PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

The Presentation Guild: Conversation with Echo Swinford

    A Microsoft PowerPoint MVP since 2000, Echo Swinford began her PowerPoint career in 1997. She holds a Master’s degree in New Media from the Indiana University School of Informatics and is the owner of Echo’s Voice, a PowerPoint consulting firm specializing in custom template development, presentation creation, makeovers and cleanup, and training for large and small corporate clients. Echo has written and co-written five PowerPoint books, developed a number of video publications, and has a string of tech editing credits to her name. She is the President of the Presentation Guild, a not-for-profit trade association for the presentation industry.

In this conversation, Echo discusses the Presentation Guild.

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Filed Under: Interviews
Tagged as: Echo Swinford, Events, Interviews, Presentation Guild

Change Layout of Organization Charts in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows

Once you have inserted an organization chart (org chart) within PowerPoint 2013, you might need to change the layout of the org chart. The “layout” means how the subordinate levels in the hierarchy branch out from top to bottom — probably you want all subordinates flushed to the left, hanging to the right, or distributed evenly across a horizontal plane — you will learn more about how this works in this tutorial.

Learn how to change the layout of your organization chart in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2013
Tagged as: Diagrams, Graphics, Office 2013, Org Chart, PowerPoint 2013, SmartArt, Tutorials

Outstanding Presentations 2016: Conversation with Ida Shessel

    Ida Shessel believes that every expert, speaker, and coach who leads a presentation, training session, or seminar can get their message across in a dynamic engaging way. For over 20 years, she has been teaching presenters from around the world in the fields of technology, finance, pharmaceuticals, government, and more how to engage their groups and create effective learning experiences. Ida is the author of several business books including Communicate Like a Top Leader: 64 Strategies Top Leaders Use to Engage, Encourage, and Empower Others. You can learn more at her site.

In this conversation, Ida talks more about the Outstanding Presentations 2016 webinar series.

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Filed Under: Events
Tagged as: Events, Ida Shessel, Interviews, Outstanding Presentations Workshop

Adding New Shapes to Existing Organization Charts in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows

After inserting an Organization Chart (org chart) in PowerPoint 2013, you might need to add more shapes to your org chart. The default org chart that PowerPoint places has a few shapes. However, you might want to add more shapes, as well as newer hierarchy levels for the new shapes you add. Fortunately, you can make these additions and edits with just a click or two. Follow these steps to start adding more shape(s) to your org chart in PowerPoint 2013.

Learn how to add more shapes to an existing Organization Chart in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2013
Tagged as: Diagrams, Graphics, Office 2013, Org Chart, PowerPoint 2013, SmartArt, Tutorials

Presentation Summit 2016: Conversation with Nancy Duarte

Nancy Duarte is CEO of Duarte, Inc. and the author of several best-selling books on presentations and communications. Her latest book, Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies, and Symbols, co-authored with Patti Sanchez, shows how the world’s greatest leaders use powerful communication to move people and ideas forward. She has a passion for teaching others about the power of persuasive presentations to drive change in the world.

In this conversation, Nancy discusses her keynote at the upcoming Presentation Summit 2016 series.

Geetesh: You deliver the opening keynote at this year’s Presentation Summit where you will speak about Illuminate. Can you give us a curtain-raiser introduction to Illuminate? Also, what takeaways can attendees anticipate from your talk?

Nancy: When presentations are coupled with stories and ceremonies, leaders can ignite change more effectively. As one of the largest presentation firms, I’ve had to learn this the hard way and I will be sharing personal stories about my shop, my wins and losses as a leader, and how fired up I am that so many in the room believe presentations make a huge difference in the world.

Geetesh: Nancy, not only are you a renowned author, but you run Duarte, a company that works with messages, slides, and delivery coaching. I am sure you do so much more. How do you prioritize what needs to be done, or do you just have the freedom to do whatever you want to do?

Nancy: I’ve surrounded myself with a rockstar executive team. It took me a long time to figure out my role as CEO. There’s no job description for one. So, I spend my time in five ways: as an investor, an inventor, an ambassador, a teacher, and a student. Now, I’m slowly delegating some of that. As an entrepreneur, there are always plenty of responsibilities to get through each day but I have been able to carve out for myself working on things that play to my strengths and energize me. I work long days that have meetings scheduled in 15 to 30 min increments but because I enjoy what I do, it doesn’t feel like a burden. Also, it helps to try to listen to TV while I e-mail in the evenings and pretend I’m not working. My weekends are kept free for me to hike, contemplate and then do it all over again.

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.

Filed Under: Events
Tagged as: Events, Interviews, Nancy Duarte, PowerPoint, Presentation Summit, Presentations