PowerPoint

The Future of Presentations?

Patrick DiDomenico

On the heels of my last post about using PowerPoint as a résumé, a law school friend of mine told me about Prezi – a web application that allows you to make really interesting presentations.  This PowerPoint alternative just might be the future of presentations.  Here’s an example that I made (in about ten minutes).  Let me know what you think.  Click the “play” triangle to start and then keep clicking it or use < arrow > keys to make it go:

This is the Future of Presentations on Prezi

Knowledge Management, Technology & Social Media for Lawyers and Law Firms

PowerPoint Your Résumé? – A Challenge

Patrick DiDomenico

If you follow me on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, then you know that I’m looking to hire a Knowledge Management Department & Library Coordinator.  That’s not the focus of this post, but my experience (not necessarily recently) of reviewing résumés got me thinking about innovative ways to do things.  I’ve also been thinking a lot about presentations — PowerPoint presentations in particular (as you may know from my previous post).  Could combining the two–résumés and PowerPoint presentations–be the way to stand out from the crowd?  The chocolate and peanut butter of self-promotion?

The examples below, from SlideShare, are great.  When was the last time you were so engaged by a résumé? Read more →

I Don’t Hate PowerPoint

Patrick DiDomenico

The Master

Recently, before a conference I attended, someone said to me, “Oh, I know you hate PowerPoint presentations. So do I. This will be horrible.”

To the contrary, I don’t hate PowerPoint presentations (or Apple Keynote presentations, for that matter). I do feel a bit tortured  when someone misuses PowerPoint to kill an otherwise good and interesting presentation. I’m not alone, of course. So many of us have been subjected to so many bad presentations that some people have sworn off PowerPoint altogether.  But for you presenters out there, my advice is: don’t give up hope.  Just give up the bad practices that make bad PowerPoint presentations.

So here are a few points I think are important.  I certainly won’t cover all there is to know about making presentations.  I’m no expert, but there are some great expert resources out there (see below for a list).

Don’t Read Your Slides

Everyone knows this. Everyone says, “don’t do it.”  Everyone hates when others do it. So why do so many people still do it?   Read more →