Here is the latest newsletter - enjoy and pass it on to others.
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Communicating Using Technology
Vol. 4 Issue 9 May 3, 2005
Published and Copyright by Dave Paradi
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In this issue:
Announcements
1. PPT - Template Searching
2. Compress Outlook folder
3. Useful Resource - View/Print a calendar
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e-mail or information to anyone.
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If you like the tips, pass it on!
If you have received this as a forward from a friend, sign up
for your own copy at:
http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com/newsletter.htm
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Save Money - Book me where I am traveling
I am traveling quite a bit in the next few months and this is a
great opportunity for you to save the travel costs for an in-
house workshop or one on one consulting appointment. Here is
where I will be and the dates: May 30-31 in Ottawa, ON; June 24
in Washington DC; July 7 in Atlanta, GA; August 2-3 in Victoria,
BC; August 5 in Vancouver, BC; August 19-23 in the San Francisco/
San Jose, CA area. If you want to save some money and book some
time with me on one of these dates, just e-mail me at
Dave@PowerPointLifeguard.com.
Public Seminars in June
Registrations continue to come in for the public Compelling
PowerPoint seminars in June in Chicago and Washington DC. My
promotion is in high gear, so I expect the spots to start filling
up quickly. Get the details at http://www.PowerPointSeminar.com
and sign up soon to avoid disappointment. If you can't make the
place or dates, you can order the live seminar recording through
the same link.
1. PPT - Template Searching
It amazes me how popular it is to search for a pre-made
PowerPoint template. In fact, searching for a template or
background is second only to searching for the term PowerPoint!
There is a whole industry now dedicated to creating and selling
PowerPoint templates. This obsession with templates disturbs me
because there seems to be this misconception that if I just get
the right look to my slides, the message will be great. Hogwash!
Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, your slides need
to be attractive and not ugly, but content is way more important
than look. If people would invest the time working on
structuring their message, finding good backup for each key point
and practicing their delivery, we would not have so many bad
PowerPoint presentations. Now this viewpoint is not going to
endear me to the PowerPoint template industry, but I think it is
important for our audiences. Many of these fancy backgrounds
include multiple images which look "cool", but only end up
distracting the audience from the key text or graphics. And it
causes the audience to spend too much time looking at the screen
and less time focusing on the presenter, who should be the most
important element of any presentation. I recently wrote an
article on this issue and described how you can quickly create a
simple template for your slides that is attractive and not
distracting. Then you have more time to structure your message
and end up with a better presentation at the end. You can read
the whole article on the web site at:
http://tinyurl.com/cpybv
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Learn to use PowerPoint in under 2 hrs
Why wade through a big book - get a 13 step process that teaches
you the 20% you REALLY need to know. "The step-by-step guide for
these functions is far easier to follow than the PowerPoint for
Dummies book I had!" -Randy Maples "Dave, many people go over the
top with claims as to how great their product is - you know the
sort - but I can definitely say that your e-book on Powerpoint is
a no-frills, punchy and very helpful tool." - Tom Webb Go to
this link:
http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=45805
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2. Compress Outlook folder
If you are like me, you deal with hundreds of e-mails each day.
And this makes your Outlook mail folder grow quickly. When it
comes time to do a backup (which you should be doing regularly),
this file is too large to fit on a single CD. In order to get
the file size down to a reasonable level, Outlook has a utility
to compress the folder to allow for easier backups. I recently
did this on my main mailbox folder and found that it reduced the
size by almost 20%. Beware that it can take a long time,
possibly two hours or more in some cases, so plan to do it
overnight. In Outlook 2002, the steps are as follows: Click on
Tools->Options to display the Options dialog box. Click on the
Mail Setup tab. Click on the Data Files button to display the
Outlook Data Files dialog box. Click on the data file you want
to compress (your main data file is usually named Personal
Folders). Then click on the Settings button to display the
dialog box for that folder. On this dialog box, click on the
Compact Now button to begin the compacting. I hope this helps if
you use Outlook.
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Make Your Next PowerPoint Presentation Compelling
Do you have an important presentation coming up? Would you like
to make it so compelling that people sit on the edge of their
seats listening to you? If you do, let me help you with my ten
step PowerPoint presentation consulting approach. This is way
more than just slide design, this is professional input on the
structure, design and delivery of your PowerPoint presentation.
One of my consulting clients wrote "I can confidently say my
sales have already increased as a result of this astounding
presentation." If you are interested, go to this link:
http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=85889
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3. Useful Resource - View/Print a calendar
If you need to view or print a calendar for virtually any country
or year, this website will be a resource you have been looking
for. I have used it to look up public holidays in other
countries when planning trips and it is a handy full year
calendar with holidays for your desk or bulletin board. Check it
out at: http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/
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Tools I use to sell my products:
KickStartCart shopping cart system:
http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/default.asp?pr=31&id=42487
Credit Card Processor PayPal:
https://www.paypal.com/row/mrb/pal=8ADSGLU62YXWW
Credit Card Processor 2checkout.com:
http://www.2checkout.com/cgi-bin/aff.2c?affid=90267
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Would you like me to speak to your professional association
or chapter event? I am always looking for opportunities to
share my information with others and would consider speaking
to your group if you are in or near the following areas:
Rochester, NY, Buffalo NY, Detroit, MI, Cleveland, OH,
Pittsburgh, PA or Toronto, ON. Just e-mail me at:
dave@communicateusingtechnology.com for more info.
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Check out the books, e-books and other learning tools at:
http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com/tools.htm
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This newsletter is:
CUT May 3/05 [PPT Template Search, Compress Outlook]
If you want to read back issues of this newsletter, click on
the following link to go to the Archives:
http://tinyurl.com/nhgl
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