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.

Presenting over the Web, instead of in person, can offer many benefits – reduced travel costs and increased convenience for participants, just to name a few.  But, effectively conveying information to a remote audience can be a challenge for even the most seasoned presenters.  What works well in face-to-face sessions may be ineffective in a Web venue, and you must alter your presentation style accordingly.

Presenting over the web can offer many benefits.

Here are some sure-fire ways to deliver a great Web presentation:

1. Keep It Short
When you’re presenting in person, you’ve got a captive audience.  But, Webcast participants are either at home or in their offices, leaving room for many distractions like ringing phones, knocks at the door, or the temptation to perform other work while they’re listening to you speak.  Therefore, your discussion should be shorter than usual, 30 minutes maximum plus time for questions and answers, to avoid potential interruptions.

2. Use Stronger Voice Inflections
Remember, your audience can’t see you.  You won’t be able to use hand gestures, facial expressions, or body language for emphasis.  All you’ve got is your voice.  So, use a stronger tone and more prominent inflections than you normally would, to make sure key points get across.

3. Keep It Interactive
It’s harder to keep your audience engaged when everyone is scattered across multiple remote locations, so speaking non-stop for a half hour, then saving Q&A until the end may not be the best approach.  Take polls or surveys, ask questions, or solicit input at various points throughout the presentation.  This type of ongoing interaction will keep attendees interested until the end of your session. Watch how author Cliff Atkinson engages attendees using Twitter in his presentation, The Backchannel.

4.  Eliminate Background Noises
Your cell phone rings.  An email or pending appointment alert sets off a loud chime.  A colleague enters your office, without knocking, and begins speaking.  Day-to-day background noise in your office can be annoying and distracting to your audience – and your microphone will pick up all of it.  Be sure to turn of any phones, intercoms, alerts, or other noise-making mechanisms, and hang a “do not disturb” sign on your door, before you start presenting.

5. Check Your Equipment Ahead of Time
If your equipment fails while you’re presenting in person, you’ve got other ways to communicate.  But when you’re hosting a Webcast, your options are limited in the event of a technical disaster.  That’s why its so important to do a “test run” of your presentation several hours before your session, to ensure that your slides have uploaded properly, and that your microphone and other equipment are all in working order. If necessary arrange to have a backup set of equipment on hand to ensure your presentation can continue.

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