Good Powerpoint Slides: Make Objects Feel Real

February 26, 2012   James Long   No comments

Here’s a quick and easy tip to help you make objects in your Powerpoint slides looks and feel a little more real.

Sometimes when you insert objects such as photographs into your slides they can appear a little flat an artificial. One easy way to make them feel a little more real and three dimensional is to add a reflection. Compare if you will the following two slides. They are identical except for the reflection.

No reflection

With a reflection

The mind is tricked into seeing a bear that no longer looks like it has been cut and pasted into to slide, instead looking like it belongs there.

What’s really great is that you don’t need to be a graphic artist with years of experience in Photoshop – Powerpoint 2010 let’s you do this with just a few mouse clicks.

How to Add A Reflection in Powerpoint

  1. First of all insert your picture or copy and paste it into the slide in the normal way.
  2. Now (left) click the image once to select the object (a rectangle will appear around the picture)
  3. Right click the image once and take the bottom option from the pop-up menu (Format Picture)
  4. Select the Reflection option from the dialog box and then select one of the presets. You can
  5. Change the settings for Transparency, Size, Distance and Blue manually if you like to fine tune the image
  6. Click Close when done

That’s it. Now images in your slides will have a much more real feel.

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Two Ways E-Mail Should Probably Never Be Used

February 24, 2012   James Long   No comments

So often these days, I find myself saying to my colleagues that “e-mail was not really the best way to communicate that”.

I frequently see mails where people are ranting and raving at the person in the To: field, and for some not particularly relevant reason, copying the world,  his dog and me. So many times, simply getting up and going and talking directly with someone face to face would have better a far better option. If the person is not near by, picking up the phone would in my view be the next best choice. The ‘New Message’ and button seems to have replaced any need go and talk anyone you absolutely don’t have to.

Another frequent (ab)use of e-mail is for CYB (cover your butt). A lot of people seem to have taken to writing down some very trivial things, such as something like  ’I left a message for you half an hour ago but you didn’t bother to call me back, I just wanted to tell you that I won’t be here this afternoon’ . All of this could of course be left on the voicemail, but then it would not be possible to copy  their boss, their bosses boss, and the recipients bosses boss. Maybe the CEO was in copy too, I cannot tell.

These are just a couple of the ways in which I regularly see e-mail getting abused these days and it annoys me. Because I couldn’t think of anyone to rant at, or anyone’s boss to put in copy, I simply posted it here for you.

Some minutes ago, I stumbled across Everything You Need to Know About Office Email Etiquette at entrepreneur.com. I think I will share the video with all my colleagues on Monday.

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The Seven Cs of Effective Communication – Will Your Communication Be Effective?

February 24, 2012   James Long   No comments

Sometimes old things are even better than new ones.

The Seven Cs of Communication originated in Effective public relations, a classic work by Scott M. Cutlip and Allen H. Center, which was published more than half a century ago in 1952. Various versions of the list have appeared over the years and are frequently quoted in books and training courses. Each version of the list is based on the same basic principles but the adjectives vary slightly.

Below you will find my take on The Seven Cs of Effective Communication, which I hope and believe you will find very useful.

The Seven Cs of Communication is a very simple set of guidelines, which all forms of communication should follow. Whenever you write something, cross-check against this list before you publish. Judge  for yourself whether your communication will be effective.

Clear

Make sure your message is clear and easy to understand. First make sure it  is clear to you, and then think about if it will be clear to whoever is reading (or listening). If there is any doubt about what you are saying or the reader has to hunt for hidden messages in your text, you have not been effective.

Concise

Don’t write ten words, when five will do the job. People lead busy lives. Texts with lots of waffle bore people very quickly. Before you publish, read it back and take out any unnecessary words, sentences or even paragraphs. The communication will be more effective if the message is not lost amongst lines and lines of unnecessary words.

Complete

Be sure to include all the necessary information. If your reader is left with open questions about the main point(s), they will simply go somewhere else. If the communication leads to a decision, make sure there is no need to ask questions. This is especially important if you will not be around to provide answers. Provide enough details that the reader puts his trust in you as a reliable source of information, and can come to a confident decision.

Correct

It is critical that what you are saying is actually correct. If you are answering a question, it is not a good idea to get the answer wrong. You need to ensure your credibility and believability are not questioned in order to be effective. Ensuring that your communication does not include spelling mistakes and typos is a good place to start. If readers spot mistakes that you have missed, they will start to wonder what else could be wrong.

Considerate

Always ensure that your communication is considerate. Be sure to answer the questions you have promised to answer. While things may seem obvious to you, they may not be so clear to others. Try to read and understand your communication from the perspective of the reader. What questions might it lead to? What parts might not be understood or be misunderstood?

Consistent

Make sure that your message is consistent. Don’t start by saying one thing only to go on to contradict yourself later on. Similar to some of the other points above, any doubt will lead to uncertainty and suspicion about whatever it is you are trying to get across.

Courteous

Always be courteous. If someone is taking the time to read what you have written or to hear what you have to say, make sure you give them your respect in return. Make sure your text is polite. Consider the feelings of the reader – especially if it is a subject on which they may not agree with you.

Do I have to follow all of these rules?

Not at all. They’re not rules. They are only guidelines. There will certainly be occasions when you won’t want to follow all of them. The point is to be aware of it, and be clear about the reasons why.

I hope you have found these points useful, and that when you use them you will be able to relate to what I have written. I invite you to leave a comment to let me know how you get on.

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Free Alternative to Webex and GoToMeeting: Use MeetingBurner for Free

February 22, 2012   James Long   No comments

Anyone who is familiar with Cisco’s Webex or Citrix’s GoToMeeting services already knows at first hand the benefits of using an online meeting room for teleconference based meetings. Now there is a completely free alternative to these subscription services, MeetingBurner.

Launched earlier this month after a lengthy beta programme, MeetingBurner now offers completely free online meeting rooms for up to 15 participants. Anyone who hosts meetings with one or more participants joining the group by telephone will benefit from this great effective communication tool.  Now even your remote participants can participate fully, feeling like they are actually in the room.

 How Does MeetingBurner Work?

The beauty of MeetingBurner is its pure simplicity. The sign-up process for the free edition takes literally just a few seconds, asking only the essential details such as username, e-mail address, password and a telephone number. No credit card details are requested because the free service offering is advertised as ‘free forever’.  During the sign-up process you are invited to participate in a free trial for the Professional editions, but unless you want to have large meetings with more than 15 participants or require the use of advanced features such as recording the entire meeting for later playback , you won’t be interested.

Once signed up, you are ready to set up your first meeting from the MeetingBurner Dashboard

From the Dashboard you have the opportunity to ‘Schedule a Meeting’ for later, or to ‘Meet Right Now’. The former is perfect for getting everything set up in advance so that you can send out your meeting invitation with a link to the meeting room already included, the latter really great for impromptu use, such as when you are on the phone to someone and want to share your screen there and then.

The ‘Schedule a Meeting’ for later option takes you to a very simple three step process where in the first step you are asked to give the name and description of the meeting, in the second step to specify the date and time and in the third to define whether to use the conference bridge supplied (note, this is a US premium rate number), or your own conference bridge. Having done that there are a few additional optional steps where additional options such as specifying whether participants need to register in advance can be set, as well the option to add a password which participants will need to enter. At the end of the set up, you will have a link as well as conference bridge details which can be added to your meeting invitation.

The ‘Meet Right Now’ option requires even less information clicks, and you will have your link to share within less than 10 seconds.

Upon joining the meeting room, you will be prompted to download a small java applet which allows the screen sharing to work, and within another few seconds the other participants will be able to see your screen.

In Summary – MeetingBurner is a Very Effective Communication Tool

If you have never tried such an online meeting room before, I can only recommend that you do. Over a number of years I have been regularly hosting meetings where some participants are in the room with me, and a few are able to join by telephone due to their location. Without using an online meeting room, the remote participants feel excluded – they cannot see what’s on the big screen and cannot understand what the discussion is about. With an online meeting room, they can at least see what’s on the screen, whether it be a Powerpoint slide or a document which several people are collaboratively authoring. Of course its still not the same as actually being in the room – body language and gestures are still invisible – but it does go a long way toward closing the gap.

If you give MeetingBurner a try, please do feel welcome to leave a comment and let everyone know how it went.

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Liven Up Your Slide Decks: The Ultimate Guide to Free Stock Photography

February 22, 2012   James Long   1 Comment

stock-photographyWhen putting Powerpoint slide decks together, it’s all too easy to end up with every slide containing bullet point after bullet point of exactly what you want to say. In this post, I will show you a very effective way to avoid bullet-point-itis, by enhancing your slides with a splash of colour imagery. There are literally hundreds of thousands of photos and graphics which are available for use without breaking any copyright rules, and best of all there are many places where you don’t even need to pay a penny and can download them completely free of charge.

First, what you should not do…

Over the past few years I have met numerous people who told me that when they want to insert a picture into their slide desk, they simply go to the Google Image Search page, type in whatever they want a picture of and download whatever takes their fancy. While this maybe all right if the image is free of any copyright restrictions, the chances are that they are breaking the rules and should be avoided.

Stock Photography is the solution!

Yes indeed. What you should do instead is to use one of the numerous Stock Photography libraries that have sprung up and developed in the past years. Stock Photography libraries consist of huge repositories of  photographs, graphics and nowadays even videos and animations that can be licensed for specific purposes such as use on websites, Powerpoint presentations or even in printed magazine articles. These libraries have their database of images sorted into categories and have grown to include pictures of more or less everything and everywhere.

Many of the stock photography images available do have to be licensed by paying a small royalty before the photo can be downloaded. This normally costs anything from a few pence to a few pounds, with the proceeds being shared between the library and the photographer or designer. There are however several entire libraries where images can be download and used completely free of charge, and others which have a sub-collection of images for free amongst their ‘paid’ content.

Where can I find free stock photography images?

Below is a round up of all the great free stock photography sites that I know about. Since I keep finding more, and indeed I think that new libraries are springing up all the time, I will update the post from time to time to add new libraries.

  • Dreamstime.com is one of the big players in stock photography with a reported 13 million images available. While most of the images on the site do cost a small amount of money, there is an absolutely huge number of free images too.  A great search facility is available which allows you to search only the free content. The quality of these images is outstanding and this is my personal favourite site to use. For non-free images the prices are very reasonable with a range of pay-per-download and subscription models available.
  • FreeDigitalPhotos.net is another stock photography library with a many thousands of images, all of which can be used free of charge. In return for images being available for free use, you must credit both the photographer and the library (see details on the site’s ‘Terms’ page). If you want to be able to use the images without crediting, or you need to download a larger version of the image (for print use), then you can do so by purchasing the rights to use the image. Costs for this start at $3 (US).
  • stock.xchng (also known as SXC) has been growing since 2001 and now has around 400,000 images available for free. The site is now owned by stock photography market leader Getty Images, which also owns iStockphoto.com. I don’t use stock.xchang as often as I use the others above. In my opinion the photos are not of quite the same exceptionally high quality, although this does vary from image to image.
  • stockvault.net has images in the 10s of thousands available for free non-commercial use. As I have only very recently discovered this site and have not used it yet I am not going to comment too much on it, save to say that my initial impression is that the quality is outstanding.
  • Kozzi.com is another library with a huge number of superb quality photos. Free registration is required but then members can download up to 30 images per month (limited to one download per day). If more downloads are required, subscription options are available.

If you do know of any sites with free stock photography that isn’t listed, please do leave a comment and share the knowledge with others.

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German is Not English: Beware of Words That Don’t Mean What You Think

February 21, 2012   James Long   No comments

As I have spent a reasonable amount of time living in Germany, learning a new language, I am often aware that that sometimes words that look and can sound the same (or very similar) in both English and German, don’t always have the same meaning.

Sometimes this can lead to some funny situations (there are some really great examples of this below). Sometimes you even have to be very careful as mixing certain English words into a German sentence can lead to someone making a complete fool of or even offending someone! Be aware of this when meeting your German colleagues.

What I was also surprised to learn is that there is even a name for this – False Friends (in German: falsche Freunde).

Don’t worry – since I know that some of you probably cannot speak German I will write all the explanations only in English :-)

  • If you want to get a sausage for lunch, be careful about the similarities between ‘become’ and ‘bekommen’ (which means ‘to get’) – don’t walk into a restaurant and say that ‘you want to become a sausage’!
  • When working in Germany, don’t worry if you boss refused to prepare lunch for you. The ‘Chef’ in German is the boss, and  the ‘Koch’ will be preparing lunch.
  • In the deli don’t forget to take your numbered ticket and watch your manners. ‘Etickett’ means ‘ticket’ not ‘etiquette’
  • The Romans seem to have had a very long lasting effect in Germany. When you go into a book shop, it seems that almost every book in the fiction section is about Julius Caesar & co. No, there’s a simple explanation – ‘Roman’ is German for ‘novel’
  • Have they got a rodent infestation down at the town hall? No, ‘Rathaus’ is simply German for Town Hall.
  • If you want to have marmalade at the hotel breakfast, don’t be surprised to get strawberry jam – ‘Marmalade’ is a general term for jams, if you want Golden Shred you’d be better off asking for ‘Orangenmarmalade’
  • Be careful when giving out gifts to your German colleagues – ‘Gift’ is the German word for ‘poison’ (which of course is almost the French word for ‘fish’, but that’s another story).
  • If you set objectives for your workshop, don’t forget to take some group photo’s for the company magazine – An ‘Objektiv’ is a camera lens!
  • Also, linked to the point above – try to keep perspective of the situation. A ‘Perspektiv’ is a telescope.
  • Don’t worry if one of your German counterparts suddenly expresses concern that you maybe have wild fantasies. ‘Fantasie’ only means a slightly less harmless ‘imagination’.
  • If you have a special dietary requirement which limits what you can eat, be careful when asking about the contents of the food. Asking ‘are there preservatives in it?’ could easily be mixed up with ‘are there condoms in it?’. To help you out with this one – the correct translation of the English ‘preservatives’ would be ‘Konservierungsmittel’. Write it down now if you need to!
  • Also you should avoid using the slang term ‘nutter’ when referring to the joker of the team. The same word (slightly different spelling) in German is ‘hooker’.

There are of course many many more examples I could give here. I have limited myself to my favourites. Leave a comment if you have some other great examples!

 

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First Impressions: The Most Important Six Things To Avoid When Presenting

February 21, 2012   James Long   No comments

When presenting to an audience of people who have never met you before, it is even more important that ever to make that first impression last. People who don’t know you and don’t know what to expect from you will more often than not be somewhat sceptical to begin with. Read on to find out what are the six most important things you should avoid during your presentation.

First of all though, before you even walking into the room take a few moments to make sure that your physical appearance is in appropriate for the situation. Assuming you are in a business environment, you should check that you have you shaved, brushed your hair, straightened your tie and tucked in your shirt or blouse before any of your audience even see you.

Then, just as you are about begin presenting take a few breaths to calm yourself (especially if you are anxoius). Next make sure your voice and its tone are under control as you start to welcome your audience. Finally, check your body language is under control too, to ensure that the members of the audience are paying attention to what you are saying and not, I repeat not the way you are saying it or what you are doing with your hands. Getting it right will lead to the audience seeing you as confident, competent and intelligent.

A few days ago I stumbled across the following video from Michael Grinder. Michael is well known and respected for his exemplary Presentation Skills. This video is a promotional advertisement for his American National Speakers Association presentation in Florida, July 2010, but he is definitely not trying to sell something here.

In his humorous, entertaining and very much directly to the point style, the story is told, example by example, walking through the six most important things that you really should avoid when presenting.

To recap, the most important six things to avoid when presenting are, which can essentially split into two groups of three – talking style and body language:-

  1. Talking Style: Incessantly, non-stop, no time for breathing
  2. Talking Style: Too much energy, almost hyper-active, charging through the content
  3. Talking Style: Not enough energy, the opposite of point 2
  4. Body Language: Dropping arms onto the thighs at the end of each sentence, in a cross between presenting and working out at the same time
  5. Body Language: Continually checking your belly button is still there
  6. Body Language: ‘Milking the cow’ action

Do you have all of these points in check when you are presenting, or can you see something of yourself in there!?

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