Tag Archives: Slides

Why I Love Letter ‘B’

Imagine you’re delivering a presentation with some projected support slides. You get to a section that has no slides – what do you do? If you leave up the last slide that now doesn’t relate to the content, it looks like a mistake and can be distracting, If you bring up the next slide that doesn’t relate to the current content either, the same thing happens. It looks like a mistake4 and can be distracting.

Here’s a solution as simple as ‘A – B – C’ … or, least as simple as ‘B’. When your keyboard is connected to a projector to run the slides, my favorite letter on it is ‘B’. With a properly set up system, ‘B’ causes the screen image to go black. The projector is still on and hitting ‘B’ again shows the last slide up.  The same happen s with letter ‘W‘ – the screen goes white.

With a properly designed audience-centric presentation that has specific periods without any slides, ‘B’ makes it easy to avoid having slides up too long or too early and keeps you from looking lame.

Simple, easy and flexible. See why it’s my favorite letter?

Slides … Use Them Wisely!

Let’s assume you’ve just created some Best-in-Class slides – the right number with the right content and the right design – to support your message and add value to the audience experience. Great … now it’s time for you to Use Them Wisely!

Here are 10 more techniques to add to your Workplace Presenter’s Tool Kit that deal with what you should do and say when using slides. Conventional wisdom dictates that how you use them may have more impact on your audience and results than what is on them.

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Slides … Use Them Wisely!

Let’s assume you’ve just created some Best-in-Class slides – the right number with the right content and the right design – to support your message and add value to the audience experience. Great … now it’s time for you to Use Them Wisely! Read More »

‘Letter B’

Your laptop or PC keyboard has 26 letters on it along with numbers, symbols and punctuation marks. When that computer is connected to a projector to run PowerPoint slides, my favorite is Letter ‘B’. Curious? … read on. Read More »

Slide Into Success

I recently engaged in a lively LinkedIn Presentation group discussion about whether or not presenters should use slides. Here’s a summary of my comments, based on years of coaching executives, for you workplace presenters with similar concerns. Read More »

Slide into Successful Slides

Last time, we discussed how to avoid inflicting ‘Death by PowerPoint’ on your audiences. You should have added a few new or different tools to your Presenter Tool Kit as a result. So, let’s continue the process with a few more suggestions to enable you to Slide Into Successful Slides and maximize your audience-centric results.
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Time for a Change?

Regular readers know how much I love ranting about not letting the ‘Tech Tail’ wag the ‘Presenter Dog’, so here’s another example. How do you change those wonderful audience-centric speaker support slides you’ve created when you don’t have a remote available?

Answer – you or someone has to manually change them, but avoid those annoying or clumsy habits that can really reduce the positive impression you project on your audience or the impact of your message. Consider these lessons learned from some of the Varsity Presenters I’ve had the pleasure of coaching:
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Handouts vs. Slides

A client recently asked me for some advice about a common practice with handouts. He noted that presenters often give audience members hard copies of their slides so they can take notes or use as a handout. Excerpts from my response:
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