ATTENTION, POWERPOINTERS!!
I recently Googled “PowerPoint,” “Presentations,” and “Conference Presentations” to make sure I am not spewing material you could obtain elsewhere. I’m NOT. However, I encourage you to peruse Microsoft’s recommendations and those by other “experts” on communication principles with PowerPoint.
THEIR INTENT is: To present a nice, neat, semi-interesting, professional presentation of important information.
OUR HERO’S INTENT is (Watch out! Are ya ready?): To deliver the same information while connecting, engaging, exciting, entertaining, motivating, and, maybe even, inspiring your audience so that their presentation experience with you is unforgettable and the information memorable. Your audience should be on the edges of their uncomfortable seats, not relaxed and passive in a beach lounger. That’s kinda like teaching, but without the students, although I recommend the same approach in the classroom.
DISCLAIMER:
My suggestions in these blogs will blow the traditional PowerPoint recommendations to smithereens. Will I violate the rules? You bet. They will be shredded, ground into pulp, and smashed into PowerPoint road kill. (Note: I apologize for the violence in this disclaimer. Sometimes I get carried away.) For example, I tried the recommended traditional, one color slide-same font approaches. Guess what? The slides were as boring as the content on them. (Sidebar: As a former freelance photographer, I learned early on that if a picture doesn’t elicit some feeling [positive or negative] by the viewer, then it should be discarded as ineffective.)
NEW RULE FOR POWERPOINT: That rule should apply to our PowerPoint slides. Our audience should be emotionally involved in our presentation. That begins with the slides. A spiritless, unemotional reaction to our slides is totally unacceptable. If my strategy is making you nervous or you already started throwing up in this 1st paragraph, you might want to get a vomit bag or close this blog.
BERK'S GOAL: To arm you with the tools to create break-the-mold presentations, not create a moldy audience as they drift into a coma.
BERK'S AUDIENCE ASSUMPTIONS: I assume every audience to whom I present has better things to do with its valuable time than attend my session. The cynics and know-it-alls are thinking: “Tell me something I DON’T already know.” The students probably have the attention span of goat cheese and mentally operate at “twitch speed.”
THE CHALLENGE: Open the presentation with a bang and sustain that bang or you’ll lose them. It’s opening night on Broadway!
4. SOUND EFFECTS (Continued)
As we continue merrily along on our sound effect journey, it’s now time to reveal for the 1st time anywhere on earth: my faves. Maybe you already picked some of the same effects from the sources suggested in my previous blog. Sound effect drum roll, please. OOPS! I forgot sound effects are illegal in blogs! Here ‘tis picks:
BERK’S PICKS:
Soda can crinkle
Drum roll
Comical descent
Comical metal gong
Film leader blip
Film take scene
Gadget sound
Frog croak
Paper wadded up
Tear paper
Tire screech
Unzip metal zipper
UFO sweep
INSERT EFFECTS INTO PP: As noted in my previous blog, click Insert and take a bite out of your sandwich. UMMM. Sorry, I got distracted. The effects that you selected should be saved in your file in a folder or somewhere hangin’ around waiting for you to pick them. They’re probably getting lonely and anxious for your attention.
Here’s the step-by-step to insert the effects:
a. On the drop down, click Sound from File
b. Pick your effect and click it
c. Click OK
d. Click Automatically
e. Drag sound effect “speaker” icon to left or right off slide
f. Under Custom Animation in right margin, to right of Start, click After Previous, With Previous, or Click, depending on how you want to control timing of effect
g. Use the effect with an animated title, line, or word
Any ideas yet on how you can create a powerhouse PP with emotional impact? I hope a few of the preceding strategies have struck a chord or your fancy. Hold on to your fancy. I’ll be adding music and videos in the next few blogs. Do any of these techniques actually work for you? Let me know.
COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
ATTENTION, POWERPOINTERS!!
I recently Googled “PowerPoint,” “Presentations,” and “Conference Presentations” to make sure I am not spewing material you could obtain elsewhere. I’m NOT. However, I encourage you to peruse Microsoft’s recommendations and those by other “experts” on communication principles with PowerPoint.
THEIR INTENT is: To present a nice, neat, semi-interesting, professional presentation of important information.
OUR HERO’S INTENT is (Watch out! Are ya ready?): To deliver the same information while connecting, engaging, exciting, motivating, and, maybe even, inspiring your audience so that their presentation experience with you is unforgettable and the information memorable. Your audience should be on the edges of their uncomfortable seats, not relaxed and passive in a beach lounger. That’s kinda like teaching, but without the students, although I recommend the same approach in the classroom.
DISCLAIMER:
My suggestions in these blogs will blow the traditional PowerPoint recommendations to smithereens. Will I violate the rules? You bet. They will be shredded, ground into pulp, and smashed into PowerPoint road kill. (Note: I apologize for the violence in this disclaimer. Sometimes I get carried away.) For example, I tried the recommended traditional, one color slide-same font approaches. Guess what? The slides were as boring as the content on them. (Sidebar: As a former freelance photographer, I learned early on that if a picture doesn’t elicit some feeling [positive or negative] by the viewer, then it should be discarded as ineffective.)
NEW RULE FOR POWERPOINT: That rule should apply to our PowerPoint slides. Our audience should be emotionally involved in our presentation. That begins with the slides. A spiritless, unemotional reaction to our slides is totally unacceptable. If my strategy is making you nervous or you already started throwing up in this 1st paragraph, you might want to get a vomit bag or close this blog.
BERK'S GOAL: To arm you with the tools to create break-the-mold presentations, not create a moldy audience as they drift into a coma.
BERK'S AUDIENCE ASSUMPTIONS: I assume every audience to whom I present has better things to do with its valuable time than attend my session. The cynics and know-it-alls are thinking: “Tell me something I DON’T already know.” The students probably have the attention span of goat cheese and mentally operate at “twitch speed.”
THE CHALLENGE: Open the presentation with a bang and sustain that bang or you’ll lose them. It’s opening night on Broadway!
5. SOUND EFFECTS
We’re now past the point of no return in our Top 10 strategies to energize your PowerPoint presentations. These last 5---sound effects, music clips, video clips, engagement activities, and humor---comprise the heavy artillery when coupled with custom animation and other techniques described in my previous blogs. Enough fooling around. Let’s get to our topic: using heavy artillery in your PowerPoint.
WHY SOUND EFFECTS? What do they contribute? What is the outcome they produce? A 1 to 2 second sound effect added to an animated title, line, or word can grab attention, produce laughter, instantly engage one’s visual and auditory senses, and simply add pop to content. It is totally unexpected. The element of surprise is critical to the effects.
SOURCES: There are several sources to consider:
1. Internet---The best part of this technique is that there are 1000s of effects available for free on the Net. Just Google “sound effects.” If you want specific effects, Google the effect, such as tire screech.
2. PC Software---Sound effects are often included with the 500 pieces of software installed on your desktop or laptop when you buy it. Although you won’t use 495 of those, the sound effects are useful. If you just want to test out a variety of effects, peruse the categories of effects on the software and listen.
3. PP Software---There are also effects in your PowerPoint software. Click Insert at top, the click Sound from Clip Organizer from dropdown. These effects can be inserted directly into your slides.
WHICH EFFECTS SHOULD YOU PICK? When you hear the effect cold, that’s how your audience will hear it. The effects that hit you on 1st impression may also hit your audience that way. Feel the emotional impact. If you don’t feel anything, your audience may not either. Check out the effects and built a pool of possible effects. Get feedback on these effects from colleagues or family members.
My next blog will list my fave sound effects, plus the steps to insert the effects into your slides.
COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
ATTENTION, POWERPOINTERS!!
I recently Googled “PowerPoint,” “Presentations,” and “Conference Presentations” to make sure I am not spewing material you could obtain elsewhere. I’m NOT. However, I encourage you to peruse Microsoft’s recommendations and those by other “experts” on communication principles with PowerPoint.
THEIR INTENT is: To present a nice, neat, semi-interesting, professional presentation of important information.
OUR HERO’S INTENT is (Watch out! Are ya ready?): To deliver the same information while connecting, engaging, exciting, motivating, and, maybe even, inspiring your audience so that their presentation experience with you is unforgettable and the information memorable. Your audience should be on the edges of their uncomfortable seats, not relaxed and passive in a beach lounger. That’s kinda like teaching, but without the students, although I recommend the same approach in the classroom.
DISCLAIMER:
My suggestions in these blogs will blow the traditional PowerPoint recommendations to smithereens. Will I violate the rules? You bet. They will be shredded, ground into pulp, and smashed into PowerPoint road kill. (Note: I apologize for the violence in this disclaimer. Sometimes I get carried away.) For example, I tried the recommended traditional, one color slide-same font approaches. Guess what? The slides were as boring as the content on them. (Sidebar: As a former freelance photographer, I learned early on that if a picture doesn’t elicit some feeling [positive or negative] by the viewer, then it should be discarded as ineffective.)
NEW RULE FOR POWERPOINT: That rule should apply to our PowerPoint slides. Our audience should be emotionally involved in our presentation. That begins with the slides. A spiritless, unemotional reaction to our slides is totally unacceptable. If my strategy is making you nervous or you already started throwing up in this 1st paragraph, you might want to get a vomit bag or close this blog.
BERK'S GOAL: To arm you with the tools to create break-the-mold presentations, not create a moldy audience as they drift into a coma.
BERK'S AUDIENCE ASSUMPTIONS: I assume every audience to whom I present has better things to do with its valuable time than attend my session. The cynics and know-it-alls are thinking: “Tell me something I DON’T already know.” The students probably have the attention span of goat cheese and mentally operate at “twitch speed.”
THE CHALLENGE: Open the presentation with a bang and sustain that bang or you’ll lose them. It’s opening night on Broadway!
6. COMPLEX VISUALS
Beyond the various types of “still images” described in my previous blog, there are also other visuals to consider:
a. Clip Art with Movement—Among the bazillion clip art images, some have animation built in. Use every opportunity to create movement in your slides.
b. Add Music to Any Image—If the picture or cartoon brings to mind a song, add it to the image. It can heighten the impact of the slide and add humor that wasn’t in the image alone. Music will be covered in a later blog, but keep this option open.
c. Create Your Own Graphics—Artistic-wise, PowerPoint provides a wide array of options to build your own graphs, tables, charts, and diagrams with animation. Putting your personal touch on these graphics with color and animation can produce memorable slides with content that will pop off the screen. (WARNING: You’ve seen BAD graphics with too much data and too small a font. Be careful not to violate the basic principles in presenting your graphics. If your audience is squinting or pulling out binoculars or telescopes to read your slides, your graphics are probably BAAAAAD! And I don’t mean Michael Jackson’s Good BAD.)
Once these images are saved in your file, they can be inserted into your PowerPoint slides following the procedures described previously for simple images. Have you tried any of these images in your presentations? Let me know your ideas or additions to my suggestions above.
My next blog will cover SOUND EFFECTS. Is that going to be fun? You bet!
COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
