Home Archives for PowerPoint Presentations
December 30, 2009 Leave a Comment

My New DVD – The 50 Best Tips for PowerPoint 2007

Danny's DVD Series "The 50 Best Tips for PowerPoint 2007" I am proud to announce that my latest DVD, “The 50 Best Tips for PowerPoint 2007,” is now available for purchase.

This is a set of two DVD s containing over seven hours of training! Each lesson averages about 10 minutes. So, when you want to work on one specific part of your presentation you can just put the DVD in your computer, locate the lesson and get a focused coaching session – all within the space of less than 15 minutes.

When you want quick answers and a visual guide for the steps involved, this is the DVD for you.

When you want to learn how to use PowerPoint from a professional speaker & trainer and not from a “techie”, this is the DVD for you.

I am also proud to announce that my online bookstore opened this morning. I invite you to visit the bookstore for The Company Rocks. You can also learn about my other DVDs including, “The 50 Best Tips for Excel 2007.”

Thank you for all of your kind words of support as I have built this website over the past year. I wish you a very happy new year in 2010!

Sincerely,

Danny Rocks

danny@thecompanyrocks.com

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Filed Under: Online Store for The Company Rocks, Powerpoint Techniques, PowerPoint Video Training Tagged: , , , ,
December 30, 2009 Leave a Comment

The Online Store for The Company Rocks has Opened for Business!

DVDs of The 50 Best Tips for Excel and PowerPointI am proud to announce that my online store for The Company Rocks is now open!

You can now purchase my two DVDs without leaving my website.

“The 50 Best Tips for Excel 2007” contains over 5 1/2 hours of training. Each video lesson focuses on one tip and you can learn it in @ 6 minutes! The tips range from Beginning Level to the Advanced level. The majority of Tips (30 tips) are at the Intermediate level. If you enjoy the lessons that I post here, now you can own a DVD of the 50 Best Tips – now for Excel 2007!

“The 50 Best Tips for PowerPoint 2007” contains over 7 hours of training on two DVDs! I put a lot of effort into producing this DVD – and the customers who have already purchased it tell me that has immediately improved their presentation skills.

This DVD is unique!

Because, I do not teach PowerPoint as a “techie.” Rather, I am a professional speaker and trainer and I show you how to use PowerPoint as a tool to use during your presentations. Of course I show you how to create animations and how to create custom PowerPoint shows. But, significantly, I demonstrate how best to use custom animations and why you should prepare Custom PowerPoint shows. If you think you know PowerPoint, think again. I guarantee that you will learn new techniques for PowerPoint and … you will learn how to take advantage of the many great new graphic features available in PowerPoint 2007.

I invite you to visit my online store. The DVDs are in stock and attractively priced. I know that you will learn new tips and refine your skills in PowerPoint and Excel when you watch one of my lessons.

  • Invest 10 minutes to learn a new productivity tip – and, save yourself hours of frustration and avoid having to rekey data entries in Excel 2007.
  • Invest 10 minutes to learn a new presentation tip – and, learn how to deliver presentations using PowerPoint 2007 that get you the sale or get your audience to take action.
  • Invest 10 minutes and learn how to use the new Office 2007 interface. I show you how to always have your favorite commands right at your fingertips.

Finally, let me wish you a very Happy New Year in 2010!

Sincerely,

Danny Rocks

danny@thecompanyrocks.com

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Filed Under: Excel Training, MS Excel 2007 DVD, MS PowerPoint 2007, Online Store for The Company Rocks Tagged: , , , , , ,
September 16, 2008 Leave a Comment

Tracking my WPM Count

For my video blog entry yesterday – “Which Presentation Will You Deliver?” – I used a script. I am actually enjoying the discipline of writing and reading the script for these blog entries. My preferred style is to use an outline to guide me as I deliver my presentations. However, I find the “permanence” of an Internet blog demands a more disciplined approach.

I am not a perfectionist. When recording my video blogs, I do a “straight take” – no pauses and no editing.  Of course, I abandon a recording that contains obvious “flubs” or false starts. But, I am content to publish a video blog entry that is less than perfect. I really don’t have the time to go back an re-record the occasional “vocal blemish.”

How long?

My biggest concern is the length of a video blog post. I do not want to condense my posts to fit some arbitrary time limit. My feeling is that if I have something to say, I should post what I want to say – adapting my delivery to fit the chosen media. If my message is compelling, a viewer will stay engaged. And, hopefully, return for more. If not … well, that is my problem. Only time, tracking and feedback from my viewers will help me to find the correct balance between content and time limit.

Since I have been using a script for my recent videos, I have been able to track my Words-per-minute (WPM) count. For my “Which Presentation Will You Give” entry, the script contains 1,130 words. The video is 7 minutes and 17 seconds. This gives me a wpm count of @ 160. This is my normal speaking rate. This feels like a comfortable rate – to me. How does it feel it you?

“Eye-Opening” Experience

Recording my presentations has been “eye-opening” for me. Yes, I deliberately used the description “eye-opening.” I am paying more attention to the graphics and text that I choose for each slide in the PowerPoint presentation. I want to ensure that each slide serves a specific purpose.  Reinforcing my speech and not replacing it. Guiding my audience and not distracting them from my content.

When I do a “live” presentation I never get to see how my slides interact with my speech. Recording  these short video blog posts allows me to see and analyze the presentation. Of course, there is a missing ingredient – the audience. You.

So please give me your feedback. What do you think? Do I speak too fast or too slow for you to understand? Do I talk too much or for too long? Is the video blog format useful – for you? What topics would you like to see?

You can email me – danny@thecompanyrocks.com – or add your comments below. I welcome your thoughts.

News! My new DVD, “The 50 Best Tips for PowerPoint 2007” is available for purchase. Visit my online store for details.

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November 18, 2006 Leave a Comment

Death by PowerPoint – Part 2

I was just re-reading “What Clients Love,” by best selling author Harry Beckwith.  Under the heading, “Lincoln Had No Slides at Gettysburg,” Beckwith offers some classic advice about how to avoid the mistakes that arise froman over-dependence on PowerPoint when making a speech or a presentation:

1) You are not selling the slides, you are selling the people who are clicking the slides.

2) When prospects gaze at slides, they are not looking at what you are selling: you and your ideas!

3) Use slides only to illustrate a point that you cannot express as well with words alone.

4) A slide filled only with words is neither a visual nor an aid.

5) Make contact with your audience – you must look into their eyes and let the audience look into your eyes.

Thank you Harry.  Your advice is invaluable.

Personally, I think that many presenters use PowerPoint for their own selfish reasons. Rather than just outline their talking points (so that they remember what they are going to say) presenters create PowerPoint slide shows.  They think – wrongly – that “if my outline presents my ideas in a logical fashion, why not add some graphics and show the audience how clever I am with PowerPoint!”

As Mr. Beckwith reminds us, the audience is not interested in how clever you are.  They are interested in your ideas – as they pertain to their interests.  However, the audience is most interested in you – how capable you are in executing the ideas that you are presenting.  And… how well you connect with your audience – your clients.

I wonder what would have happened if Lincoln had, in fact, used PowerPoint to “enhance” his speech on the battlefield at Gettysburg?  It would have been easy to fit such a short speech (“Four Score and …”) up on a screen.  But would we have remembered the speech?  Or just read the words ourselves?  And, it might have been a challenge to find the right visuals – hard to top the stark visual presented by the battlefield itself. 

Think about this the next time you are preparing for a presentation.  No slide show can ever cover-up your weaknesses.  Present yourself.  Make contact.  Leave a lasting impression.

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Filed Under: Business Communications, Marketing, PowerPoint, Presentations, Public Speaking Tagged: , , , , , ,
November 14, 2006 Leave a Comment

Death by PowerPoint

I have been preparing for a few speaking engagements coming up soon.  So I was delighted to find a wonderful article in today’s Wall Street Journal, “Tips for PowerPoint: – Go Easy on the Text – Please, Spare Us,” by Jared Sandberg.  (Click here for a link to the full article.)

According to the article, there are an estimated 30 million PowerPoint presentations given each day around the world!  And most of them are poorly crafted and delivered in a manner designed to put most audiences to sleep.

The “point” of using PowerPoint has been missed.  We should use the program to make it easier for the audience to see our point; to deliver a more powerful presentation.  Instead, most presenters use PowerPoint simply because the program makes it so easy to put together their presentation – any presentation.  The focus should be on the audience – why are they there in the audience; what does your need to know; what do you want your audience to do as a result of your presentation?

As the article point out – just because PowerPoint is so easy to use, audiences are subjected to:

Bullet points gone wild – writing paragraphs instead of points.

Presenters who then go on to read these paragraphs to their audience.

Special effects on steroids – just because you can make your text “tap-dance”…

30 slides in a 30 minute presentation (I do hope that you think this is too many.)

In today’s WSJ article the author talks about a salesman whose company sent him to a class to learn how to make an effective presentation without using PowerPoint – they did this because all of his competitors were using PowerPoint and this would be one way to stand out from the crowd.

Indeed, I think that far too many presenters feel that their job is over once they have created the final PowerPoint slide.  They think that the brialliant content they just put on their slides will speak for itself.  Their logic will be irrefutable.  Their audience will clap and cheer when they finish. Wrong!  Wrong!  Wrong!

Audiences need to be engaged.  The presenter’s job is to communicate their message to their audience so that the audience understands the message – and is prepared to take action as a result of that message.  If PowerPoint can help you to achieve your goal, use it.  If not…?  Well, it is less addictive than sleeping pills.

 

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Filed Under: Business Communications, PowerPoint, Presentations, Public Speaking Tagged: , , , ,
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