“NEW PowerPoint® DIET!: Top 10 Steps to a More Svelte PowerPoint®”—The Rest of the Story

Are you still trying to cram, stuff, squish, or shoe horn every bit of text onto every slide? Stop it. NOW! Read the remaining 4 steps, then go back to shoe horning.

POWERPOINT® DIET (continued)
Here are the remaining steps of the diet and a few thoughts on its impact on learning, memory, and engagement:

7. Repeat steps 4, 5, and 6 for each slide in order to distill the essence of each slide and draw your audience into your itty-bitty text and focus their eyeballs on the main point (NOTE: Keep in mind your audience may be thinking “get to the point,” if you don’t.)

8. Your draft Presentation Deck should tell your story or convey the low-fat, meat or tofu of your message concisely

9. Edit this deck to streamline what your audience will see to grab their attention from the get-go and what you will say in the presentation; draw your audience in by highlighting key words or phrases with a contrasting color, larger font, italics, bold, etc., and inserting engagement activities

10. Edit your Handout Deck so it covers exactly the material you want in the format you want; think like your audience to determine what and how the content should be included

You now have a skinny, svelte PRESENTATION DECK for your presentation and a fat, blubbery HANDOUT DECK for your audience. You have what you need to maximize learning, memory, and engagement of your audience during the presentation; your audience has the amplified content to read and study after you’ve made your points, plus space for fill-ins, exercises, and notes during your presentation.

Now isn’t that a more efficient and effective strategy to communicate your content than trying to present 1 monster blubbery deck on the screen, which will be difficult to present and nearly impossible to comprehend and remember? Think about it. The PRESENTATION DECK is like a CliffsNotes version of the handout. Who doesn’t prefer a short, concise, right-to-the-point dose first compared to the full-blown blubbery version?

For several articles on the research and more detailed practices for PowerPoint® presentations, go to http://www.pptdoctor.net.

I hope you find these suggestions useful in your work. Let me know your thoughts.


COPYRIGHT © 2011 Ronald A. Berk, LLC

“WHAT IS WEB 2.0? I DON’T EVEN REMEMBER 1.0! WHO CARES?”

DISCLAIMER: You know I’m not a techy. So why am I writing blogs on this topic? First, if I don’t know some of this Web terminology, maybe there are few of you who don’t either. Also, writing about topics I know nothing about helps me grow. I grow inaccurately, but I grow. Actually, I can still read and write and I know you will correct me if I’m wrong. I have your built-in accountability. This is another Berk’sNotes® version on the subject of Web terminology.

Berk’sNotes®
If you’re not familiar with Berk’sNotes® from my Thirteen Strategies… book and previous blogs, here’s a definition:

Berk’sNotes® = In the spirit of CliffsNotes®, it is an abbreviated version or brief synthesis of the most salient information or critical elements of a given topic. It’s designed for people like you who don’t have the time or inclination to do that synthesis yourself. 
MOTTO: “I synthesize the stuff so you don’t have to.”

WHAT HAPPENED TO WEB 1.0?
What did I miss? I honestly don’t even remember Web 1.0. Maybe I experienced what is known as the “Rip van Winkle Effect” or amnesia, or I’m just out of touch. Did you hear about 1.0 before 2.0? It’s probably just me. Maybe I was living in a storm drain at the time.

Anyway, the goal of these blogs is to set me straight and clarify what these terms mean so we can think about how the various tech tools can be leveraged in the classroom and our lives. If you’re interested in all of the sources on this topic, just Google the numbers in the title and the sources cited in my blogs.

Right now, I think we’re into Web 2.0 world, or, maybe, 3.0. I’m not sure. Maybe this blog will get us both up to speed. You probably have an inkling about these numbers. I used to have inklings, but they cleared up with a topical medication. I’m going to try and level our keyboards and inklings on Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. Hang on. My next blog will examine Web 1.0.

COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC