http://www.meetcom.com Good Meeting Communications = Successful Organizations Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:46:24 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I read that Microsoft had it's Financial Analyst Meeting yesterday. I was curious what their PowerPoint slides looked like. Here are two slides from Steve Ballmer's deck. Now, remember I'm a big fan of Microsoft and LOVE PowerPoint. I thought the slides looked OK, but I was disappointed considering they were ... http://www.meetcom.com/ppt-masters-at-microsoft.html I believe words are wonderful. You're reading them now and they are an incredibly effective communication tool if used correctly. The power of PowerPoint is that you can easily mix text, pictures, graphics and charts to get your point across. It depends on your subject, your audience, and the point ... http://www.meetcom.com/picture-vs-text-slides.html PowerPoint is not the enemy, but can be a powerful communication secret weapon, if used well. If you were in a contest to win a million dollars by pitching an idea to a small group of investors for starting a new company which would you choose: 1. Send them a detailed 100 ... http://www.meetcom.com/only-real-bullets-kill.html Anti-PowerPoint articles used to be buried in the business section of The New York Times, or Wall Street Journal. Yesterday, the influence of PowerPoint reached new heights as this "We Have Met the Enemy and He is PowerPoint"  story appeared on the front page of The New York Times. It amazes ... http://www.meetcom.com/the-enemy-is-not-powerpoint-but-bad-powerpoint.html Financial crisis, Healthcare crisis, and now Mideast crisis all caused by PowerPoint. The horrible program that has tortured millions, maybe billions of people to sit through boring, time wasting meetings. Faster than a speeding locomotive, able to leap from any size digital projector or computer screen, more powerful than a nuclear ... http://www.meetcom.com/the-enemy-is-powerpoint.html I recently attended Edward Tufte's full day class "Presenting Data and Information" for the second time. I enjoyed it just as much as the first time and highly recommend it for anyone in the business of designing and producing presentation visuals. If you don't know who Edward Tufte is, he ... http://www.meetcom.com/terrifictufte.html I attended a conference recently that was 50% Panel Discussions vs 50% Presentations.  Panel Discussions seem to be part of the "Anti-PowerPoint" trend. I believe the Panel Presentations "trend" is because they are easy to organize, require little planning, ofter exposure to plenty of willing volunteers who claim to be ... http://www.meetcom.com/death-by-panel-discussions.html When Steve Jobs presents the world listens. Yesterday he presented Apples latest new product, the iPad at a much anticipated industry event.  His presentations are often the high bar to be measured against. His style has changed little over the 20 years I've seen him present. I remember watching him ... http://www.meetcom.com/steve-jobs-presents-the-ipad.html Do you hate PowerPoint? I have to admit that some times I do. Yes, there are times when I have hated PowerPoint. I have lost countless hours of sleep because of PowerPoint. I have missed a zillion family dinners because of PowerPoint. I have missed being home in time to ... http://www.meetcom.com/do-you-hate-powerpoint.html The most important  presentation design tip is to design in some time into your schedule to develop a well designed presentation. PLAN your schedule so you have time to develop well designed slides and a good flow to your story. GOOD design takes time. Throwing together some text bullet points, some charts ... http://www.meetcom.com/design-tip-plan.html