What does the process of deconstruction have to do with public speaking?

Becoming a better presenter often requires initiating a particular and sometimes painful process where you have to deconstruct what was once newly created so that you can develop something new. This is the process of growth.

For example, if you were coached and trained a few years ago, the public speaking techniques you learned took you to a new level. That phase served you well but now it may be time to grow again. And to do so, you may need to take your speech style, performance techniques and content structure and deconstruct them, much like we’re doing with the barn in Maine. It’s time to tear it down but hold on to a few of the most valuable pieces—the key components and special features that make you and your message unique and powerful—and reuse them in a new form. This is not an easy process but it’s one you will need to embrace if you want to move your speaking skills to the next level.

Here are a few tips to help you during the deconstruction process:

1. Resist the urge to resist change: Don’t let your ego get in the way; be open to new ideas and techniques. Resistance may seem more efficient in the moment but in the long run it holds you back and keeps you from reaching higher levels of performance mastery. If your barn needs to be torn down, let it go and rebuild.
2. Get back to ‘Beginners Mind’: This concept in Zen Buddhism refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level. “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few,” says Shunryu Suzuki. No matter how advanced you are there is still room to challenge yourself to achieve higher levels of performance.
3. Deconstruct your technique: Whatever your technique, break it down to the simplest fundamentals. Put your performance skills under a microscope. Look closely at your method of delivery, your content structure and your behaviors. When you investigate and refine each skill you will feel uncomfortable at first, but this awkward stage is critical for perfecting your technique and creating a new plateau.
4. Seek and acquire new methods: Seek out new skills, behaviors and techniques to take your performance to a new level. Watch the pros, read books by successful speakers, ask questions and study with master teachers. Most of all set goals to acquire new skills. With careful, consistent practice this challenging phase will pay off.
5. Put it all back together: When you live through the deconstruction phase and put in the hard work required to put it all back together you will create something better, fresher, more relevant and more professional. It will all come together and your presentations skills will reach a new level of excellence.

Ultimately, when the old no longer works, when the barn is falling down, it’s time to let go and rebuild. Granted, when you deconstruct you may lose some fluidity, smoothness, and comfort. But keep in mind that this process isn’t an end in itself. You will soon put it back together again and create something even better—for you and your audience. It may be time for a good old fashioned barn raising.

Enter the Sales Presentation

The sales presentation can be the entry point, the turning point or the culminating event of the sales process. In fact, sales presentations are not just “high stakes” anymore; they are “extreme stakes.” And sales professionals in every industry are suffering under the weight of these new demands. As one sales professional said, “I need to be equipped to sell to multiple clients, including the executive, the technical user, a committee, an undifferentiated group and even in an old fashioned competitive ‘bake off.’” That’s a tall order.

To make your next sales presentation meet the challenge of today’s “extreme stakes” you must refocus your approach. The old way just won’t work in this new market. Instead, you must learn to probe the customer with meaningful questions and then listen carefully to the answers.

The keys to consider are:

·        Focus on the customer: Identify their business drivers and key initiatives. What are they trying to accomplish short term and long term? What keeps this buyer awake at night? What must you know about the underlying needs of their business? How will you structure your presentation to focus on the customer?

·        Ask questions: Pad your presentation with questions, both direct and rhetorical, and make sure you are well prepared and rehearsed. Reach into your customer’s mind and seek understanding. Ask a thought-provoking question or a series of questions as an opening hook and use them throughout your presentation.

·        Confirm your understanding: Express what you are hearing so the customer knows that you understand their pressing needs and concerns. Paraphrase in a concise and precise manner to ease your customer’s mind and to confirm your understanding.

·        Emphasize the positive results of your involvement in their business outcomes: State how you can help with such things as process improvement, saving money, increasing productivity, etc., rather than just showing off the “fancy features” of your products. Position yourself as part of the solution.

·        Be provocative: Identify what is thought-provoking about your solution. Realize that only one of two things moves someone to take action – a direct line to increased revenue and reduced costs or an improvement they can actually see. To get their attention and drive the decision you must be provocative.

Solve Their Problem; Reduce Your Stress

Don’t let the current sales environment blow you off course, causing you to deliver a confusing, overwhelming feature-based presentation. When you provide a solution that helps customers increase revenue and lower costs it’ll be smooth sailing ahead – toward strong business partnerships, your professional goals and personal profits.  

***

Is this challenging market taking the wind out of your sails? Regain control of your sales presentation and close the deal. Join us for our last public seminar of 2009.

Readers of this blog will receive a $200 discount!

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Nov. 17 and 18, 2009

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Here is a quick overview of each method:

Reading verbatim from a manuscript

Some speeches must be delivered word for word, such as critical updates to the media, reports at a professional meeting or a political address. In these highly formal situations accuracy is extremely important because every word will be analyzed by the press, the public and the audience. Good speech writers know the importance of writing speeches that will be read and how to create them.

It may look easy to give this kind of speech, but it requires a great deal of skill. The trick is to make the written word sound spontaneous—to make the words come alive. Otherwise, this type of speech and the words can come across as dry and dispassionate, and the speaker can appear stiff and uncomfortable. If you are going to read a speech, careful rehearsal is mandatory. The delivery must be closely choreographed with the message to lift the speech from the page and into the hearts and minds of the listeners.

Memorization

Hundreds of years ago, the legendary orators would memorize long and complex speeches and deliver them word for word. Fortunately, today this is not a customary or recommended practice. For short speeches like introductions of other speakers, wedding toasts, thank you comments or congratulatory remarks it’s okay to memorize and sometimes helpful to do so. And there may be certain sections of a longer talk that you may want to memorize, like the opening, the closing and the transitions. If you do recite any part of your speech from memory make sure that you know it cold so you don’t run the risk of fumbling, getting off track and losing your connection to your audience.

Impromptu

An impromptu speech is delivered without any preparation at all. Most people would rather not do an impromptu speech, but they often cannot be avoided. In business meetings your ideas and opinions might be solicited on the spot. But rest assured that we all give hundreds of impromptu speeches every day. This “on the spot” speech is the core of everyday conversation. So if someone turns to you and asks for your thoughts, don’t panic. Take a deep breath and think through a logical beginning, middle and ending progression. Keep the audience on track by stressing key words: “The first point I’d like to cover…” “Next you will see…” “And finally I would like to add…” Impromptu speaking takes practice, but if you follow a structure you’ll soon get the hang of it.

Extemporaneous

While many people think extemporaneous and impromptu are the same since they are both speeches that are not read or memorized, there is one key difference. The impromptu speech is completely off the cuff; the extemporaneous speech is thoughtfully prepared, planned and practiced.

When speaking extemporaneously, the speaker uses notes, an outline or a PowerPoint slide presentation to stay on track. And as long as your speech structure is carefully planned, that’s all you need. This is the method we recommend for the majority of people we work with.  Once you have the content prepared you can spend your time practicing the flow of the material and your delivery. As you practice out loud, the words will come out differently with each run though but you will know the basic sentence structure and logical progression of the material. If you practice enough, the most effective parts of your message will stick in your mind and come out as you planned. The key here is to take the time to fully prepare. No short cuts! When you practice, you will have full control of your topic, sound convincing and yet still come across with a spontaneous and conversational tone.

Ultimately, the speech delivery method you choose will depend on many factors, such as how formal or informal the presentation is, how well you know your subject, who the audience is, and your own comfort level. When you take the time to analyze these factors and educate yourself about your choices, you can make the best decision about what method to use and give a great speech.

As a speechwriter who works with executives, I’ve found that far too many corporate and nonprofit leaders are unfamiliar with a couple of basic facts of life about speeches: a terrific speech or presentation is a performance: and an effective performance takes teamwork.  

Think about the other kinds of performances that have moved you: a great play, a great movie, even a great stand-up comic. Chances are you were very aware of two key elements that made the performance memorable. The script was terrific, and the performer knew how to deliver his or her lines convincingly.

What you may not have been aware of was that the creative people behind the performance worked closely together as a team. They brainstormed, interacted with one another, blended their different perspectives and made changes to improve the performance. I was part of the writing team for the film, The Great Debaters. But when they were shooting the movie, the actors, screenwriter and director Denzel Washington collaborated almost every day. They adjusted the original script in order to make dialogue more effective and move the film forward more smoothly.

Preparing an excellent presentation takes that kind of team effort, too. You need a good speech writer and a good communication trainer. But the key is that the writer and trainer must have a working relationship with you that allows for feedback, interaction, and changes.

The speechwriter’s first job will be to prepare a script that does more than convey information. As Lee Iacocca once said, “You can deliver information in a letter or tack it up on a bulletin board.” The script should make it possible for the executive to convey important information in an engaging way. The speechwriter won’t get that done alone in a room somewhere pounding away on a keyboard.

Enter the presentation coach. The best trainers do not try to force every speaker into one mold. They help executives translate their strengths in the board room and as leaders into strong presentation skills. They also help you discover and overcome your presentation weaknesses so you can come across in presentations as genuine, relaxed and passionate.

To achieve this goal, the trainer typically will work with you in coaching sessions, using video so you can see where you need help. Here’s where the teamwork comes in — the speechwriter should be there. Being part of the training will give the writer insights that are invaluable to polishing the script. For example, it may turn out that you can not tell a joke, but are comfortable with self-deprecating humor. There may be certain phrases that look good on paper, but which you have trouble saying comfortably.

Armed with insights from the coaching session, the writer gets a sense of the executive’s presentation personality and can incorporate that into the first draft.

Once the first draft is done and the first round of presentation training is finished, the team process should resemble even more closely the interaction that goes into making a movie. As the executive practices the talk, the writer should be prepared to make changes—cutting back sections that drag or changing words you repeatedly stumble over.  If there are parts of the speech you are struggling with, but which absolutely have to be included, the trainer can help you develop ways to become more comfortable.

The team should mark up the ‘performance script.’ This is the actual script the speaker will be using in front of the audience. The markup should include simple reminders to the speaker of the way he or she should use body language to engage the audience. For example, the speaking script should list the gestures to be used at key points, remind the speaker when to speak more loudly, or when to lower the volume, when to pause, when to make direct eye contact, etc.

The writer and trainer can work together with you in other ways, too, of course. What’s most important is that all those involved realize that the team effort will be interactive and iterative process. The writer will change the speech draft based on input from the executive and the trainer. The trainer will adjust his coaching based on how the executive responds and on what the writer suggests, and so forth.

A team effort can help ensure that presentations that absolutely have to succeed do succeed.

In Part 1 of this blog we talked about the importance of teaching children public speaking skills and using The Fun Theory to make the experience enjoyable and effective. The last thing anyone wants is to raise a child who suffers from glossophobia – the fear of public speaking. Today, as many as 75% of people have glossophobia, and studies show that many people fear public speaking more than death!

None of us want our children to contribute to these statistics. Rather, we want them to feel strong and comfortable whenever they are speaking and especially when they are speaking in front of a group. In case you doubt that children can be poised and confident in front of a group take a look at this famous video clip of Severn Suzuki who spoke at the United Nations Earth Summit when she was just twelve years old. 

In addition to her powerful message, which is still relevant today, did you hear the strength of her vocal delivery including her word choice, clear enunciation, strong inflection and pauses? Did you see the passion in her delivery?

While you may not want your children to be quite as assertive as Severn, you do want them to be confident and poised and to hold their own on issues that are meaningful and important to them. Children who feel comfortable speaking to groups tend to speak out more often, volunteer for leadership positions and meet challenges head on. In fact, developing public speaking skills is just as important as learning to read and write. That’s why “show and tell” is such a popular activity in the early grades. But there is more that we can do to help our children master this all important skill.

When teaching young children the fundamentals of public speaking there are two important areas you can work on every day: Vocal skills and body language.

Here are a few pint size tips I have used as an actress, teacher and parent. I am delighted to pass these on to you.

Vocal Skills

·         Read out loud to your child: Research tells us that there are many benefits to reading to your children. When it comes to public speaking, reading is a hidden resource. If you enunciate clearly, vary your pace from slow to fast and use expressive pitch and inflection you will heighten your child’s interest in the story and teach these important vocal skills by example.

·         Emphasize key words: When words in the story are colorful, descriptive and emotional, use added stress to make them sound dramatic. Change your volume (speak louder and stronger or softer and lighter) depending on the word and context. Vary your pace and alternate speaking fast and slow. Pause often and make those words come alive!

·         Have your child read to you: When children are old enough most love reading to their parents. When they do read to you encourage them to speak carefully and say each word clearly. Then, ask them to “play” with the words in the story and bring them to life. Ask your child such questions as, “How can you say this like Max would say it?” or “How can you sound happy, sad, excited or afraid?” Encourage your child to say a word the way it sounds (buzz, swish, cool) and to explore variations of expression for each word.

·         Add sound effects: Vroom, chug, boom, screech! Sound effects are a natural means of expression for many children. They love hearing and making sounds. And making many different kinds of sounds gives them an opportunity to practice creative expression and build confidence. So tune up your inner Thomas the Steam Engine or Roary the Racing Car and bring the story to life by using sound effects. Invite your child to play with sounds whenever they read out loud.

Teach Body Language

·         Take turns standing up and reading a page out loud: This is a wonderful activity to do with your children but it may be too stimulating to do right before bed. Start early in the evening so there is plenty of time to unwind. Select a favorite story and play “round robin” by taking turns and having each member of the family read a page of the story with dramatic energy and flair. Just this simple practice of standing in front of one or two people will give your child the experience of being in front of a group.

·         Play “public speaker”: Children love to role play. They play doctor, ballet dancer, truck driver and chef, so why not encourage them to play “public speaker”? Ask questions to help them learn how public speakers behave when they speak to a group. Encourage your child to stand up straight and not fidget or pull at their clothes or hold onto their hands or arms. Ask them to open their arms away from their body and use big gestures. And make sure you encourage them to smile.

·         Use everyday conversation to teach body language: Remind your child to make eye contact whenever they are speaking to someone. The dinner table is a great place to help them learn to do this. When they learn this skill at any early age they will not be uncomfortable using it as they grow.

Teaching public speaking skills to your children requires a great deal of commitment and consistency over time, but it doesn’t have to be a chore. You can teach the fundamentals in a seamless, playful and loving way…and have fun doing it. Before you know it, your children will grow up to be confident and competent young adults capable of standing in front of any group… even at the United Nations.

Part 1 of 2

I first understood the power of storytelling early in my career when I was an actor in a small children’s reader’s theater company called the Peanut Butter Readers. Our small troupe toured in schools and libraries throughout New England and Canada dramatizing classical and modern stories. One of our favorites was Where the Wild Things Are. I have a long history with this enchanting story and I’m looking forward to seeing it on the big screen this weekend.

As actors and teachers, we believed that children from pre-school to high school would be more engaged in the learning process if their teachers used oral interpretation and other theatre techniques to enhance the reading curriculum. We wanted to help them bring their nursery rhymes, poems and stories to life. And we had a great formula for doing so. First the students watched us perform (and we always brought their teachers on stage) and then we held workshops for the student body where everyone got involved. By teaching theater games and performance techniques we watched every child become engaged and fall in love with literature. The trick was to make sure that they all had fun in the process of learning.

A New Fun Theory

Research tells us (and I learned this lesson as a Peanut Butter Reader) that learning occurs most effectively when people are invited to tap into their natural curiosity, engage their bodies and minds in the learning process and share the experience with others. The big message here is that it’s a lot easier to change behavior and master a new skill (like public speaking) when the change is not only painless but also enjoyable.

An example of this idea landed in my inbox yesterday! This short clip about the “piano stairs” shows how people are willing to do something new when the invitation to change is made interesting and appealing. Take a quick 90 seconds to watch it now.

Use the Fun Theory to Help Your Child Learn Public Speaking Skills

There are innumerable benefits to teaching public speaking skills to young children. Public speaking skills boost your child’s confidence and prepare them for school presentations and real world applications. Fortunately, children learn public speaking quickly – they don’t yet know to be fearful of it and they readily accept that public speaking is just another way we communicate.

When it comes to learning public speaking skills, your child looks to you as their best teacher. How you teach them is up to you: you can take them for a dull ride on the escalator or together you can climb the musical staircase.

By being a role model, enthusiastic supporter and gentle task master you can teach your child to communicate effectively—and have fun in the process. And as your child watches and listens to your words and animated stories, they will mimic and adopt the skills you use. So always remember that every interaction you have is an opportunity for your child to become a confident and competent communicator, whether you’re retelling the events of your day over dinner or tucking them in with a favorite bedtime story.

If you want to brush up on your storytelling skills, or sign up for our next e-newsletter, which will be filled with storytelling tips. You’ll discover how to engage children and adults alike with the power of stories. Don’t miss out – and that’s no tall tale.

——–

Win a $25 Fandango gift card to see Where The Wild Things Are. Enter by sending an email to definiscommunications@gmail.com. One winner will be selected at random. Please, only one entry per person. Good luck!

 *UPDATE: Congratulations to Genie Gratto, winner of our giveaway. Genie is the Communications Director at Public Health Law & Policy (PHLP), a company that partners with advocates and decision-makers to help create healthier communities. Stay tuned to the DeFinis Communications blog for our next freebie!

If you answered “YES” to any of the questions above, BizTechDay 2009 is the place for you! I was a participant at last year’s conference and was astounded at the rich educational and networking opportunities available. I met new friends and learned a whole new approach to marketing – which I’m pleased to say is paying off. This year I will be a featured speaker at one of the breakouts. I’ll be offering our signature Line by Line video coaching in short bursts for anyone who signs up. The focus of the coaching will be to help business owners refine their pitch. 

From BizTech’s CEO & Founder, Edith Young: 

When: October 22-23, 2009 (Thursday & Friday)
Where: Hyatt Regency SFO, Burlingame, CA

BizTechDay 2009 is a practical, hands-on and experiential Small Business Strategy, Social Media and networking conference where expert speakers and business leaders (from Google, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Yelp, Virgin America, Elance, Constant Contact, Justin.TV, WordPress, CBS 5, and Comcast Business Class) share their insights and experience and help your business get up to speed in this economic downturn.

Through high-impact keynotes & panels, small group executive round table sessions, hands on demos and one-on-one meetings, you will learn about Raising Money, Selling and Social Media Marketing for your business:

Money Track
How to Raise $100,000 to 3 Million. Meet Paypal Angel Investor and Founder of the Keiretsu Forum.
How to Raise $5000 - $100,000 for Your Business.
How to Access Investment Capital and Make the Federal Stimulus Program Work for You. Meet Experts from the California Governor’s office.
Building Partnerships with Fortune 500 Companies

Marketing / Selling Track
Building a Strong Business Brand. Meet Experts from Google, Yelp, Linkedin, Facebook & Twitter
Securing Your Number One Spot on Google
Selling to the Baby Boomer and GenY Communities
Selling to Women & the LGBT Communities
How to Make the Media Love You - join Sue Kwon, Emmy Award Journalist, CBS 5
13 Things All Business Owners Must Know About a Compelling Business Website
How to Use an Email Marketing Campaign to Build Your Database and Close Sales

Social Media Track
Twittering with the Star with Kevin Rose & Tim Ferriss
How to Get Media, Celebrity or Blogger Attention for Your Business
Strategies of Building Your Online Community from Zero to Millions
Turning Visitors into Customers Using Viral Videos
How to Market Your Business on Facebook
How to Make Money on Twitter

Here’s the list of speakers you will meet at BizTechDay 2009:

In addition to Tim & Kevin, they are coming too!
Porter Gale - VP Marketing at Virgin America
Michael Gerber - World’s No 1 Small Business Guru per Inc Magazine and the New York Times Best Selling Author of the E-Myth
Matt Mullenweg - Founder of WordPress
Kevin Hartz - Paypal Angel Investor
Fabio Rosati - CEO of Elance
Joel Comm - Creator of iFart iPhone App - Over 1 Million downloads
Gary Swart - CEO of oDesk
Mark O’Leary - Regional VP for Business Services for Comcast
Randy Williams, Founder of Keiretsu Forum. The World’s largest angel investor network - over $180m invested in 200 companies
Chris Larsen - Founder of Prosper.com
Michelle Broderick - Director of Marketing at Yelp
Alison Covarrubias - Founder & CEO of Hatch Network
Julie Castro Abrams - CEO of Women’s Initiative
Justin Kan - Founder of Justin.TV
Ramon Ray - Chief Editor of SmallBizTechnology.com
And 40+ more thought leaders and successful entrepreneurs.

Plus, you can sign up for one-on-one consultations on raising money, social media marketing strategy, blogging, SEO, Paid Search Marketing, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and many other essential business topics.

The BizTech day founders want you to stop wasting time with tactics that produce little or mediocre results and start to forge successfully ahead with the right knowledge, right tools and right connections.

Cost:
Regular Conference Pass: $595
Linkedin Members - Save $200 and Use Discount Code: LinkedinMembers

Join today -> http://www.biztechday.com/register/

Since Letterman delivered the apology above, there have been mixed reviews from the press and public. Many believe his humor diminished the sincerity of his apology. Others feel that it was genuine, despite the jokes. Further complicating any interpretation was the audience’s nervous laughter at a man who they regularly don’t take seriously.

Employees at Late Night and Letterman’s wife have been hounded by the media, which forced a second request for forgiveness. To me, the second admission of guilt felt much more honest even though there were still plenty of jokes.

 While researching this blog post, I happened upon an interesting user-submitted article on eHow entitled “How to Give an Apology.” I found its step-by-step methodology to a very intricate social construct fascinating. Here is the summary:

1.     Don’t explain or justify why you offended the other person.

2.     Apologize face to face.

3.     If it is impossible to apologize in person, write a sincere letter.

4.     Ask for forgiveness and give the situation time.

5.     Try to treat others the way that you would want to be treated.

I think that there is a lot of truth in the article. I’m not quite sure that the apologizing process can be broken down so simplistically, but it touches on some valid points. What are your thought about David Letterman and the apology criteria?  

I hiked up my usual route and climbed the steep path alongside the water culvert to the top of the hill and the reservoir. I was completely alone, except for one large Great Blue Heron perched on a log at the edge of the lake. The elegant bird stood on one leg, poised, erect and perfectly still. How could this stillness create such a powerful and captivating presence?  

It struck me that a similar phenomenon occurs in the opening moments of any presentation. My clients often tell me that these moments are challenging for them because that’s when they feel the most nervous. They want to feel strong and confident at the beginning so they can capture attention and engage with the group. But instead they feel jittery and their bodies twitch and fidget. So I work with them to prepare for that uncomfortable opening moment. And one of the things I encourage them do is stand, like the Great Blue Heron, perfectly still!

Here are a few tips to help you create powerful presence when you open any presentation:

Stand up and stand still

When you first step into the spotlight, even if it’s at an informal meeting, take the time for stillness. Many people believe that unrelenting physical movement and lots of fast talk creates energy and pleases a crowd. And sometimes it does. But stillness, as witnessed with the Great Blue Heron, has incredible power.

When you stand still for a few seconds, it gives your audience a chance to stop what they’re doing and focus solely on you. Because they don’t know what you are about to do or say, you raise expectations and create suspense. Stillness commands attention. And when you are ready to begin your talk they will be ready to listen.

Take a deeper breath than usual

It is no secret that deep breathing calms your nervous system and triggers your body to relax. When your breath moves freely it shapes your expression and makes you appear more confident and in control. It’s good to take several full breaths before you step up to speak, but be sure to take one deep one during your moment of stillness as well.

Smile

You’ve heard me say this before: You can smile in a second and that smile sets the tone of your entire presentation. When people feel that you are relaxed, they too become relaxed and that allows them the freedom to trust you and get involved. Your smile tells your audience that you are comfortable and confident, so they can be too.

So the next time you’re about to stand up to present, remember the Great Blue Heron. A little stillness at the onset can give your presentation the power it needs to be a soaring success.

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This is a guest post from Kirk Mossing, PowerPoint™ Consultant and Trainer.

What do Audiences REALLY Think About PowerPoint?

Travelling across the nation and working with clients like Google and Stanford University, I routinely ask my students one key question: “As an audience member, what do you hate most about PowerPoint?” And 100% of the time I hear: “There are too many words on a slide.” Followed up with: “I can’t read it.”

Therefore, when you’re a presenter, you first need to determine the purpose of your PowerPoint and build your slides around that. Know your audience. For a live audience, the purpose is to support the speaker and the presentation, and to do that you only need to develop main points. However, if you are sending it to people as a handout that they can peruse on their own, then you can load up on the details.

For both of these options I recommend that you:

A.     Create two separate presentations OR

B.     Put the bulk of your data in speaker notes AND

C.    Use hyperlinks to link to other documents or the web.

In either case, one best practice to use is this: Write all the content in the speaker notes first and then take out the key words or phrases and move them to the slide. (Select text and Control drag to copy the text and drop it into a slide.)

What Makes a Slide Visually Appealing?

Memorize and live your PowerPoint life by these four points:

1.     Contrast (imagine someone wearing black pearls against a black dress): Contrast includes using color, font size, bold, italic, etc. effectively.

2.     Consistency (would you wear old tennis shoes with a suit or evening gown?): Consistency is why there is a template, why you keep the same look and feel throughout, why you stay away from clip art and use photographs and why you strive for optimal structure and organization.

3.     Alignment (imagine a crooked picture on the wall…how off does it have to be to be annoying?): This is all about how you Draw/Align or Distribute text and images. You can use the ruler, guides, etc. to help you. To copy something and keep the alignment, use Control SHIFT drag. If you just want to move it, hold down the shift key while dragging. If you want to resize a picture proportionately, hold down the shift key and resize.

4.     Proximity (grouping like things together…imagine a restaurant menu with one line spacing and font size): The proximity of tables, boxes, white space, etc. help separate content and make it easier to absorb and retain information.

2007 vs. 2003 Tips

Many people are not using Office 2007 yet. In order for those in versions 97 to 03 to work with a document created in 07, you should save your presentation in compatibility mode. To do so, click Save As/Save as type: PowerPoint 97-2003 Presentation. Note: you will lose some 07 functionality.

Another option is to download a converter to see and work with .pptx (07) files without having 07. You can do so here.

When working in different versions of PowerPoint, you will find that you are unable to copy slides from one presentation to another if you have one open in 03 and the other in 07. The trick to this is to open both in 07 or both in 03 and then move the slides.

Finally, remember that 07 is based upon ribbons instead of drop down menus, which are the equivalent of a toolbar in an earlier version. However, many options can be found by right clicking instead of hunting around on the ribbons.

Final Trick for the Road

Control Shift C and V = Copies and pastes formatting then use F4 to repeat

My best suggestion for learning new tricks is to practice one at a time, over and over, until you can do it without thinking about it.

By following these suggestions and mastering the tricks, you, too, can be a PowerPoint master and ‘wow’ your audiences every time.

Feel free to contact me! You can also be on my Tips and Tricks email list if you like.

Kirk Mossing

Power PowerPoint

kirk@kirkmossing.com

408-242-0278