Best of the Month: July '10

All About Presentations became 1 year 6 months old this July. Thank you all.

Let me wrap up the last month by sharing the three posts which were liked and read by most readers:

i. How to copy excel tables onto PowerPoint and make them look good?
ii. What is wrong with Aircel's 'Save the Tiger' initiative?
iii. 7 reasons why people sleep during corporate training sessions

One year back
In July 2009 the most read post was 'The Legend of Subodh Ranjan Saha' where I had talked about how to use mnemonics to make people remember your messages for a long long time.

From Inception
This one is for people who have started reading the blog in the last few months. You might like to read the three most popular posts on my blog from inception:

i. 10 tips on making sponsorship proposal presentations
ii. What is the ideal number of slides for a presentation?
iii. 5 tips for making successful business review presentations

Looking forward to another great month. Keep reading friends.

Best of the Month: May 2010

I am on a holiday for this entire week. I am writing this post from my home in Kolkata (Calcutta).


One more month has gone by. The month of May saw a lot of 'guest posts'. Noteworthy is a special 3 part post by Rangarajan V, a consultant at AT Kearney. The two month running series 'World's Best Presentation Series' also concluded in May.

The most read post of the month was the TED talk by Sebastian Wernicke. You can read the post here. Sebastian has analysed 525 TED talks and presents an interesting analysis of what works and does not work at TED. A good read for every presenter.

For readers who have joined in in the last few months, I would like to share the most read posts of the blog in the past year.

The most read post in the last...

6 months is: Top 10 Presentation Tips

The most read post since the inception of the blog is: How to make a sponsorship proposal presentation?

Enjoy reading these extremely popular posts which my other readers have liked.

Best of the Month: April '10

April was all about collecting the best presentation tips from all over the world. It all started on April 5 when I thought how great it will be if presentation bloggers from all over the world share their favourite posts with us. So I wrote to all the bloggers I knew of and most of them have responded. Thus started a sequence which I titled 'World's Best Presentation Tips'. Already I have shared with you the favourite posts of 7 bloggers. There are atleast 6 more to come.

Other than this, I also interviewed Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik, Chief Belief Officer of Future Group (Big Bazaar & Pantaloons). In this interview (read here) he talks about his TED experience and how he prepared and excelled at his TED presentation.

I also recommend you read these 5 posts from my blog (if you have not done that already). These 5 posts are the most read posts on my blog till date.

#1. 10 tips to help you get sponsorship money from corporate.
#2. How many slides should a presentation have?
#3. How to impress your boss in your next sales/business review?
#4. Introduction to SmartArt graphics in PowerPoint?
#5. 7 presentation habits which Dr. Stephen Covey uses

Have a great weekend. See you on Monday.

Best of the Month: March '10

March was an interesting month for the blog with posts coming in on various topics. There was a post which I wanted to write for a long time and it finally happened in March. I am talking about the post: 4 websites to download free images for your presentation. I use a lot of images in my presentations and most of them have come from these websites.

The most popular post however was this excellent presentation by Richard St. John where he talks about 8 secrets of success in only 3 minutes. Watch the presentation if you have not till now.

Best of the Month: Feb '10

February has been a hectic month for me professionally. That's why the month saw a lower number of posts. I got to attend my first TEDx in Hyderabad on January 31 and I shared my learnings from the various speakers in my Feb 10th post. This post was also the most read post of the month. This month saw two guest posts, highest for the blog till date. This post by a trainer Joel Xavier is worth reading. He shares his experience of conducting a 3 day training session. At the end the month, I shared an interesting tip on how to create a presentation which runs in a continuous loop. Check it out here.

Best of the Month: Jan '10

Yet another month passed by. In January the blog completed one year of existence. 164 posts, 13.7 posts a month and 1 post every 3 days. A huge amount of time and effort has gone in the last one year and will continue to go in every month.

I would like to list down the most read posts of the blog in the last one year. Here is the list:

#1 How to make sponsorship proposal presentations?
#2 How many slides should your presentations have?
#3 How to make a business review presentation?
#4 7 lessons from Dr. Steven Covey's presentation
#5 An introduction to SmartArt graphics
#6 How to create your own template in PowerPoint?
#7 How to add hyperlink to SmartArt?
#8 Checklist for making any presentation
#9 Free E-Book on 14 Tips to make awesome charts
#10 How to present one bullet at a time?

Coming to January 2010, I shared a couple of tricks on PowerPoint and talked about the amazing talk by Devdutt Pattanaik. No wonder the most read posts of the last month are:

#1 How to create a lunar eclipse using PowerPoint?
#2 TED India Talk: Devdutt Pattanaik
#3 Why we should avoid the edges of the slide?

In the coming month, I will be sharing with you some interesting developments that have taken place in January. There is a lot in store. Keep reading and keep writing to me. If you have something to share or discuss email it to vivek [at] allaboutpresentations [dot] com.

Best of the Month: December 09

Dear friends

December was personally an exciting month for me. I was blessed with a baby boy on December 21 and since then I have been very busy (with work, travel and the baby). The baby and my wife both are doing fine.

The new year is here. This new year I plan to bring some 'new' stuff on the blog. But before we launch into 2010 let's just look back at December 09. Like I do every month, in this post I recap the most read posts of the last month and the most read posts on the blog since inception.

6 reasons you should not ask your subordinate to make your slides was the most read post of the month. It has come out from my own experience of making slides which others present. The post highlights problems like loss of meaning, relevance, time management, flow, etc. The next post to this also offers the solutions and talks about how to outsource your presentation.

Another post which saw reader interest was on designing a fresh template for your presentation. I read it on another blog and posted it with my comments and suggestions. This post shares a new and easy to make template which is very eye-catchy.

The 3 most read posts on the blog till date are:

How to make sponsorship proposal presentations?
How many slides should a 30 minute presentation have?
How to make business review presentations?*

* This post has risen from No. 4 to No. 3 this month and has taken over '7 presentation tips from Dr. Stephen Covey'

Thanks for reading and best wishes for the new year.

Vivek

Best of the Month: Nov '09

Hi friends

November was an exciting month. I was invited to give a talk on marketing by P2W2 to a large group of start ups. Interacting with entrepreneurs always leaves you with a lot of positive energy. I also uploaded the presentation on the blog and it immediately became the most read post of the month.

Another post which became popular was 'How to make slides as fast a Maggi noodles?' In this post I have shared how you can drastically cut down your slide creation time and yet not loose out on effectiveness. If you have to make a presentation in a hurry its a must read post.

I introduced the concept of Presentation Brief this month. This idea originated from an observation that we go through the same process when we make a presentation. If you sit down and spend 30 minutes to fill this brief, it will bring immense amount of clarity to you and also save a lot of time later on.

And finally, here are the most read posts on this blog till date:

1. How to make a presentation seeking sponsorship money?
2. How many slides should a 30 minute presentation have?
3. Presentation lessons from Dr. Stephen Covey's session in Hyderabad?
4. How to make a business review presentation?
5. Introduction to SmartArt graphics in MS PowerPoint 2007

Best of the Month: October '09

Hi friends.

After an intense September where I wrote only on 14 Tips to Make Awesome Charts, October also came out as a power-packed month with a lot of detailed articles. I shared my personal journey into the world of presentations and how I get creatives ideas.. I skimmed through one of Dale Carnegie's books on public speaking and culled out what the books can teach presenters today.

Another very popular post this month was 11 things to check just before you present. Having observed the mistakes I have made and others have made over the years, this useful checklist is going to help you not make 11 such mistakes. A must read.

I also started a new feature called 'Best from Blogosphere' wherein I will share interesting and useful articles from other blogs/websites on presentations and public speaking once every fortnight.

The 3 most read posts this month were:

11 things to check just before you present
How to make award winning presentations?
The 50% rule: Reduce excess text from your slide

The most read posts on All About Presentations all time are:

How to make sponsorship proposals?
How many slides for a 30 minute presentation?
7 presentation habits of Dr. Stephen Covey

See you with some amazing content in November. Thanks for reading!

Best of the Month: September '09

One more month has gone by. September was one of the most exciting months for the blog after January (when it all started). September started off with the series, 14 Tips to Present Awesome Charts and ended with the launch of the e-book. My first e-book with the same name as the series.

I uploaded it on Sunday evening and as I write this post, the e-book has been seen by 1,216 people and downloaded by 307 times in less than 4 days. It was selected by the slideshare editorial team and was featured on slideshare's home page. There can be no bigger highlight for this month.

If you have not downloaded your free copy, do so by clicking on the link below. Have patience as the file is 2.70mb.

Click here to Download

In case you have problems downloading, send me a mail and I will email the e-book. Mail to me at vivek [at] jazz factory [dot] in.

September was all about making charts but October will be different. I will cover topics from diverse areas and come back to my schedule of 3 posts a week. See you tomorrow with something interesting.

Best of the Month: August '09

August saw some interesting posts on the blog. There was one on charts where I discuss what is the difference between data and information. How presenting data is not the same as presenting information and that most of the time you end up presenting just data. It is important to realize that converting a piece of data into a nice looking chart does not make it information. Information comes from analyzing or arranging raw data and helps in decision making.

I also did a survey this month to find out what people dislike the most when they are part of the audience. Chances are that when you present you make the very same mistakes. The results of the survey was interesting. The culprits were the same cliched ones; Too much text on a slide and the presenter reading from the slides. But the very reason these cliched reasons still feature in the top 2 means that you are not learning anything from all the presentation gyaan in public domain. You continue to fill your slides with text ("How can I remove that line, it is so important you see") and you continue to assume that your audience can't English. So you type out 100 words on the slide and then read it. A friend of mine made this remark when she wrote to me saying she hates presenters reading out slides: "... that makes me look like an illiterate fool!!! Everything else I can bear." Strong words of advice for you as presenter.

I also happened to receive a mail from a colleague warning me of a huge virus that was on its way to destroy the zero sector of my hard disk. I should accept that I enjoyed writing this post the most. A hoax like this has huge learnings from a presenter like you. You can learn the following from this email:

1. How to catch audience attention?
2. How to add credibility to your statements? and
3. Why call for action is so important in all our presentations?

Hope you enjoyed reading the posts as much as I did writing them. September has a lot in store. Watch out for interesting stuff within a few days.

Best of the Month: July '09

Another month passed by. This year seems to be flying fast.

Last month I wrote a lot of posts on Presentation Design and PowerPoint Tips. There were some on Content (Presentation Planning) and a couple of posts on Delivery.

One post which was liked by a lot of readers was 'The Legend of Subodh Ranjan Saha'. I did not expect such a response for this post when I wrote it. This post has also become the most read post of the month. This post, like many, find its origin in my personal experiences. But this one dates back 12 years when I was in High School cracking exams with the help of my Mnemonics. And today I feel the same Mnemonics can help teachers, trainers and managers in making their presentation memorable. Do read the post if you have not till now.

I am sort of a presentation critic. I evaluate every presentation which I come across. I usually make a note of the good and bad points. My post on 'Charts Champion: When Legends Fail' was inspired by two charts which were presented to me during a meeting. They were kind of weird (and confusing). Hence I thought of sharing them with you.

In the end, a summary as usual of the most read posts of the month.

Content - The Legend of Subodh Ranjan Saha
Design - How to present one bullet at a time?
Design - Make good use of Motion Paths in your presentation

Best of the Month: Jun '09

June was an interesting month. I gave one major presentation every week in June. And all of them were to the same audience (and it was a large audience). Hence most of the posts drew their inspiration from these experiences; preparing and giving these long presentations.

My favorite posts from June are the following.

Tidbits which connect with the audience: How small pieces of information about the audience or the venue can make a big difference. They help you add humor and connect better with the audience. This post is based on my presentation in a city MBA college.

Dramatize your presentations: Based on three back to back presentations, this post takes you through my real journey of creating dramatic moments at the start of every presentation. What made them dramatic and how you can make your presentation dramatic as well.

Are audiences sweet-toothed?: 1 day, 4 hours and 40 chocolates. A small idea which went a long way and ensured I had 100% attention of my audience for a four hour long presentation. Try it out. It is smart, innovative, economical and effective.

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I would like to listen to you. If you have any queries, comments, ideas or experiences to share write to me at vivek [at] jazz factory [dot] in. Take care!

Best of the Month: May '09

Last month has been a satisfactory month for me. I started the month with a snapshot of all the major blogs on presentations in the world. Then I went on to write on some of the topics which are very close to my heart.

May 9: How to plan well for your presentation?
May 12: What presenters can learn from print advertisements?
May 16: Role of images in your presentations?

I read Presentation Zen very recently and wrote a review as well on the blog. Its a book you must read if you want to learn about presentations. All in all May was a month with lots of content which would have certainly helped you a lot.

The most popular posts of May were:

How many slides for a 30 minute presentation?
How to use images in PowerPoint?
Use the Input-Output method to plan your presentations

The most read posts till date on the blog are:

Sponsorship Proposals: 10 ideas that will get you cash
7 habits of Dr. Stephen Covey
Sponsorship Proposals Checklist
I would be most happy to hear from you. Share with me your experiences of making presentations. Your great moments and what made them great.

Best of the Month: April '09

All About Presentations has crossed another milestone. Yesterday's post was the 50th post on this blog.

Talking of last month let me tell you that I make my own template for every presentation and to encourage you I wrote a post on 'How to create your own template'. Once you start creating your template, you will be able to differentiate your presentation from 90% of others who use dull and boring standard templates.

I also started a three part series last month aimed at helping young consultants. Consultants make presentations all the time and this is their output after months of hard work. How they present determines their success/failure as a consultant. The Consult Presentation Series is all about tips and tricks to improve consultancy presentations.

There are moments when in real life presentations you might be required to forget the slides and go alone. In those moments you should be willing to do that. My post on April 25 stemmed from a real life case where the presenter made his case and then went on presenting the same because he had those slides coming next. He should have just skipped the slides and moved on.

The three most popular posts of April were:

How to create your own template
Making Good Consult Presentations Part - I
Create videos in PowerPoint

The three most widely read posts on the blog till date are:

Making Sponsorship Proposals
Checklist for Presentations
What Dr. Stephen Covey can teach us about Presentations?

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I welcome you to share your personal experience as a presenter. What do you dislike about presenting and what are the new things you try? How has your experience been as a presenter? If you have any questions on presentation shoot them to me at vivek [at] allaboutpresentations.com.

Best of the Month: March '09

March has been an interesting month. It was a month wherein most of my posts drew their inspiration from real life problems and instances. I wrote on what's the ideal number of slides in a presentation after one of my clients insisted that 20-25 was the right number. Nothing more nothing less.

I wrote 'An introduction SmartArt' after a very senior consultant shared with me that he had never used SmartArt. Not that he disliked it, he just never took the trouble of trying it out.

My personal favorite from March is the interview of ex-VP of Dr. Reddy's. The topic: 'How to make business review presentations?' He shared with me the expectation which senior managers have from such monthly/quarterly business reviews and how should a manager prepare for these reviews. A must read post for all managers.

Finally out of all the posts, the most popular posts of March were:

March 10: How to make business review presentations?
March 17: An introduction to SmartArt
March 14: How to add hyperlinks to SmartArt?

The three most popular posts of my blog till date are the following:

Jan 18: Review of LK Advani's website
Jan 30: Making sponsorship proposals that get you cash
Jan 14: Checklist for Presentations

I would welcome if you share with me your personal experience as a presenter. You can send questions, instances or even guest posts. I would love to know how you make presentations and what methods you apply. If you have a question relating to presentations or PowerPoint, shoot them to me.

Best of the Month: Februaury '09

All About Presentations has entered its second month. Last month I wrote on lessons from Dr. Stephen Covey's talk (which I attended in Hyderabad). I also wrote on how we can make our presentations stick. On the one hand I introduced a new concept 'User-Controlled Presentations', and on the other I talked about engaging the audiences and tackling nervousness before presentations. Here are the 3 most popular posts from the last month:

Feb 1: 7 habits which make Stephen Covey's presentation effective
Feb 7: How do you engage the audience?
Feb 12: How do you tackle nervousness before presentations?

Here is a list of the 3 most popular posts on this blog till date:

Jan 30: 10 ideas that will make your sponsorship proposal work?
Jan 14: Checklist for presentations (a short and useful list for every presenter)
Jan 18: 'Yes We Can' learn from Obama (review of LK Advani's website)

Best of the Month: January '09

All About Presentations started in January. Last month I wrote on presentation tips, lessons from real life presenters (Obama & Honda) and a couple of learnings for making sponsorship proposals. Here are the 3 most popular posts of January:

Jan 18: 'Yes We Can' learn from Obama (review of LK Advani's website)
Jan 25: Honda 'Kicks out the ladder' (learning from the latest Honda corporate video)
Jan 14: Checklist for Presentations (a short and useful list for every presenter).