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Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Now Entering the Post-Template PowerPoint Design Era...
If you are still using PowerPoint templates as a presentation design aid, it's time to stop. Why?
Because we've officially entered the Post-Template PowerPoint Design Era.
Why the Post-Template PowerPoint Design Era? With so many options available for great images, you don't need to rely on a PowerPoint template anymore. As fellow presentation blogger Ellen Finkelstein puts it in her excellent post at Slideshare, "White is definitely the new blue in presentation backgrounds..."
Why did PowerPoint background fashion change? Back in the early 1990's, very few people had easy access to compelling digital photography to insert in their PowerPoint presentations. Today, just about everybody who gives presentations has a digital camera. Use it to capture unique and fresh images for your next PowerPoint presentation. Don't have the talent for taking a great photo? You might be surprised at just how good you are! Don't be intimidated -- if you have a digital camera, at least give it a shot! At the very least, it's sure to be an original.
Can't get the shot you want? Again, you have access to a plethora of great photography online -- something you probably didn't have 10 years ago. Consider Flickr, the social photo sharing site. Many photos are available for use in your presentations through the Creative Commons attribution. If you can't find a unique photo at Flickr, try Morguefile or StockExchange. Both of these sites offer totally free photos. Just be sure to check the licensing requirements on each image before you use it in your next presentation.
Pay a little. If you still can't find the photograph you want, you may have to pay for a stock image -- but just a little. I like iStockphoto -- the prices are usually a buck or three -- and the selection is decent and updates regularly. But be careful! With stock photography, you run the risk of picking a photo that many people have seen before -- so it's not unique. Many times, you risk boring your audience with stock photography. Fortunately, iStockphoto shows you which photos are the most frequently downloaded, so you can avoid photos that everyone has already seen. With a little diligence, you can find something newer, fresher, and hipper.
The days of slapping clip art on a blue background are definitely over. That's just so 1990's! And when the audience has seen a background or image before -- the presenter becomes part of a landscape of visual cliches. The eyes of the audience glaze over. The presentation seem hackneyed. The presenter seems trite. The message gets hazy. Lost.
Use unique imagery. Use your creativity. Your audience with appreciate your effort!
PS -- Need help learning to manipulate photos and other graphics? Ellen Finkelstein also writes to remind me that her ebook, 7 Steps to Great Images, is on sale at her site. The book is easy-to-read, and filled with practical instructions for manipulating images in PowerPoint. Perfect for the Post-Template PowerPoint design era! You can also sign up for Ellen's free tips newsletter. Enjoy!
If you are still using PowerPoint templates as a presentation design aid, it's time to stop. Why?
Because we've officially entered the Post-Template PowerPoint Design Era.Why the Post-Template PowerPoint Design Era? With so many options available for great images, you don't need to rely on a PowerPoint template anymore. As fellow presentation blogger Ellen Finkelstein puts it in her excellent post at Slideshare, "White is definitely the new blue in presentation backgrounds..."
Why did PowerPoint background fashion change? Back in the early 1990's, very few people had easy access to compelling digital photography to insert in their PowerPoint presentations. Today, just about everybody who gives presentations has a digital camera. Use it to capture unique and fresh images for your next PowerPoint presentation. Don't have the talent for taking a great photo? You might be surprised at just how good you are! Don't be intimidated -- if you have a digital camera, at least give it a shot! At the very least, it's sure to be an original.
Can't get the shot you want? Again, you have access to a plethora of great photography online -- something you probably didn't have 10 years ago. Consider Flickr, the social photo sharing site. Many photos are available for use in your presentations through the Creative Commons attribution. If you can't find a unique photo at Flickr, try Morguefile or StockExchange. Both of these sites offer totally free photos. Just be sure to check the licensing requirements on each image before you use it in your next presentation.
Pay a little. If you still can't find the photograph you want, you may have to pay for a stock image -- but just a little. I like iStockphoto -- the prices are usually a buck or three -- and the selection is decent and updates regularly. But be careful! With stock photography, you run the risk of picking a photo that many people have seen before -- so it's not unique. Many times, you risk boring your audience with stock photography. Fortunately, iStockphoto shows you which photos are the most frequently downloaded, so you can avoid photos that everyone has already seen. With a little diligence, you can find something newer, fresher, and hipper.
The days of slapping clip art on a blue background are definitely over. That's just so 1990's! And when the audience has seen a background or image before -- the presenter becomes part of a landscape of visual cliches. The eyes of the audience glaze over. The presentation seem hackneyed. The presenter seems trite. The message gets hazy. Lost.
Use unique imagery. Use your creativity. Your audience with appreciate your effort!
PS -- Need help learning to manipulate photos and other graphics? Ellen Finkelstein also writes to remind me that her ebook, 7 Steps to Great Images, is on sale at her site. The book is easy-to-read, and filled with practical instructions for manipulating images in PowerPoint. Perfect for the Post-Template PowerPoint design era! You can also sign up for Ellen's free tips newsletter. Enjoy!
Labels: design, images, photography, PowerPoint Templates
¶ 6/25/2008 04:14:00 PM 3 Comments Links to this post
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Kitsch and Camp: The PowerPoint Twins
What's Kitsch? Kitsch is a black velvet painting. Garden gnomes, lava lamps, troll dolls, flamingo lawn ornaments, dogs playing poker -- all are classic kitsch. Often of poor quality, kitsch is an object that appeals to lowbrow, popular, or tacky tastes.
What's Kitsch? Kitsch is a black velvet painting. Garden gnomes, lava lamps, troll dolls, flamingo lawn ornaments, dogs playing poker -- all are classic kitsch. Often of poor quality, kitsch is an object that appeals to lowbrow, popular, or tacky tastes.What's Camp? Camp is the presentation of kitsch. Jon Waters, Cyndi Lauper, and Kiss are deliberately campy. Tom Cruise, Judy Garland, and Betty Davis are (probably) unintentionally campy. A campy presentation is so outrageously dramatic, inappropriate, gaudy, affected, or out-of-date it's ironic and funny.
What's contemporary kitsch & camp? When you watch VH1 "I Love the [insert decade here]" - you are watching a top 100 kitsch & camp report. In 3 years, what will be considered kitsch and camp for the '00 decade?
Will PowerPoint presentations make the kitschy cut? After all, there's a certain black velvet quality to many PowerPoint presentations......as well as to most Keynote presentations.
Oh, let's face it. Everything Apple is deliciously kitschy-campy. The Apple "Zen Aesthetic" is contemporary kitsch. By combining this spare design style with:
Kitsch and camp are iconic, ironic fun. When you're deliberately kitschy or campy, you can come across as witty and self-deprecating. However, if you're unintentionally Tom Cruise-y or Apple-campy, you risk appearing self-important or buffoonish.
Try jumping on a couch these days without appearing ironic.
Commit to your camp. If you have a kitschy style, make sure you affect a campy mannerism. This can help you more fully engage your audience. There's no sense having a clipart-y, cluttered, bullet point-y, totally 1990's Microsoft-kitsch PowerPoint presentation if you don't drive it home by, say, swaggering like Johnny Depp in Pirate of the Caribbean. Cringing like the evil Mr. Burns from the Simpsons while presenting with a very 90's slide design is also an excellent kitsch-camp combo.
What's on your kitsch list? What is contemporary kitsch that is currently not commonly recognized as such? What contemporary '00 kitsch & camp will become classic kitsch and camp in the '10 decade?
- the Jobs priestly-black dress code
- the gratuitous and cliched body language of Buddha-pose-faux-humility,
- PlaySkool-ish, Web 2.0-y graphics,
- the promotion of i-Everything,
- dancing iPod silhouettes --
Kitsch and camp are iconic, ironic fun. When you're deliberately kitschy or campy, you can come across as witty and self-deprecating. However, if you're unintentionally Tom Cruise-y or Apple-campy, you risk appearing self-important or buffoonish.
Try jumping on a couch these days without appearing ironic.
Commit to your camp. If you have a kitschy style, make sure you affect a campy mannerism. This can help you more fully engage your audience. There's no sense having a clipart-y, cluttered, bullet point-y, totally 1990's Microsoft-kitsch PowerPoint presentation if you don't drive it home by, say, swaggering like Johnny Depp in Pirate of the Caribbean. Cringing like the evil Mr. Burns from the Simpsons while presenting with a very 90's slide design is also an excellent kitsch-camp combo.If you're going to be design-kitschy, you'll want to commit to being presentation-campy.
What's on your kitsch list? What is contemporary kitsch that is currently not commonly recognized as such? What contemporary '00 kitsch & camp will become classic kitsch and camp in the '10 decade?
Labels: design, fun, images, photography, PowerPoint
¶ 11/13/2007 01:51:00 PM 6 Comments Links to this post
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Who Looks for Motivational Speakers? Seriously?
Honestly. I hear the term "motivational speaker" and I conjure up an image of Chris Farley. He's in that famous Saturday Night Live Sketch -- where his character "lives in a van, down by the river."
It's a hilarious skit. However, it portrays motivational speakers in a less than positive light!
You already are a motivational speaker! When you think about it, anyone who speaks or presents should be a "motivational speaker". After all, the primary goal of every presentation is to inspire action or enthusiasm. If you're speaking and you're not motivating -- what the heck are you doing?
Google Goofed! So I was amused to look at my stats last week
and find that I suddenly had a ton of folks visiting this blog from Google, looking for the term "motivational". During a Google programming flux this month, this little blog was momentarily at the top of the search heap for that word. Here is the picture -- titled "Paranoia" -- that Google deemed an appropriate result for the "motivational" search.
Yes, that's me. I found this Google goof kind of amusing. After all, there's nothing motivational about my silly picture! And I swear, I didn't do anything to "game" Google into putting this unlikely picture at the top of the results!
But it did get me thinking about what kind of person goes to Google looking for a motivational speaker. What's their thought process?
"Hey, I need a speaker. Guess I'll Google one. Or maybe I can get a bargain speaker at eBay."
That scenario seems unlikely. It seems that if you want a motivational speaker, you go by personal referral. I could be wrong, but sites like Facebook or LinkedIn might be more valuable for finding a motivational speaker. With a social media site, you can get referrals from other people you know and trust. Personally, I'm behind in developing my social networking profiles. But if you target your professional services to people in in their 20's and 30's -- you might want to get going with the whole social media thing, pronto.
But who searches for motivational speakers, really? It seems to me that folks who are looking for motivational speakers at Google are probably looking for information on how to become motivational speakers. That scenario seems much more likely than actually using a search engine to find a speaker for your organization.
So, if you're a motivational speaker, speak up! Feel free to comment or contact me. If you feel so inclined, please answer the following three questions:
PS -- if you want to hire me as your company's motivational speaker, I insist that you provide me with a van. Down by the river... ¶ 10/31/2007 02:30:00 PM 2 Comments Links to this post
Honestly. I hear the term "motivational speaker" and I conjure up an image of Chris Farley. He's in that famous Saturday Night Live Sketch -- where his character "lives in a van, down by the river."
It's a hilarious skit. However, it portrays motivational speakers in a less than positive light!
You already are a motivational speaker! When you think about it, anyone who speaks or presents should be a "motivational speaker". After all, the primary goal of every presentation is to inspire action or enthusiasm. If you're speaking and you're not motivating -- what the heck are you doing?
Google Goofed! So I was amused to look at my stats last week
and find that I suddenly had a ton of folks visiting this blog from Google, looking for the term "motivational". During a Google programming flux this month, this little blog was momentarily at the top of the search heap for that word. Here is the picture -- titled "Paranoia" -- that Google deemed an appropriate result for the "motivational" search.Yes, that's me. I found this Google goof kind of amusing. After all, there's nothing motivational about my silly picture! And I swear, I didn't do anything to "game" Google into putting this unlikely picture at the top of the results!
But it did get me thinking about what kind of person goes to Google looking for a motivational speaker. What's their thought process?
"Hey, I need a speaker. Guess I'll Google one. Or maybe I can get a bargain speaker at eBay."
That scenario seems unlikely. It seems that if you want a motivational speaker, you go by personal referral. I could be wrong, but sites like Facebook or LinkedIn might be more valuable for finding a motivational speaker. With a social media site, you can get referrals from other people you know and trust. Personally, I'm behind in developing my social networking profiles. But if you target your professional services to people in in their 20's and 30's -- you might want to get going with the whole social media thing, pronto.
But who searches for motivational speakers, really? It seems to me that folks who are looking for motivational speakers at Google are probably looking for information on how to become motivational speakers. That scenario seems much more likely than actually using a search engine to find a speaker for your organization.
So, if you're a motivational speaker, speak up! Feel free to comment or contact me. If you feel so inclined, please answer the following three questions:
- How did you get into your line of work?
- What's the best way to market your services?
- What advice might you have for newbies?
PS -- if you want to hire me as your company's motivational speaker, I insist that you provide me with a van. Down by the river... ¶ 10/31/2007 02:30:00 PM 2 Comments Links to this post
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Funny PowerPoint - Halloween Dogs
I know the Halloween Dogs make the email rounds every October -- but for some reason, the pictures always seem to make me laugh. And I like dogs (really!)
This year, you can see and share the latest round of sadly funny dogs in a PowerPoint presentation at Slideshare. No need to email the images and choke up your friends' inboxes - just point them to Slideshare:
Personally, I would never dress up a dog in a Halloween costume. Would you?
I know the Halloween Dogs make the email rounds every October -- but for some reason, the pictures always seem to make me laugh. And I like dogs (really!)
This year, you can see and share the latest round of sadly funny dogs in a PowerPoint presentation at Slideshare. No need to email the images and choke up your friends' inboxes - just point them to Slideshare:
Why Dogs Hate Halloween
Ah, what a fine use for technology and social media. The poor, humiliated things!
Ah, what a fine use for technology and social media. The poor, humiliated things!
Personally, I would never dress up a dog in a Halloween costume. Would you?
Labels: fun, images, Presentation
¶ 10/04/2007 04:19:00 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Best Graduation Speech Template Ever - 2007 Edition
Quite a few people are online searching for "graduation speech templates" this month. Honestly, what sort of valedictorian or salutatorian would want to merely "fill-in-the-blanks" for a commencement speech that should be an honor to prepare and deliver?
Creativity and originality is important to the overachievers who give graduation speeches. I kind of doubt they are looking for a fill-in-the-blanks, boilerplate approach.
So, just who are the people who are looking for graduation speech templates online? Are you the same folks who use the old Microsoft PowerPoint AutoContent Wizard to develop presentations like "Communicating Bad News" or "Motivating a Team"?
Or are you just looking for a little fun -- a little humor to relieve the last stressful month of Senior-itis?
Well, here it is, for Seniors only: a free, 2-page pdf download created just for the Class of 2007, which I immodestly call "Best Graduation Speech Template Ever: 2007 Edition". Seniors, you can download it, print her out, fill in the blanks, and easily get that pesky writing assignment out of the way -- a month early!
Don't forget to horrify your parents and teachers by asking them to listen to your templated speech before you threaten to give it to a commencement audience!
Quite a few people are online searching for "graduation speech templates" this month. Honestly, what sort of valedictorian or salutatorian would want to merely "fill-in-the-blanks" for a commencement speech that should be an honor to prepare and deliver?Creativity and originality is important to the overachievers who give graduation speeches. I kind of doubt they are looking for a fill-in-the-blanks, boilerplate approach.
So, just who are the people who are looking for graduation speech templates online? Are you the same folks who use the old Microsoft PowerPoint AutoContent Wizard to develop presentations like "Communicating Bad News" or "Motivating a Team"?
Or are you just looking for a little fun -- a little humor to relieve the last stressful month of Senior-itis?
Well, here it is, for Seniors only: a free, 2-page pdf download created just for the Class of 2007, which I immodestly call "Best Graduation Speech Template Ever: 2007 Edition". Seniors, you can download it, print her out, fill in the blanks, and easily get that pesky writing assignment out of the way -- a month early!
Don't forget to horrify your parents and teachers by asking them to listen to your templated speech before you threaten to give it to a commencement audience!
Best wishes and congratulations to the Class of 2007!
Labels: fun, images, PowerPoint Templates
¶ 5/10/2007 11:08:00 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Top Nine Visual Cliches
Every year or so, I get so sick of a visual image, I cannot even see it anymore.
Recognizing Visual Clichés. I think it started the year a company I worked with "went global". Leadership insisted on sticking a globe on everything -- brochures, annual reports, PowerPoint slides, employee orientation videos, coffee cups -- everything.
For about 2 years, I could not face a map. I would not look at a magazine with a globe on it -- and there seemed to be dozens. Web sites? It was the late 90's, and the term "World Wide Web" became all the rage, so -- globes became visually omnipresent.
I had to avert my eyes to prevent myself from rolling them.
Today, I can look at representations of planet Earth. I remembered that I like globes, maps, and geography -- long before I was visually assaulted with them.
But I frequently develop and dismiss new visual peeves. Here is a current list of my top 9 visual clichés:
Light Bulb = Bright Idea
Handshakes = Partnerships
Chess Pieces = Strategy
Gears = Thinking
Handprint = Handmade
Fingerprint = Unique
Jigsaw Puzzles = Completion
iPod Silhouette = Trendy
Wooden Blocks = Simplicity
What are your pet visual peeves in 2007?
And which image metaphors are you banishing from your PowerPoint slides this year?
And which should go away permanently?
Labels: images
¶ 5/02/2007 03:15:00 PM 3 Comments Links to this post
Monday, October 31, 2005
Free Halloween Clip Art
Boo! It's that time of year: the last day of October calls for scary Halloween clip art or photos to pepper throughout your PowerPoint presentations.
Boo! It's that time of year: the last day of October calls for scary Halloween clip art or photos to pepper throughout your PowerPoint presentations.Ghosts, skeletons, skulls, bats, haunted houses, pumpkins, spiders, witches, and goblins... and all sorts of other creepy crawlies that go bump in the night! You can trick or treat yourself to some awesome Halloween graphics, available for free download at the following sites:
- Microsoft Halloween Clip Art - Creepy clip art from the MS site
- Hershey's Trick or Treat Clipart - the famous candy company offers free clip art for kids
- Indezine Ten dark and disturbing PowerPoint Templates
- Brainy Betty Seven more Halloween .pot files
- Shawn's Web Art Fun Ghoulies from Shawn Kearny
- Abstract Pumpkin - a Halloween inspired PowerPoint Background
updated: September 28, 2007
Labels: images, PowerPoint Background, PowerPoint Templates
¶ 10/31/2005 11:37:00 AM 2 Comments Links to this post
Friday, May 27, 2005
Patriotic PowerPoint
Even though it might be raining all throughout the Memorial Day Weekend, you can still fly the U.S. Flag in your Memorial Day PowerPoint presentations (it never rains in cyberspace!)
You can download truly free flag clip art at the following sites:
U.S. Flag Clip Art
Even though it might be raining all throughout the Memorial Day Weekend, you can still fly the U.S. Flag in your Memorial Day PowerPoint presentations (it never rains in cyberspace!)
You can download truly free flag clip art at the following sites:
U.S. Flag Clip Art
Labels: images
¶ 5/27/2005 08:02:00 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
