SlideVert: A new Marketing Tool for today's Interactive Audience

Cory M. Grenier recently thought of a new marketing advertisement model using a PowerPoint presentation for the Web 2.0 world we live in today.

Slides + Advertisement = SlideVert

Recently I visited SlideShare and viewed a beautiful 100 slide Keynote PPT Presentation called Thinking of the Future by an IBM Executive named Chirs Sparshott. The presentation was educational, interesting and a very clever use of social marketing. The last few slides subtly promoted IBM's services as the answer to the new technological changes confronting everyday people. The last page had links to IBM's website. In fact, the presentation was a SlideVert. A separate presentation by a different author titled The Brand Gap has been viewed over 400,000 times on SlideShare!

What if we upload a meaningful PPT presentation to SlideShare or on your blog that adds value for the audience with engaging visuals, hard facts and a concrete educational message. But during the conclusion or end credits you provide links to your company's offerings and related resources. Oh yeah, why not include your email address and office number too so readers can contact you with questions or suggestions.

Use your creativity, leverage your education and engineer a message that fits today's Social Media web 2.0 webscape. It is time all business people from the CEO to the marketer invest as much time targeting the ears and eyes of people, and begin to listen to their voices. A Slidevert can be the beginning of that hyperlinked conversation.

References
The Cluetrain Manifesto
Doc Searls

Powerpoint Comedy

Hi,

This guy sums many of the important point's we are taught in class and he does it in a really funny way.

Youtube video clip (5 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cagxPlVqrtM

- Tore

Refreshing alternative to PowerPoint

...if only it were Free! SlideRocket is a powerful new tool to edit, share and author digital presentations. The software includes smooth special effects that if used correctly can add to the storyline, not distract from the message. Since SlideRocket is an online application, the software makers claim to provide greater options to collaborate, link data and securely share presentations online. The software even differentiates its users into five clear needs:

• Sales
• Design
• Education
• Marketing
• Events

Unless you subscribe for this 'software as a service' model for $10 a month as an individual or $20 for an unlimited account business version, then you cannot download the special presentation player required to playback the presentation. A major downside.

SlideRocket's Comparison to Slideshare
Most people will not pay money for a software, which they feel PowerPoint can do an adequate job. First I would like to remind you that nearly all of us or our employer's have paid for PowerPoint too, only the payment was a one time charge for Microsoft Office. Unlike year or more product releases of PowerPoint, SlideRocket is continuously upgraded and made available. A key feature is that SlideRocket presentations are always accessible on the Internet, so if you can touch the cloud, you can grab the presentation regardless of location. We are all tired of trying to email 10MB PPT slide decks. For those willing to invest in the latest technology that has a chance of differentiating you from your peers, competitors and the ordinary, then SlideRocket may be the answer. Right now, I am still considering my options. But this application has me excited about the future of PC presentations.

References
Sliderocket

Nov. Featured Book

Author: Stephen Few

Published: Jan 2006

In the book, Mr. Few highlights the common design mistakes of dashboard design and provides tools to enable the audience to easily get the relevant information quickly. Stephen draws from psychology to define best practices for organizing business information in a way that elevates accurate interpretation. He promotes the use of Bar graphs for clearly displaying information, while demonstrating that our human parallel processing of our eyes and brains do not effectively interpret quantitative scale using pie charts or radar graphs. The book insightfully shares that Dashboard Design has different forms depending on the different role of which it will be used.

Few classifies Information Dashboard into three types relative to the Role:

—Strategic Purposes: The primary use today is the Executive Dashboard that provides a quick overview that decision makers need to monitor the health and opportunities of the business.

—Analytical Purposes: Require more context behind the numbers, including meaningful comparisons, historical background and more specific performance evaluators.

—Operational Purposes: Monitors Operations that are continuously changing and may require immediate attention. Operation Dashboards require the most specific and highest level of detail, but must also be clear and simple for the audience to understand quickly what needs to be done.

Before this book, few people knew to differentiate Dashboard Design according to the role the information will be used for—Strategic, Analytical or Operational.
Another key takeaway is to avoid fragmenting data sets that share relationships. Stephen argues grouping interrelated together on a single screen can tell a more complete story. Mr. Few says of Information Dashboards, "simultaneity of vision that it offers: the ability to see everything that you need at once. This enables comparisons that lead to insights."

Information Dashboard Design is a must read for presenters of information at all levels of the organization. Stephen Few provides practical lessons on how to raise audience comprehension of the data and make your meetings more valuable.

Stephen Few has 20 years of expertise in the field of data visualization and is an MBA professor at Haas Business School, UC Berkeley.

Click for additional Resources:

Stephen Few's Blog - Perpetual Edge

Stephen Few on Sticky Stories with Numbers

Notes from the book The Articulate Executive In Action

Here are some notes I made from the book The Articulate Executive In Action by Granville N. Toogood. It is just a fraction of what the book talks about but it can help you when you are making a presentation.

CVA = Communications Value Added

What is it?

- That something extra you can give
- You are not afraid to show yourself
- Passionate. You are a true believer.

Example of a true believer:

“A man named David Orrick enthusiastically pitches his industrial strength cleaners on the radio and cleans up big time”

Who has CVA?

- Jezus
- Mohammed
- Gandhi

You know these people because of what they did, not because of their written words!

The Seven principles of CVA

1. Never bore
Be passionate, use anecdotes

2. Always leave people with more when they walk out than when they walked in
Give Value

3. Always be master of your presentation, not the other way
PPT should help your pitch, not be your pitch

4. Speak only about what you know
Stick to the roots

5. Always be sensitive to the needs of your audience

6. Speak in pictures
No abstract things. Give war stories or solid but simple evidence

7. Preparation
Know what you want to tell. Do your homework

-Bastiaan

An Introduction to Sliderocket - Innovative online Presentation Application

An online presentation service has recently become avaliable featuring richer graphics options and special effects that are support visual storytelling. However while the online version is free, to make SlideRocket usable offline requires a SlideRocket Satellite Player at a pay-by-month fee.

PowerPoint also costs money in the Microsoft Office suite, but most PC users are already using PowerPoint. Understandably users will be hesitant to spend money for the added features of SlideRocket. But if you have the ability to test out the 30 day trial use of the Player, or want to invest in a powerful PowerPoint alternative software that can differentiate your presentations from others, than I recommend SlideRocket.

Personally I am still on the fence whether to make that investment. To see an interesting and educational tutorial about how SlideRocket can help you share your story, please click below.

SlideRocket Product Demos

Sliderocket Reviews on CNET.com

Effective Use of Story - John Doerr

Silicon Valley entrepreneur John Doerr delivers an emotional presentation about why we need to do more to save the planet from destruction. John effectively uses a personal story about his daughter to frame his message of environmental responsibility and opportunity.

Effective use of Story - James Nachtwey Presentation

Award winning war photographer James Nachtwey personalizes his message to string together his documentation of global violence and the senselessness of War. A serious talk with a powerful and emotional message that influences not only how we think of the effect of War, but also how we feel about it.

Effective Communication of Data

Effective Communication Of Data Inspired by Stephen Few

From: presentationinnovation,
3 minutes ago

Effective Communication Of Data Inspired by Stephen Few

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: communication visual)

A Visual Summary of Stephen Few's Information Dashboard Design by Cory Grenier

SlideShare Link

Presentation Lessons Learned from 'Present Like a Pro'

Lessons Learned from Present Like a Pro

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: pro a)

Cory's Presentation Tool Box Two

Cory\ S Presentation Tools Two Power Formula And Trust Oct 24 2008

From: presentationinnovation, 1 minute ago

Cory\ S Presentation Tools Two Power Formula And Trust Oct 24 2008

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Pictorial of Toogood's POWER Formula for effective Presentation Delivery.


SlideShare Link

Cory's Presentation Tool Box

Cory Presentation Toolbox Guanghua Mba Course 10.10.08

From: presentationinnovation, 23 hours ago

Cory Presentation Toolbox Guanghua Mba Course 10.10.08

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: presentation tools)

Useful online tools to gain inspiration, function, and publish value adding presentations.


SlideShare Link

Hans Rosling on TED

A really amazing demonstration at the end by Hans Rosling to make us remember his key message.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty.html

Zara Kwan

Rich Comedy on TED

So called nerdcore comedy - very fun to watch, highly recommended.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ze_frank_s_nerdcore_comedy.html

Or search for Ze Frank on TED.

Enjoy!

-Mo Zhou

TED in Chinese

TEDtoChina.com

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: chinese tedtochina)

Beijing Zhongguancun Toastmasters Club

A great method to get practical experience speaking in front of groups is to join a local Toastmasters club. Founded over 80 years ago in California, today Toastmasters International serves nearly 250K public speakers globally in over 90 countries.

For students at Peking University I recommend attending the Zhongguancun Toastmasters Club located in the 4th Classroom, 20th Floor, Tower B, Tsinghua Science Tower, Tsinghua Science Park, Wu Dao Kou, Haidian District, Beijing, 100084, China or please look for other Toastmasters locations in Beijing.

Meeting Time: 7:00 p.m., Tuesday
The Club is open to all. For details you may call 13810317670 , email cindyaidover@hotmail.com.
References

• Toastmasters International at Wikipedia
• http://www.toastmasters.org/

David S. Rose: 10 things to Know before you Pitch a VC for Money

David S. Rose provides a practical 15 minute tutorial on how to pitch to venture capitalists (VCs) using Powerpoint. As China's economic growth continues to outpace other nations, many entrepreneurs from the MBA ranks may soon be in front of an audience of VCs. If you're thinking of starting up your own firm and need to learn how to present to win capital then this is a useful presentation.

Ted Bio - David S. Rose "The Pitch Coach" is an expert on the business pitch. As an entrepreneur, he has raised millions for his own companies. As an investor, he has funded millions more.

Oct - Featured Book

Full Title: Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery
By: Garr Reynolds
Published: Jan 2008

Garr Reynolds is a former Manager of WW User Group Relations at Apple Computer, and is a currently a Marketing and Multimedia Presentation Design at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan.

In this "How-to" book, Presentation Zen, Garr offers a fresh teaching approach to presentation design. Garr organizes his book into three sections Preparation, Design and Delivery. Within these sections Garr stresses Clarity, Simplicity and Naturalness.

He cautions not to begin writing your presentation in PowerPoint, and instead to get out a notepad or scratch paper and jump into the creative process feet first. Imagine Shakespeare writing Romeo & Juliet in PowerPoint slides, it would have proved creatively impossible. Before digitizing your presentation, write it down on paper, yellow post-its, or a whiteboard. Generate a lot of ideas and then cut away the unnecessary information, then prioritize and organize your main points.

Garr also stresses not to "Data Dump" or simply paste entire excel sheets full of figures into a PowerPoint slide. Instead Garr asks readers to crunch the numbers first, consider the implications and wider relations and sum up the conclusion on each slide. He points out that the slide is not the place for you to walk the audience through a detailed walk through a process, that is better left to an actual printed document with deep explanation. Rather every slide should state a conclusion, a key takeway that the presenter can expand upon during the presentation.

This is a new and valuable approach to presentation design in a digital and information rich society.

External Review
"Please don't buy this book! Once people start making better presentations, mine won’t look so good. (But if you truly want to learn what works and how to do it right, Garr is the man to learn from.)"
Seth Godin, Speaker and Blogger & Author, Purple Cow

References
Garr Reynolds speaks @ Google March 2008 Video
Garr Reynolds Presentation Tips
PPT Review of Presentation Zen
Presentation Zen @ Amazon.com

Dr.Randy Pausch and his Last Lecture

Dr. Randy Pausch, who passed away earlier this year due to terminal cancer, delivered one of the best speeches of all times.

Many professors have been asked the hypothetical question "if it was your last chance to impart knowledge, what would you deliver?" In the case of Professor Pausch, this question was not hypothetical. Though it was a speech designed to pass on knowledge to his children, it is very inspirational to all of us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo is the link to watch the lecture on youtube. If the link does not work, go onto youtube.com and search for randy pausch.

On a side note, there is also a novel about Randy, named for those interested. And if you haven't read , I would totally recommend it. It's a must read in my opinion. It discusses much of the same topics as Randy, and it is one of my all time favourites.

-Mo Zhou

Nice slideshow about social media (posted by bastiaan)

What The F**K is Social Media?

From: mzkagan, 3 months ago

What The F**K is Social Media?

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: socialmediamarketing marketing)

SlideShare Link

4'33 & PPT

Incorporating Mr. John Cage’s 4’33 with a PPT presentation was experimented yesterday. In my belief, the sound of silence may be the best sound to convey the simple theme I created, “Life is Beautiful”. It gives the audience a chance to absorb and reflect on the theme. The photographs in the slides should serve as a powerful enough catalyst, and further explanation by the presenter will only take away from the audiences’ imagination.

Unfortunately, the presentation did not deliver the effects intended. Feedbacks generally surrounded, “perhaps more technicalities of the photographs should be discussed”, “Maybe a bit of music in the background would help”, and “the ending was too abrupt…” These were all great comments I appreciate greatly, but I do disagree with a few of the points. Explaining why a photograph is beautiful is like explaining why a joke is funny. Breaking the photographs down to the lighting, shades, etc. murders the life and beauty within the photographs. Moreover, it’s not about the photographs, they serve as a simple catalyst, with the only purpose of inspiring us to think of the theme: “Life is Beautiful”. It’s interesting to hear someone recommend some music in the background may help…In my opinion, a piece of music was played throughout, and it was John Cage’s 4’33. Indeed, the ending was a little abrupt. The original intention was to imitate a live performance of 4’33, where the performer gets up, and walks away in silence. But, I do agree this imitation may be a little too much for a PPT presentation.

In this day and age where silence is perceived as awkward, I remain to believe there are many occasions where silence may better convey a message than words. For example, in today’s commercials, there are too many images, too much noise, and too many words. It defeats the purpose of making the brand/product memorable. By Incorporating some silence and simplicity, an idea may well be better conveyed.

-Mo Zhou

A Good Place to Start In 1984 a conference was founded in California to bring together top experts from Technology, Entertainment, and Design. In 2007, the conference dubbed ‘TED’ released over 200 presentations on the Internet to the public for free viewing or download to your desktop or iTunes. Each week new presentations are added, which feature some of the top global scientists, business experts and thinkers. In more recent times, TED implemented an 18 minute speech limit. Coincidentally a US Navy study found that 18 minutes is the optimal duration for an audience to absorb and remember what a speaker is saying. Websites like TED give you an advantage as a speaker. By reviewing subject matter experts in your field you can gain inspiration and knowledge in your presentation topic. In addition you can incorporate their insights into your presentations, add your own interpretation and analysis, and replicate your own ideas by creating a new ‘meme’. I encourage you to go to www.ted.com and watch presentations that interest you. As you learn new ideas, pay close attention to the speaker’s opening, ending and delivery style. Observe what works and what does not. If a speaker inspires you, ask yourself ‘why?’ While you internalize new speaking, delivery and presentation techniques, take care not to simply mimic or directly imitate. Instead study the most effective elements of each speech and personalize best practices. Think inspiration, not imitation. People are influenced by your words when emanated from the inner you. And remember to tailor your message not your personality relative to your audience.

Case Example: In 2005, a Chinese VP, GM of Lenovo China asked me to deliver a presentation to Haas School of Business MBA students from UC Berkeley visiting Lenovo in Beijing. This request terrified me. Haas is one of the best business schools in the USA, and is located in my hometown – the San Francisco Bay Area. I knew my title and education were far below each audience member. I shakily delivered the presentation and quickly sat down. After the presentation my Chinese Executive boss instructed me, “Never show your fear. I know these guests hold higher titles, more experience, and better education than you. But you are the expert on Lenovo. You know our business better than they do. Focus on your message.” Next a Canadian employee at Lenovo told me some equally strong advice, “I do not know why you are intimidated by high-titled executives – they are just people too! You acted really stiff and serious in front of Haas. But that is not the Cory that people know. It seemed like a different person was up there. You should show your personality, your charm. He paused. People like that guy!” After this experience I confidently focus on my message and act like myself whether or not the audience is the UK Ambassador to China, Chairman of Ericsson or MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

If you are presenting to a group of CEOs, academics or the Press - regardless of your rank or position, avoid the temptation to act higher level than you actually are. Likewise never act insecure in the face of a prestigious audience. Your personality should remain naturally consistent across audiences. This will demonstrate your confidence and add texture to your core message. Focus on your key message, not on yourself. You will improve your chances for success if you provide value added analysis, take a position, and leverage your personality to endorse your message. Observe how speakers from all social backgrounds deliver confident presentations to highly elite audiences at the TED conference. Benchmark their performances and internalize their best practices!

- Cory, Guanghua Professor of Executive Level Presentations and Visual Communication; Photo Credit property of www.ted.com