Webinars as the way to communicate globally with your audience are getting more and more popular. Not convinced yet? Check out some cool statistics from ClickMeeting and see how powerful online communication can be!

Over the past year we were gathering some interesting statistics to see whether webinars are getting more popular. We are happy to present you some cool stats that speak for themselves.

In this newest infographic you’ll find out how many online meetings take place on ClickMeeting daily or how long is a sum of all recorded online events. You’ll be impressed!

However that’s not all. As a little surprise you’ll find some tips on how to make your webinar successful and how ClickMeeting features can help you take your online communication to the next level.

Webinars, Your Way to Global Communication – New Infographic is a post from: ClickMeeting

Little mistakes can cost you money, goodwill and your reputation. So let’s review a few common bloopers to avoid.

TV dramas have to be faced-paced and flawless — slick, as some might say. Not so with webinars. The Web is an informal environment.

And yet, if you slip up on certain fundamentals . . . well, there’s just no excuse. So keep this list of common goofs handy.

Mistake #1: Not enough teasing

Let me guess: you love what you do, but you hate to market, right? Welcome to the human race. In this respect, we’re all the same.

The main reason people attend your webinar is because of curiosity. So use a variety of channels to tell people about your webinar — your blog, email marketing, social media, even word of mouth.

But don’t tell everything, tell just enough to stimulate their curiosity.

Tip: Marketing your webinar is just as important as creating your webinar content. So outline your marketing plan the same way you outline your content. Then keep fleshing out the plan until you’re excited about it.

Mistake #2: Failure to nag

Famed advertising pioneer David Ogilvy said that people need to hear about a movie 7 times before they consider seeing it. Today on the Web, it’s probably a lot more.

So once is not enough.

Tip: Plan a series of marketing communications, updates and reminders — right up to the time of your webinar.

Mistake #3: Too much material

A watchmaker likes watches. But if someone asks him what time it is, it’s not because they need to know how to build a watch. He should just tell the time.

Do you make the same mistake? I know you love your subject matter. But do you have to tell everything you know in one session?

Tip: Pick out the 3 most interesting items your audience wants to know about. If your audience likes your webinar content, they’ll be more inclined to attend your next webinar and find out the next 3.

Mistake #4: Presentation without pizazz

Think of everything that competes for audience attention: TV, radio, email, social media updates, text messages, phone calls — the list goes on and on.

Without a great presentation, your audience will think of something better to do. So set your standards high.

Tip: Work to improve your personal presentation skills and the quality of your visual materials. The best way to grow your audience is to inspire your participants to brag about you to their friends.

Mistake #5: Lack of engagement strategy

When you picture your audience, are they leaning back or leaning forward?

Today’s audiences are restless and impatient. So don’t expect them to sit passively and absorb your information. Instead, design content that inspires them to lean forward and get involved with your content.

Tip: Design slides with little or no text. Then encourage the audience to take notes. Use interactive chat to get audience reactions. Design one or more instant polls to keep them engaged.

Mistake #6: Broken promises

If your webinar lives up to audience expectations, they may tell a few people about their good experience. If it doesn’t, they may tell everyone they know just how bad it was.

So take the time to design an experience, not just a stream of content.

Tip: Analyze the benefits of your webinar — the what’s in it for me factor, also known as WII-FM. Design your webinar as an opportunity to learn something useful. Then make sure you deliver.

Mistake #7: Failure to leverage

Sometimes you can get so caught up planning your webinar that you forget a very important question: “What’s next?”

So after the webinar, how will you follow up with attendees? A thank-you email is a bare minimum. Think of your webinar as the beginning of a new relationship, not the end of a process.

Tip: Just as you designed a marketing plan to promote your webinar, design a way to continue building the relationship with your audience. This is your golden opportunity to deliver follow-up content and special offers.

Constant And Never-ending Improvement (CANI)

Every webinar doesn’t have to be a home run. But each one should be a little different — a little better.

So keep making those small improvements and, over time, your webinars will develop the reputation they deserve.

What’s your best tip for webinar success? Let us know in the comments. Or post a quick question — we’ll be happy to reply.

7 Webinars Mistakes That Can Make You Look Foolish is a post from: ClickMeeting

Want to make your next webinar at big hit? It can be tough to go it alone. So invite an interesting guest to share the spotlight. He or she will be thrilled to get access to your audience. Here are some easy tips to demystify the process.

How would you feel if Lara Logan called to interview you on the 60 Minutes TV news program. Thrilled and terrified? Yeah, me too.

It’s the same when you interview a guest. They’re as scared as you are.

So relax.

And do a little preparation to help put both of you at ease.

1. Learn about the subject

Maybe you already know a lot about the person you want to interview. If not, do your homework.

• Do an online search to find your interviewee’s website, blog, social profiles, and business bio. But don’t stop there. Find what others have to say about the person.
• Visit a local bookstore and browse closely related subject areas. You can learn a lot from reading a dust jacket summary, table of contents, and chapter summaries.
• Go on Amazon or other online bookseller and search for titles in the person’s field. And if something seems especially relevant, download a Kindle version; (you can read them on your computer or pad if you don’t have a Kindle device.)
• Pay attention to the language and word choices as you conduct your research. Half the battle is being able to understand the terms and phrases your interviewee is likely to use.

2. Prepare a list of questions in advance

Don’t try to “wing it.” Write down as many questions as you can brainstorm. Then edit your list down to the most relevant and interesting questions.

• Think of open-end questions to encourage the person to talk. For example, don’t ask “How long have you been interested in this subject?” It may yield just a quick fact: “since 2003.” Instead ask, “How did you get interested in this area?” It might prompt an engaging story the audience will love.
• Think of some closed-end questions too — questions that can be answered with a yes, no, or a short answer. Use them to get the interview back on track, in case the person strays off-topic.

3. Ask these 6 critical questions

Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem that has become famous with journalists.

“I KEEP six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who.”

Memorize those “six honest serving men” and use them as a checklist to make sure you cover the essentials.

4. Be ready to drill-down

Interviewees often give surface answers. For a more interesting interview, dig deeper using these follow-ups.

• Isolate one point: When the person answers with a list, pick out one item to expand. Question: “What’s your favorite color?” Answer: “I like red, yellow and blue.” Isolation question: “What’s so special about blue?”
• Expand an answer: Give the person an opportunity to add relevant information. “What else should we know about this subject?”
• Help prioritize: If the subject is complex, use this summarizing question: “What’s the most important thing we should remember about this subject?”
• Non-directive probe: When you can’t think of a follow-up, just open your eyes really wide and say, “Oh?” Then keep your mouth shut. The person will clarify the answer. It works every time

5. Conduct the Interview

Now that you’ve done your homework, you’ll feel more relaxed during the interview. So help your guest relax too.

• Take a moment or two to chat. If there’s a dramatic story unfolding in today’s news, you’ll seem out of touch if you don’t mention it briefly. Or if the person is located in a different climate zone, ask about the weather.
• When it’s time to get to work, don’t read questions from a list. Instead jot down (in advance) a keyword or phrase to jog your memory. This forces you to ask the question using everyday language.
• Ask a question then listen to the answer. I know — seems too obvious. But it’s a surprisingly rare skill. If you seem uninterested, your guest will give uninteresting answers. So listen, listen, listen.
• Be gracious: Always thank your guest profusely for sharing their expertise with your audience. And if it was a great interview, praise your guest.
• Encourage follow-up: Your audience grows when you share. So let them know how to buy the guest’s book, find their website, or sign up for their email newsletter.

6. Practice, practice, practice

Interviewing is a great business skill. And the better your skills, the more fun.

So use interviews to make important connections and deliver great content to your webinar audiences.

Now you’ve got a great excuse compelling business reason to watch TV interviewers. You’ll learn to spot a great interviewer and pick up useful tricks and techniques.

Got a useful tip to share? Let’s hear about it in the comments below.

6 Tips on Interviewing a Webinar Guest Speaker is a post from: ClickMeeting

If you’re in the field of education and training, you probably know all about Moodle. It’s a Web platform that enables you to create online learning programs. Now corporate trainers have delved into Moodle too. So we decided to give this popular platform a new feature. Here’s what you need to know about Moodling. 

Moodle started out as a low-cost way for teachers to deliver lessons online. The platform is open-source, which means that users and developers are constantly working to add new capabilities. And because it’s free it, anyone can download the system and start using it.

Moodle is infinitely flexible and scalable. Educators have built large, complex learning systems that are used by hundreds of thousands of students worldwide. And hobbyists have built small yet robust learning systems that serve narrow niches of fellow hobbyists.

ClickMeeting Integration

Because Moodle is open-source, our developers got to work designing ways for the ClickMeeting API to communicate with Moodle.

The results are powerful. Now ClickMeeting users can add interactive videoconferencing to any learning module.

Not Just Online

In-person trainers use Moodle too.

Teachers can use Moodle inside their classrooms to present big-picture concepts and drill-down into the details too.

And corporate trainers like using Moodle in live presentations because of its interactive capabilities.

Interactive Teaching

Imagine the powerful possibilities ClickMeeting adds to Moodle. Here are just a few creative ways to make learning more fun ― and more valuable ― using videoconferencing.

Q&A

Moodle’s interactive software enables educators to package the learning modules in many formats. And they can design online quizzes to measure comprehension.

But at some point, learners need a real person for answers to specific questions and for clarification of complex ideas.

That’s where ClickMeeting shines. The interactive chat feature is great for fielding quick questions. Or the polling feature can be used to find out the hot-button topics. And learners get answers on-the-spot via audio-video streaming.

Guest Experts

Cloud technology has virtually eliminated the slow update speed that plagued videoconferencing a few years ago. Now geography is no longer a limitation.

So now you can assemble an online team of experts from around your town or around the world.

Office Hours

And for learners who need extra assistance, ClickMeeting enables you to be available, no matter where you are.

You can even use your mobile pad for ClickMeetings, to provide support without confining you to your office.

Using ClickMeeting to Add Value

Don’t let the cute name fool you. Moodle has amazing capabilities and it requires a commitment of time and effort to produce something of value.

But if you’re already using Moodle, adding ClickMeeting is a no-brainer. It’s easy to install and adds value to any learning program.

More Apps

This is the latest in a series of successful integrations. To learn about other ways to use ClickMeeting more effectively, visit the App Center. 

New Integration: Do You Moodle? is a post from: ClickMeeting

Your audience knows a lot about you. But how well do you know them? There’s an old saying — knowledge is power — and it’s so true! So let’s talk about two methods to use surveys to gather helpful information in a fun way — one of the methods is brand-new.

During any ClickMeeting or ClickWebinar, you can run one or more surveys. They take a few minutes to set up, so you’ll want to do that in advance.

Here’s how.

Creating Surveys

When you click the Survey pod inside your meeting room, you’ll see any surveys you’ve created.

Click the Create new button to add a new survey.

You’ll be prompted to name it and choose whether it’s a Poll or a Test.

Note: In a Test, you can set a time limit of 1-999 minutes. In a Poll, you cannot set a time limit. However, you can end a Poll any time you wish during a meeting.

Adding Questions

At the bottom of the screen, click Start adding questions.

You’ll be prompted to choose from 3 types:

• Single-choice: radio buttons allow only one answer
• Multiple choice: check boxes allow more than one answer
• Open questions: attendee provides brief text answer.

If you create a Test, you can assign points to each answer.

Note: When creating a Poll, you cannot assign points or set a time limit. In all other ways, Tests and Polls are the same.

After you’ve added all your questions, click Finish. This saves your survey and returns you to your survey list.

Managing Surveys

The A+ icon indicates that the survey was set up as a Test. The graph icon indicates a Poll.

When you hover the mouse pointer over a line, 4 icons appear on the right:

1. Pencil: edit survey

Click the pencil icon to add or delete questions, or change the wording of questions and answers.

2. Arrow: start test

Click the arrow icon to start the test during any meeting. During a survey, you’ll see each user’s answers as they provide them, including a running summary.

3. Pie Chart: show results

At the end of a Poll or Test, you can see individual results for each user.

4. Wrench: Delete, copy or share results

When you share test results, each attendee sees his own results only. When you share a Poll, attendees see summary results.

How to use surveys

Polls are a fun way to keep audiences engaged. It also helps audiences create a bond when they discover that their answers to poll questions match those of other participants.

Tests and Polls also allow you to find out what interests your audience most, so you can devote more time to certain topics.

Tests help you assess comprehension, so you can tweak your webinar on the spot or adjust the content for future webinars.

Surveys are quick and easy

And they take only a few minutes to set up and a few seconds to run. So make surveys a part of every meeting and webinar.

If you’re unsure of anything, don’t hesitate to reach out to our Customer Success Team. And add a Comment below to let us know what you think of this latest addition to ClickMeeting.

Surveys: New Ways to Get to Know Your Audience is a post from: ClickMeeting

If you’ve ever done a webinar, you know — it’s not so easy to get people to sign up and show up. And yet, professional webinar producers routinely present to audiences of 1,000 or more. How do they it? Here are a few helpful ideas…

When smartphones first appeared, having one was a pretty cool thing. Now they’re everywhere.

It’s the same with webinars. They’ve become a mainstream communication tool. Today’s consumers have become accustomed to them and know what to expect. The novelty has worn off.

So if you’re disappointed with your early attempts at webinar marketing, you need to come to grips with this concept:

“Free” is tough to sell!

It’s a very unsettling idea, isn’t it? And yet, it’s true. Why is it so difficult?

The cost of “free”

As it turns out, “free” isn’t free at all. You’re asking people to pay with a very scarce commodity. You’re asking them to pay attention.

And we live in a world where people are bombarded by requests for attention: TV, billboards, bus stops and, of course, online. When you buy gas at a self-service station, there’s even a little advertising card on the hose.

So to command attention, you need something special.

The most important feature

At ClickWebinar, we’re very proud of our feature set. We believe it’s the most comprehensive and cost-effective in the industry.

And yet there’s one feature we don’t include — and it’s by far the most important.

That feature is . . . you.

You are the one thing no one else can offer — the most important differentiator of your business.

Kickstarting your webinar

So before you even begin to try to attract webinar participants, you need to give your audience a glimpse of who you are and what your content is all about.

The best way to do that is — over a period of time. Why? I don’t know. But I suspect it has something to do with the way the brain works. In a perfect world, you’d just tell them all about your webinar and those who are interested would sign up on the spot. And some people might.

But the vast majority need time to process your message internally. So it helps to deliver your message in bite-size, digestible chunks — tasty morsels they can savor.

Delivering your value message

One easy tool for doing this is an email autoresponder. It makes it pretty simple to chunk your marketing story into a series of messages and deliver them at a frequency you choose.

Another way is to create a series of landing pages, each with a chunk of your message. People are more likely to read lengthy text on an HTML page than in an email. And they have the option to bookmark it for repeated study.

Best of all is the combination of brief messages delivered via autoresponder, each with a link to a landing page that tells the complete segment of the story.

Professional marketers who use webinars have been using this technique for years. Why? Because it works.

Getting potential attendees interested

As it turns out, your webinar isn’t the ideal place to deliver a complete version of your content. Better by far is to include some of your content as teasers then deliver the rest of the story in your webinar.

But what to include? What to withhold for later?

Online marketer Sean D’Souza uses something he calls the bikini concept: the parts you reveal are highly interesting but not nearly as interesting as those you conceal. This blog is rated G for general audiences, so let’s leave it at that

Getting sign-ups

Your teaser content can be extensive or minimal. It can be delivered over a few days or a few weeks.

Then at some point, you need to ask people to sign up for your webinar.

If you’ve done a good job with your teaser content, potential participants will welcome your call to action. So be crystal clear in your invitations, letting them know the who, what, when, where, why and how.

Bolster you call to action by restating the benefits they’ll receive by attending your webinar. If possible, include testimonials from previous attendees.

During the sign-up period

To add urgency, include a deadline. This can be a date and time or a cut-off point for maximum attendee count. To maintain credibility, stick to your deadline. (Oh, if someone comes up with a compelling reason why they missed the deadline, you can make your own decision about that.)

Smart marketers don’t stop marketing between the initial call to action and the deadline. In fact, they intensify it.

You can continue to publish your teaser content as the sign-ups roll in. Just be sure to include a call to action and a reminder of the deadline.

The reminder period

After the deadline, it’s good to congratulate those who signed up. You can even send them some special content not available to those who did not sign up. This makes them feel special and keeps them interested in attending your webinar.

To maximize attendance, send a reminder at the beginning of the week when he webinar is scheduled. Send another the day before the webinar. Send one or more reminders on the day of the webinar. Some promoters even send a reminder a few minutes before the webinar, something like, “Hey the webinar is about to start. Click here to log in.”

After the webinar

The best prospects for your next webinar may be the ones who just attended this one. So make sure you send them a “Thank You for Attending” email.

This is also the perfect time to ask for testimonials you can use to promote your next webinar.

Refine your strategy

Webinars are big business. So make them a continuing part of your business plan.

Pay attention to things like attendance and conversion rates. Test and tweak everything, to maximize their effectiveness.

And if you need guidance, we’re here to help. Got a quick question? Pop it into the Comments below. Our webinar experts will be glad to help.

How to Fill Up Your Webinar with Ideal Participants is a post from: ClickMeeting

Even with time-saving videoconference software, meetings still eat up hours. Here’s a handful of tips to make your online meetings more productive — and more enjoyable.

Try this during your next meeting. In your head, do a quick estimate of the hourly rate of pay for each participant then add up the dollars. The total cost of a meeting can add up to hundreds or even thousands.

That’s quite an investment. So keep this list handy to make sure your meeting investment pays off.

1. Do your homework

Someone (probably you) needs to figure out in advance the purpose of the meeting, what information should be available, and what needs to be accomplished.

It’s helpful to ask participants to recommend agenda topics. Then decide whether their topic fits within the meeting’s overall subject, goals and time limit. This also helps keep you from being caught off-guard.

2. Control the time

Based on your agenda, you may be able to estimate the time required for each agenda item. Sticking to a schedule demonstrates that you respect the participants’ time.

Oh sure, some items can take longer than you expect (and the discussion may be very worthwhile.) So plan flex-time for discussion and Q&A.

3. Train your participants

If every meeting starts late, you’re training people to show up late for future meetings. Likewise, if you allow an off-topic discussion to sidetrack the meeting, it’s a signal that any member can push their own agenda.

One of the greatest time-savers is to state the ending time of the meeting in advance — then stick to it. This trains participants to stay focused and encourages everyone to adhere to the agenda.

4. Stop arguments

People should feel free to disagree . . . the right way.

The wrong way is to argue relentlessly, with each side determined to convince everyone that they are right and the other is wrong.

A better way is to allow time for each side to articulate their point of view briefly and clearly. Then let the participants make up their own mind.

I know what you’re thinking — it’s not as easy as I make it sound. You’re right, but give it a try anyway.

5. Encourage participation

No one — not even the chairperson — should do all the talking. So don’t be afraid to address someone by name and ask their opinion.

And if someone cuts off another speaker, be sure to circle back to the original speaker and ask them to complete their thought. Your act of courtesy may encourage others to speak up too.

6. Evaluate ideas

Can an unpopular person come up with a good idea? Sure, just as a popular person can come up with a bad idea.

It’s human nature to consider the source. A president’s idea is considered more fully than a clerk’s. But watch for good ideas from unlikely sources. And make it your mission to have them fully explored.

7. Create a clear future

During discussions, keep track of those who make commitments. Then at the end of the meeting, summarize the action points with reminders of responsibilities and time frames.

Remember that the objective is more than just to have a good meeting. The real goals are to clarify objectives, agree upon methods, and create accountability.

The bottom line

Ideally, every participant should get something of value from every meeting. And something should emerge that makes the organization just a little bit better.

It’s surprisingly difficult to accomplish both. But if that is your consistent intention, you’re bound to run better meetings.

Stuck? Pop your question into the comments below. We’ll be glad to “crowd source” an answer from our longtime customers and in-house experts.

7 Productivity-Boosting Videoconferencing Tips is a post from: ClickMeeting

What’s your favorite color? That’s a dangerous question when it’s time to choose colors for your presentation design. Red may give you warm-and-fuzzy feelings because you once got a red fire truck for Christmas. But it may be the wrong choice for your audience. 

Now I don’t mean that you should ignore your own color preferences. After all, your presentation should be, at least in part, a reflection of you.

Fortunately, there are principles involved. And whether you’re a do-it-yourself designer or decide to hire a design pro, you’ll make better decisions about color if understand some of the principles.

Cool | Warm

The color wheel is an arrangement of color originated by Sir Isaac Newton. (I guess he had a little time on his hands in between discovering the law gravity and developing his 3 laws of motion.)

The wheel is usually depicted with three primary colors spaced equally — yellow, blue and red — with blended colors in between.

For example, blending yellow and blue produces green. Using more yellow than blue produces a green- yellow; more blue than yellow produces blue-green. Going in the opposite direction, yellow mixed with red produces hues of orange; mixing red and blue produces purple and violet hues.

The colors on the left — green and blue — are said to be cool (soothing) colors; oranges, reds and purples are considered warm (exciting) colors.

Hue | Tint | Shade

Hue is the purest form of a color: no black or white added.

If you add white to a color, you get a lighter tint. Red plus a lot of white produces a pink tint. If you add black, you get a darker shade. Yellow plus a lot of black produces earth-tone shades.

Color combinations

Colors you like may not go well together: green and purple might be tough to match. Try these color strategies, based on the color wheel.

• Monochromatic: various shades and tints of a single hue — reds and pinks, for example
• Analogous: adjacent colors on the wheel — blue and blue-green, for example
• Complementary: colors opposite each other on the wheel — red and green or blue and orange
• Split Complementary: Two color on one side of the wheel plus one color on the opposite side — violet plus green-yellow and yellow-orange.
• Triadic: Three non-adjacent colors — green-yellow, violet-blue and orange red
• Tetradic: non-adjacent colors —yellow, orange-red, violet and blue-green

As you might imagine, the color combinations become more daring and harder to work with as you work your way top-to-bottom along that list.

Contrast | Fading

The amount of contrast can make a dramatic difference in the impact of your design.

Designers use the expression high-key to denote a design with a lot of light and a great deal of contrast: black text on a white background, for example. Low-key means darker images, and lower contrast: imagine an oatmeal color on a tan background.

Designs that are too high-key can look too “busy.” Designs that are too low-key can look murky, and details don’t pop out. Balance is critical for effective “key.”

For formal presentations, try a darker overall design with a somewhat lower key. For informal meetings, a lighter design with higher key may be just right.

Industries

Spend some time looking at websites of others in your industry. You may see color-use patterns.

An obvious example is companies that are environmentally friendly (or want to be perceived that way.) Green is a natural choice.

B2B companies that serve larger companies often use blue. Maybe they’re picking up some of the prestige of IBM blue.

Companies that position themselves as innovators often use bright colors.

There’s no need to follow your industry slavishly, but make an informed choice and be careful about a too-radical departure from your industry’s image.

Summing Up

As you can see, there’s no easy answer to the issue of color in designs. So use your best instincts then consider how your choices align with the principles you’ve just learned.

If you need a little help, consider hiring a designer if it’s within your budget. An investment in your brand can pay off for year to come.

Or if you’re a dedicated and enthusiastic do-it-yourself designer, go for it!

Designing Your Presentation: How to Choose Colors is a post from: ClickMeeting

Does your presentations design look sleek and trendy or bland and boring? Does it have flair and pizzazz, or is it flat and puny? Great design requires talent and experience. But there are guidelines that can help even a design novice create better presentation designs.

Think of the design process as a battle.

On one side are elements that unify the appearance, creating a consistent look throughout. On the other side are elements that add variety, breaking up the monotony and helping you make your points.

Neither side should win. In a good design, the conflicting elements balance and complement each other.
 

Background

I often see slide backgrounds that are too busy: fancy florals, climbing ivy, gleaming skyscrapers, compasses and globes.

Remember that a background is just that — a background. So keep it simple.

Choose whether your background will be opaque or translucent; either can be effective. And decide on a textured look or flat colors.

We’ll talk more about color in a future post.

Extraneous Elements

What do you need on a slide?

• Does every slide need a title? Not necessarily.
• How about the company name? Nope, they won’t forget who you are from slide to slide.
• And what’s the purpose of those page numbers at the bottom of each slide? The audience doesn’t need them.
• But surely you need your company logo on every slide. Really? Why?

All non-essentials contribute to clutter.

Digital Assets

The problem with clutter is that it competes for attention with your content. So think of each slide — including its background — as a surface to display digital assets.

Those digital assets might be design elements used in brochures and on your website to reinforce brand image.

They might be images chosen to represent a concept or metaphor. Or pictures of your organization, its members, and the types of people you serve.

Some of your digital assets might be text. But we’re not talking about row after row of bullet points. If you need to present that much detail in writing, just send them a document.
 

Consistency

The more you choose sophisticated objects for slides, the more you need to aware of consistency.

Will your graphics be 3-dimensional? If so, keep shadows and reflections consistent.  And keep a consistent light source, vanishing point, and sense of space. Choosing graphics that are 2-dimensional (flat) eliminates a lot of design headaches.

Do you plan to use illustrations or photos? For the sake of consistency, choose one or the other.

Overall, choose whether you want your slide to look busy or plain or something in between.

Unity and Variety

If every slide is different — in terms of texture, colors, image types — it doesn’t produce a feeling of variety. It overwhelms the eye. And when the eye is overwhelmed, the brain stops noticing.

So to create variety, you must first create consistency. Then add an element of variety when needed for emphasis.

To figure out what will create consistency, spend some time with your company website, brochures, catalogs — everything that customers see. Analyze the design elements you find: colors, images, graphics, backgrounds, and use of white space.

The more you use your current visual elements, the more your presentation design reinforces your brand. So don’t try to reinvent the design wheel for every new presentation. In fact, you’ll soon identify slides you can use again and again with slight modifications.

Message matters

The two things that matter most are your message and your audience. Your design should amplify your message without distracting your audience.

So create a clear and compelling message first. Then choose design elements to match and dramatize your message.
 

When to hire a designer

If you enjoy tinkering with design, you may be OK designing most presentations.

But what about when the stakes are high?

If you were giving a presentation to the United Nations General Assembly, surely you’d hire a design pro. And if you’re giving an online presentation to people who might become clients — ongoing clients who could add an endless stream of revenue for your business — it might be worthwhile to hire a designer for that too.

As you learn more about design, you’ll become a better do-it-yourself designer. And you’ll be better at working with a professional designer to help you win the battle against boring presentations.

Got questions? Drop them in the comments below. We’ll do our best to help.

Presentation Design: The Battle Against Boring is a post from: ClickMeeting

Today we return to the 1930s to learn about a clever technique that made a company famous. Their method involved presenting advertisements in a series of 4-6 short, sequential messages. Sound like a slide show? Not quite. Let me explain.

The company was Burma-Shave. They made and sold brushless shaving cream.

Back then you kept a sliver of soap in an old mug and used a shaving brush to whip it into foam. Sounds quaint today, but brushless shaving cream was new, so they used it as their marketing differentiator.

Message at a glance

Even back then, billboards were a popular advertising medium. But the driver of a car doesn’t have time to read a lengthy message.

So they delivered their value message in short poems — delivered one line at a time in a series of roadside signs:

“Your shaving brush

Has had its day

So why not

Shave the modern way

With

Burma-Shave”

Travelers, especially the kids, enjoyed reading them, and they became popular throughout America.

Document or Billboard?

Presentation attendees too have a short attention span. So your lengthy slides shouldn’t be considered presentations; they are actually documents.

If your content needs lengthy text, maybe it shouldn’t be delivered in a presentation. You might be better off sending your audience a document to review.

Slide Readability

Design your presentation like a series of billboards — each with just enough information to absorb at a quick glance. Nancy Duarte, author of slide:ology, calls this the “3-second rule.”

And what makes billboard text readable? Size, for one thing. And also the shape of the letters.

The Brady Bunch font is fun. But imagine trying to read it at 65 miles-per-hour. The quirky shapes and close spacing make it tough to read.

Likewise, script fonts might be a good choice for a classy brochure but not for a billboard or presentation slide.

Here’s a popular serif font. Serif refers to the tiny “feet” at the top and bottom of some letters. It makes lengthy text more readable; (open almost any book, and you’ll find a serif font.) But the feet make it not quite right for billboards and slides.

Fonts of the sans serif family (meaning without “feet”) are more legible for titles, billboards and slides.

When choosing a sans serif font, check the x-height — the height of lower case letters compared to the overall font height. Lower case letters should be more than 50-percent as tall, as in the Arial font.

Calibri is another sans serif font that would be good for slides. Notice the x-height.

More Shaving Fun

As Burma-Shave roadside signs became more popular, the company began to run contests, with prizes awarded for sending in empty jars of Burma-Shave:

Free — free

a trip to Mars

for 900

empty jars

Burma-Shave

When a grocery store owner actually sent 900 jars to the company, they replied:

If a trip to Mars

you earn

remember, friend

there’s no return.

But they sent him on vacation to the town of Moers, Germany, often pronounced “Mars” by foreign visitors.

Note: For more quotes, see Wikipedia and The Verse by the Side of the Road: The Story of the Burma-Shave Signs and Jingles, by Frank Rowsom and Carl Rose.

More Font Fun

Powerpoint has many interesting fonts built-in.

If you want to get really creative, check Google Web Fonts. This directory grows continually, and all fonts are free to download.

Have fun designing your presentations.

What Shaving Cream Can Teach You About Text Fonts is a post from: ClickMeeting