In 1997 IBM coined the term e-Business which helped define a decade of change in the way we use technology to conduct business. This concept caught on like wildfire and soon everything became prefaced with an “e” e-New York, e-fiction, e-ciao (see below), e-thwack etc. but over time e-Business just became business, or rather that which was new and different became the norm. Now it’s just business as usual.

e-ciao. Vespa is an IBM e-business.

Today SlideRocket is helping define a new category of communication technology known commonly as online presentations. Just like e-Business we believe that over the next few years online presentations will become the new norm and what was once typified as an online presentation will be just a presentation. The reason this will happen is that online presentations represent significant advantages in the way that you experience presentations and deliver stories (story = strategy + value).

To understand those advantages we first have to understand what an online presentation is. Enter the 8 Principles Of Online Presentations, a list we’ve devised to serve as a guideline for our category. It’s a work in progress so feel free to comment and add your own thoughts below.

8 PRINCIPLES OF ONLINE PRESENTATIONS

#1 Available – Access anywhere you have an Internet connection and a browser, nothing to install, upgrade or (more…)

Last November, Rachel Arndt from Fast Company ran a slideshow titled, The Coolest Products From the 2010 Chicago Innovation Awards (you can watch it here). 2 slides in, I came across crowdSPRING and after reading the brief description I just knew I wanted SlideRocket to partner with them. Here’s how Rachel describes them.

SlideRocket partners with crowdSPRING

crowdSPRING connects companies looking for creative work with web designers, artists, marketers, and writers who can fill their needs. The company, which launched in 2007, now touts 75,000 members, and bills itself as the “world’s largest marketplace for creative services.”

What a great resource that would be for SlideRocket I thought to myself. We so often get SlideRocket users asking us for referrals to affordable designers who know how to make a presentation stand out from the crowd and likewise from designers and agencies looking for projects to work on. Wouldn’t it be amazing to let them find each other online? (more…)

Many presenters, particularly novices, struggle to find a presentation style that works best for them.  Luckily, throughout the years, after much trial and error, many successful techniques and methodologies for presentation creation and delivery have emerged, giving speakers a variety of existing approaches to “borrow” from.

From top left: Lawrence Lessig, Masayoshi Takahashi, Seth Godin, Mino Monta

Here, we’ll describe and evaluate some of the most famous – and popular – presentation methods.

1. The Takahashi Method
This extremely unique method calls for the use of very, very large text.  The goal is to use no more than a handful (preferably, less than three) of easy-to-understand words, or a single image or photo with no accompanying words, on each slide, to deliver a very clear, very high-impact message in a very short period of time.  Many believe that this approach forces the audience to listen to the speaker, since the slides alone do not demonstrate all the content to be delivered.

2. The Lessig Method
Based on the style of Stanford Law professor Lawrence Lessig, this method is quite similar to Takahashi’s approach in its simplicity.  Presenters who use this technique incorporate only a brief quote, a short sentence, or a photo with a caption onto their slides, and spend only a few seconds on each.  But, while Takahashi-style presentations are often rather short – usually ten slides or less – Lessig presentations are often quite long, sometimes hundreds of slides that are passed through very quickly.  The idea behind this method is that the rapid-fire pace of delivery prevents the audience from growing bored or getting distracted.

3.  The Godin Method
Although not yet formally recognized by presentation pundits, this method, made popular by best-selling author and marketing guru Seth Godin, focuses mostly on the element of presentation slide design – particularly, how to select accompanying visuals to enhance messages appropriately.  Godin promotes the use of bold fonts, contrasting colors, striking images, and other clear, compelling visuals to better convey thoughts and ideas.

4. The Monta Method
Like the Takahashi approach, this technique originated in Japan.  Introduced by a knowledge worker in the tech field, it emulates the personality and charisma of a popular game show host.  Presenters are encouraged to use questions and answers on all their visuals.  When the question is posed to the audience, the answer is kept covered or hidden, only to be revealed once attendees have tried to “guess”.  The advantage of this approach is that it is highly effective at keeping the audience interested and engaged, and thus, their attention is less likely to wander.

This is the continuation in a series of Incredible resources for presentations. If you have an idea for incredible resources or want to add one of your own just add a comment below this post or see the whole incredible presentations series.

Find more great tips and resources at the Presentation Skills Launch Pad.

This is a guest post by Vivek Singh. He is a marketing manager by profession. He is also the author of the popular blog  www.allaboutpresentations.com. Visit his blog for useful tips on presentations.

If your CEO remembers the top 3 things you said during the presentation, you've done a great job.

Making a presentation to top management is very different from making a presentation to the middle/junior management. Today we will try to understand what exactly this difference is and how to successfully present to top management.

Present the conclusion at the very start
In school you would have written a précis. A précis is a summary of the main points of the story. You need to do the same thing for your top management. First you make the presentation the way you normally do. Then add an empty slide at the very start (let’s call it the summary slide). Run through your presentation and put down the main points on this summary slide.
Top management is not here to listen to the complete story. You cannot afford to build the argument gradually and reveal the conclusion at the end. Instead put the conclusion at the start. Then go on and explain how you arrived at this conclusion. Your audience will ask for explanations and details wherever they need. You need not provide too much information. Remember, less is more with the top management.

Time is money
Be short and sweet. Do not be slow and do not repeat your points. Your CEO is always busy and cannot manage to sit through hour long presentations. Neither does he have the time nor the attention span. You need to share everything you have to say in crystal clear terms and then leave the questioning to the CEO. Whenever he seeks explanation, you can go in-depth.
The success of your presentation can be measured by a simple question. “If your CEO remembers the top 3 things you said during the presentation and why you said those things; you have done a great job.”

Use Back up Slides
When you present to the top management use what is called a ‘Back up Slide’. Suppose you are presenting on cost cutting. You have done a lot of study and your presentation talks about your 5 findings; the areas your organization is losing money and how to cut costs in these areas.
You have made detailed calculations to arrive at these findings. Your presentation has these findings and then you go on to recommend cost cutting measures. You are not going to present these detailed calculations (which led you to the findings) else the presentation will stretch for hours.  In such a case, keep these calculations ready on a slide (place it after the last slide). You might be asked to prove your findings, in which case you can open these back up slides. These slides support your findings. They are to be presented when your findings are being questioned and investigated in details.

Do not try to show you have worked hard
There is a strong urge in managers to show to the CEO that they have worked hard. Because they get to spend less time with the CEO they make their best efforts to impress him. This behavior leads them to fill their presentation with minute details. The number of bullet points is treated as directly proportional to work done. The more the bullets, the harder you have worked.
This needs to stop. What will impress the CEO is a simple presentation which shares the crux in a few slides and is backed up by solid reasoning. If your presentation gets your point across clearly, the rest will take care of itself.

Give a Handout
Your CEO will be busy with his/her Black Berry most of the time. He will check his mail and get urgent calls. Understand that there are more important things for him to do. It would be great if you carry a print out of the main points of the presentation. Make it no longer than one page. If you HAVE TO share some data/charts to back up your main points, then use Annexure. In the annexure, share the chart/graph; give a suitable heading and a one sentence summary of the chart.

To read more presentation tips visit Vivek’s blog All About Presentations or read other tips in this SlideRocket blog series.

You’ve done your research.  You’ve fine-tuned your content.  You’ve created a killer slide deck.  And, you’ve practiced over and over again.  What could possibly go wrong?

Are your presentations online?

The answer is – a lot!  If your slides are stored on your desktop or laptop, you may be leaving yourself open to major problems.  Many experts believe that hosting your presentation on the Web can reduce risks and help ensure a more seamless and trouble-free delivery.

Why do you need to put your presentation on the Web?

1. Computer Crashes
It’s the night before the big presentation, and you’ve decided to do one last dry run.  Halfway through slide number four, you get it – the dreaded “blue screen of death”.  And, to make matters worse, you didn’t make a back up copy of your deck.  You’ve now got a big problem on your hands, and will have to stay up until all hours of the night to re-create your presentation.  But, if you had posted a final copy on the Web, you could simply rent or borrow any Web-enabled PC to gain access your slides.

2. Corrupt Files
Perhaps your security software is out of date, creating major gaps in how completely your desktop or laptop is protected.  What happens if you get a virus (one that corrupts your presentation file)?  You’d be left with no visual aids for the audience – an issue that could seriously impact the effectiveness of your presentation.  But, if your slide set had been stored on the Web, it would be safe, virus-free, and easy to retrieve, regardless of what happens to your PC.

3. Version Control
Like most presenters, as you edit and modify your slide set, you likely end up saving multiple version of it on your PC.  Yet, in the midst of you pre-presentation jitters, you may accidentally open the wrong file on the big day.  Even worse, you probably won’t even realize your mistake until well into your session.  Which means, you’ll have to stop and switch decks mid-way – throwing both you and your audience off track.   But, if the final slide deck is posted to the Web before delivery, version control issues become non-existent.

4. Hyperlinks
Many presenters include hyperlinks within their slides, so they can easily get to Web pages they wish to refer to as they are speaking.  Now, imagine you have an outdated laptop without much processing power.  As the browser is opening, your PC locks up, making for one very awkward moment.  However, if you had been delivering a slide deck that was already on the Web, the browser would already be opened and the Web site would load quickly.

5.  Absentees
What happens if someone important can’t make it to your scheduled session, due to traffic, weather, or some other unexpected event?  In certain scenarios (for example, if you’re a sales rep giving a product pitch, and the missing person is the decision-maker), absences can make it nearly impossible to achieve your goal.  If your slides are on your laptop, there will be no way to share them without using a third-party tool – something that can take time to set up, and may delay the start of your session.  But, if you’ve already got your presentation hosted on the Web, it can be easily accessed from remote locations.  So, all important stakeholders can experience your slides, even if an emergency has prevented them from doing so in person.

Want more valuable tips on effective presentation creation and delivery? Review our archive of presentation tips and check back every week for new posts.

We are proud to announce that SlideRocket is a part of Google’s newly launched Google Apps Marketplace. Now over 2 M Google Apps customers can access SlideRocket right from Google’s universal navigation bar.

The integration between SlideRocket and Google Apps makes presentations more dynamic than ever.  Some great benefits include real-time updating of SlideRocket charts and graphs with data feeds from Google Spreadsheets, single sign-on, contact integration, and Google Presentation import. Combining the information and content in Google Apps with SlideRocket’s presentation design and management capabilities turns ordinary data into high-definition, visually captivating presentations that can be securely controlled and measured.

This is one more step in turning a common business tool into living, breathing and dynamic web content.

View a presentation with all of the information by clicking here. Or check out the press release here, for the full list of benefits.

You spend countless weeks researching, compiling, and preparing your content.  You practice your delivery over and over again.  And still, you – and every other speaker – will undoubtedly make a few mistakes during your presentation.  Some of these will be minor, and won’t have much impact on the success of your session.  Yet others can be detrimental, hindering your ability to achieve your goal, and rendering all your hard work wasted.

Here are five of the most common presentation pitfalls today’s presenters face – and how you can effectively avoid them.

1. Don’t Rely Solely On Your Content
No matter how interesting or informative your subject matter is, the words on your slides, and those you speak, simply aren’t enough to keep the audience engaged.  Your delivery of those thoughts and ideas must be dynamic.  The format of your presentation must be exciting and interactive.  And, you must incorporate visual elements, anecdotes, real-world stories, and other techniques to make your topic, and all supporting points, as relevant and memorable as possible.

2. Don’t Confuse Your Audience
In many cases, your attendees are coming to you to learn something specific.  As you are putting together your slides and speaking notes, always keep in mind that they lack the knowledge and expertise that you have.  So, you may need to “dummy” it down a bit.  For example, avoid terminology or phrasing that they may not understand, be sure to explain what any acronyms or industry jargon mean, and provide in-depth detail (and when appropriate, background information) when covering key concepts.

3. Remember the “Aid” in “Visual Aid”
Your slide deck is not the focal point of your presentation.  It is there to enhance and compliment what you’re saying.  Using too many images, videos, graphics, and other visual elements, or packing too much copy onto each slide, will have the opposite effect on your audience.  Instead of helping them understand and absorb your material, it will actually distract them and minimize information retention.

4.  Proofread!
Absolutely nothing will destroy your credibility as quickly as slides or handouts that are chock full of typos.  Misspellings, duplications, formatting inconsistencies, and other errors always convey a sense of inexperience or unprofessionalism.  So be sure to read through your materials very carefully before your session.  It wouldn’t hurt to have a peer review them as well, since a fresh set of eyes may catch mistakes you missed.

5.  Stick to the Schedule
If your allotted time is 45 minutes, then keep it to 45 minutes (or, preferably, less).  Once your scheduled end time arrives, your audience will begin thinking about where they need to be next, how many emails are flooding their inbox, etc. – and anything you say from that point on will likely be ignored or forgotten.  And, since the close or summary is one of the most important portions of your presentation, you want to make sure you still have their undivided attention.

Want more valuable tips on effective presentation creation and delivery?  Review our archive of presentation tips and check back every week for new posts.

We’ve all heard the old saying – “you never get a second chance to make a first impression”.  This advice, while important in many situations, is particularly valuable during the opening of your presentation.  Those first few moments are crucial to laying the foundation for a successful session, setting the tone for how your audience perceives your content, and more importantly, how they perceive you.

Start your presentation with a bang!

What are some of the best ways to open your presentation with a bang?

1. The First 30 Seconds are Key
You have just a small window of opportunity to grab the attention of your attendees.  After all, the first few minutes of your presentation are just about the only time you’re guaranteed their full, undivided attention.  Start with a joke, an interesting quote, a thought-provoking question, a shocking story – some exciting and compelling, yet relevant way to spark their interest or peak their curiosity.  If you can get them hooked quickly, keeping them engaged throughout the course of your presentation will be far easier.

2. Get to the Point
Many speakers save their summaries for the end of the slide deck.  However, some experts believe that beginning with a few key points that let the audience members know what they can expect to learn or what value they’ll take away from the presentation will excite them and give them something to look forward to, encouraging them to pay attention so they don’t miss anything important.

3. Kick It Up A Notch
Your opening is the perfect time to be a bit dramatic.  Use stronger voice inflections and more pronounced hand movements.  Pause strategically after important thoughts or ideas.  Slightly exaggerate your facial expressions. This will lend a sense of importance or urgency to what you’ll be speaking about.  But be careful not to overdo it.  If you’re too animated, you may look silly and destroy your credibility.

4.  Pick a Style – And Stick to It
While starting strong is vital, consistency is the key to maintaining interest throughout your presentation.  Let your opening convey your delivery style, and be sure that style flows throughout the rest of the session.  For example, don’t open with a joke, and then follow with serious and somber content. Or, don’t begin by shocking your audience, only to continue with light-hearted banter.  The tactic you use to get their attention is the same one you should use to keep it.

Want more valuable tips on effective presentation creation and delivery?  Review our archive of presentation tips and check back every week for new posts.

Everyone loves a good story – right? Our love started as children, and never went away, but have you ever considered how to effectively use stories in business?

Hopefully you got a chance to join our webinar this week: “Master the Art of Storytelling to Make Your Presentations Come Alive” with Lynne Waymon.

What a great concept- utilizing stories to bring out your best, teach a lesson and show the strength of your organization is a fantastically creative way to enhance the impact of your presentation. We all remember stories better than facts and figures. Just as visuals are to text, stories are to stats. They stick longer, make a lasting impression and entertain!

So, if you missed Lynne’s presentation, you can check out the on-demand version here, or just follow these simple rules for s-u-c-c-e-s-s in picking a good story:

• S – strategic (does it teach a lesson?)
• U – unique (will it stand out?)
• C- clear (will your audience understand the message?)
• C – concrete (is it believable?)
• E – exciting (will they be sitting on the edge of their seats, or snoring?)
• S – short (is it to the point?)
• S – service-oriented (does it make you and your organization shine?)

Let us know about your storytelling with SlideRocket, we would love to see your best presentations.

This post was contributed by Dr. Carmen Taran of Rexi Media. Contact Rexi Media if you wish to learn how you can captivate your customers and employees through engaging, interactive and, entertaining presentations and training.

Any serious poker player knows there is a difference between playing well and winning, just like any advanced presenter knows there is a difference between a good presentation and a memorable one. Here is what poker players can teach us about winning presentations.

Poker winners:

1. Don’t believe in woulda, coulda, shoulda. Poker winners live in the moment. They may have had an edge a few minutes ago, but edge evaporates fast. Serious players know they win only they make good decisions “now”.
It’s the same in presentations. Who cares how strong you were a few minutes ago? Edge shifts constantly. If you want to keep people’s attention, you need to know how strong you are now. One way to stay tuned to the present is to ask yourself frequently: “how am I relating to the audience right now”? This type of monitoring helps you ensure you are focused on a current task instead of allowing your mind to drift in the past or in the future. When you are only attending to the present, you also have more mental resources to cater to your audience and the environment, which should fuel the flow of your speech.

2. Think holistically. Poker winners base their decisions on multiple sources of information, not just one input. For instance, if they look at the opponents’ finger movement, they don’t interpret them in isolation; they will link them with other body language cues, facial expressions, and even to other body movements observed in previous sessions.
Advanced presenters also base their reactions on multiple inputs. For instance, if they see someone with hands folded across the chest means, they realize that the gesture may mean a hostile attitude only if combined with other cues, such as legs crossed, toes pointed away from the presenter, shoulders sideways, or pursed lips.

3. Consider complexities. Poker winners know the danger of oversimplifying a game for which there is no simple formula or a short list of do’s and don’ts. They know that the right strategy matches the right situation. If you’re an advanced presenter, chances are you ignore attractively simplistic lists and instead focus on studying hard and practicing even harder. And you crave complexity because, if there was one magical formula for presentations, everyone would present the same way and no one would stand out.

4. Play mum poker. This is the famous poker face expression extended to the entire body, which means body language shows no complaining, no blaming, and no regretting. This type of control means knowing how to deal with denial, anger, and frustration. In high-pressure situations, poker winners know that emotions turn into enemies because they prevent them from acquiring information from the environment. When emotionally charged, they are prone to misinterpret what they see or hear, they don’t act with confidence, and they give away too much information, looking foolish and vulnerable.
Advanced presenters also know how to keep emotions out of the “game”. How do they do it? Discipline and realism are at the foundation of emotion control. Accepting a situation as is, not as they would like it to be, and depersonalizing any conflict are key ingredients to emotional stability and confident presentations.

5. Are disciplined researchers. Serious players know they don’t just play with cards, they play with people, which means they need to be excellent human observers. This is why poker winners go home after each game and write down what they saw at the table: habits, emotions, reactions, seating  (even night-time vs. day time conditions!). They also note realistic details about their own performance, which helps them later to avoid selective memory and exaggerating their performance. Using this information, they seek playing with just the right types of opponents in just the right settings, so that their strategy matches the studied conditions. Imagine if you had the discipline to write down details after each of your presentations. You would choose engagements that amplify your skills. Unlike poker, in such conditions, everyone wins.

Check out Rexi Media’s recent iPhone app, Presenter Pro, for additional techniques on delivering winning presentations. You can contact Rexi Media via @reximedia on Twitter or email them via info@reximedia.com.