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Advanced PowerPoint Design Tips From Nolan Haims

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Last week, one of my coworkers watched Nolan Haims’s webinar entitled “In the Trenches: Real World Solutions to Corporate Presentation Challenges.”  Like me, my coworker is not a designer but is interested in constructing compelling presentations.  She thought this was one of the most valuable Webinars she has ever seen and urged me to watch it.

While it starts a little slow (as Webinars do), there is massive value in Nolan’s presentation.  Since there is a lot in there that is for professional designers, here is what I extracted for the rest of us:

  1. Text:
    • Use standard fonts (see: http://2013.presentitude.com/fonts/)
    • Jazz up standard (vertical list of bullets) by “chunking” them into columns (note: can use multiple text boxes or column feature in single text box)
    • Strive for high contrast (ex: white text on images looks great)
  2. Images:
    • Recolor images from disparate sources to make them feel like they are part of the same family
    • Overlay gradient boxes to improve contrast and/or vignettes to improve depth on images (see: http://blog.indezine.com/2012/12/gradient-boxes-and-vignettes-by-nolan.html)
    • Where possible use transparent (lossless) PNGs instead of (lossy) JPEGs
    • When resizing an image, maintain the aspect ratio. If you have extra space to fill, clone and stretch an unimportant part of the image
    • Bing has excellent image search
  3. Shapes & Icons:
  4. Charts
    • Use native PowerPoint charts or embed from Excel (rather than pasting as image or as link)

 

 

Zen and the Art of Public Speaking

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Though I spend most of my time reading books about public speaking and leadership, every so often I consume five books on a topic far outside of what I have exposed myself to in the past.  While I do this mostly for intellectual enjoyment, I often find concepts and techniques to apply to public speaking.  Over the years, I used this approach to explore screenplay writing, fiction, and comedy, three genres that are gold mines for speakers.

Inspired by the fact that Steve Jobs left “The Autobiography of a Yogi” as a final gift to mourners at his funeral, I recently decided to read up on Eastern religion – particularly Buddhism.  While I have gained no more than a rudimentary, ‘arm-chair’ understanding, the core concepts of mindfulness and compassion that comprise enlightenment reminded me of the journey toward public speaking mastery.

To explore this analogy, I’ll use Noel Burch’s ‘Conscious Competence” learning model:

Stage I – Unconscious incompetence: This stage is best described as obliviousness.  A public speaker in this stage would stand up without fear, deliver a terrible presentation, and then sit back down again without awareness of how poor their speech went.  While I have not encountered many people in this stage, I imagine there are two sub-types: (a) those deluded about their ability (b) those who could care less about public speaking.

Stage II – Conscious incompetence:  In this stage, an individual knows public speaking is a critical part of sharing ideas worth spreading (i.e. they know “WHY”), but they have not yet learned “HOW” to be an effective communicator.  From what I can tell, this is where most people are. This is also the stage where natural speaking anxiety causes fear.

Stage III – Conscious competence: I like to refer to individuals in this stage as “expert speakers.”  They know the why and the how of public speaking.  They know, for example, to speak loud and slow to be authoritative or to make deliberate eye-contact for 3 seconds in a random pattern.

Stage IV – Unconscious competence: Here is where Buddhism comes back into the picture.  Individuals in this stage are “enlightened speakers;” they are “experts who speak” rather than “expert speakers.”  In my own experience, this is actually a state rather than a stage since, like enlightenment, it happens in the delightful situations where you are both fully mindful and compassionate. It is a state Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes as Flow.  To be mindful in the public speaking context is to be one with your content, free of expectations of what may or may not result from your speech.  To be compassionate in the public speaking context is to speak purely in the service of your audience and without self-judgement.

The fascinating thing to me about being in the Stage IV, enlightened speaking state is that you do not get there by learning. You get there by unlearning.  Watch a very young child speak; they inspire with great passion and no fear.  Enlightened speaking is inside all of us; we simply have share ideas we are passionate about with people we care about and without regard for what came before or what will come after.

How Jason Fried Delivered His TED Talk

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Jason Fried, founder of 37signals (known for its BaseCamp project management solution), has a reputation for provocatively challenging the norms of the knowledge workplace. In this post, I deconstruct the factors that make his talk so popular.

 

Tip 1: Share an idea worth spreading

Jason’s idea worth spreading is to encourage managers to stop interrupting knowledge workers so that creative employees have long stretches of time to do great work.

 

Tip 2: Use the problem-solution narrative structure

In How to Deliver a TED Talk, I explore three equally effective ways to organize a persuasive presentation:

  1. Tell a story
  2. Make an argument with premise-proof logic groups (inductive reasoning)
  3. Make an argument with premise-proof logic chains (deductive reasoning)

Jason’s problem-solution narrative, summarized in the table below, uses the logic chain approach.  In a logic chain, each premise triggers a question that must be answered by the next premise in the chain.  Jason began with a direct statement of the problem – people cannot seem to get work done at work.  A skeptical listener might ask, “Is that problem really true?” Jason replied, yes, just notice how you and your colleagues shift creative work to different places or times of day. His reply triggers the question, “Why are people shifting when and where they work?” Jason’s responded that employees shift work in order to carve out long stretches of interruption-free time.  The next logical question is, “Is there a way to make the workplace productive again?” Jason replied, yes, with three specific solutions.

 

[table ]
Element,Premise,Proof
Introduction,(1) People cannot seem to get great work done in centralized offices filled with stuff,(2) (none)
Part 1,(3) People go somewhere or sometime else to get work done, (4a) Places ~~ (4b) Vehicles ~~ (4c) Early morning/late night/weekends
Part 2,(5a) People don’t have  a work day\, they have work moments ~~ (5b) People (esp. creatives) need long stretches of time without involuntary interruptions,(6a) Work\, like sleep\, is ineffective when interrupted ~~ (6b) Voluntary distractions\, like Facebook\, are just modern ‘smoke-breaks’ ~~ (6c) Managers are the source of involuntary distractions via check-ins and meetings
Part 3,(7) 3 remedies can make office work productive again,(8a) No talk Thursday PM ~~ (8b) Switch from active to passive communication (ex: email) ~~ (8c) Cancel your next meeting and notice that nothing bad happens
Conclusion,(9) I hope these ideas inspire managers to leave employees alone to do great work,(10) (none)

[/table]

 

Tip 3: Be authentic

Jason is a person who cares about unleashing creativity at work.  He started a company and wrote several books to express his passion for productivity.  He was clearly in that zone as well when he delivered his TED Talk.  When speakers present on topics they deeply care about, they do not need to think about the mechanics of verbal and non-verbal delivery.  Jason’s passion appeared naturally in his facial expressions and his vocal variety.  Though his movement on stage was at times a little distracting, it matched the power of his conviction and expressed raw authenticity.

 

Tip 4: Speak without slides

Jason was wise to avoid slides in his TED Talk. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that TED Talks are partly defined by great slide design, many of the most popular TED speakers used no slides during their talks.  Slides always create an attention barrier between speaker and audience.  Conceptual talks like Jason’s are far more persuasive without slides.

So, when should a speaker use slides?  Slides are effective when they document an experience first-hand (see Bunker Roy’s TED Talk) or reveal data (see Hans Rosling’s TED Talk) in a way that would take too many words to explain. In those instances, the benefit outweighs the cost.

 

Final Thoughts

To discover more of Jason’s unconventional advice for succeeding at work, check out his best-selling book, ReWork.

How to Market a Nonfiction Book

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Lately, I have been getting a lot of questions from people wanting to know how I write, publish, and market my books, especially my most successful book, “How To Deliver a TED Talk.” I love helping others become more effective communicators so I’m happy to share the insights and techniques I have learned along the way. This post, Part 3 in a three-part series, covers how to market a nonfiction book. The other posts are:

• How to Write a Nonfiction Book
• How to Publish a Nonfiction Book

Tip 1: Build your platform by being an active content giver

At this point, I am assuming that you have written and published a well-edited nonfiction book that has material people value and want to share with their friends. However, no one knows that your book exists. To help people find it, you have to start giving

I’m a strong believer in the hypothesis that if you give great content away, people will want to buy your book. They are not rewarding you. Rather, they hope (and it should be true) that what is in your book is as valuable as what you give away for free. I give content away by blogging at least once a week. In case you are wondering, I use and recommend the Focus child theme on the Genesis Framework in WordPress. (I used to use and love the Thesis theme, but the new version became way too technically complex even though I used to be a programmer.)

There are tons of books written on platform building for people entering the ‘expert economy.’ Three of my favorites are Michael Hyatt’s Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, Brenden Bruchard’s The Millionaire Messenger: Make a Difference and a Fortune Sharing Your Advice, and Michael Port’s Book Yourself Solid.

Tip 2: Give content on other people’s platforms

It is going to take a while for a critical-mass of people to find (and hopefully share) the content you are giving away on your own platform. While you build your content empire, give content away freely on other people’s platforms. My main way of doing this is serving as a guest on other people’s Podcasts. One of my favorite podcasters is Moe Abdou at 33Voices. At least at this stage, I’m happy to be interviewed by any Podcaster independent of the size of their audience.

Every once in a blue moon, I write a guest blog post but I try to reserve written content for my own platform.

Tip 3: Figure out who the influencers are in your genre and send them two review copies

I maintain a list of the top influencers (mostly bloggers and other writers) on public speaking. My go-to resource is Guy Kawaskaki’s Alltop which aggregates and ranks blogs in every imaginable category.

Once I identify an influencer, I reach out with a very personalized email to ask if they would like a copy of my book to do an objective review. Most say yes since they are as hungry to get content as I am to give it. Plus, we are all fans of each other’s work.

Next, I mail the influencer two physical copies with a handwritten note. Even though this process is more time consuming and expensive than sending an eBook, I send physical copies because it shows I care. I send two copies so that the reviewer can read one and pass one on to a friend.

Outside of influencers who regularly write reviews, I do NOT give books away. With my first book, What Great Looks Like, I gave hundreds of books away and ended up with two reviews. When you give a book away, it will collect dust. When people buy your book, they read it since they have skin in the game. If they enjoy it, they may reward you with a review.

Tip 4: Get as many positive reviews on Amazon as fast as you can

Though I do not have scientific proof, I believe that building a strong, early flow of positive reviews on Amazon is a major driver of book sales, triggering a virtuous cycle – reviews drive sales which drive reviews which drive sales…

Your friends and family will likely provide the first reviews. The next wave will come from the influencers to whom you sent books. Then, when you book takes off, everyone else will jump in. As an added touch, I do my best to track down people (usually via LinkedIn) who gave me four or five star reviews to thank them.

Some people will give you 1 or 2 star reviews. You just have to accept that some people will hate your work. Do not try to change their opinion. And, don’t feel hurt; as Seth Godin would say, it is a good sign you created something remarkable when some people love your work and others loath.

Tip 5: Sign up for NetGalley

Once you get some traction, reinvest some of your profits by signing up for NetGalley. They provide their community with access to your book in exchange for objective reviews. The NetGalley reviewers are quite active and influential so your reviews will show up on Amazon, GoodReads, and blogs.

NetGalley is the only “service” of this type that I use. I avoid all forms of paid reviews, including Kirkus.

Tip 6: Speak for free or for fee every chance you get

Early on, you are probably going to need to speak for free at every venue you are invited to. Go for it and have fun. You should be able to sell books from the back of the room (if you do that, make sure you use a credit card processing device like Square and sell at a price equal to or less than what people can buy your book for through any other channel). Once you are established, you can start speaking “for fee” and bundle your books with the deal.

*****

Please add a comment if you agree or disagree or if I missed anything.

How to Publish a Nonfiction Book

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Lately, I have been getting a lot of questions from people wanting to know how I write, publish, and market my books, especially my most successful book, “How To Deliver a TED Talk.” I love helping others become more effective communicators so I’m happy to share the insights and techniques I have learned along the way. This post, Part 2 in a three-part series, covers how to publish a nonfiction book. The other posts are:

• How to Write a Nonfiction Book
• How to Market a Nonfiction Book

Tip 1: Pay for developmental editing, line editing, interior design, and cover design

If you followed my advice in my last post, How to Write a Nonfiction Book, then you have a manuscript with basic formatting. Unless, you want to release garbage, you need feedback on your book. Start with friends and family, but engage a developmental editor if you can afford it. A good developmental editor knows your genre and will provide you with actionable feedback. A developmental editor gives you notes and suggestions; they don’t actually touch your text.

Once the content of the book is in great shape, pay for line editing which includes proofreading to find typos and copy-editing to fix issues at the sentence and paragraph level. I rely on the amazing PJ Dempsey for line editing.

Finally, pay a professional to do your interior layout and cover design. When I self-published, I use CreateSpace’s custom services for this.

Tip 2: Self-publish

Congratulations, you finished writing your book and you should be proud. Now, you want the world to read it. If you are a celebrity with a following of hundreds of thousands or millions of adoring fans, you can skip this tip. For everyone else, I recommend self-publishing since it is nearly impossible to get a large, traditional publisher to acquire a book. (You can always switch to traditional publishing later if your book takes off – that is what I did.)

If you actually have a choice to make between self-publishing versus traditional publishing, here is what you need to know:

  • Speed (winner = self-publishing): It takes six months to a year to get a book published traditionally. Self-publishing is nearly instantaneous.
  • Quality (winner = traditional-publishing): Traditional publishers have their brand and their money on the line so they will make sure your book is a quality product. You can try to achieve the same on your own, but you would need to find a freelance editorial team with deep, current expertise in your genre.
  • Editorial control (winner = self-publishing): The quality you get from traditional publishing comes as the price of editorial control. While I don’t think an editor will change your ideas, a good one will challenge you and tell you that some of what you wrote garbage. That bothers some people.
  • Cache’ (winner = traditional publishing): For better or worse, there is a certain amount of prestige with having a book released by a large publishing house. That endorsement feels good and also helps open doors for speaking engagements and press interviews.
  • Volume & Distribution (winner = tie): Though traditional publishers can help a little, the truth is that you will need to do 99% of your own marketing. Yes, traditional publishers will get you into bookstores, but most of your volume will come from Amazon (Kindle and print). With my self-published books, I sell 50% Kindle, 40% Amazon print, 9% Audible, and 1% other (Nook, Google Books, iBooks, etc.).
  • Income (winner = self-publishing): I suppose that if your book is a flop, then you will make more money with traditional publishing since you get to keep the (small) advance. However, if your book is a success, you get to keep a much larger percentage of the royalties (typically 75%). Plus, you get to set the price.

Tip 3: Offer print-on-demand and eBook Versions

I looked around at many self-publishing alternatives including Amazon’s CreateSpace, Lulu, SmashWords, Outskirts Press, and BookBaby.

I use CreateSpace for print-on-demand and Kindle conversion since they are tightly integrated with the rest of Amazon and have exceptional quality and price. Once a book gains traction, I expand distribution in other eBook channels using BookBaby. If a book is really cooking, then I use Amazon ACX for Audible conversion. Since audio quality is so critical, I rely on Kevin Pierce on the ACX platform for his voice and production skills.

Some people have asked me about print-on-demand versus regular printing. I emphatically recommend print-on-demand for two reasons. First, you can fix typos easily with print-on-demand. Second, you do not have a maintain inventory or handle shipping since your distribution partner does that for you. Yes, you get less profit per book with print-on-demand but that tradeoff is a pittance for the two big benefits, especially since odds are (just being honest) you are not going to sell as many copies as you think you will.

Tip 4: Set the price of your book

There is plenty of incredible research available on book pricing. This presentation is among my favorites:

In my opinion, the right initial price point for a self-published non-fiction book is $2.99 Kindle/eBook and $9.95 print book. If you start higher, you risk pricing yourself out of the market. If your book is very successful, you can always increase the price over time without offending your early buyers.

Tip 5: Get an agent

You don’t need an agent if you are self-publishing. However, if you decide to ignore my advice and pursue traditional publishing, then you need an agent who is well connected in your genre to shop your book around (do not waste your time trying to engage publishers directly). The best advice I can offer is to look in the acknowledgements of your favorite books. Most authors thank their agents. You can then reach out directly to the author who will usually be glad to facilitate an introduction to the agent. It is almost as hard to get an agent to represent you as it is to get a publisher to take on your book so expect a lot of rejection. Also, reputable agents do not charge you; instead, they take a well-earned cut of your eventual earnings (usually 10%). My agent is Jackie Meyer from Whimsy Literary Agency.

Tip 6: Get an attorney

Once you get an agent, get an attorney. You should have the attorney review the agent’s contract before you sign it. Then, if you get a publisher interested in your book, you need the attorney to review the publishing contract. Do not skip this tip if you get to this phase or you will be penny-wise and pound-foolish. My publishing attorney is Maura Wogan from Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC.

*****

Please add a comment if you agree or disagree or if I missed anything.