http://tc.eserver.org/publisher/Presenters_University A listing of works published by Presenters University in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Presenters_University http://tc.eserver.org/24080.html http://tc.eserver.org/24080.html Watch your nonverbal communication and vaccinate against 'um' disease by submitting to videotaped coaching before media contact. http://tc.eserver.org/20549.html http://tc.eserver.org/20549.html Like many of you, I come from a training background. Like many of you, we’re experts in group facilitation, engaging our learners, and creating instructionally sound materials. Yet, many trainers are not graphic artists nor do we have a score of graphic artists helping us create our training presentations. As a result, our training presentations often may not adequately represent the professionalism and quality that we’ve built into our training. http://tc.eserver.org/20540.html http://tc.eserver.org/20540.html There are many sites where you can download or buy MIDI or Audio files on the web. Many of these sites offer illegal sound clips. Finding sound clips on the Web is very easy--simply do a search for sound clips, and you'll be directed to many different web pages. Just be sure that you can legally use these sound clips before putting them on your site. http://tc.eserver.org/20526.html http://tc.eserver.org/20526.html In a memorable scene from the movie “8 Mile” the character played by rapper Eminem enters a competition and gets on stage to prove his prowess in front of a rowdy crowd. Using rhyme and rap, he must show his skill at cleverly putting down the reigning champion. Winning the contest could mean fame, fortune and a way out of his grimy, dead-end life. We know he’s up to it. In the preceding scenes he’s brilliant in front of his friends and the bathroom mirror. But when he faces the jeering crowd on the big night he freezes and is unable to speak. As the crowd chants “Choke! Choke!” he leaves the stage in shame. Freezing in front of an audience is every speaker’s worst nightmare. Eminem was clearly facing a hostile crowd. But why do some speakers freeze even when they are in front of an audience that is friendly and receptive? http://tc.eserver.org/20533.html http://tc.eserver.org/20533.html What are the reasons videoconferencing seems to be flourishing when so many other technologies are being challenged? The following will be the world according to Max and five reasons why I think videoconferencing is having its heyday. http://tc.eserver.org/20530.html http://tc.eserver.org/20530.html A few years back a Canadian company asked me to review their corporate presentation. They seemed pretty pleased with what they had created but asked if I could take a look at things with a professional eye and provide them with some constructive feedback. I rarely turn down these types of requests because every one of us can benefit from some objective perspective from time to time. They went on to tell me that they had been working hard over the years to improve the quality of their presentations and they even went to the extent of purchasing Macromedia Action (no longer available). This high-end presentation design package featured timeline-based slide orchestration, a boatload of new effects, easier media integration capability and a host of other features to be able to create `professional results in minutes'. http://tc.eserver.org/20525.html http://tc.eserver.org/20525.html Do you wish you were a more dynamic and compelling speaker? Do you want to know how to effectively engage your audience? In this article I identify 4 elements that enable you be at your best when speaking. The four elements are: Passionate, Analytical, Confiding and Extemporaneous or P.A.C.E.™ http://tc.eserver.org/20524.html http://tc.eserver.org/20524.html If you haven’t yet experienced your point of embarrassment or memory lapse, you will. When it happens, consider these fail-safe ways to regain your memory and retain your poise. http://tc.eserver.org/20532.html http://tc.eserver.org/20532.html Microportable and ultraportable projectors are changing how Corporate America presents information, sells products and trains employees and customers. Small enough to fit in a brief case, light enough to carry from appointment to appointment and easy enough to use without extensive training, these projectors deliver big, brilliant video, graphic and data images that are sure to grab and hold the attention of audiences. http://tc.eserver.org/20536.html http://tc.eserver.org/20536.html As we enter the millennium, more and more people are learning how to utilize technology in their presentations. We are no longer limited to a laptop, projector and screen. Digital whiteboards are becoming more widely used in a presentation environment and this course will explain how to utilize this technology. http://tc.eserver.org/20534.html http://tc.eserver.org/20534.html Using a prompting system is not something reserved for just Presidents and CEOs. Many people have avoided using prompting because they felt these systems were too ugly and distractive to have at a presentation or perhaps too heavy to take on the road. Whether in the field or on stage, many people objected to using prompters because they made the speaker's presentation style too constrained and contrived. The new generation of LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)-based prompting systems have changed all that! http://tc.eserver.org/20531.html http://tc.eserver.org/20531.html It was simply a matter of a web link or two and literally hundreds of trainees joined me online from all around the country. All in all, pretty easy and convenient and the price was right-- free. The topics were related to presentation design concepts and I knew going into it that the medium would be right for some, but unfortunately, dead wrong for others. Contrast that with another training venue coming up in a few weeks. Three presentation team members from a large consumer products company will be flying into Portland, Oregon for a day's worth of hands-on presentation design training. End of year budget utilization issues made that possible and I absolutely know that they will walk away with highly practical skills. So who got the best training value? The answer just might surprise you. Training is a personal matter but also a very practical one. When we approach training topics related to presentation design, message development, delivery skills and technology, the venues available for training are numerous. The bigger question is which ones are right for you and your learning style and of course, which options will your budgets support? With a rush to slash travel and off site training, the web is being viewed in overly glamorous terms for meaningful training deployment. Here are the trade offs. http://tc.eserver.org/20527.html http://tc.eserver.org/20527.html It is important to focus on one’s thoughts when approaching presentations. Often these thoughts can be based on myths: widely held beliefs that just are not true. http://tc.eserver.org/20537.html http://tc.eserver.org/20537.html Even if you are a confident, seasoned speaker, you still need to connect with your audience with terrific content and visual aids. Knock `em dead with your words and the visual aids you use in order to truly have audiences on the edge of their seats! How can you get a crowd of hungry or tired conference attendees interested in your presentation? How can you stand apart and be remembered out of a series of speakers? Be daring and different. Seek untraditional methods to relate your information. Investigate all your options and all resources. Never rule anything out. http://tc.eserver.org/20523.html http://tc.eserver.org/20523.html It was my first year in business and I was 20-minutes into delivering a one-hour presentation skills seminar when it was becoming painfully clear that I was losing my audience fast. With this particular group, the early warning signs were all there. It started with some subtle multi-tasking activity followed by a pronounced loss of eye contact by a few individuals at first and then half the group. If you’ve ever had that experience you know that you only have a couple of options at that point. You can try to pump up the energy level and occasionally re-energize an audience; but, let’s face it, the odds are pretty slim. Or you can always start summarizing, cut your loses and go for a well-scripted close. At least there’s some hope that your audience will, at a minimum, hear a few crisp closing points and an interesting story to tie it all together. On that particular day, I didn’t have a chance to do either. The bell rang at precisely 11:22 and Cheryl Bailey’s third period PowerPoint class darted for the door and I was left standing there (unplugging my projector and laptop) wondering what the heck just happened. It was my first time presenting to a group of kids and since then I’ve had to revise my technique considerably for this unique audience. http://tc.eserver.org/20538.html http://tc.eserver.org/20538.html Using videos to sell a service or product or to inspire and inform associates is becoming common for all kinds of organizations. The latest technologies offer endless opportunities at reasonable cost and with professional results, yet nothing can replace the drama and warmth of a live presentation. It's like the difference between live theater and television- no comparison! http://tc.eserver.org/20535.html http://tc.eserver.org/20535.html Einstein said, If I can't 'see' it, I don't understand it. When visuals are used, you are more persuasive, you can cover more ground in less time, retention and comprehension are greater and, your presentation is more interesting and involving. http://tc.eserver.org/20528.html http://tc.eserver.org/20528.html It is known by many names: Visualizer, Visual Presenter, Visual Copy Stand even the misnomer, “Document Camera.” “Document Camera” is the most commonly used name, however they are much more than just a “Document Camera.” And, it is not an overhead projector where you can show documents either. It is truly much more than this. A Visualizer is a 'live' camera that picks up live images and allows you to view them over any display device. The true beauty of Visualizers can be summed up in one word – flexibility. It can be a piece of paper, a transparency, a 3-dimensional object, a 35mm slide, an x-ray or even a large item or person in a room. Quite an amazing and versatile device, and all in live motion. http://tc.eserver.org/20529.html http://tc.eserver.org/20529.html You have just been asked to to give a 30-45 minute speech at a conference and there is absolutely no time to put visuals together for it. You're panicked at the thought of boring these people to death. What can you do? Use Word pictures. http://tc.eserver.org/20539.html http://tc.eserver.org/20539.html There are many different ways you can deliver a presentation. You can make an on-screen presentation using a laptop or desktop computers and a multimedia projector, you can use an overhead with transparencies, you can generate paper printouts and use a flip chart, or even present using 35mm slides. But, with the amazing growth of the World Wide Web, more and more people are opting to copy their presentations to the Internet. PowerPoint has built in facilities that allow you to convert your PowerPoint presentations to a series of web pages that can be published to the Internet or an Intranet then viewed by anyone with a Web browser! http://tc.eserver.org/20518.html http://tc.eserver.org/20518.html Have you ever attended a successful dinner party? Do you remember what it was that made it so enjoyable? Was it the great food, the company, the entertainment? Chances are it was all these things. You can use these same ingredients to create and deliver an unforgettable presentation. http://tc.eserver.org/20519.html http://tc.eserver.org/20519.html Let me start off by saying that I do NOT like toys or other distractions in training. I’m NOT one to provide little widgets to keep participants’ hands occupied or provide cutesy pens or such trinkets. I’ve always viewed them as distractions that shouldn’t be necessary if your training is engaging and relevant. http://tc.eserver.org/20522.html http://tc.eserver.org/20522.html Laughter is an important component in any presentation. Even when presenter ignores humor, the attendees find it, sometimes at the presenter’s expense. The need for laughter is so strong that participants seek out opportunities to laugh throughout every seminar. They do so with good reason. It is natural and appropriate to use humor in learning situations. It is, for a number of reasons, also demonstrative of solid instructional design. http://tc.eserver.org/20521.html http://tc.eserver.org/20521.html Bulgarian Psychologist Giorgi Lozanov, the father of Accelerated Learning, once commented, 'The language of music, rhyme and rhythm reach not only the ear, but the mind as well, via a much shorter path than logical facts and arguments.' Music’s ability to reach past the logical regions of the mind and into its emotive centers makes it a powerful learning tool. And yet, owing to a lack of familiarity with the different musical styles, many trainers do not use it effectively. This article overviews some musical styles and suggests possible applications for those styles. http://tc.eserver.org/20517.html http://tc.eserver.org/20517.html The new features of PowerPoint 2003 are both prominent and subtle, but before we start discussing PowerPoint further, there is some thing important you need to know about Office 2003: Office 2003 requires a minimum operating system of Windows 2000 (Service Pack 3 or later), or Windows XP (preferred). For the Package to CD feature in PowerPoint 2003, you need Office XP to be able to package direct to CD from within PowerPoint. Okay, now we can get down to busi ness... http://tc.eserver.org/20516.html http://tc.eserver.org/20516.html Here you'll find free templates and ideas to put Wow! in all your presentations. Try free presentation software and download any of our many free PowerPoint templates or Corel masters. Read hundreds of articles from presentation experts, purchase the latest presentation books and even Ask the Professor your most perplexing presentation software questions. http://tc.eserver.org/20520.html http://tc.eserver.org/20520.html Andy Warhol once said that everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes. So when that time comes don't screw it up - follow these 10 tips for broadcast success, whether you're talking to Matt and Katie via satellite uplink or your employees via a Webcast.