I once got a call from a woman who wanted some PowerPoint advice. She said something along the lines of, "Well, I've finished all the slides, now I need to work on my script." "You fool!" I wanted to shout. "You've done it backwards! Throw it away and start all over again!" Then I pictured myself … [Read more...] about Ready, Fire, Aim! The wrong way to design a PowerPoint deck
December Slide Makeover of the Month
This month's slide comes from a real presentation that a colleague of mine sat through. The image and text have been changed to protect the identity of the presenter, but it's essentially the same slide from the deck. Before Wow. This slide has it all: a tiny title, densely packed text, … [Read more...] about December Slide Makeover of the Month
November Slide Makeover of the Month
November's slide comes from a company that specializes in indoor environmental quality. The message of the slide was that they could make some definite improvements on the level of service they were providing to their customers. Before This slide has a lot of information on it; too much to absorb … [Read more...] about November Slide Makeover of the Month
October Slide Makeover of the Month
October's slide makeover is from a deck I found on SlideShare. There's a lot to do on this bad boy, so let's get started. Before Ever hear of the "Adkins" Diet? Neither had I. The person who created this slide misspelled "Atkins" four times! If your audience is focusing on your typos and not your … [Read more...] about October Slide Makeover of the Month
Should my logo be on each PowerPoint slide? No.
Now, I know you're probably thinking along one of these lines: "We paid a lot of money for that logo, and I want people to see it!" "I'm reinforcing my company's brand by showing my logo on each slide." "That's the way our template was designed." I would counter that if you start and end … [Read more...] about Should my logo be on each PowerPoint slide? No.
Clever image a real distraction during Webinar
Take a look at this image. It's part of a series run in WIRED magazine called "Artifacts from the Future." Every month they feature an imagined everyday object from the future that solves some sort of problem we're having today. It's the first thing I look at every time I get that magazine in the … [Read more...] about Clever image a real distraction during Webinar
September Slide Makeover of the Month
This month's slide makeover is from a deck I redesigned for Ellen Wingard of Ellen Wingard and Associates. She was leading a daylong workshop at the Harvard Business School and her presentation combined her own approach to management training with that of Linda Hill, a respected HBS … [Read more...] about September Slide Makeover of the Month
August Slide Makeover of the Month
This month's slide makeover comes courtesy of the US Army. In this pair of slides, they list the main Strategic Issues that are impeding the smooth management of the Army Materiel Command. Before While this information is important, there's too much text. You'd go into this amount of detail in a … [Read more...] about August Slide Makeover of the Month