PowerPoint Tip: Spreadsheets don't belong on slides

Frequently people tell me that financial presentations include a huge spreadsheet that has been copied on to a slide. The text and numbers a...

The best tool for presenting PowerPoint on the iPad

In the next few months I’ll be doing a webinar on using the iPad to develop and deliver presentations, but I want you to know about one of t...

PowerPoint Tip: The audience wants the conclusion

In my survey this fall of what annoys audiences about bad PowerPoint presentations, the clear message you sent was that too many presentatio...

PowerPoint Tip: Creating universal icons

When creating visuals, it can be helpful to sometimes use icons to represent items generically, such as people, cars, or objects. You could ...

PowerPoint Tip: Three lessons learned from Pecha Kucha

At the recent Presentation Summit, Ric Bretschneider did a session on Pecha Kucha, a presentation format that has gained a lot of followers ...

PowerPoint Tip: Takeaways from the Presentation Summit

Last month I had the privilege of speaking at the ninth Presentation Summit in Austin, Texas. It is the one time during the year that the pr...

PowerPoint Tip: Adding crosshatching fills to graphs in PowerPoint 2007

When I was presenting a course for accountants in July, a number of the participants mentioned that starting in PowerPoint 2007, they had lo...

PowerPoint Slide Makeover #74: Using an analogy to make a large number make sense

Below I’ve posted a new Slide Makeover Video Podcast based on the ideas in "The Visual Slide Revolution". Presenters often struggl...

Full Results of the Annoying PowerPoint survey

As I analyzed the responses and comments in the survey of “What annoys you about bad PowerPoint presentations?”, a clear theme emerged. Audi...

Survey Reveals What Annoys Audiences About PowerPoint® Presentations

Here is the press release that will be going out that summarizes the results from the recent survey. More detailed results and analysis will...

PowerPoint Tip: Amazing pre-made animation effects

At the end of this week I’ll be travelling to the Presentation Summit in Austin, Texas. It is the only gathering of presentation professiona...

Last Day for What Annoys You About Bad PowerPoint Presentations Survey

Tonight I'll be wrapping up my survey of audience members on what annoys them about bad PowerPoint presentations. I conduct this survey ...

Survey: What Annoys You About Bad PowerPoint Presentations?

At the end of this week I'll be wrapping up my survey of audience members on what annoys them about bad PowerPoint presentations. I cond...

PowerPoint Tip: How animating a graph makes it easier to understand

I spoke last week to a group of executives and one of the challenges that I saw in their presentations was the tendency to put spreadsheets ...

PowerPoint Tip: Saving money on technology purchases

According to retail statistics, this time of year is now more popular for technology buying than Christmas. The back-to-school purchases for...

PowerPoint Tip: Presenting from someone else’s computer

In my workshops it is common that participants ask about what they need to take into account when they must take their PowerPoint presentati...

Breaking the habit of speaking to the screen

In the past, I have discussed the habit some presenters have of talking to the screen instead of the audience when using PowerPoint. In two ...

PowerPoint Tip: You need permission to use YouTube videos

One of the most frequent topics on the PowerPoint newsgroups and forums is how to include YouTube videos in a presentation. People find a co...

Using a tablet or e-reader for Speaker Notes

One of the sessions I’ll be presenting at the Presentation Summit conference this September in Austin, TX is on the topic of being more envi...

Editing old graphs in PowerPoint 2007/10

One of the major changes between PowerPoint 2003 and PowerPoint 2007 is the way that graphs are created. In PowerPoint 2003 and earlier vers...

PowerPoint Tip: Why You Shouldn’t Use Google Images to Find Photos

In my workshops, whenever I speak about using photos in a presentation, someone always asks about Google Images. It is so easy to find pictu...

PowerPoint Tip: Prepare for Problems so you Respond, not React

At a conference in February I heard Bo Boshers share a story of two groups who faced the same situation and had very different reactions. On...

PowerPoint Tip: Formatting text in a table

Recently I wrote about how to format text on slides because text will always be a part of our slides. Today I want to take the topic further...

PowerPoint Tip: Using Exit animation to reveal a graphic

The last step in my five-step KWICK method from my book The Visual Slide Revolution is to Keep the Focus of the audience. The best way to d...

PowerPoint Slide Makeover #73: Making proportions stand out

Below I’ve posted a new Slide Makeover Video Podcast based on the ideas in "The Visual Slide Revolution". A pie chart is better th...

PowerPoint Tip: Text formatting tips

Last Friday I did a web based training session for a consulting organization and one of the issues we discussed was formatting text on slide...

Presentation Lesson from the Applebees Men’s Room

Don’t worry, this is a G-rated blog post. In the last two weeks I’ve had lunch twice at our local Applebees with business colleagues. The fi...

PowerPoint Tip: Quickly adding iPhone or iPad videos to your presentation

Last week the new iPad2 joined the lineup of popular Apple devices that have video cameras. The desire to use those videos in our presentat...

PowerPoint Slide Makeover #72: Revealing details in levels

Below I’ve posted a new Slide Makeover Video Podcast based on the ideas in "The Visual Slide Revolution". Too often presenters ove...

PowerPoint Tip: Equipment to carry when presenting

I was speaking at the CSAE Trillium Chapter Winter Summit last Friday. I brought a lot of cables and equipment because I was doing a live d...

PowerPoint Slide Makeover #71: Using tables in PowerPoint

Below I’ve posted a new Slide Makeover Video Podcast based on the ideas in "The Visual Slide Revolution". A table is a good way to...

PowerPoint Tip: Why presenters spend way longer working on presentations than they need to

One of the issues I am often asked about during my workshops is the length of time it takes to create a PowerPoint presentation. Many prese...

PowerPoint Slide Makeover #70: Using proportional diagrams (example from Pres. Obama SOTU)

Below I’ve posted a new Slide Makeover Video Podcast based on the ideas in "The Visual Slide Revolution". In the recent State of t...

PowerPoint Tip: Can you solve presentation problems by switching tools?

Many people acknowledge that far too many presentations are not designed or delivered nearly as well as they could be. So how can we solve ...