Best from the Past: January 2009 - 2012

Here are some useful posts from January 2009 to 2012. Click on the headers if you wish to read the original post.

Take care of your fonts when sharing a presentation
You have used 'special' fonts in your presentation. Fonts which you have downloaded from internet. You now email this presentation or give it using a USB drive. Will the presentation work exactly as it does on your system?

No.

If the person receiving the PPT does not have the special fonts, the software will replace it with some other font. Entire alignment and font size will go for a toss. A complete disaster! What should you do then?

1. Use only standard fonts which are there on every computer (Arial, Helvetica, etc), or
2. Embed the fonts into your presentation. In MS PowerPoint 2010, go to File -> Options -> Embed fonts in this file. In PowerPoint 2007, go to Powerpoint Options. Under the 'Save' Tab, check 'Embed TrueType fonts'.


Keep the lights on while presenting
Many presenters want to make the slides look good. To ensure that, they switch off all lights and want audiences to have a good view of the screen. Have you come to show us a movie?

Your audience has come to see you. Your slides are only there for support. They are not the main thing. By keeping lights off, two things happen. One, your audience only looks at your slide s and disconnects from you totally. Two, your audience will sleep off. Keep the lights on and present. Always.


No text at the bottom of your slide
What happens when you have a big crowd (say more than 50). Everyone is sitting at the same level. The guys on the back are not sitting on a higher platform. In this case, the people in the front block some part of the view.

Ensure you have no words at the bottom of the slide. Avoid any text in the bottom 25% of the slide. I have personally made this error twice. So now I am clear.

One excellent TED talk. One passionate speaker.



Devdutt Pattanaik gave a very passionate speech in TED. He spoke on a complicated topic, 'mythology'. There are many things to be learnt from his presentation. One, how he started his speech with a story. A story which was integral to understanding his presentation. Two, he did not make 'slides' central to his presentation. We listen to him and see him. We only see the slides once in a while. Three, the passion. See how his passion comes out from his voice and body language. A must watch TED talk. He makes a complicated topic simple and likable.