How much time do you spend talking about yourself or your company during a sales presentation? Shouldn't you be addressing customer needs instead? Time and time again I see presenters taking a "me-centric" approach to sales presentations. They tell the audience all about themselves and their … [Read more...] about A sales presentation all about yourself misses the point
Some people will always cause Death by PowerPoint. Let them.
[box style="quote"]How can we convince the 80% of presenters who are not effectively using PowerPoint to stop using it?[/box] This question was posed to me recently by a Design Dispatch subscriber. We've all seen presenters who just don't get it. No matter what they might have heard about Death by … [Read more...] about Some people will always cause Death by PowerPoint. Let them.
How to conduct live online polls during a presentation
Show of hands, how many of you engage your audience while you're presenting by asking for a show of hands? If you're doing this already, good for you! According to a recent article, 10 Presentation Techniques You Can (And Should) Copy From Apple's WWDC Keynote, by communications coach and keynote … [Read more...] about How to conduct live online polls during a presentation
How to show YouTube videos in PowerPoint
Whether it's to explain difficult concepts, provide an entertaining and informative break, or demonstrate processes, videos are a great way to add content and variety to a PowerPoint presentation. But showing videos isn't without risk. One of the readers of this blog told me about a pet peeve of … [Read more...] about How to show YouTube videos in PowerPoint
How to make your own clipart in PowerPoint
It's easy to create your own custom clipart. By using the "save as picture" command on an object or group of objects, you can create a graphic that can be stored on your computer and used in other PowerPoint presentations, blogs, websites, Word docs, etc. Using the Save as Picture command in … [Read more...] about How to make your own clipart in PowerPoint
The best PowerPoint trick you don’t know about
PowerPoint has some amazing drawing tools that lets you create all kinds of illustrations. But sometimes it can be frustrating when you group text with an object to create an image because when you go to make it bigger or smaller the text remains the same size. That's because you're just resizing … [Read more...] about The best PowerPoint trick you don’t know about
Sales vs. Marketing: A tale of two PowerPoints
Have you noticed how sales people and marketing people often don't get along? Each camp complains that the other guys are creating needless work for them, undermining their efforts, don't understand their value to the company, etc., etc., etc. Why can't they see that they should work together to … [Read more...] about Sales vs. Marketing: A tale of two PowerPoints
How to create an effective title slide in PowerPoint
You've sweated out the details of your presentation. You've labored over your PowerPoint deck, writing, rewriting, and editing until your key messages shine through. You're ready. But are you really? Presenters often overlook a valuable opportunity to connect with their audience: their title … [Read more...] about How to create an effective title slide in PowerPoint