Last December Google launched an applications web store for it’s Chrome browser and announced that usage of Chrome had grown from 40 million to 120 million. SlideRocket was fortunate to be one of 10 launch partners that participated in the event and was live on the Chrome Web Store from day one. It’s great having Google pave the way for web apps and like some other Chrome web store participants we wanted to share what this has meant to our business.

#1 Results - The SlideRocket app on the Chrome Web Store received over 50,000 installs in the first 10 days of availability and the volume hasn’t yet dropped off. As much as 60% of SlideRocket’s daily lead flow now comes from the Chrome Web Store. (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…)

No matter how hard you try, the content of your presentation will sometimes be dry and boring.  And, it can be quite a challenge to keep your audience interested and engaged while you’re flipping through one slide, chart, or graph after another.  Sometimes, even pictures and videos aren’t enough to spice things up.

Everyone loves to laugh.

That’s why more and more presenters are seeking ways to add humor to their presentations.  Everyone loves to laugh, and nothing will grab the undivided attention of your audience more than something that makes them smile or chuckle.

What can you to do make your slide deck or speech more amusing?

1.  Set the Tone
Start your presentation off on a light-hearted note.  Give your audience a big smile, and let them know that you want them to not only learn, but to enjoy themselves as well.  They’ll immediately relax and take notice.  But be careful, experts warn that it may not be wise to open with a joke.  If it bombs, the rest of your session will suffer.

2. 101funjokes (www.101funjokes.com)
If you need a good joke, this is the place to go.  Dozens of categories – from jokes about celebrities, the Internet, kids, and the medical profession, to funny bumper stickers, limericks, quotes, and witticisms – make it easy to find whatever you need to incorporate some fun into your slide deck and give your audience a good giggle.

3.  Humor Writers
Let’s face it, some people lack a “funny bone”.  If you are one of those unfortunate souls, you may want to hire a professional writer to help incorporate humor into your slide deck.  They’ll be able to take your existing content, and make it more chuckle-worthy.  Check out the Comedy Writers Guild (http://www.comedywritersguild.com), or conduct a search on Google, Yahoo, or other popular search engine to find one in your area.

4.  Comedy Coaches
Comedy is about more than just “scripting” jokes and quips.  Delivery is also very important when you want to get the laughs.  Check out your local comedy clubs or theater groups.  Most of them will offer classes to help improve your comedic timing and execution.   Or, you can check your Yellow Pages for private comedy coaches who will work with you one-on-one.

5. Learn from Professional Comedians
Many professional comedians measure their success by evaluating one important metric – laughs per minute (LPM).  As you gain more experience adding humor to your sessions, you may want to use this indicator to gauge how effective you are.  How many LPMs should you strive for?  That depends on your content.  Some presentations may warrant several LPMs, while others that are more serious in nature may require just a handful of giggles throughout the entire slide deck to lighten the mood.

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. See the whole incredible presentations series here.

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

Nothing will help your audience relate to you (and the content you are presenting) more than stories and anecdotes. Whether they’re about people you know or places you’ve seen, or even if you’re re-telling a story you’ve heard elsewhere, they’ll add a personal touch to information that will help draw your audience in, and make what you’re saying more purposeful, understandable, and believable.

Nothing will help your audience relate to you more than stories and anecdotes.

But, even some of the best speakers lack solid storytelling skills. Luckily, there are a ton of great resources that can help you enhance your presentation with terrific stories and anecdotes.

1. Draw from Your Own Experiences
You’re life is more interesting than you think it is, and your past experiences may be quite entertaining to your audience. Perhaps a few stories about your feisty toddler can add a dose of humor to your presentation about dealing with difficult employees. Or, telling them about that time you hiked a challenging five mile trail in a hail storm may enhance your speech about getting and staying motivated. Feel free to embellish for dramatic effect.

2. Books
Hit up a nearby bookstore or your local library. Literary references make ideal stories for presentations and speeches. And, choosing popular books, or beloved classics that people remember fondly, are likely to strike a chord with your audience.

3. Awesome Stories (awesomestories.com)
This self-proclaimed “story place of the Web” provides countless fictional and non-fictional stories in a variety of categories such as famous trials, biographies, movies, history, religion, and sports. Here, educators and other presenters can quickly and easily find stories and their original sources, instead of spending hours upon hours searching national archives, libraries, universities, museums, and historical societies.

4. Anecdotage (anecdotage.com)
This site is home to the largest collection of celebrity anecdotes on the Internet. There are several thousand quotes and stories to choose from, covering a wide range of topics. An intuitive search facility allows you to search by keyword, or by your favorite politician, actor, musician, or other personality.

5. Story Arts Online (storyarts.org)
This educational Web site, created by author and storyteller Heather Forest, was initially designed for teachers, librarians, and students. However, much of its content is focused on the use of stories to enhance speaking and facilitate improved listening, and can provide much value to presenters and speakers of all types. Be sure to check out its comprehensive story library.

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. See the whole incredible presentations series here.

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

It’s time to head back to school and educators and students alike are preparing themselves with the tools they need to sail through the year. It would be hard to get through the school year without making a presentation. It would be just as hard to get through the school year without collaborating on a group project. Collaborating and presenting have value because, hand in hand, they help groups synthesize and then clarify research and learning.

For students, collaboration and presentation are absolutely tied together.

Integrated Presentations

John Kuglin, a consultant for the US Department of Education, has identified a shift in the way education institutions collaborate and present.  Kuglin points to cloud-based tools such as SlideRocket and Google Docs that integrate through Google Apps. “These tools ‘speak’ to each other now,” he says. “Once you move off platform-dependent software, such as PowerPoint, and move up into the cloud, your collaboration abilities increase significantly.”

Imagine a collection of data stored in a Google spreadsheet. Try embedding Google documents into a PowerPoint presentation. Impossible, right? But when cloud-based tools such as Google Docs and SlideRocket and “speak” to each other, collaboration doesn’t stop when it’s time to present.  Multiple team members can easily pull online content into a single presentation, and then tell a meaningful and engaging story that helps people remember what they’ve heard.

Online Curriculum

Sarah Weston is the curriculum director for the Open High School of Utah, a charter school.  “When we look at giving our students tools, I always look for two things: web-based and collaborative,” says Weston. “This is because our infrastructure is cloud-based and our curriculum encourages group work.”

Weston says that single sign-on access to SlideRocket through Google Apps saves time and cuts down on the number of accounts she creates and manages. Teachers embed presentations in their online courses, track statistics, and assess how the lesson was received.  Students can work in teams, collect shared data in Google Docs, and organize their data in a presentation – regardless of location. “When I describe it to my new teachers,” says Weston, “I call it PowerPoint on steroids.”

Unprecedented Collaboration

Through presentations, facts and data gain meaning. “I look at SlideRocket as a tool that will allow unprecedented collaboration to occur,” Kuglin says, “but I also look at it as a tool that pulls together the work done in ‘building’ tools, like Google Docs, and displays it in such a way that communicates and conveys the ideas behind that work to other people.”

Using cloud-based tools in an education setting is not only about extending opportunities for collaboration, it’s about preparing students for careers where presenting and storytelling are critical communication skills. Kuglin explains, “It doesn’t matter what field you’re going into, you’ve got to be able to collect, organize, and pull your thoughts together – typically with a team – and then present those thoughts in a way that is understandable to other people. Collaboration and presentation are absolutely tied together.”

Education institutions can gain access to SlideRocket’s integrated and collaborative presentation tools through the Google Apps Marketplace.

You’ve just finished giving a Webinar – and it was clearly a winner!  But, you invited thousands and only a hundred showed up.  What can you do to maximize the value of all your hard work?  Post it to the Web, where other members of your target audience can easily access it.

Many people prefer on-demand web seminars since they can watch at their own convenience

In fact, many people prefer the on-demand approach, since they can watch at their own convenience, or pause the presentation if something urgent arises, without missing any important points. But once your on-demand presentation has been made available, how do you let people know it’s there?   And even more importantly, how to you encourage them to download or view it?

Here are some of the best ways to market your on-demand presentation:

1. Go Back to the Base
Just because only a fraction of those you invited actually attended, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the others weren’t interested in what you had to say.  They may have wanted to participate, but prior commitments prevented them from doing so.  So, once you post your on-demand presentation to your Web site, be sure to go back and inform those who were previously invited.  You’ll be surprised at how many of them take the bait.

2. Make it a Call to Action
Many experts believe that the reason most marketing campaigns fail is because they lack a compelling call to action.  Unless you give recipients a solid reason to respond – for example, by offering them something of perceived value – they simply won’t reply.  Using the download of your on-demand presentation as a response mechanism is a great way to drive traffic to your Web site, and boost campaign response rates.

3. Leverage Industry Resources
No matter what market you work in, there are likely Web sites that serve as resource portals for potential buyers.  These are great places for vendors to post not only pre-recorded presentations, but white papers and other promotional materials as well.  The site administrators may even help you promote your session, to help drive additional downloads.

4.  Alert the Media
Try issuing a media alert or a press release when your session has been posted.  Perhaps you don’t think an on-demand presentation is “newsworthy”, but many publications will, indeed, make mention of these types of resources.  Editors and writers may even view the presentation themselves, to educate themselves on your product or service, or your company.

You can also form relationships with bloggers and other online journalists, who can make mention of your on-demand Webcast when they publish posts and articles on related topics.

5.  Use Social Networks
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media outlets provide an open venue for you to share information with people who are interested in similar topics or ideas.  By setting up profiles on each of these sites, you can find people who are seeking certain types of information. And, those you connect with are probably those that are most likely to download your on-demand presentation.

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

Investors hear, on average, five to eight presentations each day from entrepreneurs looking to obtain financial backing for their new business ventures.  But, only a fraction of these startup companies will get the funding they want.  How do you make sure yours is one of them?

Investors hear, on average, five to eight presentations each day.

Here are some valuable guidelines to follow when preparing your pitch to venture capitalists, angel investors, and other financiers.

1. What’s the Goal?
You won’t know if you were successful, unless you know exactly what you were trying to achieve in the first place.  Whether you’re looking to secure a funding commitment, or simply spark enough interest to schedule a follow-up meeting, clearly define your objective ahead of time.

2. Sum it All Up at the Start
You’ve got one minute to grab an investor’s attention.  So, a pitch that gets off to a slow start is bound to fall flat.  Kicking your presentation off with a dynamic one to two sentence summary that highlights your idea and its potential value will help you get them interested.

3. Back it Up with Details
In order to win the confidence of investors, you’ll need to show them that you have more than just a winning idea.  In addition to explaining your high-level vision, be sure to provide some details about how you plan to execute, such as a go-to-market strategy.

4.  The Proof is In the Numbers
Venture capitalists and other investors like numbers, particularly “mega trends”. So, back your ideas and theories up with as many industry benchmarks, statistics, and metrics as you possibly can.  The more reputable the sources, the better.

5.  Leave the Spreadsheets at Home
Your audience wants to see anticipated return on investment in the form of revenues, profits, or market share.  But, boring, dry spreadsheets or profit and loss statements are not the most effective way to do this.  Instead, wow investors with charts, graphs, and other exciting visuals that clearly convey expected value.

6. Speak with Passion
If you don’t show conviction in your idea, it will be very hard to get your audience excited about it.  Strong voice inflection and dramatic hand gestures are just a few of the ways you can demonstrate your passion for your concept, and your belief in its viability.

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

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

Many speakers follow up their presentation with a demonstration of their product.  Whether it’s a software application, a piece of mechanical equipment, or a small appliance, the demo is the presenter’s chance to put their words into action, validating the claims they made during their slide deck.

The demo is your chance to put words into action.

Yet, most presenters are so focused on the quality of the presentation itself, they forget to fine-tune the demo.  As a result, they build up audience expectations, then fall flat when it really counts.

Here are some great tips for giving an amazing product demonstration.

1. Differentiate Yourself
Chances are, the prospective customer already has evaluated similar products, or will be speaking to other competitors in the near future, before making a final decision.  Since time will be limited, don’t waste it walking them through all the “me too” features.  Instead, highlight the characteristics of your product that make it unique and/or superior.

2. Customize It
Every product has countless interesting features and functions, but you’ll only have time to demonstrate a fraction of them.  So, it’s best to gather a little intelligence in advance.  Find out what the customer is trying to achieve through the use of your product, and focus on those capabilities that will help them get there.

3. Make It Interactive
Keep your audience engaged at all times, especially if the product you are showing is complex in nature.  Allow them to ask questions, or even select an audience member to participate “hands on”.  This will not only prevent their attention from wandering, it will give you the opportunity to capture valuable information about what they want to see, so you can structure the demonstration accordingly.

4.  Keep It Simple
Always remember that your audience doesn’t have the same level of technical or mechanical savvy that you do.  To avoid confusion, whenever possible, steer clear of technical or engineering jargon, and present the features of your product in layman’s terms.

5.  Be Flexible
Scripting and practicing your demo ahead of time is a wise idea.  However, you need to leave some room for “on the fly” change, based on audience response.  For example, a prospect may request to see a certain feature that you weren’t planning to show.  Or, they may ask a question that requires you to go back and re-explain functions that were already covered.   While preparedness is important, you also need to be able to “go with the flow”, so the audience is satisfied.

6.  You Need a Plan B
You’ve finished delivering your slides, and you’re getting ready to show your product.  But, you discover that it’s broken.  Now what?  Make sure you always have a backup plan in case of such emergencies.  For example, if its equipment you’re demonstrating, bring a second piece, just in case.  Or, keep a brief tutorial video on hand, so you can convey how certain features work.  If you’re showing software, be sure the room has a Web connection.  If your laptop fails, you can simply access the application via the Internet.

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

While in some presentation scenarios, the subtle approach in the better one to take, many cases call for a very over-the-top delivery, one in which everything – from the speaker’s hand gestures to the tone of his voice – has a theatrical flair to it.

Add some drama and give the audience a presentation they'll never forget.

By taking up the excitement and energy up a notch or two, and sprinkling in a little drama, you can give your audience a presentation experience they’ll never forget.

How can you make your delivery more theatrical and dramatic?  Here are some great ways to breathe life into your presentation:

1. Tell a Story
Nothing adds drama to a presentation more than an action-packed, one-of-a kind tale that demonstrates your key points.  Trying to teach attendees about motivation and perseverance?  Talk about the time your brother finished a triathlon – in first place – while battling the swine flu.  Giving advice on effective interview techniques?  Share the story of when you were put in front of an executive “firing squad”, and how you managed to keep your cool – and get the job.  Interesting, thrilling stories will captivate your audience, and create a sense of excitement around your subject matter.

2. Bigger, Bolder, Louder
At the heart of every dramatic presentation is the strong use of emphasis. Drama is all about exaggeration.  So, everything from your voice inflections to your hand motions and facial expressions, and even the images you use on your slides, should be far “grander” than normal, particularly at times when you want to draw attention to the most important elements within your content.

3.  Act It Out
Speeches can get dry and boring.  The presenter talks, the audience listens.  Yawn.  Whenever possible, jazz it up by acting out the ideas you’re trying to convey.  For example, if you’re training new customer support reps on how to handle angry clients, act out a mock conversation between a caller and an agent.  You can even engage your audience further by asking them to participate in these “acts”.

4. Its All About the Showmanship
When you are delivering a dramatic presentation, keep in mind that you are the host, the ringmaster, the emcee.  It’s up to you to set the tone, and to make your presentation as entertaining as possible.  Put on your showman’s hat, and bring all the charm and charisma you can muster.

5.  Put Yourself in the Audience’s Shoes
Review your presentation from the perspective of your attendees.  Go through it section by section, and analyze it carefully – for both content and delivery.  If it isn’t attention-grabbing, compelling, or high-impact, find a way to make it so – or remove 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.

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.