PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

Learn PowerPoint 2010 for Windows: Changing Fill and Border of Charts

Although the default fill and border (outline) that PowerPoint 2010 applies to charts may be perfectly adequate, you might want to play with Chart Styles found in the Chart Tools Design tab of the Ribbon — all these Styles are based on the Office Theme you apply to your active presentation. While this works great most of the time, there will be occasions when you may want to use a color for any of your data series that’s not part of the Theme palette in your presentation. In times like these, you can control the fill and border of chart elements using the techniques explained on this page.

Learn how you can change the fill and the border of selected data series in a chart within PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2010
Tagged as: Charting, PowerPoint 2010, Templates, Tutorials

Jim Endicott at the Presentation Summit 2011

Jim Endicott‘s keynote speech at the 2011 Presentation Summit was aptly named We’re all presenters today!

Jim did the afternoon keynote session on Tuesday, September 20th. He started with his experiences as a presentation coach after he quit InFocus Systems in 1998. He then started Distinction Communication, as a presentation design firm. Jim soon discovered that even the best slides do not necessarily result in successful presentations. So he added messaging support for his clients so that they were equipped with a proper message along with their slides. That worked well to some extent, but there was one missing facet — the storyteller, who was the flesh and blood conduit for the message.

Jim then spoke about his work experiences:

• One day, his company may be coaching a Fortune 50 senior executive.
• The next week their customers may be a mixed group of product designers, legal counsels, or other professionals.

Yet all busy people know that it is so difficult to be heard these days, because it is extremely challenging to compete for the time and attention of very busy people.

Here are some thoughts from Jim:

• The world is not full of amazing presenters, but full of average presenters delivering messages in a very average way. The important part though is how you want to be perceived as a presenter.
• Begin with the end in mind. Imagine you delivered an important presentation — what do you want the audience to think or say about you? Captivating? Charismatic? Valuable? Engaging? Genuine? The fact is that no presenter wants to be average or mediocre. Everyone wants to be heard!
• That brings us to where perception meets reality. Most business presenters rate themselves as effective communicators. In fact, in a recent survey, the number was 86%. The same question was posed to the audiences, and only 17% agreed with the presenters! We thus don’t have a presentation problem, but a perception problem. We need to see ourselves the same way others do if we are to get better.
• This session is not about meeting Mr. Wonderful, who maximizes his personal authenticity. Jim actually bought along a toy who acted as Mr. Wonderful! Almost like a politician, who acts too perfect and we cannot relate to him or her.

Jim thereafter started a coaching exercise with two volunteers. The first volunteer introduced himself, and Jim videotaped him — he did a good job. The second volunteer then did the same, and she was videotaped too. She was good too. Both spoke about their jobs.

Jim spoke about his company’s training model:

Eyes

The first thing they observe is the eyes, what is going on with the eyes, and the presenter’s eye contact skills.

Hands

The second piece of the model is what is happening with the presenter’s hands. Do they get stuck in a place; are they always within the pockets? When hands get stuck, there are no good gestures happening, and the presenter sends the message of being nervous and tentative.

Movement

The third part of the model is movement. Presenters need to bring energy to their presentations, but that’s hard to achieve if we stay in just one place. We also don’t want too much movement. How do we find a balance and make it look natural?

Voice

Voice is very important. Are we hearing passion? Is the talk energetic, or is it just mild and monotone?

Getting back to hands, Jim showed a cool video clip and then made the audience do some hand exercises.

He then asked that a presenter should look at every presentation as a one-to-one medium. If you feel nervous, meet some people before the presentation — a few faces will look familiar. These few people will then act as pullers that will keep you glued to your audience.

The two volunteers then acted on using pullers in the audience effectively.

He then asked the audience to practice some gestures for situations such as gathering information, combatting roadblocks, and getting two teams together.

He then spoke of the power of the pause, vocal pacing, and variety. Put punctuation in your speech, add exclamations, pauses, etc. Added vocal emphasis along with better eye contact and natural movement were the skills that helped average presenters become exceptional.

The volunteers’ videotapes were then shown to the audience and clear differences were visible just by using pullers with better eye contact.

Jim Endicott is an internationally-recognized consultant, designer, and speaker specializing in professional presentation messaging, design, and delivery. Jim has been a Jesse H. Neal award-winning columnist for Presentations magazine with his contributions to the magazine’s Creative Techniques column. Jim has also contributed presentation-related content in magazines like Business Week, Consulting, and Selling Power as well as being a paid contributor for a number of industry-related websites.

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: Jim Endicott, PowerPoint, Presentation Summit

Learn PowerPoint 2011 for Mac: Change Shapes within a SmartArt Graphic

Most of the time, SmartArt graphics work great with their default looks — and that’s something to credit Microsoft with. In addition you can change one SmartArt graphics to another and you can also change colors or apply a new SmartArt Style to make your SmartArt appear distinct and unique. What many users don’t realize though is that they can change the individual shapes within a SmartArt graphic to another shape — for instance, you can change some circles in your SmartArt graphic to squares with a mere click or two!

Learn how to change shapes within a SmartArt graphic in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2011
Tagged as: Graphics, PowerPoint 2011, SmartArt, Tutorials

Learn PowerPoint 2010: Where are PowerPoint’s Chart Templates Saved?

All CRTX chart templates you save within PowerPoint 2010 are saved to a default location. You really do not have to worry about the default location where PowerPoint saves and expects to find these CTRX chart templates if you are using these templates on just one computer. However if you need to share these CRTX chart templates with other users — or if you received a CRTX chart template from someone else — then you need to make sure that these CRTX files are placed in a distinct folder where PowerPoint expects to find them.

Learn where you can save PowerPoint’s chart templates — especially if you want to share these templates.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2010
Tagged as: Charting, PowerPoint 2010, Templates, Tutorials

Garr Reynolds at the Presentation Summit 2011

Starting our virtual morning on Tuesday at the Presentation Summit was Nancy Duarte who was present with a cool videotaped message that introduced the keynote speaker of the day, Garr Reynolds. Nancy spoke highly of Garr as an “amazing, honest person who has inspired her.”

Garr, who spoke virtually from Osaka, Japan was awake late at night to coincide with the time difference with Austin, USA. He began his talk with pictures that showed views from his bedroom window during his childhood spent in west coast USA. He joked that he could probably see across the ocean to Japan, his future home country–even then!

Garr mentioned that PowerPoint and Keynote are just presentation tools, and presenting as an art is a much older form. He then talked about Kamishibai, a storytelling art form from Japan that uses changing pictures, a technique akin to today’s slides.

Garr spoke about a red Mt. Fuji, tsunamis, and earthquakes, mainly about the recent natural calamity in Japan where 25,000 people lost their lives. He mentioned how displaced people in Japan were rehabilitated. He spoke how there was almost no panic, and no looting during this disaster, and how everything was so civilized, a reflection of Japanese culture.

No wonder, Japan has touched Garr’s life in so many ways. He is inspired by Japan every day, and this, in turn, has ushered change.

He then asked everyone in the audience to talk to the person seated next to them about what inspires them. He said lessons are all around us, and what inspires him about Japan is nature. Nothing in Japan is far from nature including art forms like Ikebana. I do not remember Garr’s exact words but he quoted the great Japanese teacher, Morihei Yeshiva who said one must study how water flows in a valley stream, and study the teachings that nature brings forth. Nature thus is a sensei, a teacher. We must also learn lessons from the pine tree, the bamboo, and the plum blossom.

Garr, who used to live in downtown Osaka moved to an area outside the city that is full of bamboo plantations. This led him to the main topic of his session, 10 lessons we should learn from the bamboo. Here are my recollections, and may not be Garr’s exact words:

1. Bamboo is strong

Complete houses are made from bamboo in some parts of the world. Thus, the bamboo teaches us that you do not have to be necessarily big to be strong. Strength in being light, in kindness, and through compassion.

2. Bend but do not break

Even during natural calamities, when larger trees cannot cope with storms, the bamboo may bend but it does not break.

3. Firmly rooted yet flexible

Bamboo shoots can grow a meter a day.

4. Slow down your busy mind

We are all so busy, so much so that Garr asked how many of us in the audience were too busy to raise our hands. We need to still our lives. It is only in still water that we can see.

5. Be always ready

The warrior, like bamboo is always ready for action.

6. Find wisdom in emptiness

Empty your cup so that it may be filled.

You must unlearn what you have learned.

7. Smile, laugh, play

Know the difference between a real smile and a fake one; a real smile is in the eyes. Play is important, even for adults. Garr showed a tongue-in-cheek video of Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft on stage who was not afraid to play.

8. Commit yourself to growth and renewal

Even a 100-foot stalk of bamboo can progress one more step This is a Chinese saying.

9. Express your usefulness through simplicity

Garr mentioned how bamboo can be used for everything from manufacturing clothing to creating homes.

10. Unleash your power to spring back

Many trees get uprooted during a heavy snowfall in Japan. But even though the bamboo may bend down and touch the ground, it revives again and stands up.

Fall seven times, get up eight.

Garr continued with his analogy of the bamboo. He said that flexibility and adaptability are lessons that we all can learn from the bamboo. The bamboo also shows resilience, and we should all strive to be like bamboo.

  Garr Reynolds is the author of Presentation Zen, Presentation Zen Design, and The Naked Presenter. A respected spokesperson for the presentation community, Garr is a former Apple evangelist and he works as a marketing professor for a small college in Japan. Garr runs a thought-provoking blog on slide design called Presentation Zen.

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

Filed Under: Events
Tagged as: Events, Garr Reynolds, PowerPoint, Presentation Summit