Thursday, May 05, 2005
Free PowerPoint Backgrounds - Shhhhh!
Oh, those pesky cell phones, Blackberries, and pagers! How do you get people to turn them off and pay attention while you are presenting?
The best thing to do, of course, is
1) to remind people up front to turn off their devices and
2) give a fascinating, riveting presentation... so that your audience won't even be tempted to fidget with their little techno-devices while you're presenting!
To assist you with step one, you can download some very good looking, professional, and totally free PowerPoint Backgrounds for your next presentation. The folks at Parting Water designed a set of 6 free PowerPoint backgrounds that serve as a friendly reminder to your audience to keep the noise level low. The backgrounds are very professional and good-natured.
As for step two, I was shocked and horrified to read the suggestions in the May 9, 2005 issue of Newsweek titled "Not Another PowerPoint Presentation." The article insinuates that the audience is rude when they act bored and start fidgeting with their techno-devices! The article actually suggests fining the audience -- one dollar for ringing cell phones, and two for BUOB (blatant use of Blackberry.)
What a horrible idea! Blame the audience? Talk about blaming the victim!
If presenters resort to punitive measures to keep audience attention, you can bet that they're not getting their point across very well! Instead, any presenter needs to take responsibility for leading the conversation. And good leadership requires enthusiasm and preparation -- two bare minimum requirements for presenting to an audience!
If you prepare and deliver a fascinating presentation, and your audience won't even think of Blackberrying!
What's ruder -- being bored...or being boring? ¶ 5/05/2005 08:38:00 AM
Oh, those pesky cell phones, Blackberries, and pagers! How do you get people to turn them off and pay attention while you are presenting?
The best thing to do, of course, is
1) to remind people up front to turn off their devices and
2) give a fascinating, riveting presentation... so that your audience won't even be tempted to fidget with their little techno-devices while you're presenting!
To assist you with step one, you can download some very good looking, professional, and totally free PowerPoint Backgrounds for your next presentation. The folks at Parting Water designed a set of 6 free PowerPoint backgrounds that serve as a friendly reminder to your audience to keep the noise level low. The backgrounds are very professional and good-natured.
As for step two, I was shocked and horrified to read the suggestions in the May 9, 2005 issue of Newsweek titled "Not Another PowerPoint Presentation." The article insinuates that the audience is rude when they act bored and start fidgeting with their techno-devices! The article actually suggests fining the audience -- one dollar for ringing cell phones, and two for BUOB (blatant use of Blackberry.)
What a horrible idea! Blame the audience? Talk about blaming the victim!
If presenters resort to punitive measures to keep audience attention, you can bet that they're not getting their point across very well! Instead, any presenter needs to take responsibility for leading the conversation. And good leadership requires enthusiasm and preparation -- two bare minimum requirements for presenting to an audience!
If you prepare and deliver a fascinating presentation, and your audience won't even think of Blackberrying!
What's ruder -- being bored...or being boring? ¶ 5/05/2005 08:38:00 AM
