February 26, 2010 Page 1

Presentation Communication - Tired of bullet point slide shows? Want to improve how you communicate
your ideas? Learn the craft of communicating with slideware and hone your presentation skills. Come
explore basic concepts of graphic design, how to create compelling visuals, and how to communicate by
telling stories. We will explore typography, layout, story telling, how to utilize color, how to craft images,
and how to display data. We will also take a look at the presentation styles of some of the masters of this
art form. This course is highly interactive (with each other, with your computer, and with web sites) and
project oriented.

Most exercises, projects, readings, blog posts, etc that are assigned are designed to be done in class, though
you are always welcome to continue outside of class. Homework, when given, will usually consist of short
readings accompanied by your blog posts. There are no exams. All assessments are in the form of the
exercises, projects and blog posts. Everyone is expected to provide constructive feedback to everyone else.
Lastly, as this is a class on presentations, everyone is expected to participate in creating, sharing and
presenting their presentations.

As one of the 8 projects, each person will create a slide presentation to be presented at a Morning Meeting.
All slide presentations will be posted to your individual SlideShare accounts, as well as being embedded
within our course blog and accompanied by a short blog post.

BOOK RESOURCES (in addition to other resources listed within the outline)
Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery by Garr Reynolds
Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations by Garr
Reynolds
slide:ology; The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte
Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated by William Lidwell,Kritina Holden and Jill Butler
The Non-Designer's Design Book, The 3rd Edition by Robin Williams
Beyond Bullet Points by Cliff Atkinson, and his blog

• CREATE the course blog – Is this the best tool? I want kids to post their slides to SlideShare and also to
share them in a place where we can all easily see and comment on one another's presentations, as well as
writing posts about their own slides and respond to the reading assignments.
• GET HOLD OF THIS TO SHOW: the Duarte stuff in the new version of PowerPoint (http://
blog.duarte.com/2009/11/the-microsoft-office-2010-public-beta-is-available-and-we’re-in-it/)
• ADD: research about reading slides, additional exercises and projects
• FIND MORE TED TALKS: Fred's idea to add some TED Talks that are examples of poor presentations
• ADD: a Steve Jobs presentation

I. IN THE BEGINNING
VIDEO: TED Talk – Derek Sivers: Weird, or just different?
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A. What is DESIGN? -
EXERCISE: Create your own SlideShare account at http://www.slideshare.net/
Introduce yourself in a slide
Upload your one slide presentation to your SlideShare account
Embed your slide presentation on the course blog and include an introductory blog post

SLIDESHARE resources:
Mrs B's SlideShare page
SlideShare's Help Center
uploading a presentation to SlideShare
embedding your SlideShare slideshow on the blog

KEYNOTE & POWERPOINT resources:

For assistance with Keynote or PowerPoint, ask one another, check the web, use Atomic
Learning, or ask me:
Keynote on Atomic Learning – http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/keynotex
PowerPoint on Atomic Learning: PowerPoint X for the Mac – http://
movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/powerpoint_x2
PowerPoint 2007 Intro for Windows – http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/ppt07_intro
PowerPoint 2007 Intermediate for Windows – http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/
ppt07_interm
PowerPoint 2007 2007 Advanced for Windows – http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/
ppt07_adv

For a fee of $25 for a month's access, you can access the various lynda(dot)com videos:
Keynote '09 Essential Training and Duarte Design: Creative Inspirations
PowerPoint 2010 Beta: Real-World Projects
PowerPoint 2008 for the Mac Essential Training

DESIGN & TYPOGRAPHY resources:

• AIGA: http://www.aiga.org/
• Foundations of Design and Typography (an online course): http://www.metatoggle.com/
design_crs/contents.html
• Unleash the Graphic Design in You – Exploring the Seven Essentials of Graphic Design
(online module): http://www.ncwiseowl.org/kscope/workshops/graphic_design.html

PRESENTATION GURUS:
Guy Kawasaki and home page
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Lawrence Lessig and presentation style and lessig on blip.tv

Nancy Duarte
Seth Godin
Bert Decker
Garr Reynolds
Jerry Weissman
Tom Peters
Steve Jobs
READ: Presentation Zen – Big Gurus Present

Throughout this class, please share your links.

1. TYPEFACE– Which font represents you? Why?

a. EXERCISE: Choose a font – List adjectives that describe it – List adjectives that it suggests to you
– Who created it, when, and why?
• Identify or find a font: http://www.identifont.com/
• Periodic Table of Typefaces: http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Periodic-Table-of-
Typefaces/193759
• Typographica, a review of typefaces and type books: http://typographica.org/
• Type Overview: http://www.slideshare.net/shawncalvert/intro-to-graphic-design-
week-4-type-overview-presentation
• Will Harris TypoFile: http://www.will-harris.com/tech.htm
• Free font generator: http://www.yourfonts.com/
b. What is the most ubiquitous, famous font? (Helvetica)

c. VIDEO: Typography – a Lawrence Lessig style presentation by Ronnie Bruce, based

upon a poem by Taylor Mali
d. To SERIF or SANS SERIF?

(1) examples (that also happen to be recommended for slide presentations):

Calson
Garamond
Baskerville
Helvetica
Futura
Gill Sans
Bodoni
Univers
Rockwell
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Frutiger
Franklin Gothic
(2) Which fonts for which uses?

(a) demo by showing examples of usage

(b) EXERCISE: Create 1 slide for use three times - each time use a markedly different font
but the same text - How does the font impact the message?
2. WHITE SPACE
• On White Space in Graphic Design: http://www.logoorange.com/white-space.php
• Using Whitespace: http://www.slideshare.net/shawncalvert/intro-to-graphic-design-
week-8-whitespace-presentation
• Empty space and slide design: http://blog.slideshare.net/2008/03/12/slide-design/
EXERCISE: Provide each student with a slide and have them redesign it making use of white
space
B. How do you CONNECT with your audience? - Exercise: Introduce yourself by sharing a story
about yourself
interview with Ira Glass, videos of Ira Glass discussing storytelling (1, 2, 3, 4)
VIDEO: TED Talk – Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity
1. How do we share stories?

a. aural (guest speaker: Dulcie Arnold)

(1) YOU are the story teller

(2) eye contact with your audience

(3) tell a story

(4) involve your audience

(5) Making Sense of Sound - How does your audience listen? http://
www.exploratorium.edu/listen/index.php
(6) How the ear works: http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/ears.html or The Ear and
Hearing: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/sound/ear.html#c1
b. pictures/images/video

c. printed text

d. EXERCISE: Create 1 slide for use three times - each time use a markedly different image but the
same identical text - How does the image impact the message?
C. Visual Presentations: Simplicity in Three
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1. Can you see it in the last row?

2. Punctuation & Spelling!

3. Text & Images - keep them simple!

4. READ & DISCUSS: Garr Reynolds - Top Ten Slide Tips: http://www.garrreynolds.com/
Presentation/slides.html
5. READ: Presentation Zen – The "Godin Method" of presentation and Living large:
"Takahashi Method" uses king-sized text as a visual
6. PROJECT 1: Everyone take the same story (nursery rhyme or a tale known by all) and create a
slide show to present to the class, keeping in mind what we have covered to date about design and
story telling. Prior to getting started on this project, we will generate a class rubric as both a means of
review and to serve as a guide while crafting your slide shows and presentations.
II. AND THEN THERE WAS COLOR (guest speaker: Jason Leath)

A. "Get it right in black and white." What does this mean?

B. The impact of color - what emotions and associations do colors have?

C. How the eye sees color: http://www.colormatters.com/seecolor.html

D. EXERCISE: Create your own color wheel

1. What is HUE? (the pure color)

2. What is TINT ?(adding white to the hue)

3. What is SHADE? (adding black to the hue)

E. EXERCISE: Create 1 slide for use 3 times - (1) light tints on white background, (2) light tints on gray
background, (3) light tints on black background
F. EXERCISE: Create 1 slide for use 3 times - (1) dark shades on white background, (2) dark shades on
dark gray background, (3) dark shades on black background
G. • http://www.colorschemer.com
• http://colourlovers.com
• http://colorblender.com/
• http://kuler.adobe.com
• http://www.lithoglyph.com/mondrianum (saves Kuler themes in PP or Keynote on the Mac for
use as a colorpicker)
H. READ: Presentation Zen – Guy Kawasaki: Presenter extraordinaire and The Kawasaki
Method: an enlightened presentation approach
VIDEO: Guy Kawasaki 10-20-30 Presentation Rule OR Guy Kawasaki Explains the Art of
Innovation in 10 Steps (July 2009)
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READ & DISCUSS: The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint by Guy Kawasaki

I. PROJECT 2: "Nature is the perfect colorist." Choose a photo of a natural scene & use Kuler to create a
unique color theme
III. GETTING TO THE DEPTH OF IMAGES

A. How the eye works: http://www.physpharm.fmd.uwo.ca/undergrad/sensesweb/L1Eye/l1eye.swf

B. John Medina's Brain Rule #10: Vision trumps all other senses: http://www.brainrules.net/vision

C. INSERT research about how the audience can read a slide faster than the presenter can read to
them
D. What is RESOLUTION?

1. ppi

2. dpi

3. 300 ppi for images that will print at 300 dpi

4. 100 ppi for images that will be displayed on screen

E. Image Techniques ADD SOME EXERCISES HERE

1. FULL BLEED - in general, use images b/72 ppi - 100 ppi and w/dimensions very close to the
slide dimensions, 800x600 or 1024x768, if you want image to fill the slide
2. CROPPING - how many ways can you frame an image?

3. RULE OF THIRDS

4. HORIZON LINE

5. PERSPECTIVE

F. What are image file types?

1. jpg

2. png

3. gif

4. visual search engine: http://en.cydral.com/

G. READ: Presentation Zen – The "Lessig Method" of presentation

VIDEO: Lawrence Lessig's TED Talk: laws that choke creativity
READ & DISCUSS: A physicist on the "Lessig style" (Lessig Blog)
H. PROJECT 3a: choose one idea, emotion or concept and express it with at least 10 photographs - use
camera presets for close ups (flower), landscape (mountain) & people (person)
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I. PROJECT 3b: choose one idea, emotion or concept and draw sketches to express it - use whatever
style and mode of sketching you prefer (Dan Roam: Unfolding the Napkin, Dave Gray: Communication
Nation)
IV. THE DATA SHOULD SPEAK FOR ITSELF

A. ways to display data

1. table - to display specific numbers that you want to stick

EXERCISE: ADD AN EXERCISE HERE
2. bar chart - comparisons
EXERCISE: ADD AN EXERCISE HERE
3. line chart - trends over time
EXERCISE: ADD AN EXERCISE HERE
4. pie chart - comparing a few values as they relate to a whole
EXERCISE: ADD AN EXERCISE HERE
B. signal to noise ratio (SNR)

1. aim for a high signal to noise ratio

2. signal - relevant items

3. noise - anything that gets in the way of the signal

C. EXERCISE: Perceptual Edge's Graph design I.Q. Test: http://www.perceptualedge.com/files/

GraphDesignIQ.html
• http://graphs.gapminder.org/world/
• http://www.tableausoftware.com/products/tour
READ: Presentation Zen – Hans Rosling & the art of storytelling with statistics
VIDEO; Hans Rosling's 2006 TED Talk
VIDEO; Hans Rosling's 2007 TED Talk
READ & DISCUSS: Six Minutes – Six Simple Techniques for Presenting Data: Hans
Rosling (TED, 2006)
D. PROJECT 4: You have been provided with a set of data around which you will create a slide or slides to
represent the data. Prior to getting started on this project, we will generate a class rubric as both a means
of review and to serve as a guide while crafting your slide(s).
V. CRAFTING THE STORY
Why it is important to tell a story: Nicholas Kristof's Advice for Saving the World
StoryCorps: National Day of Listening
VIDEO: TED Talk: Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight
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A. Nancy Duarte: slide:ology, Duarte blog

Tricks for Getting to the Core of Your Story (Part 1) – Spaghetti on the Wall
Tricks for Getting to the Core of Your Story (Part 2) – Little Cards, Fat Markers
Tricks for Getting to the Core of Your Story (Part 3) – Baptism by Fire
B. Garr Reynolds: Presentation Zen blog, book, presentation tips, slide shows on SlideShare

C. Dave Gray: Communication Nation - Designing a narrative with index cards, 08 September 2009

VI. PRESENT!
What IS a presentation, anyway? READ & DISCUSS: A 30-Second Presentation
A. PechaKucha 20x20: http://www.pecha-kucha.org/ What is it? http://www.pecha-kucha.org/what

B. Ignite: http://ignite.oreilly.com/

C. Toastmasters: http://www.toastmasters.org/ and their tips for public speaking

D. used to create free 60 second online videos using images, text and sound: http://flixtime.com/

E. used to create free zooming presentation online: http://prezi.com/

F. TED Talks

G. Pop!Tech

H. PROJECT 5: Choose one of the presentation gurus or one of the presenters we have viewed, and create
a presentation of your own using the style of that presenter
I. PROJECT 6: Create a well-crafted presentation for one of your courses. Contact the teacher and
arrange to present it to your class.
J. PROJECT 7: Create a well-crafted presentation for a Morning Meeting. Arrange for time to present it
and let me know when that will be so I can attend.
VII. PLACES TO SHARE

A. http://www.slideshare.net/ - create slide shows in Keynote or PowerPoint, save on your

computer, and post to your own account online
B. http://www.sliderocket.com/ - create slide shows online where they are stored in the cloud