By Robert Lane
Want to make attractive, artistic text directly in PowerPoint? It’s pretty easy and we’ve just posted a new tutorial that steps through the process. You don’t need any graphic arts experience or special software…only PowerPoint 2007. The lesson explores creating samples like the ones below. Access the decorative text tutorial here.
Filed under: Design of Slides, Visual Language on June 30th, 2008 | No Comments »
By Robert Lane
What does it mean to visually communicate? Scholars are probing that question finally. I recently read a 575-page academic tomb called the Handbook of Visual Communication: Theory, Methods, and Media (2005, London, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers). The book is interesting in its diversity of scope. Topics range across a broad spectrum of visual media concepts that interface with communication theory. The read was a bit challenging however. Being a graduate student myself and having become accustomed to the utter irrelevance (to practical living) of most academic literature, I made it through the text … most of it anyway. I found myself wondering, though, “Yeah, but how would a PowerPoint presenter standing in front of an audience apply all this theory? What would he or she actually do to visually communicate?” I haven’t come across a scholar yet who can answer those questions. Some offer a few ideas and best practices here and there, but no one seems to have a good handle on how we might best convey meaning through perception. As such, future entries in this blog will explore helpful visual communication techniques in more detail.
I did come across one particularly interesting topic in the book. The authors dove into brain functioning and noted that when we see a picture, the brain treats that information as though we really experienced the scene. In other words, although pictures are two-dimensional and mere representations of reality, our brain seems to ignore those facts and encodes the input as though we actually stood there viewing that scene. Our cognitive facilities build an illusion of reality. This phenomenon is very important to visual communicators. It means we can powerfully influence viewers by showing them real pictures while discussing topics verbally. Those pictures will transport people (in their mind anyway) to that physical space, as though being in the shoes of the camera person. What better way can we help others see inside our world, into our thoughts, than to show them a picture of what we saw or yet envision?
Filed under: Books on June 22nd, 2008 | 1 Comment »
By Robert Lane (Aspire Communications)
What does it mean to visually communicate? Scholars are starting to probe that question finally. I recently read a 575-page academic tomb called the Handbook of Visual Communication: Theory, Methods, and Media (2005, London, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers) The book is interesting in its diversity of scope. Topics range across a broad spectrum of visual media concepts that interface with communication theory. The read was a bit challenging, though. Being a graduate student myself and having become accustomed to the utter irrelevance (to practical living) of most academic literature, I made it through the text … most of it anyway. I kept finding myself wondering, though, “Yeah, but how would a PowerPoint presenter standing in front of an audience apply all this theory?” What would he or she actually do to visually communicate? I haven’t found a scholar yet who can answer that question. Some suggest a few ideas and best practices here and there, but no one seems to have a good handle on how we should convey meaning through perception. As such, future entries in this blog will explore helpful visual communication techniques in more detail.
I do, however, want to point out one interesting line of discussion in the book. The authors dive into brain functioning and note that when we see a picture, the brain treats that information as though we really experienced the scene. In other words, although pictures are two-dimensional and mere representations of reality, our brain seems to ignore those facts and encodes the input as though we really were standing there seeing that view. It builds an illusion of reality. This phenomenon is very important to you as a visual communicator. It means that you can powerfully influence viewers by showing them real pictures of what you verbally discuss. Those pictures will transport them (in their minds anyway) as though they were really there, observing what the camera person saw. What better way can you have of helping people see inside your world, into your thoughts, than to show them a picture of what you see or envision?
Filed under: Books, Cognitive Strategy, Pictures, Research on June 4th, 2008 | No Comments »
By Robert Lane
Let’s say you are new to interactive PowerPoint presentation. Standard linear delivery feels comfortable enough but you can’t imagine spontaneously navigating to random slides while performing. The thought of doing so seems scary. After all, what if you get lost, or can’t find what you’re looking for, or show the wrong material? And anyway, you think, “I don’t know how to build all that fancy navigation stuff; I wouldn’t know where to begin with making my presentation materials more dynamic and interactive”.
In that case, finding a safe and easy way to try navigation-based speaking probably is exactly what you need. Certainly the relational presentation books can help, but in the mean time try this: Hide supplementary slides and then access that content on demand, as needed, via hyperlinks. Never heard of hidden slides before? Oh, they are very useful. Work through the brief tutorial below and you’ll see why.
Hidden Slides Tutorial
Create a slide show that has three slides. Format the backgrounds of the slides to be red, blue, and yellow respectively.
Now right click the second slide, the blue one, and from the menu choose Hide Slide (in PowerPoint 2007).
The slide’s thumbnail number should display with a dashed line through it.
Next, click the slide 1 thumbnail, start the slide show, and scroll through the slides. Notice that PowerPoint skips the blue slide entirely, even though it physically exists in the show.
Ok, fine. How does that help an interactive speaker? Activate slide 3 and add a shape to its slide pane.
Right click that shape and choose Hyperlink. Next click the Place in this document tab so that the three slides available in this show are visible in the Insert Hyperlink dialogue box.
Click the slide 2 name and then click OK to close the dialogue box. Great! You just linked the shape on slide 3 to the hidden slide (slide 2).
We’ll conduct a similar process on slide 2, with a slight twist. Add a shape to its slide pane. Then give it a special kind of hyperlink called an Action Setting. Click the shape to activate it and on the Ribbon’s Insert tab, click the Action button. Toggle the Hyperlink to option in the Action Settings dialogue box and then select Last Slide Viewed.
You are done. Go back to slide1, start the show, and scroll to the yellow slide. PowerPoint skips the blue slide of course. Notice, however, that on the yellow slide you can click the shape to display the blue slide, and then click its shape to return to the yellow slide. In other words, you have the option of showing the blue material if desired, and immediately afterwards carry on with the remaining slides in the show.
Here’s another hot tip. Let’s say you add 20 more slides to this show. Copy the shape appearing on the yellow slide and paste it onto all the new slides. Doing so allows you to access the blue material at any time, from any of those slides. And because the link on the blue slide is set to Last Slide Viewed, clicking it returns you to the originating slide, regardless of where you came from. At that point, you are ready to carry on with remaining slides in the show.
This kind of interactive potential is very simple to set up and gives you quick access to optional material that may, or may not, be needed during any given performance. Use it to display references (in large type), example pictures that help explain difficult concepts, or detailed specs that answer specific audience questions.
Filed under: Delivery, Interactive, PowerPoint on May 21st, 2008 | No Comments »