02 Sunday Jun 2013
Posted in Public Speaking and Presentation
“Building Great Presentations” by Mattan Griffel covers the state of presentations today; creating strong story-driven content; slide design; and delivery. Check it out here:
What great Slideshare presentations have you seen lately?
25 Thursday Apr 2013
Posted in Design, Visual Presentation
Have you seen Brad Frost’s “Death To Bullshit” yet?! It’s incredibly interesting but also beautifully designed. Check out the startling statistics on slides 8, 22, and 38-39.
What did you find the most interesting about Frost’s Slideshare presentation?
17 Wednesday Apr 2013
Posted in Infographic and Data Visualization
When browsing Slideshare this week, I fell in love with “It’s All About Infographics!” Check it out above.
What great slideshows have you stumbled upon this week?
16 Tuesday Apr 2013
Tags
advice, leadership, life, LinkedIn, slideshare, success, Things I Carry
The “Things I Carry” project has been really inspirational. My favorite “Things I Carry” so far was Chiara Ojeda’s elegant deck. View it here. I’ve been thinking a lot about the ten things I carry with me, and after a lunch with my superteacher BFF, my “Things I Carry” emerged. As opposed to creating a deck of slides, I thought I would write an article on the ten things I value the most in life and carry with me on a daily basis…
SERVICE. I’ve always been committed to service. I’m not sure where this value came from, as neither one of my parents ever volunteered when I was growing up. However, a huge part of my middle/high school and college experience was about giving back to my school and to my community. Since then, I’ve always made time for work, school, and volunteer activities.
A GOOD BAUBLE. My jewelry collection is pretty out of control because I firmly believe in the power of a good bauble. I always feel more confident with a great pair of chandelier earrings or a nice chunky watch.
WORK. I’ll admit it; I’m a workaholic. I work 50 hours on a light week. I also like to work in my off time, so “work” is something I value and carry with me at all times. Whether I’m running three miles, volunteering for an organization I care about, or sweating it out while working in the yard, I really do enjoy hard work. It’s fun!
A CAT MENAGERIE. I’m a cat lady. I am “mom” to 3 precious cats: Sailor, Lily, and Sparks. My husband and I also feed 3 outside cats though only one is my sweet baby: Bailey.
THE WORD “YES.” This does get me in a lot of trouble. I immediately say “yes” to everything… often without thinking. Great ideas, new plans, and possibilities are exciting to me. However, I find that I am exhausted at the end of each day because I say “yes” to everything and everyone. I also sometimes accidentally double-book because I want to do too many great things at the same time, which leads me to the sixth thing I carry…
CALENDAR. My Lilly Pulitzer calendar is my favorite. I prefer a hard copy of a calendar as opposed to something on my phone or on my computer. This helps me stay organized despite a thousand appointments, activities, duties, and errands.
SALTED CARAMEL ANYTHING. I have a sweet tooth, and I love salted caramel anything: brownies, froyo, etc. The ultimate is a salted caramel Nutella brownie. Heaven!
EDUCATION. My learning-centered, research-based education has meant the world to me. I earned an A.A. in Communication from Chipola College, a place that taught me the importance of balancing schoolwork and leadership. Pursuing a B.A. in English from the University of Florida was a powerful experience, and I feel so fortunate to have attended one of the best schools in the nation. I also earned my M.A. in English from UNF, and I’m going back to school for another M.A. in Communication. One day, I will earn a PhD in Communication. I can’t wait! Teaching and learning are a core part of who I am, so I will always take classes as well as teach classes.
MY BUSTED WORK LAPTOP. It’s currently rocking an external keyboard because I work so much that my center keys don’t function properly. A few months ago, my poor laptop was so overused that the screen came unhinged from the keyboard. I had to send it to the Mac doctor for about six months, and after getting it back, it only took six more months before the most recent keyboard issue. My laptop is a champ! She might be hideous and beaten up, but she is the best.
REAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE. In one of the best personal decisions I’ve ever made, I deleted my Facebook two years ago, and, along with it, a lot of baggage. After giving up Facebook, I found that I had to work a bit harder to nurture a real life circle of friends. It is definitely more difficult to call someone to find out how they’ve been doing as opposed to stalking their Facebook wall. However, deleting my Facebook account really shined a light on the honest, real friendships and relationships in my life. I’m so thankful to carry my husband, my family, and my best friends with me where ever I go. Love them <3
I haven’t decided whether or not to turn this into a deck on Slideshare… Stay tuned :)
What things do YOU carry?
11 Thursday Apr 2013
Posted in Design, Education, Leadership
When I woke up this morning, I had no idea this week would end with a classroom visit from the one and only Steve Cherches! I’ve been a huge fan of Steve’s for about a year now due to blogs and social media, so connecting with him in real life is such an honor. He’ll be visiting my Professional Communication and Presentation class tomorrow, and he’s in for a real treat: my students are delivering their TED Analysis presentations.
We’re also discussing the Visual Resume, so Steve will have a lot of great things to say on the topic based upon his experiences. He is a visual thinker and founder of VizThink NYC. Check out one of VizThink’s projects here.
To learn more about the visual resume, check out Chiara Ojeda’s “Visualizing Resumes” deck below. This one really should be a “Top Presentation of the Day.” Hint hint, Slideshare! :)
I’ll report back ASAP about my meeting with Steve.
Have you met any superstars in your industry? Have you ever met any of your mentors in person? Share your experiences with me!
07 Sunday Apr 2013
Tags
advice, Chiara Ojeda, leadership, life, LinkedIn, slideshare, success, Things I Carry
The “Things I Carry” project has really taken off! I’ve been thinking a lot about the things I carry, but I haven’t been able to come up with my list just yet. The project really does ask us to step back and think about the physical objects but also the ideas and emotions we bring to the table as leaders.
Speaking of leaders, Chiara Ojeda has designed a gorgeous yet simple deck. What I love most about this deck is its elegance. The repeated dotted lines, clean graphics, a few personal pictures, and pastel colors stand out to me. I also like the repeated “{ }” shapes around words and phrases. Check out Chiara’s project here:
If you want to see what Chiara does with the things she carries, check out her blog here. Follow her on Twitter here.
Who has written or designed your favorite “Things I Carry” project? Chiara takes the cake for me! Share your favorite deck or article in the “Comments” section.
02 Tuesday Apr 2013
Tags
advice, leadership, life, LinkedIn, slideshare, success, Things I Carry
Calling all thought-leaders! LinkedIn has partnered with Slideshare to come up with something fresh and exciting. According to their Slideshare page, “LinkedIn’s influencers shared their tools for success. What are yours? Share them here. Make sure to tag your presentation ThingsICarry” (Source). I’ve already seen amazing articles written on LinkedIn from leaders such as Meg Whitman of Hewlett Packard, Vivian Schiller of NBC News, Jennifer Dulski of Change.org, and even Richard Branson!
This infographic was an interesting visual representation of what’s going on over at LinkedIn:
What I loved most about this project was the Slideshare spin: a few of my favorite designers added beautiful slides into the mix.
Marisa Wong came up with the concept, so be sure to check out her “Things I Carry” presentation first:
Next, check out “Things I Carry” Slideshare presentations from other superstars: Emiland de Cubber, Jonathon Colman, and Ruchi Garg.
What are the things YOU carry? Will you be participating in the “Things I Carry” project?
01 Monday Apr 2013
Posted in Design, Visual Presentation
Tags
design, design plagiarism, plagiarism, Slide Comet, Slides That Rock, slideshare, The Presentation Designer, visual presentation
This morning, a beautiful new deck debuted on Slideshare. Scroll through “How To Create Presentations That Are Out Of This World” by Slide Comet:
What fascinated me more than the gorgeous design was the conversation taking place in the “Comment” section below the deck. This comment (since removed) from The Presentation Designer reveals the debate currently taking place about design plagiarism:
“Whilst, I can appreciate that this is a nice deck. What I don’t appreciate is you guys stealing the exact ideas in terms of colour scheme, layout and fonts from my ‘much’ earlier presentation – http://www.slideshare.net/thepresentationdesigner/10-wise-lessons-ive-learnt-from-freelancing.
Sure, it’s great to take inspiration from each other but I purposely go out of my way not to use similar fonts or ideas that another person has already published in their deck on Slideshare.
How is your slide 23 NOT extremely similar to my slide 3. You’ve even used the exact same font combinations and colour combination.
I know you can’t copyright a font combo or colour scheme and I wouldn’t normally make a fuss about something like this but think taking my ideas and re-purposing them ever so slightly is wrong. You don’t even credit me in the deck for some of the design / font inspiration” (Source).
Slides That Rock followed up with a comment:
“Let us share our experience and view. When we created the original ‘Slides That Rock’ deck, we used the fonts ‘Lobster Two’ and ‘Bebas Neue’. That combination has become very popular and you will find a number presentations on SlideShare using those fonts and even images that look like the ones we used. Most of those decks do not give us any credits and we are OK. We take it as an honor when people are influenced by us. We know and they know where the influence came from and as long as more people in the world create slides that rock, we are on the right track!” (Source).
Would you consider using similar colors design plagiarism? Would you consider using the came combination of fonts design thievery?
Check out Eugene Cheng’s take on the situation in “Does Originality Still Exist?”
Chiara Ojeda is currently working on a blog post about the thin line between design inspiration and design thievery. Follow her work at Tweak Your Slides, and watch out for her upcoming post.
Do you see any design thievery happening in the Slide Comet presentation? Do you see plagiarism happening on Slideshare? What do you think about the “You Stole My Design!” debate?
28 Thursday Mar 2013
Posted in Education
One of my favorite Slideshare superstars, Eugene Cheng, created “3 Believes of Success: A Singaporean Perspective” which touches on issues American superteachers also face. Check out Eugene’s presentation here:
What I like most about Eugene’s presentation are his solutions. Instead of one uniform perspective for all students, we should begin considering individual “tracks” to success. Ultimately, higher education is not for everyone. I teach college students, and some are not yet equipped for college while some will never be equipped for college. Why do we perceive this as a negative thing? Why is a college education the standard by which we measure success?
I also like Eugene’s ideas about college as just a piece of paper. This resonates with me because of my current situation… I am teaching a course called Professional Communication and Presentation while I pursue a second M.A. in Communication. I need 18 hours in my field in order to be “qualified” to teach this subject. Since I don’t have a degree in the field, I’ve done three and a half years of self study. I consider myself to be an expert in my field, but I don’t have the degree or the 18 hours to prove to others that I am qualified. Going back to school does give me that piece of paper; however, I haven’t taken a single class that will help me teach my class any better than I already do. Not a single graduate course has helped me become a better Professional Communication and Presentation instructor, but every graduate course I take makes me more qualified to teach my course on paper.
How do you feel about Eugene’s three beliefs of success? What is your personal experience with higher education?
16 Saturday Mar 2013
Posted in Public Speaking and Presentation
Tags
This recent Slideshare deck by my design friend Orsolya Nemes covers one of my favorite books of all time, Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. Check out the deck below:
Check out my review of Made to Stick back in December 2011. If you haven’t already heard, the Heath Brothers are back with a soon-to-be-released book: Decisive. Their website even allows you to read the first chapter! Read it here.
Are you excited about Decisive? Which Heath Brothers book has been your favorite so far?
