to do a deep dive into the use of iconography on slides. I’ll go over my favorite methods for sourcing, organizing, editing, and using icons on slides and in charts. I’ll also discuss how to put together an icon library for a client and how to create a consistent style for your icons.

With 45 in 45, I’m gathering together (at least) 45 of my favorite PowerPoint tips. Everything from quick keyboard shortcuts to design techniques to hidden features. In nearly every session I’ve done previously, there are always those little tips that you give almost as an aside and that end up being suprisingly memorable and useful to attendees. This session will be nothing but those, and a lot of fast-paced fun!

Geetesh: You’ve attended the Presentation Summit many times. What do you think about this year being the last conference? Also, what has the Presentation Summit meant to you over the years?

Nolan: It’s definitely bittersweet as the Summit has been one of my favorite annual events and one that has allowed me to make countless friends over the years and improve my own skills. It has led to lifelong business and personal relationships, to co-hosting The Presentation Podcast (now in its 9th year), establishing myself as a speaker and trainer, and I think it helped give me the confidence to leave the corporate world (which I was in when I first started attending) to launching and running my own business many years ago. It has, undoubtedly been the most significant and influential professional event I have been a part of.

Geetesh: You do a lot of training these days. Can you tell us more about your training sessions? Also, why should someone choose you for their training needs?

Nolan: As I have continued to speak at the Presentation Summits over the years, my own business has shifted to the point where the majority of my work now is training corporations and organizations on how to create better presentations and improve their data storytelling. We offer some of the industry’s best options for PowerPoint and data visualization training—both onsite and online options.

I think what differentiates my offering is that I have a history of having worked in the real world of presentation design and know the practicalities and challenges and how to give people the tools and skills they need to start creating better slides immediately. Rather than an involved and impractical system of slide design, all of my training is modular and scalable to what an individual can realistically do to improve their presenting. It’s why we consistently receive the highest of feedback ratings (“the most practical training I’ve ever had,” “the best use of time,” “transformative”), have clients returning over and over, and are sought out by some of the biggest brands in the world.

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