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Good content/Bad presentation?

From a Commentary post at Meetingsnet ...

Don't Let a Speaker's Style Defeat Substance

A keynote speaker at Meeting Professionals International's MeetDifferent 2010 has been generating sparks from bloggers who followed the conference, not because of his message, but for the way he delivered it.

The speaker was branding specialist Marty Neumeier, who preached a philosophy of radical simplicity for organizations in search of products that are both good and different. The message was strong, but for much of the audience, Neumeier's style was his undoing.

Read the rest of the post ... and what do you think... should a speaker be hired if his/her material is outstanding, but presentation woeful?

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Presenting to Teach and Inform — PowerPoint for Education & Training

You are invited to a training webinar.
Training webinar: Presenting to Teach and Inform....   presented by Ellen Finkelstein.

....Wednesday, February 24th at 11am PT, 12n MT, 1pm CT, 2pm ET

Ellen Finkelstein delivers high content in everything she does. She explains her material simply, demonstrates and provides follow-up support after the event.

At the end of this webinar, you'll know how to:

  • Present so your students understand and remember
  • Avoid the common, deadly mistake that ensures that your students won't hear what you're saying
  • Avoid the ineffective way of putting images on a slide and use the effective way
  • Use animation in a way that's helpful, not harmful to learning
  • Apply simple principles for maximizing educational results

Here’s what you'll learn about:

  1. How to design slides for best comprehension
  2. Images: The good, the bad, and the ugly
  3. How to combine verbal and visual information
  4. Charts: An easy, step-by-step approach
  5. Why business presentations are different from educational ones
  6. How to encourage effective note taking
  7. Dealing with daydreaming
  8. Simple legibility principles
  9. Research that backs up the principles in this webinar
Click here for more details and to register
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Using Computer Presentation Programs effectively

People are tired of worn-out power point presentations!

Does this mean we should jettison the technology and go back to the "stone age", as one person put it, in giving our presentations?

No more than we should ban television because of the likes of Jerry Springer and Temptation Island.

The medium itself is not to blame, it is how that medium is used that falls short. Too often, presenters rely solely on their software to provide every bit of their presentation's creativity. The problem with this approach is that the entertainment value of PowerPoint and other programs, leaves a lot to be desired.

When a speaker decides to use it as a crutch, instead of as an enhancement tool, it can give a presenter a false sense of security about a bad presentation. I've sat through many a bad presentation where the insecure presenter just hides behind a barrage of screen activity as a gratuitous gimmick rather than having good illustrations and attention-getting visual element to add in making their points. So how should this medium be best used?

Obviously, there are millions of reasons for a presentation, and therefore, millions of effective and creative ways to deliver it. Creativity can take several forms, from the spontaneous quip to the extravagant special effects of a Hollywood blockbuster. Keep in mind, though, that a crummy movie with very impressive special effects is still a crummy movie, and the same rule applies to presentations. Things that may work well in some presentations will not do so in others, but here are some general guidelines for successful use of electronic slides.

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Free PowerPoint Twitter tools

Here is a site where you can download tools to add twitter to your presentations ...

Ever wanted to make presentations a more interactive, Web 2.0 experience?
The PowerPoint Twitter Tools prototypes are now available.
Get ahead of the backchannel! Put in feedback slides at regular intervals throughout your presentation, so you’re not the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on!
Tempted, but worried about what people might say? No problem – the tools include the ability to include a moderated feed

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Five Rules for Better Presentations

From Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson ...

I often think the presenter would be more compelling if he would ditch the presentation software and just speak. Because of this, I’ve even thought of outlawing presentation software in our company. But alas, It has become a staple of corporate life. It is the ubiquitous prop that attends every presentation.

So if we can’t outlaw presentation software, at least we can regulate it and, hopefully, try to improve it. Here are my five rules for making more effective presentations.

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Don't give out your slides when speaking

Mitch Joel makes a great case against something that has irked me for a long time - handing out nothing but the slides from your presentation....

"Can I have your slides?" is probably the most common question a presenter gets asked. Here's why you should never give them out...

If there is one rule of presenting that I constantly see broken, it's the one where a presenter gives out their slides whenever they are asked. There are two very valid reasons why this is a bad idea:

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Reducing the Pain of PowerPoint

Most everybody would agree that working with Microsoft PowerPoint software probably ranks as one of the most frustrating things anybody encounters on a daily basis. There are, of course, masters of PowerPoint in just about every organization, but for most people, working in PowerPoint is after all these years still a painstaking experience.

The only thing more painful than a person working in PowerPoint is two people trying to work on the same PowerPoint presentation. And the only thing more painful than that is three people, and so on and so on.

http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/vizard/reducing-the-pain-of-powerpoint/?cs=37212#cf

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Powerpoint alternatives – from Browsers to Blogs

PowerPoint Alternatives - From Browsers to Blogs, Part II
In Part I of PowerPoint Alternatives, I talked about presenters who use HTML to display the visual portion of their presentation. Now that blogs are popular, some speakers are using blogs as presentation tools, including Steven Cohen of Library Stuff fame. Here’s a presentation he created in a blog last February and his post on the Note that he used Blogger, a tool that is free and can get you up and running with a blog in just a few minutes. Downsides of using a blog instead of PowerPoint include a busier screen that you would find on most PowerPoint presentations. Also, a blog entry is not going to fill the screen the way a PowerPoint slide will, so it could be more difficult for the audience to read. From the presenter's standpoint, getting the slides in the proper order is cumbersome; you need to tweak the dates and times so as to get the blogs to display in the proper order, then remove the date from the blog template, since in this context, it’s irrelevant.As with HTML, the advantages of using a blog are greatest when you be presenting using a live Internet connection. You can include the links you want to visit in the blog/web page, and easily link out to web sites. The blog also makes a great "take-away."

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PowerPoint Presentation Skills Tips for Effective Presenting

How often have you switched off (even for a few seconds) when attending yet another PowerPoint Presentation at work?

Our experience is that this probably happens more than 9 times out of 10.

So that’s about 90% of PowerPoint presentations where the lack of PowerPoint presentation skills actually undermines the very presentations PowerPoint is supposed to enhance.

So why do people continue down this road to presentation anesthesia?  And can we divert at least some of them to a more enlightened, creative approach?

Here are seven PowerPoint presentation skills tips to help you on your way.

http://www.presentation-skills.biz/presentation-delivery/powerpoint-presentation-skills-tips-for-effective-presenting.htm

10 Rules for Creating Successful Power Point Presentations

This from Nick Morgan really should be simple enough!!

Follow these rules and you’ll be using Power Point in a way that enhances, rather than detracts from or competes with, your presentation.

The whole post is here