I developed Put the Power in Your PowerPoint Presentations for an in-service for my agency. As a member of the Distance Learning team, I accepted the challenge to do this since this is an area in which I’ve done extensive reading and research. However, this is truly my first attempt at putting all of that great information into practice for a live presentation that I’m delivering. I combined information from various sources for the content, including Richard Mayer, Garr Reynolds and Cliff Atkinson.
The presentation is actually tomorrow and I still have quite a bit of practicing to do. I really wanted to be able to deliver this without notes, but I don’t see that happening since I haven’t put in as much time as I’d need to for that to be a reality.
As I’ve studied the great presenters out there, the many on TED, Garr Reynolds and Merlin Mann, I aspire to one day, deliver a talk with the conversational ease that they do. I’ve had lots of training in a more formal style and I looks like I won’t be able to make an overnight transformation, but it is something that I’m practicing.
Here’s the thing…as I say in my presentation, if you design your slides correctly–for a live audience–they shouldn’t be able to stand alone. So, putting a presentation that you give on SlideShare “as is” won’t be helpful for anyone viewing it. What you may, or may not, notice about the best SlideShare presentations (check out the contest winners’ presentations to see what I mean by this), is that they mimic a storybook. They use large fonts and visuals with very few words (part of a sentence) per slide. Each page is part of an ongoing story. Some presentations may have as many as 50 slides. As I mention in my presentation, this is not a problem. When you view a presentation on SlideShare, you are clicking through very rapidly. You can probably read a 50 slide presentation in 2 minutes.
Try it with the winner of the 2009 SlideShare’s World’s Best Presentation Contest…
The next time you deliver a presentation live, try out my suggestions and then give yourself some time and post a different version–more like a storybook–on SlideShare. Don’t forget to include a link back to an article on your website!
This was a wonderful conference, my first focused on social media actually. I love love love learning and it’s so inspiring to hear the success stories of others.
I’ve always been an avid notetaker and this time I wanted to share my notes with others.
I love the way technology has enabled us to share information and resources.
Honestly, I have not “worked” my Facebook fan page the way I should have. As a matter of fact, I’ve fallen off with many of marketing efforts…shame, shame.
However, I recently checked out my fan page and another that I am admin for and saw that Facebook now gives you even more insight into the level of engagement your fans have with your page.
It’s called the Fan Interaction Dashboard
Page admins who post engaging, high quality content will have interactive fan bases capable of virally spreading content through the social graph. The following graph shows how fans are interacting with your posts and consuming your material.
Interactions: Total number of comments, Wall posts, and likes.
Interactions Per Post: Average number of comments, Wall posts, and likes generated by each piece of content you post.
Post Quality: Score measuring how engaging your content is to Facebook users. A higher Post Quality indicates material that better engages users.
Stream CTR / ETR: This graph is a measure of the Click Through Rate and Engagement Rate for your content appearing in the Facebook News Feed. If a user clicks on one of your posts, that will be counted as Stream CTR. If a user likes or comments on one of your posts, that will be counted in the Stream ETR. Please note that Stream data is based on a sample and therefore is an estimate of your Stream CTR and ETR. (Coming soon)
Discussion Posts: The number of Discussion topics users have created on your Page.
Reviews: The number of times fans have used the Reviews application to rate your Page.
This can be very helpful if you need to prove the effectiveness of using Facebook to management.
I don’t love the look of the graph. I wish it could be larger, but it’s better than nothing.
In my day job, I’ve been reviewing a list of sample internship projects that were recommended in the area of communications and marketing. One, in particular, stumped me and cried out to be revised or deleted altogether. It read:
Utilize social networks to develop strategies for creating communities around [our office's key areas].
The problem lies with the thought that social networks should be used to develop strategies, when in fact, people develop strategies. Some of those strategies may involve using social networks to connect with and engage people.
The truth is that…at the heart of any marketing strategy–no matter what the vehicle–is solid content that speaks directly to your customers’, clients’ or partners’ problems, needs and questions.
Social media and networks are merely a way to share that content and engage your customers, clients and partners. Before you can share and engage, you must have something to say. And remember…that something isn’t just anything. It’s valuable, relevant and compelling content that establishes you as a thought leader and trusted resource.
Before you go jumping into the social media sphere, realize that it’s not a one time deal. Engagement is ongoing. You must continue to regularly provide your target audience with this content.
The reality is that although social media is appealing and can definitely be an effective tool to communicate directly with your market and develop a community around important issues, it is not right for every business or organization right now.
I always recommend that before someone decides to use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, SlideShare, Flickr or any of the other social media tools for business, that they first use them personally. Get your feet wet, look around, read, observe, join…gain an understanding of the culture.
With any aspect of technology, you can read about it and talk to people about it for days, but you won’t have a chance of really “getting it” until you jump in it.
There’s no danger lurking after you join. You won’t break anything. You don’t have to commit to being there for the rest of your life. Just take the time to try it out and see what it’s all about–for yourself.
I hope this is helpful as you develop your website marketing strategy and if you have been reading my newsletters and blog and already “get” these concepts, please share this with others who may not.
I recently told you about Flickr and realized that in addition to adding it to your website marketing arsenal as a general tool, you can use it to promote and document your business or organization’s events.
Before the event…
Post images of your flyer
Post images of your keynote speakers, the location and any other teasers that may come to mind
During the event…
Take and post lots of action shots…speakers giving talks, people looking at exhibit tables
Make sure you capture those memorable moments like the audience being enthralled with the speaker or networking with enthusiasm
Flickr has lots of applications that allow you to integrate your Flickr album with your website. It’s a great way to save bandwith.
The next place is SlideShare, which I’ve raved about before as well.
You can assign the event its category, mark its duration/date on the calendar, assign its geographical location, invite your friends to join it…other people can join the event and mark their status as “attending” or “watching“
When you create the event, you can specify whether you want images from Flickr (using the event tag) to automatically show up in your event.
Also since many events record videos, you can also embed the videos (from popular sites like YouTube, Googlevideos, Metacafe, Viddler etc.) into your event.
Once you create an event, have your presenters post their presentations in your SlideShare event space.
So, there you go…2 places to spread the word about your event. Use them for your next event and let me know how it goes in the comments!
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