The Yin and the Yang of the Presentation Summit

August 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

With less than a month now before the ninth annual Presentation Summit, Sep 18-21 in Austin TX, here is our official yin/yang guide to the conference, showcasing the interesting and eclectic duality in our lineup this year:

YIN: Julie Terberg returns for her incredible makeover sessions, creating something wonderful from something…less than wonderful.
YANG: Sandra Johnson shows how to create complex shapes in PowerPoint, creating something from nothing.

YIN: Connie Malamed returns to discuss the significance and impact of visual communication.
YANG: Nick Morgan makes his debut to expose the hidden communication, the so-called “second conversation.”

YIN: Wayne Michael wants to talk to you about freshman orientation.
YANG: Nigel Holmes wants to talk to you about hot dogs and helium balloons.

YIN: Olivia Mitchell flies in from New Zealand to show you how to create a presentation in one hour.
YANG: Ric Bretschneider wants to show you how to give a presentation in six minutes and 40 seconds.

YIN: Ric will also go until nearly midnight in his traditional Guru session Monday night.
YANG: Garr Reynolds will start his keynote address right about then, from his home in Osaka Japan.

YIN: Troy Chollar will show you how to design for wide screens and large impacts.
YANG: Dave Paradi will show you how to reduce your environmental footprint.

YIN: You’ll learn amazing amounts all day long.
YANG: We’ll go out for amazing evenings in downtown Austin, including a fully-hosted private reception on the ultra-happening Sixth Street Tuesday night.

All of the components that have made our conference famous will be in place: The ever-accommodating Help Center, for free, drop-in technical support; the flexible scheduling that allows you to pick and choose seminars as you go; the delicious meals; and perhaps above all, the friendly and intimate atmosphere that we create for the presentation community, facilitating true relationship-building and bonding — unmatched at any other business conference you will attend.

We have about 30 seats left and we would enjoy nothing more than to see you reserve one of them.

Watch video snippets from the conference

Read the bios for our entire team of experts and presenters

Survey the schedule of seminars

Get advice on how to sell it to your boss

Forward this to a colleague

Filed Under: Editorial, News & Events Tagged With: , , , ,

The Magic of the Makeover

July 27, 2011 By 5 Comments

Before-and-after sessions
a perennial conference favorite

Now in its ninth season, the Presentation Summit has offered seminars and workshops on such far-reaching topics as software automation, simultaneous projection on multiple screens, presenting in non-native languages, and dealing with unfriendly audiences. Since its inception in 2003, however, no seminar topic has been more popular than the traditional makeover — where a member of the conference design team reviews and redesigns slide decks.

This year, there are three distinct before-and-after sessions: a template makeover and two design makeovers, all from work submitted by conference attendees.

“People love makeovers of all kinds,” notes Julie Terberg, who has starred in enough makeover sessions as to earn the unofficial title of Makeover Maven. “Turn on the TV and you’ll see an endless variety: home makeovers, room makeovers, garden makeovers, personal style makeovers, fitness and lifestyle makeovers. You usually can relate to something in the ‘before’ situations and so you want to see what the experts do with their transformation.

“The same applies with presentation design. How would another designer treat this concept? How will he or she transform the graphics or images? What can I learn to make my own work that much better?”

Conference attendees have several reasons to enjoy these sessions. As Julie notes, everyone can relate to the struggles and issues that are typically represented in the “before” slides and they love being inspired by the metamorphosis. Further, if your slides are chosen for one of these makeover sessions, you will be able to return home with the “after” slides, compliments of the designer. That translates into a takeaway that would typically cost a client several thousand dollars.

This is not to say that there is no reward for the designer, who can measure the return in warm-and-fuzzies. “I love when patrons say how much they learned from the makeovers,” says Terberg. “It warms my heart to hear from them about how they applied the ideas to their own work.”

You can view a snippet of one of Terberg’s makeovers at the conference’s [intlink id="1800" type="page"]video vault[/intlink].

Conference host Rick Altman also stages a makeover session, but he will be the first to tell you that he is not in Julie’s league. “I am not a professional designer,” he says, “and ironically, that is what makes it work. I focus on creating clean and consistent business design and I’m pretty good evaluating message and story. I’m not going to inspire anyone with my design brilliance as Julie does, but I can infuse confidence in people. My hope is that people come away from my sessions saying, ‘I see what he did, why he did it, and I could do it too.’”

Conference patrons pay nothing extra to have their work accepted for a makeover, and with three sessions on tap this year, late registrants can still get in on the action.

The Presentation Summit runs September 18-21 in Austin TX. You can read more about makeover sessions and  see the entire schedule, at http://www.PresentationSummit.com/schedule. Seating at the conference is limited to 200 patrons.

Filed Under: Editorial, News & Events Tagged With: , ,

Hot Dogs, Shadows, and Helium

July 12, 2011 By 1 Comment

Nigel Holmes’ keynote address to focus
on what we see, not just what we hear

You might think that an opening keynote address for a presentation conference would discuss technology, or PowerPoint, or slide design, or how to speak more effectively.

You wouldn’t normally expect it to focus on how to win an eating contest.

Patrons of the Presentation Summit have come to expect the unexpected, and after his 2010 debut, Nigel Holmes has become famous for providing it. Last year, the former art director for Time magazine squeezed out an entire tube of toothpaste along the stage and later dressed up in a caveman suit.

This year, it will be eating hot dogs. And studying shadows. And, allegedly, helium, and the inhaling thereof.

Last year’s keynote might prove a tough act to follow and Holmes is quick to note that integrating physical performance into a presentation can’t be just about shock and awe. “When thinking about ‘performance,’ never do it just for theatrical effect,” he says. “There must always be a point. When dealing with statistics, the possibilities are endless. It’s a great way to depart from yet another bar chart.” Indeed, last year’s toothpaste caper was in lieu of a conventional chart to show personal hygiene statistics.

“While this kind of presentation is not for everyone, you’d be surprised at what you can pull off, if you relax and try. Presenters are too often tethered to the podium, but it really pays for the audience to become part of your presentation. They will remember being part of it for a long time.”

And the risks of eating hot dogs, sucking in helium, or donning a caveman suit? Holmes is more concerned about being gratuitous than in having something go wrong on stage. “Do not worry if things don’t go according to plan. Mistakes are a perfect introduction to talk about why it went wrong, so I see mistakes as opportunities. It also makes people understand that you are just another human, like them. So to fail slightly and then recover is good, in a funny way.”

Mistakes and all, the Presentation Summit runs September 18-21 in Austin TX. You can read more about Nigel Holmes’ keynote address, and see the entire schedule, at http://www.PresentationSummit.com/schedule. Seating at the conference is limited to 200 patrons.

Filed Under: Editorial, News & Events Tagged With: ,

Design-a-Template Contest: We have a winner!

July 7, 2011 By 1 Comment

If you are a supporter of ours, you would say that we enrich the community with our annual contest in which we invite the public to design the template for the Presentation Summit. If you are a critic, you might accuse us of being lazy and having you do our work for us.

We’re good with either hypothesis — just as long as we get to discover new talent. This year’s find comes to us from the state of Michigan: Meet Tany Nagy, our 2011 winner. Her clean and crisp work blends modern slide design with Texas authenticity.

Our contest is not an easy assignment. To win, your design needs to be professional, attractive, speak well of both your and our sensibilities, yet above all, must wear well and remain understated. It will be the backdrop across four days and over 50 sessions — it can’t be too loud. Furthermore, in many cases, its purpose is to tee up the work of our own designers and stay in the background as their work is showcased. Lots of potential cross purposes there!

Tany Nagy, Design Contest winner

“I approached my entry from a research standpoint,” explains Tany. “Never having been to Texas or to the conference, I invested a good part in gathering information, typography, images that I felt lent themselves to being strong foundational design elements. Textures, rich deep earthly colors, branding, seals/crests, weathered materials, rough edges, patterns — I felt ‘sensory’ elements would capture the spirit of the conference and of Austin.

“For the conference identity, I incorporated the triangle [in the Summit logo], a silhouette of the state of Texas, and a star as a symbolic reference to Texas. Designing with the elements I choose was wonderful, as working with them during the design process opened my eyes to different techniques and styles. I love learning new things and challenging myself as a designer, and this opportunity combined those things together for me perfectly!”

Tany was born and raised in Detroit, MI and now resides in Waterford Township, MI. She graduated from Lawrence Technological University and earned degrees in Architecture and Digital Imaging. For over 10 years, Tany developed her core skills as a designer and visual communicator before, in 2009, launching Pulse Design Studio (http://www.pulsearchdesign.com).

For her creativity and effort, Tany receives VIP access to the conference, Sep 18-21, with the $1,095 fee waived in its entirety.

Filed Under: News & Events Tagged With: ,

Design Contest Invites Your Creativity

November 17, 2010 By 1 Comment

Some businesses place such a priority on branding, they are meticulous in the establishment of their visual identity, never missing an opportunity to showcase their logos or their mantras.

And then there is the Presentation Summit, the ultimate mutt in visual branding. Not only does the conference change its look every year, it rewards its patrons for contributing to the chaos. And its organizers spin the whole thing by calling it a contest…now there’s chutzpah for you!

Returning for a fifth year, the Summit’s Design-a-Template Contest opens its season with a call to all creative presentation junkies:

Design our template for us in 2011 and attend the conference for free.

The conference has received over 300 entries across the last five years, spanning all software versions and many design motifs. The contest’s legacy includes brilliant work by exceptionally talented people, as well as a bit of comic relief by those who just wanted to be part of the experience…not unlike those who audition for American Idol.

“We have had our share of pranksters” notes conference host Rick Altman, “and that has prompted us to assign the roles of Randy, Paula, and Simon to our own judges. Mostly, though, we have seen truly incredible work submitted and even feel as if we have been responsible for watching a few stars be born.”

The conference also participated in a moment of melancholy, awarding 2009 honors posthumously to three-time conference patron Jamie Gross, who succumbed to cancer just two weeks after submitting her entry. It is believed that the template she created was the last set of slides she ever worked on.

The judging panel is comprised of a select group of conference regulars, including Ric Bretschneider, former program manager for PowerPoint at Microsoft, slide:ology author Nancy Duarte, Presentation Zen author and blogger Garr Reynolds, indezine editor Geetesh Bajaj, prominent slide designer Julie Terberg, noted photographer Rikk Flohr, and several other members of Microsoft’s Most Valued Professional team of support specialsts.

“The challenge to this contest,” says Altman, “is the requirement that our slides serve as the backdrop for all of the great ideas and visuals put forth by our presenters. In order to be a contender, a design needs to wear well for eight hours a day across four days. Contest participants want to be noticed, we get that, but their designs need to succeed in staying subtle and playing a supporting role. That’s not so easy.”

Deadline for entries is Monday, May 17 and the contest is open to anyone. Visit the conference website for complete details.

Filed Under: News & Events