Re: presentation

Good points for sure:

Be prepared with a back-up plan.  We were although we did not need it, we
were more relaxed as a result.  You never know what you are getting from
others in terms of hardware and software until it arrives and you test it!

There is nothing worse than being in front of over 600 influential business
people and blowing the presentation!   Without a doubt, this is one of the
most important advertising opportunities available.  Do It Right!

Sincerely


Rob Mellor
Millenium Studios
http://www.milleniumstudios.com
http://www.fallscasino.com

----- Original Message -----
From: Christopher Higgs <c.higgs(at)landfood.unimelb.edu.au>
To: Karen Stafford <webmaster(at)noteworthydesigns.com>; <hwg-business(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2000 11:34 AM
Subject: Re: presentation


> G'Day Karen,
>
> At 08:28 pm 9/01/00 -0600, Karen Stafford wrote:
> >I'm becoming quite Internet-savvy, but not really presentation and
> >PowerPoint savvy yet! I have two afternoons of workshops to present and
> >do have PowerPoint installed on my laptop.
>
> Rob and Gil have both given sound advice!
>
> However, you state you already have your own laptop.  This decreases
> concerns about reliability of your equipment, but not entirely.  It STILL
> doesn't mean nothing can go wrong!!  After being all prepared, the CD on
my
> laptop turned belly-up less than 18 hours before a major presentation -
> fortunately the wonderful people at Gateway lent me a spare CDROM from a
> demo model in their showroom!! :)
>
> The moral is: ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP PLAN!!  Take transparencies - it's
worth
> it just for the peace of mind knowing you have a backup if something goes
> wrong!
>
> However, using your system means you should have the appropriate software
> to display the presentation already installed - that's a bonus.  No need
to
> rely on someone else's dubious system and doubtful software!
>
> Projectors should be able to cope with both Mac/PC input, but check that
> they supply the relevant cable for your operating system.
>
> The major technical problem I've encountered with older projectors is
their
> inability to display anything greater than 16 colours and 640x480
> resolution - something to keep in mind if you have troubles.  Many
> projectors won't go past 256 colours anyway!
>
> Apart from that, the standard rules are:
> * Use a sans-serif font for readibility
> * Use large fonts - the people up the back of the room want to read the
> words too
> (I use 48pt for headings, 36 pt for 1st and second bullets - I know that's
> excessive, but it's necessary for videoconferencing and old habits die
hard :)
> * Avoid dark backgrounds, rely on dark text on light backgrounds
> * consider making your text bigger than your headings - the important
stuff
> is in the text, not the heading!!  Smaller headings mean more room for the
> bulk of your text.
>
> Gil mentioned that the speed of your computer can be a problem.  You can
> get around this with careful planning - if you KNOW something will take
> ages to load, click the button BEFORE you need it and talk about something
> else until it loads.  It's all a matter of timing.
>
> As for the special effects/animation - ditch the lot!!  There is nothing
> more aggravating than watching bullet points "drive in from the side with
> VROOOM sounds"!  Once is amusing, twice is interesting, but after that it
> wears pretty thin.  After 30 mins it actively drives your audience away!
> As Microsoft's own instructions tell you - the special effects should be
> used sparingly to illustrate important points, not for every point you
make.
>
> Flash and Director are fine, but again, constant movement is a distraction
> - it detracts from your presentation.  In the some cases a "Powerpoint"
> presentation is actually better than a Director presentation - the
audience
> feel more comfortable with it and know what to expect.
>
>
>

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