Adding images to Keynote couldn’t be easier than this – I’ll show you how to insert a set of images so that each fills the screen on a separate slide.
This video is also available via a free subscription to the Brainslides Video Podcast in iTunes.
Almost everyone has used an image from the web in a presentation at one point or another. But did you know that doing so could constitute copyright infringement? In this video I’ll show you how to search for images that can legally be used for free, thanks to a license called Creative Commons.
Nathan – Presenting with Text
As a self-admitted, die hard, Apple fan-boy, it feels a bit strange for me to recommend a talk by the chairman of one of Apple’s biggest rivals. But I respect improvement, and from what I’ve seen of Bill Gates, he is my top pick for Most Improved in the area of presentation skills.
Take a quick look at this image from when he was still running Microsoft:
Bill Gates' presentations used to suffer from poorly designed slides
Not only is that slide horrendous, cluttered, and pretty much incomprehensible, but his delivery was in no way engaging, entertaining, or inspiring. Now take a look at these images from his recent talk at TED 2011 in Monterey, CA.
Bill Gates speaking at TED University 2011
The slides used in this presentation are very well designed, with an attractive and subtle background, one main idea per slide, and no bullet points. Even though the subject of the presentation is about the boring and technical topic of state budgets, the design didn’t suffer the usual fate of dry, stiff presentation.
Not only does he now have great slides, but his delivery was much improved. He appears comfortable on stage, doesn’t fidget or move around unnecessarily, speaks clearly at a comfortable pace, and even uses humor appropriately. Bill Gates has now given 3 talks at TED that I know of, and all of them have been at this caliber. It appears as thought Bill has taken the time to prepare the content of his talks, put forth the effort to design them well (or, more likely, the money to hire someone to design them), and accepted help from a speaking coach.
Slide design and presentation skills aside, this talk is also very relevant to teachers based on it’s content – state budgets and how they affect education. The message is timely and important – we need to pay more attention to state budget and expenditures, because the effect on education is great.
Please take 10 minutes to watch this talk and think about what you can learn from a reformed presenter.
You can watch or download this talk on TED.com
When you have the time, be sure to see the other two TED Talks he has given.
Recently, there has been some discussion among various presentation blogs on the practice of distributing handouts to accompany presentation slides. (Visit Speaking About Presenting or Phil Presents to get caught up and learn some great tips.) This topic goes hand in hand with my own previous posts on slideuments and docuslides, since most presenters create their slides to also serve as a handout (resulting in slideuments), while a few presenters present their documents (resulting in docuslides).
The problem with both slideuments and docuslides is a misunderstanding of how information should be presented. As I have explained before, lectures and presentations primarily utilize oral information with visual supplements. Documents – papers, essays, books, etc. – are primarily textual information. Documents are meant to be information dense, while slides are not.
Let me restate this more transparently:
It really is that simple! If you are e-mailing, mailing, distributing handouts, or otherwise delivering information which will stand on it’s own, it does not make sense to use PowerPoint or other slideware to create the document!
One solution to slideuments is to create both a document and accompanying slides – and it doesn’t take as much work as you might think.
Some time ago I was required to write a final paper and give a presentation on the same topic for my biology class. I chose to research sustainable practices for healthy living. First, I wrote my paper using Apple’s Pages (a word processor similar to Microsoft Word). Once that was complete, I then began to select the important points that I would cover in my presentation. I created a slidedeck using the same titles, images, and order of topics.
Click here to download the full paper: Biology 100 Final Paper
You can download the slides by visiting Slideshare.net.
