Yesterday I conducted a presentations workshop in Pune. It was a workshop on basics of presentations to under graduate students from all over India and was held as part of Sympulse , the annual management fest at Symbiosis Center for Management Studies UG. The workshop was successful and I too enjoyed a lot. While I will write about the workshop and what I taught there in future posts. This post is about a simple feedback I received from two students.  A lot of my slides had text at the bottom and this was getting difficult to read for students at the back (especially if a slightly taller person was sitting on their front). Here is a sample: The lesson for all my future presentations is simple: Have no  text at the bottom of the slide .

On January 14, 2012  All About Presentations completed three years of existence. I had started the blog after I quit my job and decided to become a full time communications consultant . My business plan was to help companies and people make better presentations. While the consultant thing did not work out, the blog rolls on. These three years have been great for me. This blog was started out as a means to increase my own understanding of presentations and share what I knew with my readers. The objective has been fulfilled. Before starting the blog, I was good at presentations but I did not know what made me so. I just loved making presentations. In these three years, I have studied about presentations, read other peoples' blogs, read books and watched so many presentations (TED, Ignite, slideshare). My understanding about presentations has grown leaps and bounds. There is still a lot to learn and I am still only a few miles into the long journey. The good thing is, I am moving. ...

I am conducting a workshop on ' making awesome presentations' and need you to answer just 8 questions. These will give me good inputs for my upcoming workshop. The results of the survey will be shared in a week's time. Thanks in advance. Here is the link Click here

Micromax Mobiles , India's 3rd largest mobile phone maker, is inviting entries for designing a new logo for the brand. You need to upload your logo in JPG format by February 6, 2012. For more rules, terms and conditions click here .  The brief is as follows: The logo must have the following: "The brand – Micromax mobile with more weightage on micromax the tagline – nothing like anything. Creating a new entity ‘m’ – which can also be used without the rest of the logo to communicate the brand is ideal. The Nike swoosh or the Mc Donald’s golden arch are good examples to think about while creating a mnemonic. The brand stands for Innovations that blow your mind so the logo should reflect the brand's personality i.e. Young, Innovative, Audacious, Outgoing, Dynamic, Fluid & Energetic with an International appeal." Even if you are not a professional graphic designer, you must take a shot. Unless you try you never know. Best wishes.

A few days back I received a PPT from a leading market research agency in India. Being a presentations blogger, I critically evaluate every presentation I get. This is part of my job you can say. This PPT had so many drawbacks that it merits a dedicated blog post. "How not to make your slides."  The problem was with the slides. The look and feel of it. How easy was it to understand and how 'polished' it looked. I am not commenting on the message and text. If senior managers in India's top research agencies are making such slides, I am concerned how are other people faring. This needs to change. I am going to pick 3 slides from this presentation, change its content to maintain privacy and show you what went wrong. DO NOT READ THE CONTENT of these slides. I have typed some random words. What we are looking these slides for is the design. Here is the opening slide This slide was the first to hit me. The slide is badly organised. The image is pixellated (you...

fotolia , a stock images website, is coming up with an innovative concept. It is called 10 Collection . It is meant for designers  (amateur or professional)  who use Adobe Photoshop. I use Photoshop for image editing and anyone who has ever dabbled in Photoshop should find it useful. What is 10 Collection? As per fotolia, "The ten collection is a unique and original project that promotes digital art to the design community with an emphasis on education. Designers will be able to download a free PSD layers file, allowing them a rare and deep look into the techniques of a top digital artist." Sound nice! This is a 10 month long project where every month one designer will share his composition and also share the PSD file (made in Photoshop) for free. This project starts January 10th and ends October 10th. The updates will happen on the 10th of every month. To know more check out their website . This project promises a lot of action, we'll have to wait and see w...

Yesterday I received a sponsorship proposal from a school which is organising its annual day function in February 2012. I am a marketing manager and the school wants my company to sponsor the event. I cannot share the slides with you, but I can definitely share the overview of the presentation. If you too are making a similar presentation, you have something to learn here. Contents Slide 1 has the agenda of the presentation Basic details of the annual day Slide 2 talks about what the event is all about. When and where is the event. Recap of last year's event How many participants came last year and some images of the event shared. Overview of the event The annual day has four events; cultural event, competition for kids, kids carnival and stalls (food, knowledge and fun) Competition details What are the various contests for various age groups. Stalls The pavilion has food stalls, education stalls and other kinds of stalls. Audience Parents will come along with...

A year just passed by and it is a wise thing to look back both personally and professionally. Marketing I am a marketing manager by profession and I work for an edible oils company in Hyderabad, India. I handle all brand building initiatives for my company. My brand Freedom had a great year (better than expected). I expect a better year ahead.  I upgraded my marketing knowledge through a few good books: Media Planning and Buying by Arpita Menon Brand Failures by Matt Haig Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely Nudge by Richard Thaler I wish to read more. Possibly 20 books this year. Blogging My blog completes 3 years on January 14, 2012. Last year I wrote very selectively. I guess a point comes wherein you have covered most topics and now the focus needs to shift from 'writing about newer topics' to 'writing in-depth about stuff that matters more' . The agenda for 2012 is to focus on the basics and write more in-depth. Last year was special because...