#LFMF I recently spoke about Cheating Death by PowerPoint to a group of businesspeople. I came in early, connected my laptop to the projector, opened up the title slide to my presentation, then proceeded to work the room. After chatting with folks for about twenty minutes, I glanced at the … [Read more...] about Cute Kids Not So Cute During a Presentation
Cheating Death by PowerPoint: Animation
PowerPoint Design Gets Set Back 20 Years
Last week, the New York Times published an article about creating and editing PowerPoint presentations on mobile devices (such as iPhone, Blackberry, and Android smart phones, and iPads) using an app called Documents to Go. Reading it sent shivers down my spine — not the good kind — because this … [Read more...] about PowerPoint Design Gets Set Back 20 Years
Ugly Templates Make Ugly Presentations
A colleague of my husband's recently forwarded me a PowerPoint template that he was required to use for a presentation he was giving at a particular event (let's call it XYZFest). He was lamenting its many flaws and wondering how he would be able to make a decent presentation from such a lousy … [Read more...] about Ugly Templates Make Ugly Presentations
PowerPoint for Print? Sometimes!
Last week, I did some work for a client who wanted me to create an image library in PowerPoint. The person I was working with was appalled and would have preferred doing the job using InDesign. While it's true that InDesign would have yielded professional results, this time it wasn't the right tool … [Read more...] about PowerPoint for Print? Sometimes!
Doesn’t Anybody Proofread These Things?
I was watching TV the other day, and a commercial for State Farm Insurance came on. It was pretty standard stuff overall, until a shot toward the end where the spokesman is standing in front of a magazine rack. All of the magazines had been mocked up because State Farm didn't want to be seen as … [Read more...] about Doesn’t Anybody Proofread These Things?
How do you communicate?
About a month ago, I submitted a proposal for a fairly small job to a new potential client. A couple of weeks went by, then he emailed me requesting a meeting. Believing that I had outlined my role in the project very specifically in the proposal, I wasn't keen on attending a second, unpaid project … [Read more...] about How do you communicate?
Cheating Death by PowerPoint: Analyze and Synthesize
Are your PowerPoint slides full of text? Well, guess what, your audience is going to have a hard time dealing with that. So don't make them work so hard to understand your message! The more focused you can make your slides and the less text you use on each one, the better your audience will retain … [Read more...] about Cheating Death by PowerPoint: Analyze and Synthesize