mike-pulsifer.org - Latest Comments

Re: DIY Stock Photography

mike2211 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:53:59 -0000

Thanks for the article, you are really doing a great job, I just love the way you go about blogging, keep up the great work.

Re: Slideware Shoot-Out: Keynote ‘09, PowerPoint 2008, & OpenOffice 3 Impress

Tjerk Zweers — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:06:59 -0000

Great comparison!
A short note about setting up guides in PP. Keep the ctrl key down and drag the central access to the place you want. This gives you a new guide. Keep your mouse pointer inside your canvas, or you will erase the guide after releasing the mouse button.

Re: Think Outside the Slides

WVMikeP — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:00:10 -0000

Thanks :)

Re: Think Outside the Slides

Nathan — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:57:59 -0000

Excellent!!

Re: Think Outside the Slides

Alessandra — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:57:19 -0000

very interesting post, thank you for sharing!

Re: Review: Targus Bluetooth Presentation Remote

WVMikeP — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:14:53 -0000

There was a Logitech remote that was handed to me at another presentation that felt too bulky and lacked the features of the Targus. It also had that dongle, which is something I personally would like to avoid. In addition to the limited space at our off-site meetings, if I have to put my 15" laptop on a lectern, there's no guarantee there would be enough room for a dongle. So, I'm still looking. Bluetooth (no dongle) & works well with Keynote. That's what I'm (still) looking for.

Re: Review: Targus Bluetooth Presentation Remote

Jon Thomas — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:59:59 -0000

Thanks for the post Mike. I'm in the market for a new presentation remote. Have you tried any others besides the Keyspan and Targus? Doesn't seem like you love either.

Re: Review: Targus Bluetooth Presentation Remote

twitter-17917257 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:38:41 -0000

Hi Mike,

Thanks for sharing your review. I used a Keyspan remote to solve a unique mac presentation problem. See my blog post "Using Apple Keynote with TurningPoint Audience Response System" http://bit.ly/hSK2q

Re: Sacred Cow #8: The Laser Pointer Is A Useful Tool

Ellen Finkelstein — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:24:45 -0000

Like coreymol, I add animation to a slide when I'll want to call out a particular part. Usually, I just add a red circle around a number, or part of a chart.

Re: Slide Make-Over: US Coast Guard

Name — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:13:12 -0000

I really like this. This comparison screams the importance of slide design.

Re: The Chart Make-Over Challenge of 2009

Ed Kavanagh — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 06:09:04 -0000

Not sure that slideshare group page is working properly, here is my entry
http://www.slideshare.net/edfk/adopt-this

Re: The Chart Make-Over Challenge of 2009

WVMikeP — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 05:48:16 -0000

I don't have the raw data, but I'll surely try to come up with
something this evening.

Re: The Chart Make-Over Challenge of 2009

JanSchultink — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:12:08 -0000

Hi Mike, nice challenge. Not sure whether I can fit the deadline in though. Just in case, do you have the actual data behind the lines in an Excel file? I think a stacked bar chart that compares the number of years it took an innovation to get to 10,50, and 90% penetration is all you need.

Re: Lose the Lectern

coachlisab — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:21:04 -0000

Thanks for referring to my post on using the lectern, Mike. Sometimes we're stuck with what we get, and any way that we can make ourselves more accessible to the audience (physicall and emotionally) will help that relationship and connection.

Re: Slide Make-over: EPA Greenversations

WVMikeP — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:37:22 -0000

Thanks for the feedback!

Re: Slide Make-over: EPA Greenversations

Mariela Castro — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:34:06 -0000

Awesome job, Mike! What a difference between the two slide decks. In corporate communications world, I constantly see horrible power point presentations. It´s amazing how people feel so insecure about the subject they are supposed to talk about, that they fulfill slides with all the information, for fear of forgetting to say something... it´s not only a problem of bad taste or no idea about how to prepare a good slide deck, but much more a problem of low self-confidence!
Keep on helping people on improving their presentation skills. best regards!

Re: Make Your Data Pop

kevinrussellersel — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:25:16 -0000

All employees are treated as if they are a crucial component of the company's success. Our owner and managers are very skilled at fidelity 401k making employees feel valued, respected, and appreciated. Despite long hours and challenging work, job satisfaction is very high because of this approach.

Re: Slide Make-over: EPA Greenversations

WVMikeP — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:19:00 -0000

Thanks.

I can't claim credit for the "Rules" poster. You can find it at http://www.flickr.com/photos/clintjcl/375585107.... The URL is also included in the .key file in the slide notes for those who choose to download it.

I look forward to your post!

Re: Slide Make-over: EPA Greenversations

Nathan Cashion — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:03:41 -0000

Mike, these are excellent.
I recently did a makeover of 3 presentations for a conference (post to come).

Your changes were creative and non-distracting. I love the 'time-line' that you use throughout the presentation. The weekly calendar and "Rules" slide were especially nice. (Did you make that poster yourself?)

I love seeing these makeovers, they give me hope!

Re: Slide Make-Over: US Coast Guard

Jon Thomas — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:33:31 -0000

Vast improvement. The addition of the images at the end are a great attention getter.

Re: Sacred Cow #6: The Audience Wants A Detailed Agenda

Sara K. Collins — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:04:22 -0000

Mike, these are great ideas. Timely for me too, as I work on a presentation for investment bankers. I think the timeline would really appeal to them, and it will let me get away from that boring old Agenda Slide.
I never want people to read when they could be listening to me - I love how all of these designs support the speaker instead of taking the attention away.

Re: Slide Make-Over: US Coast Guard

Todd — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:43:27 -0000

I think you did a great job with the makeover. I found a couple of the pasted-on screenshots a bit hard to read (although I didn't view in full-screen mode). Otherwise, stellar! Thanks for sharing.

Re: Sacred Cow #8: The Laser Pointer Is A Useful Tool

WVMikeP — Fri, 15 May 2009 22:59:39 -0000

Very good points

Re: Sacred Cow #8: The Laser Pointer Is A Useful Tool

coreymol — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:26:48 -0000

Good stuff, and I mostly agree, in some situations I think that "visual" clues can aid in the presentation maybe not a laser pointer. When I create slides I know what I will need or want to place emphasis on so instead of using a pointer I build in actions to my slides for text I will change the color of the important words or sentence or maybe have an underline appear. for objects I have a shape appear around the area I want to point out. pretty effective if done correctly.

Re: Sacred Cow #8: The Laser Pointer Is A Useful Tool

WVMikeP — Thu, 14 May 2009 08:32:21 -0000

Hans Rosling's presentation is a great example of how to interact with your data. By doing it the way he did minimizes the focal points such that you can see what's happening with the data and it's not at all removed from the presenter and his presentation. All too often, instead of bringing the data and presentation together the way he did, people will just try to point to it in a detached manner with their little laser.

That's not to say, however, that there wasn't room for improvement. It would have been great if he could have shared that animation outside of his statistical program. There was a lot of visual distractions around the edges. Also, remove some of the extra "ink" and you'll have a chart that's easier to read. Edward Tufte's "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information," though a very academic, and for some, difficult read, is in my opinion a must read for anyone working with charts. Heck, some times, even tables are more appropriate than charts. This isn't the case with Hans Rosling's data, but we had one such example at work where a colleague was trying to force data into a bar chart. It was an incomprehensible mess. It's not a statement about her, but rather that the chart could not possibly be made to do what she wanted it to do. A redesigned data table emphasizing information density (as opposed to data density) brought forward the message she was trying to get across much more effectively.