Sacred Cow #6: The Audience Wants A Detailed Agenda
We’ve all seen slides like this. It’s your standard title and bullet list slide. The title is “Agenda” and below it is a detailed list of each topic that will be discussed. Oh, don’t forget the Q&A at the end.
Why do we see these slides all the time? They’re not really helpful. They encourage us to read and not listen. Many times, they practically tell the story or enough to give you a false impression of what the story actually is. What we have here is the sixth sacred cow of presentation slides: The Detailed Agenda.
This qualifies as a sacred cow because the only reason people seem to waste our time with these slides is because that’s the way it’s always been done. That, as we know, is what defines a sacred cow. And like all sacred cows, this too needs to be turned into hamburger before the charcoal goes out.
Now I’m not suggesting that you ditch your agenda slides. It’s important to let the audience know what you’re going to be talking about. A couple effective ways I have seen this done is when Steve Jobs tells us he’s going to show us 3 cool new products. There’s no slide saying this or even what they are. He will, however, have each product introduced by a big number (1, 2, or 3), followed by the product or a series of suspense-building slides (think the intro of the iPhone). The beauty of this is that the agenda is simple and memorable. By not using slides, it helps build suspense. Alternatively, you can tell your audience the three things you will be talking about and proceed. This works if they’re simple, logical, and almost obvious.
If you are going to put your agenda on slides, try an approach that doesn’t turn your audience off just as you’re getting started. Stay away, if you can, from the unimaginative agenda = title + bullet x (n). Of course, it should be visually consistent with your deck’s overal all design as well as be content-appropriate. In the embedded slide deck below, consider the following possibilities:
Conversational Style. Instead of just saying “Agenda,” try something like, “What we’re going to talk about today.” Being rigid and stand-offish can alienate your audience and discourage them from giving you the attention you want. This is a time to focus their attention on what you want to share with them.
Pie Chart. Yeah, this is a bit off the wall, but go ahead and create a pie chart with the pie values being the amount of minutes you intend to spend on each section. The pie slices give a visual representation of how much time you intend to spend on each topic, which would be more effective at facilitating storing this information in memory than using text alone would be. Don’t display the values, but rather the labels. Make each pie slice come in one at a time. Oh, and despite how bad 3D charts are for data, this is a time where you should feel free to go 3D.
Call-outs On A Timeline. Create a line across your slide that represents the intended length of your presentation. At the appropriate times along the timeline, insert call-outs for each topic. Again, bring them in one at a time. Because time is linear, this is by far more effective than the pie chart approach and infinitely more effective than simple bullets.
Blocks On A Timeline. Another timeline-based approach is to take boxes and add them to the timeline one after the other, each representing a topic.
There is no one way to share your agenda, but displaying a detailed or even a simple, yet unoriginal agenda slide does you no favors. Get creative. Try any of these ideas or come up with your own creative way to let your audience know quickly, simply, and effectively what you’ll be talking about.
Image credit: xcode, used under a Creative Commons license.
Sacred Cow #5: If the Audience Is Technical, They Want To See Detailed Diagrams
This sacred cow is roaming the halls where I work. It's old. It's loud. It smells. It's abusive. It's obnoxious, and it rudely disrupts nearly every technical presentation I have to sit through. Unfortunately, we're not unique in our suffering. This parasitic bovine is present everywhere you have technical people. Fortunately, there are treatments for this affliction if you know where to look. This is a sacred cow that must die else the brain rot that follows it will infect management, sales, and, oh... too late.
Well, rather than letting the technical community continue our sacred cow herding, we can be good citizens and slay this beast. Trolling SlideShare for some good examples of bad examples, I came across a gem. Complicated diagrams, despite protests from worshipers of this sacred cow, do not enhance the presentation. They do not aid comprehension. In truth, they harm and inhibit comprehension. Slides such as the example to the right can introduce what's called "map shock," a form of information overload. The Information Design Handbook by Jenn & Ken Visocky O'Grady describe this as:
"...also sometimes called visual shock, is a phenomenon experienced by individuals when encountering complex maps, diagrams, or pictorial representations. Information processing stops as the person tries to orient themselves to the overwhelming quantity of data. Users describe a sense of being lost, and of not knowing where to start, often accompanied by a physical and sometimes even audible, reaction."
(p.75) emphasis mine
All too often, people delivering technical presentations are doing this to their audience while expecting them to retain this information. It's just asking too much of the audience, no matter how technical they are. Even though the audience may be technical, the same guidelines that many of us who are passionate about great presentations write about still apply. We may have different aptitudes, but we all have brains that all operate under the same principles. Attention is attention. Retention is retention.
If you absolutely need to get that message across with a diagram that, by its very nature, is technical, try applying these guidelines:
Build it slowly. Rather than overwhelming your audience with all of that complexity at once, gradually build it one piece at a time. Don't display the next piece until you're ready to talk about it.
Keep it simple. Keep each build stage simple enough that someone in the audience can absorb it quickly (3 seconds or less). Ask yourself, "Would this work on a billboard?"
Consider the folks in the back of the room. Don't forget the people in the back. If there's text and they can't read it, you're not helping them at all. They're either going to ignore you as they try to figure it out or give up and lose out on this important visual.
It is important, right? If it's not important for the comprehension of your message, leave it out. Otherwise, it's just noise.
Take it easy with Visio. Copying and pasting visio drawings into your slides may be the easy way out, but rarely is doing the right thing easy. If you can't draw your diagram within your slideware itself, take several snapshots of your diagram in each logical build stage. Don't just throw up a fully completed diagram unless your purpose is to observe first-hand the effects of map shock.
Observing these principles will require extra time and effort, but the results are worth it. Educate those around you. Let's put a long overdue end to this sacred cow.
mage credit: Automania, used under a Creative Commons license.
Sacred Cow #4: Using {feature} Or {plugin} Will Make Me Look Savvy.
This sacred cow is such a no-brainer that it begs the question of whether it is in fact a sacred cow or that it's just poor amateurish judgement. It's one of the reasons why many people hate slideware. The answer to this isn't so clear-cut. In many cases it is the latter. In those, it's just someone who merely didn't know any better and could easily be talked down from the ledge.
In some cases, though, it's dogma. It's the manager who wants "cool." It's these people that see it as gospel that to wow your audience, you need to wow them with your mad PowerPoint skills. It's these people who are more concerned with you having slides that "look good" rather than slides that get the message across effectively.
You'll also find that people who hold onto these sacred cows get excited about new transitions and animations in the latest version of PowerPoint (or Keynote). Walls of flame, sparkles, anything that glows, glitters, flies, slides, or makes noise is considered progress and essential to that next great presentation.
This sacred cow is even represented by unbridled excitement for upcoming tools like pptPlex and Prezi. While they do have that "wow" factor and they could in fact be used to make highly effective visuals, they'll more often than not be used inappropriately. Not too long from now, we'll see these tools used with the frequency and in a manner such that the daily stream of cursing of PowerPoint that I see in Twitter will also be directed at these tools.
I'm no luddite. I truly believe that these features and tools, if used with restraint and the effectiveness of the message as the prime consideration, can be very powerful tools in our tool box. However, it's those believers in this fourth sacred cow who take it as a given that flash and shock and awe are the keys to great presentations. What these people need to learn is that the secret to this sacred cow is that pig with lipstick is still a pig.
Image credit: emilylt, used under a Creative Commons license.
Sacred Cow #3: My Slides Need To Function As Handouts
I've discussed this particular sacred cow before, but it bears repeating. All too often, meeting organizers distribute copies of the slides ahead of time. Many even consider slides an official record of what was discussed. The former competes with your presentation and the latter is just ludicrous. In either case, this is a sacred cow in need of slaying.
By handing out your slides to your audience ahead of time, you're letting them get ahead of you. During your talk, they'll know where you're going, what points your going to hit, and because they've seen and read your slides, they'll be waiting on you to catch up throughout your presentation. It can even discourage them from paying attention to you because, well, they've already read your material. If they do that, they miss out on the content that's not on the slides at all.
If your slides could stand on their own as your presentation (they can't), then there's no need for you to get up and speak to them. Since your slides aren't your presentation, providing your slides as handouts, even after your presentation, does not truly benefit the audience. You can't possibly fit all of your content on slides. However, you can all too easily put too much on them. With that said, they do need something to take away with them, right? Maybe. If they do need handouts, providing them with a document after your presentation formatted specifically for reading. You can put the necessary amount of content on this document and if you hand them out after your presentation, you can avoid competing for attention with your handouts.
Image credit: libraryman, used under a Creative Commons license.
Sacred Cow #2: It’s OK If I Sit Over There…
Public speaking can be terrifying. Many fear standing up and speaking before an audience more frightening than even death itself. Many people in my neck of the woods, and I'm sure yours too, make the conscious decision to speak sitting at the conference table as a way of coping with that fear. Sure, it could be out of laziness, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it's the former. In many circles, sitting while delivering a presentation is accepted practice. In some, it's the standard. The belief that this is perfectly fine is one of those pesky sacred cows and the 2nd on my list to be sent to the slaughter house.
The thing is, our presentation is what we're saying. At that point in the meeting schedule, what we're saying is the focus. If you're not using slides, then you're giving the audience the impression that what you've got to say isn't all that important. Standing in front of your audience suggests that you and/or what you're saying is important enough for people to pay attention to you. When you were young, how much authority did teachers who lectured from their desk appear to have? Contrast that with teachers who stood before the class where they had a good view of every student.
If you are using slides, then not standing up in front with your slides shortchanges your presentation, your visuals (the slides), or both. If you are physically separated from your slides, then you're forcing the audience to split their attention between you and your visuals. Your audience will likely take the path of least resistance and either focus on you or your slides. The few that bounce back and forth will find themselves missing out on information along the way as they are constantly changing the focus of their attention.
If it's fear that is making it difficult for you to stand in front of your audience and by your slides (if you're using them), be sure to get plenty of practice before showtime. You might want to consider joining your local Toastmasters club.
Image credit: Amy Kearns, used under a Creative Commons license.
Get the A1. It’s Time To Kill Some Sacred Cows!
Lately, I've been having a blast reading Death To All Sacred Cows
Well, it's time to get the steak sauce out and have ourselves a feast, because we're taking the cows to the slaughter house. It's kind of a gruesome way to put it, but it has to be done. This is going to be the first of many sacred cows that we will send to their timely demise. First up:
Presentations Need PowerPoint Slides
How many times have you been told by a superior, "Put together a PowerPoint presentation for that meeting next week!" What was the reason for the requirement for PowerPoint slides? Chances are, that boss of yours is riding a sacred cow. You don't have the heart to tell him it's not that Harley he's been fantasizing about, but someone's got to take Bessie from him and put her out of her (and our) misery.
When presenting, your slides aren't your presentation. It's you and what you've got to say. Your audience is there to listen to you (You hope. We'll get to that at a later date.), not watch a bunch of slides. If all they wanted or needed were the slides, then there's no need for the meeting. So, where does that leave your slides? They're visual aides; not for you, but for them. If simple visual aids won't help you convey your message, or if your message doesn't translate well to simple visuals, then don't use slides at all! Your business isn't going to fall apart just because you didn't use slides. Heck, you just might yourself more effective delivering your message and/or call to action.
What if it does make sense to use slides? Well, another way to approach this sacred cow (and peacefully end its existence) is this: Why use PowerPoint? If you have control over the technology, use what makes sense. That could mean Keynote, SlideRocket, 280 Slides, OpenOffice, or Google Docs. There is no holy scripture that commands use of Microsoft's slideware.
One Down...
Well, that's one sacred cow. I've got a bunch more lined up ready to be carted off and turned into juicy steaks, one at a time.
Image credit: Jennifer Buehrer, used under a Creative Commons license.
A Tale Of Two Brown Bags
At the place where I earn my living, we'll sometimes have someone in the office give a "brown bag" presentation during the lunch hour. The idea is that any meetings during this hour are completely optional for all of those who are invited, which is everyone in the division. They're informational or educational in nature, where someone in the office is choosing to share what they know, what they've learned, or the product of their R&D project.
Last week, a friend & co-worker of mine and I both held our own brown bags. He presented on pivot tables in Excel and I gave a high-level presentation on basic steps one can take to make more effective use of PowerPoints. Both were lessons in the often overlooked preparation step: the dry run.
"Joe"
I'll just call him Joe for the purpose of this post in order to protect the innocent . Joe gave a good presentation on what pivot tables are and how to use them. I walked out of there with a good understanding of what they are, how they can be used, and how to use them. Not only did I comprehend his message, but I also retained it. Score one for Joe! His presentation didn't use even one PowerPoint slide at all. He didn't need them. In fact, slides would have done more harm than good. It was a great example of when not to use them.
One slip-up that left him confused at times during the presentation was when faced with giving his presentation on a different operating system. When starting his demo, he asked aloud, "now where is it on the Mac?" Right there, that told us he wasn't in control of his demo. When he did find what he was looking for, exactly where it would be found on Windows, he did find the dialogs a little different. That's to be expected, since the user interface conventions are different. However, when using this unfamiliar dialog, he often had people offering suggestions on where to click rather than him showing us.
One thing we can't count on when giving a presentation, especially nowadays, is that the host computer is using the same operating system as what we're used to. Mac users need to accept that they may find themselves stuck with a Windows machine and Windows users need to accept that they may find themselves on a Mac. What this requires, then, is a little planning and preparation. Get to the site of your presentation even earlier than you would if you knew for certain that you would be using your own laptop. If the environment is different than what you expect, do a dry run. If things are different, note the differences so that when you do give your demo, you can do it so smoothly and your audience will think you're a natural...a real pro. If you have access to a computer using the other software before you even arrive on site, do your dry run then so that you're even more prepared even sooner. I do this with all of my slides that are in PowerPoint format. If they're developed on a Mac, any slides I present at work are also run through on a Windows machine. Any anomalies are caught early and adjustments are made.
Me
My presentation, including all of the questions and comments during the talk too exactly as long as I thought it would. Practicing it about 10 times made that part pretty predictable. Of course, there could always be something to throw it off, but I planned well, at least in that regard. One thing I didn't do that hit me out of nowhere was consider the less than optimal quality of the projector. When I got to my example of a good corporate template, the template's and the projector's shortcomings became quite clear. The light gray background image was washed-out to the point where you couldn't see it. If I was using a big plasma or LCD screen, it would have been fine. However, this projector has been notoriously difficult to calibrate and I should have remembered that.
Testing the slides on this projector is something I should have considered and planned for. Instead of a situation where I said, "what you should have been able to see is...," I would rather have been able to say, "what you see here is..."
The lesson in both of these presentations: when presenting, if you're using any sort of technology whatsoever, do not take anything for granted. Murphy's Law is not an exception. Plan for it and take a little extra time ahead of your presentation to do a dry run. This will hopefully allow you to make any adjustments you need to before it's show time.
Dealing With Nerves
We've all heard that Americans fear public speaking more than death. There was even that line from "Seinfeld,"
“According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”
Frankly, it makes sense. When speaking in front of an audience, you're in an extremely vulnerable position. You're up there in front of 10, 20, 50, 100, or more people all of whom (hopefully) are all looking at you and paying close attention to everything you have to say. Unless you have a true phobia, how you react to this situation says more about your preparation, than anything else. The unprepared crack and fumble. The prepared can deal with virtually any pressure or situation Murphy throws at them.
So, what does it mean to be prepared? It surely doesn't mean you have your presentation memorized. Just look at Chief Justice Roberts' swearing in of President Obama and Vice President Biden's swearing in of Secretary of State Clinton. Those are examples that show just how fragile your performance becomes when counting on the precise word-by-word repeating of text. One little slip-up quickly becomes a highly-visible train wreck.
Being prepared means knowing your material. It means knowing your story. If someone were to completely deny you your slides, can you still give your presentation? Sure, your word-for-word performance will be different, but can you get your message across? Can you still sell your big idea? An obvious way to get prepared is practice, practice, practice. Keep practicing your presentation. Don't try to memorize anything outside of quotes that may be up on the screen. Those shouldn't be a big deal anyway because any on-screen quote that's not going to detract from your presentation will be brief.
Well, how about slides with facts and figures? Don't memorize them either. The point should be to practice the presentation enough such that if you couldn't see your slides, you know which slide follows the next. That way, when you advance to the next slide, you know what's up there. If you know your material, then you know the story that the chart on the screen is supporting.
Another way to learn your material is to write out your story in narrative form for the handouts that you (may) hand out after your presentation. I have found this to be an effective way to reinforce in my mind what it is I'm sharing with my audience. The organization of the content also gets reinforced through this process.
I've been in that zone where even though I could look at the laptop that showed the next slide, I advanced on and on, continuing with my presentation, all without looking at the laptop. It's a wonderful situation and can be compared to a runner's high. What I even find is that in situations such as those, I'm talking on auto pilot. This is thanks to practicing enough so that I literally knew my material inside and out. Fear and nerves are tossed aside and I am on a roll.
Keynote
If you're not lucky enough to experience the speaker's high, then what else can you do in addition to preparation? One thing you can do is to take advantage of the presenter's tools in your slide program. Don't be staring down at them, but glance every now and then, as needed, to maintain your sense of place. Don't use them to read your material to your audience, either. However, merely having them there can be a mental support to help you stay in sync with your audience's visual aids or nail that quote on the screen without looking at either the on-screen or on-laptop version. I can't say why that helps, but it surely seems to help me. Maybe just knowing it's there is enough to calm nerves, allowing me to focus on the content I'm sharing rather than the slide itself.
Lastly, one piece of advice that has helped me over the years came from a college friend of mine who would also be the Best Man at my wedding. It was simply, "What are they going to do, hate me?" They're not going to assault you physically. You're not going to be leaving by way of an ambulance. So, if the audience hating you is the worst that could happen, you're going to be OK.
Do you have your own ways to deal with nerves when presenting?
My Thoughts On the MacWorld Keynote
In this post, I'm not going to focus on the products that were announced. Granted I can't wait to see the changes to Keynote beyond what was discussed, but I'm more interested at this moment in Phil Shiller's delivery of the keynote itself.
Early on in his pitch, it was clear that he was nervous. He was racing along at a fast pace and at about 6 minutes and 40 seconds into it, he turned back at the screen, not to point something out, but to gain a visual cue for himself. It's a classic example of someone whose nerves are getting the better of them. However, as time went on, it was obvious that he was starting to hit a groove and feel more comfortable up there. In the end, he seemed on his game and did as good a job as anyone could be expected to (except Steve Jobs himself, but Phil's not Steve).
One thing he did do, though, that I couldn't help but to notice every time he advanced to the next slide is he held his remote out there for all to see and made sure, unconsciously, I'm certain, that we all saw him click that remote. You can hold remotes like that more discreetly such that even if your audience knows you have a remote, they're not focusing on it and each time you move to the next slide it appears to be through the very magic you're trying to create on stage.
Yes this has got to be one of my shorter posts in this category, but not every one needs to exceed 1,000 words. 
Did you see anything else that Phil Shiller did well or could have done better?
PowerPoint 2004 vs. Keynote ’08
Having read in books and online how great Keynote was and how the pros use it over Keynote, how could I not spend the $70 on iWork and give it a spin? The version of PowerPoint that I have to compare Keynote to isn't the latest and "greatest," but as some may argue, with the lack of macro support in Office 2008, the older, PPC-based version may be the better of the two Microsoft offerings. Personally, all I have is 2004 and given how I can't support Microsoft's anti-competitive no-macro move, Office 2004 is what I've got. Also keep in mind that this is based on early impressions and early, limited use, so if I'm just not figuring something out and you know the answer to what I'm looking for, then please feel free to share.
Templates
So, when I'm creating a new slide deck, I'm typically not one to use built-in templates. In fact, given my long history with PowerPoint on Windows, that's the wise approach. Microsoft's templates are just atrocious, hideous, and simply not professional. For all we know, they hired a monkey to throw poo at Windows Paint. They just aren't conducive to readability. The template is the star of the (B-movie) show, not your content. What's worse is that if you did want to use one of their templates, PowerPoint sure isn't that helpful.
PowerPoint Templates
You have two ways to choose you design. One is through the formatting palette and the other is through a Finder-based dialog. The thumbnails in the palette are too small to be useful and essentially require you to choose them one at a time to really get a good idea what it's about. The dialog is even worse because you're choosing them by name, with no thumbnail or preview at all.
Keynote, on the other hand, actually has me considering using their templates (called themes), even if just the simpler ones. You're presented with usable thumbnails in an easy to navigate dialog.
Keynote Templates
The themes are also quite intelligently designed. Unlike Microsoft, Apple apparently employed real designers with a knowledge of the fundamental concepts of what makes text readable. They are also, for the most part, simple enough to not be too distracting. I took a PowerPoint slide deck I created and applied one of the built-in Keynote themes and got what instantly looked more professional even though the original design and Keynote theme were similar in concept. In Keynote, it's more polished right off the bat.
Interface
PowerPoint Interface
So, now we've got our template chosen, let's take a look at the interface.
Office 2004 is famous for straddling the line when it comes to obeying the Mac Human Interface Guidelines. On the one hand, they put the controls in a (mostly) easy to use formatting palette, yet they still give you a Windows-ish toolbar. You can close the toolbar, but you'd lose access to some functionality, such as the format painter. Truly bad interface design. With that said, it's still much more elegant than the Windows version. It's as though the Mac Business Unit at Microsoft tried to build a compliant UI, but overlords in Redmond weren't going to allow them to stray too far from the ranch.
Keynote Interface
Keynote, on the other hand, puts the toolbar, front and center, and attached to the document. Huh? Say what? Yeah. The very thing you're not supposed to do to Mac apps, Apple did. The very thing that makes no sense (attaching toolbars to documents rather than the application itself), they did. You know what? I don't like it. Yeah, they're easy to access and they're far more usable than their Windows counterparts, but I really resent losing that form of real estate. I don't think splitting duty between the menu bar and the toolbar is good interface design. The application/document relationship we have come to understand because it frankly makes sense has been turned sideways and upside down at once. With that said, you can turn the toolbar off and not lose access to any functionality. They do provide an inspector palette, which does make me feel at home, for what it's worth.
Adding slides to your deck is also different between the two. In PowerPoint, your primary interface for this is under "Add Objects" in the palette. I prefer to use a blank slide as a starting point when designing my slides, so I have to scroll down to find what I want. Even if a blank slide isn't what I'm looking for, the various designs would likely require scrolling to find what you want.
Keynote takes a different approach. When you click "New," it creates a new blank slide for you. Hey, what do you know, it creates exactly what I want by default! If you want to change the layout of the slide, click the Masters button in the toolbar and you'll get a list (no scrolling) of your options. The thumbnails you are provided in the drop-down list actually have your theme applied to them so you have a better idea what you're getting yourself into than in PowerPoint.
Going Full Bleed
One of the tricks for cross-platform builds in PowerPoint is to use your full-bleed images as individual slide backgrounds. This prevents all kinds of odd-behavior in going between PowerPoint 2003 and 2004. One of the things that PowerPoint also does is it will scale your slide and everything in it to the resolution of your screen or projector. Keynote provides the option to scale to the size of the screen as well, through the preferences. -added 12/14/2008 Keynote takes a different approach. Rather than risking the distortions and pixelations that result when rescaling graphics, you create your slides with a specific resolution. Each approach has its benefits.
PowerPoint:
- Your slides will fill up the screen no matter what you're projecting on. You don't need to think about what type of projector you're going to be using.
- Individual slide backgrounds allow your image to be free from accidental dragging.
- Almost all projectors project at 1024x768, so scaling may not be an issue.
- No distortions or pixelation of images
Pick your poison.
Design
PowerPoint Guides
One of the things that's useful when laying out graphics and images on a slide is some sort of guide that shows you the power points as defined by the rule of thirds. When turning on guides in PowerPoint, you're presented with two guide lines, which can be moved. In all my time using PowerPoint, I have yet to see a means with which you can add guide lines. It's either not there or not obvious.
Keynote Guides
Keynote, on the other hand, allows you to drag new guide lines from the rulers to your slide. In addition, the rulers just make sense. In PowerPoint, the rulers seem to be in at least the equivalent of inches. 10 "inches" across the top and 7.2 along the side. Each major mark (an inch, I guess) is divided into 8ths. Since PowerPoint (Keynote won't either) doesn't give you the thirds laid out with the guides, you've got some calculations and approximations to do. Keynote's ruler is divided into 10 major units along the top and along the side. Each major unit is divided into 10ths. Now, you tell me which is more useful?
Media
PowerPoint likes to throw you right into the clip-art folder whenever you want to add an image as a background (the PPT hack I described above). I have yet to figure out a reason for this bizarre behavior. It's extremely annoying and just obnoxious. Given the clip art included with Office, nobody should even want to use what's in that folder. Fortunately, adding an embedded image doesn't share this behavior. That's good, but it also sheds light on the inconsistent and seemingly hap-hazard user interface decisions by Microsoft.
Media
Keynote offers excellent integration with iPhoto, through a media dialog that shows you what's in your iPhoto library. Just drag and drop. You can also choose something outside of iPhoto if you wish. Unlike PowerPoint, though, you don't need to specify what kind of file it is before you do so.
Charts
If there's one universal truth, it's don't copy your charts from another program and paste them onto your slides unless there's just no way on this green earth your slide application can handle the task. If you've ever seen an Excel chart pasted into a PowerPoint, you know what I mean. Both PowerPoint and Keynote have the capability of adding charts. However, the approaches the two applications take couldn't be more different.
PowerPoint Charts
PowerPoint starts you off with a bar chart with 3 data series and 4 data points. The default chart is full of what Edward Tufte calls "chart junk." It's 3D, has unnecessary borders, rules, and values on the Y-axis. Oh, did I mention, PowerPoint launches another program for this? While working on your PowerPoint chart, you're actually working in an application named Graph. This isn't just a Office 2004 thing. Office 2003 for Windows does the same thing. PowerPoint offers a seemingly limitless palette of colors for your potentially limitless number of data series. Of course, only if you want to lose your audience while they're trying to decipher your chart, would you use that many data points.
Keynote Charts
Keynote doesn't launch a separate application to create your charts. The default chart starts you off with 2 data series and 4 data points. The starter chart is also in 2D. Big deal? Not really. However, it does seem to suggest to the user a smarter use of charts in this context. The data entry mode is through a dialog and all updates are reflected in the chart real-time, unlike in PowerPoint. Chart colors are limited to only 6 for the chart. Though limiting, if you looking to add more than 6 data series, then you need to rethink your chart. Any more than 6 will surely create visual clutter. I would even find it hard to get up to that number of unique colors. Rather than diving through dialogs for each data series like you do in PowerPoint, changing colors of individual data series is done by dragging and dropping from the chart colors dialog to the series in the chart. This is much easier and far more efficient.
Summary, for now...
As you can see, I've very impressed with Apple's presentation slide software, Keynote '08. For a relatively new entrant into the space, Apple has shown they have more than enough of what it takes to compete effectively and give presentation professionals a tool worth choosing, even as a first choice.
As I mentioned earlier, I'm fairly new to Keynote, so what I've shared thus far is based on early impressions. There's more I have yet to explore, such as video integration, export options, etc. My next article on these two applications will cover features used when presenting. These two are in a class of their own, both far more useful in actual presentation mode than their Windows-based counterparts.
Fire Them Up!
This book is going on my list of books to read next. Outside of being appropriate for me as a manager, I can see it applying to presentation delivery.
