Welcome to the April edition of PowerPresentations, The Presentation Team's e-newsletter featuring tips and pointers of importance to today's business presenter.  We welcome your comments and suggestions, and encourage you to share this newsletter with your friends or colleagues.

Free online webcast seminar gives practical tips on creating and delivering effective presentations

The Presentation Team will present a free two-part online seminar on April 29 and 30 from Noon to 1pm EDT to help professionals to conceptualize, design and present effective presentations. The seminars will be conducted by Kevin Lerner, a leading authority on presentation graphics, and a writer for Presentations magazine. The seminars will give attendees valuable skills in:

• Creative visioning and content development to help jumpstart the creative process
• Tips and pointers on using leading graphic creation software tools including Macromedia Freehand, Adobe Photoshop, and Microsoft PowerPoint
• Adding impact with graphics and multimedia integration
• Winning presentation strategies and speaking techniques
• Output/Projection/Internet integration

The seminars' schedule is as follows:

• Tuesday, April 30th, Noon to 1pm EDT (Part One)
• Wednesday, May 1st, Noon to 1pm EDT (Part Two)

The seminars will be repeated on:

• Tuesday, May 6th, Noon to 1pm EDT (Part One)
• Wednesday, May 7th, Noon to 1pm EDT (Part Two)
  

To join the free seminar, participants access the audio portion by simply dialing 1.888.311.9051 and entering conference entry code 07070#. To join the web portion, click here or login to www.linkconferencecall.com/weblink and enter the Moderator's Meeting Number: 6826252.

PowerPointers
Learn to think like a graphic designer
By Kevin Lerner, Executive Director of The Presentation Team

The graphical design of a presentation can often be more persuasive than the actual message.  But the challenge of designing a good looking presentation can be made simple with some basic design strategies...

Slide Layout: Direct your viewer to key points.  Your design goal is to make your message clear, easy to read and memorable. You must also direct the viewer to your key points and present your information in a visually interesting manner.

Type:   Type is not only read, but viewed and perceived.  Getting your message across depends on the type you select and how you use it.

Color:  Understanding color relationships can improve the legibility and effectiveness of your slides.  Color lends emotional impact to your presentations, but too much color or the wrong color can muddle your message. Most people don't know that the selection of individual colors is not as important as the relationships they create.

Visuals:  Visuals add to your content…they should not distract from it.  Your design goal is to make your message clear, easy to read and memorable. You must also direct the viewer to your key points and present your information in a visually interesting manner.

Want to learn more?  A new software tool developed by Proxima Learning called "DesignSense for Presentations" provides interactive lessons, insights, and training to help "teach you to think like a designer, so that you learn to make the right design decisions with speed and confidence."  The $59 software program is fun, easy to use, and unarguably the most powerful graphical training program on the market. It's available for purchase at www.presentationteam.com.

Presentation Strategies
7 tips for presenting more confidently
By Darlene Price and John Messerschmitt; originally published in Presentations Magazine, 8/99

Nervous about speaking? Not sure how to come across like an expert? Try these 8 tips to help you sharpen your presentation skills so you can present with confidence and power.

1. Seize the Opportunity. A key building block for developing confidence as a speaker is to speak, and speak often. Seize every opportunity you can, personally and professionally, to speak in public. If someone invites you to “stand up and say a few words,” or a co-worker asks you to make a presentation, jump at the chance. Don’t wait to be asked…volunteer!

2. Use the "as if" principle. If you want to be a persuasive presenter, start acting “as if” you are. Dress, speak, and behave as a confident speaker would. Assert you r knowledge and expertise by speaking up in meetings, contributing articles to company or trade publications or positioning yourself as the presenter on a specific subject. When you think and act as though something is true, you help make it happen.

3. Realize you are the expert. If someone asks you to speak or give a presentation, there’s a reason- namely that people perceive you as an authority on a subject and they want to hear what you have to say. That should give you some self-assurance. Trust yourself as a presenter, and you’ll project confidence.

4. Meet your audience before you present. A good way to build your confidence (and instill a great first impression) is to arrive early and, as guests enter the room, introduce yourself, shake hands, smile, and look them in the eyes. You will be surprised at how this exercise rids you of nervousness. It also sets the tone for a relaxed natural deliver, making your presentation seem more like an extended conversation among friendly people.

5. Visualize your success. Before any presentation, mentally walk your body and emotions through your talk. See yourself speaking with confidence and poise. Hear yourself speaking with eloquence. Feel your energy as you stand before an enthusiastic audience. Your body will respond to the pictures you hold in your mind. Then, when it is time to perform the real presentation, your thoughts and emotions are in control – you know you’ve been there before.

6. Make anxiety your ally. Many people get a pounding heart, buckling knees, sweaty palms, a dry mouth and “butterflies” are pre-speech symptoms. The key to conquering anxiety is not to abolish it, but to learn to use it effectively. Rather than squandering your energy of nervousness and fear, use your natural physiological reactions to think faster and talk more fluently and with greater intensity.

7. Rehearse, Rehearse, and Rehearse some more. Rehearsal familiarizes your mind and body with the mechanics of presenting. Practice frees you to focus on the message, not the manner of delivering it. This way, during the real event, you are less self-conscious and more audience-conscious. So be sure to rehearse your presentation out loud- even in front of a “dress rehearsal” audience if you can.

Success Stories
Dynamic presentation helps Suffolk Construction to win school contract

Winning a contract in the construction industry is a lot easier when you have a good looking presentation.  Just ask Suffolk Construction.  The Boston-based firm was consistently losing bids for school construction jobs...and their presentation was largely to blame.  So Suffolk came to us to add clarity and dazzle.

Our methods to improve their presentations included reducing on-screen clutter and providing breathing space through several design techniques including:  splitting bullets onto several pages, and by converting bullets into graphical icons with stock photography.  In this case, we worked in Photoshop, using images from Digital Juice and Photodisc.

For the testimonials section, rather than simply typing their clients' accolades, we scanned and showcased the actual letters.  And for showcasing the project's proposed staff, we expanded a single jam-packed slide featuring a photo, credentials, and experience, into three distinct pages.

In the end, the presentation increased from 35 slides to 60...presented in the same 20 minutes...but to a more delighted audience.  And the true mark of success:  a steady stream of new contracts for Suffolk Construction.