Archive for January 2008

• Why You Should Outsource Content Creation: As a web content writer, I don’t write much about why companies should hire content writers since people will take my response as biased… but here’s input from someone else. [Link: Freelance Folder]
• List of Sites That Teach You How to Do Stuff: You won’t find a shortage of these sites, but now you can find them all in one place.
• Sesame Street Video Archives: I admit it. I watched Sesame Street a bit with my first born and found myself singing some of the songs.
• Gamer’s Manifesto: We’ve plunked down the bucks, now we want something in return.
• Olan Mills photos from the ’70s and ’80s. Gee, they don’t look as weird anymore considering the ’80s clothes are back!
• Ambigram Gallery displays the incredible work of John Langdon, author of Wordplay. Ambigrams are words that can be read the same way whether inverted, upside down or rotated 180-degrees.

Ever read a book or see a movie with a great beginning and a disappointing ending? What about vice versa? If a book starts off too slow or lousy, will you keep reading it? In the past, I did. But not anymore unless it’s for a gig.

Sometimes I luck out in coming up with a wonderful analogy for an article. When you write all the time, you don’t have the luxury of brainstorming creative approaches. It takes time to brainstorm, try different tricks like mindmapping, or flip through books related to getting ideas … time that you don’t have.

One easy trick does work that doesn’t take much time. You can do this after writing the article, in the middle… whenever. Come up with an analogy or theme that relates to the article topic. Unfortunately, that didn’t work well in this entry. So it’s not a perfect trick.

In this best advice response column about someone struggling to break through the glass ceiling, I used Superman to add color. Dorothy and her Oz friends appeared in When Good Newsletters Go Bad. A story on crisis management incorporates science fiction. The Wireless City 2.0 weaves in city planning through the years.

OK, so some ideas work better than others. Sure, I’d like to have every article grab the reader. I practice by writing often and digging for creative approaches while I work through the writing. Sometimes it pays and sometimes it doesn’t. What matters is the practicing and doing it often.

Doing this while blogging is hardest. I can’t spend too much time blogging. Occasionally, I come up with a post I’m proud of, but not enough. The good thing about blogging — whether it’s a good or lousy post — is that it’s writing practice.

This ending is nothing like Citizen Kane, The Crying Game, or The Sixth Sense. But they all have surprises near the end.

The wizard in The Wizard of Oz and the guy behind the curtain pretending to be him have different personalities. Which one would you rather listen to? The wizard who comes across as larger than life and unreachable, or the guy hiding behind the giant green face, a person like us?

Companies that publish newsletters without a name or a voice feel cold and untouchable like the wizard. Give a voice to one person and you put a face on the company. Readers respond to a person better than an invisible entity.

Do you receive an e-mail newsletter that used to provide a wealth of information but has become a victim of its own success? You used to look forward to receiving the newsletter, but it has changed … either into a big commercial for the company or a forum for someone with an ego.

This has happened to award-winning newsletters. For example, at the time of receiving an award, one newsletter provided powerful stuff, helping it achieve success and earning its many faithful subscribers. Once it reeled in readers and got comfortable, the material slowly changed for the worse.

For most of us, when we work on something for a long time, we fall into a rut and maybe without realizing it. It happens. However, there is a difference between falling into a rut and transforming a newsletter into a news release that provides little value to readers.

Prevent Mr. (or Ms.) Big Head

Another newsletter no longer provides articles. Instead, it points to the publisher’s blog, products for sale and Webinars starring the publisher. Yet another still offers an article but with not as much valuable information as in the past. The newsletter also announces the person’s accomplishments, newly landed clients and includes short articles recommending a product — articles that sound more like affiliate recommendations than reviews.

Another company keeps distributing news releases about its successes. Most issues leave the reader wondering, “So what? That has nothing to do with me or my needs.” Once in a while, it sends an issue with the latest products added to its database, which is the purpose of the mailing list. But it doesn’t provide updates on the industry anymore, unless they’re about the company.

An egotistical publisher takes advantage of the mailing list by sending out e-mails with specials, “check out this product,” “come see me,” “attend my Webinar,” and “attend so ‘n so’s Webinar” (that have nothing to do with the newsletter topic). The message comes across as if the person is a celebrity. But if you throw his name around to friends and colleagues, no one will have heard of him.

These newsletters from Mr. (or Ms.) Big Head are in danger of losing readers. They miss the down-to-earth style and person’s original voice that comes across like a friend or colleague who provides advice or information. If the unsubscribe rate doesn’t change much, you still aren’t safe. This could simply mean readers don’t want to bother unsubscribing, and instead, they filter the unread newsletters to the trash bin.

For example, in a recent conversation, a colleague and I admitted to each other that we don’t unsubscribe to certain newsletters for political reasons. We know the publisher, and it would be noticeable if we dropped the newsletter. Instead, we’ve created a filter so it goes straight into the junk folder. I also keep receiving some newsletters in hopes that the newsletter will return to its former brilliance.

Change happens

Change happens, and it’s okay, but the publisher should keep the readers’ best interests in mind. For instance, a popular newsletter drastically redesigned its layout, leading many readers to write about their disapproval of the change.

Keeping your audience happy doesn’t mean never redesigning the look and feel of your newsletter; rather, tread carefully on how you go about it. If you include readers in the process, you’re a step ahead and going in the right direction.

The publisher of the popular newsletter should’ve alerted readers of the redesign plans and explained the reasons for doing it. To help readers be more receptive, the publisher could ask readers for feedback as to what they want and don’t want to see. Some readers might be willing to review preliminary designs and provide feedback. After the change goes in effect, write an introduction talking about the change and invite input.

Get around the success trap

Readers hesitate to write and tell the publisher to “stop focusing on yourself so much.” It’s easier to provide feedback on a newsletter’s design or a new column than anything related to a person. How many of you have written a note to a person criticizing the person as opposed to an object or thing?

One editor does a fabulous job of sharing her news and successes without adding a drop of ego. She writes like a friend reporting on what’s happening in her life including the bad things. I use her as a model for avoiding the “me, me, me” trap.

What about the fact newsletters are supposed to bring value to the publisher and not just the reader? Many successful newsletters accomplish this without becoming a commercial or an ode to the company. Ways to accomplish this:

• Ensure the advertising-to-content ratio is in favor of content, which should be at least 80 percent.
• Include a free offer.
• Put links to the site where appropriate (byline, banner, published line, etc.).
• Create “special” offers good for a limited time (create a sense of urgency so readers act upon reading the newsletter).
• Add related products or services at the end of an article.
• Limit the sending of offers or specials in a separate e-mail.
• Avoid putting “Forward this” in the subject of the newsletter — this gives the impression that you’d rather get more readers than have your current readers check out the content before forwarding (put the “Forward” info in the newsletter not in the subject).

About those special offer e-mails

Sending special offers between issues is A-okay. The approach and the frequency make a difference. Some companies increase them between issues, and soon readers give up looking for real content. A successful publisher sends a special once after every issue or every other issue. She also identifies such e-mail by using a different subject than her regular newsletter. An example:

Subject: meryl’s notes: January 2008

Subject: meryl’s notes Special for Readers

Not the most exciting or creative subject lines, but I’m sure you can think of better. The point is for offer e-mails, do not include the date or issue information. Ensure the newsletter/publisher is recognizable, but differentiate offer e-mails from newsletter e-mails through the subject heading.

Keep your voice

Your personal voice drives your newsletter’s success. When reading a favorite newsletter, what voice do you picture? A corporation? An employee? The company whose newsletters have turned into news releases comes across as an organization rather than a person, like the Wizard of Oz hiding behind a big scary figure. When we meet the guy behind the curtain, we’re surprised by his personality and find him more likeable than the great Oz. Try to add that personal touch to your newsletters.

Then, the next time you read various newsletters, see which ones draw you in and which ones repel you. Answer the question of why they make you feel this way and use that to help you with your newsletter. When you show credibility and readers trust you, they will buy — as long as you provide them with value and a unique voice.

It’s easy to overwhelm yourself with so many things and ideas that nothing materializes. For example, a writer might think about article ideas for different magazines, project ideas, and Web site / networking pages content ideas. Thinking about all of these will likely produce nothing except one overwhelmed freelancer.

This became a problem when I drafted two posts (one being the 70+ PowerPoint presentation post) and I kept running into articles from experts who implement many ideas. This inspired me to think about something I could create. Then I realized I was brainstorming about too many things at once. The result: Stifled energy and creativity. Nothing got done.

Freelancers typically have current assignments plus projects or tasks they want to do or try. Sometimes thinking about both can lead to getting little to nothing done. Instead try these steps:

1. Keep a “to do” list for currently assigned projects and clients.

This list contains things you must do. Identify these as required tasks. Instead of looking at the long list of things to do and inviting overwhelm back into the picture — pick two or three to do for the day.

2. Add “want to do” projects to the “to do” list.

Label these differently than the required to do items for clients and projects. On a day when you can do shorter tasks from your client/project task list — make this your task for the day. Don’t let your mind wander and seek out other ideas and projects. Do only this activity.

You could set a schedule for allowing yourself to work on these want projects. Once a week. Once every two weeks.

3. Stop mind wandering by adding new ideas to the “want to do” list

Instead of getting trapped thinking about more things you’d like to do or try, add it to the list and let go. This puts your idea in concrete terms so you can let it go. Return to whatever you’re doing or work on the next to do item.

• The Best Kept Secret of Great Business Presentations: No PowerPoint templates allowed here.
• 100+ ways to organize your life. Step one: Read the article and pick one or two things to start with so you don’t feel overwhelmed.
• 70+ Lifehacks of 2007. I regularly visit this site — great content.
• Geeky Weddings, the video
• Miranda July, author of No One Belongs Here More Than You, came up with a novel and creative approach to her book’s Web site. [Link: Kottke]
• Also from Kottke, a restaurant review from 1859. More on New York Times’ archives.

It’s not PowerPoint’s fault that presentations have become boring and useless. After all, it just supplies the tools and it’s what we do with it that matters. Found this Hugh MacLeod PowerPuke cartoon that captures my thought perfectly.

Sure, PowerPoint comes with templates. Again, people don’t customize the presentation for their audience’s needs. They just fill in the headings and bullets without giving much thought. This compelled me to start this list of great examples.

Many of the examples are based on slides than on a person giving the presentation. After all, I rely heavily on slides. When they tell me something without making me read a book and give me an idea of what the speaker is saying (keeping me on cue if I am able to understand the speaker), then it’s most likely a great presentation.

Please email or post a comment if you know of others. (Spam sites need not apply.)

Updated: 6 April 2011

Presentations

1. 5 Ways to Make PowerPoint Sing! (And Dance!)
2. 10 Rules for Killer Business Cards 2010 Edition
3. Banish Boring Presentations
4. Beyond Monetization: Build Lasting Value Through Social Media
5. The Brand Gap based on the best-selling book.
6. The CommonCraft Show: Known for its Social Networking in Plain English — high energy and fast-paced presentations. I wanna be like them!
7. Debunking Third World Myths with Hans Rosling
8. Dick Hardt on Identity 2.0 and Who’s the Dick on My Site?
9. Effective PowerPoint Presenting
10. Flickr: All about pictrs
11. Footnotes: How feet can be entertaining.
12. Garr Reynolds of PresentationZen on presentations @GoogleTalks.
13. Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation
14. Gore speech on global warming
15. Guy Kawasaki Truemors presentation
16. History of the Button: Pick any button…
17. How to Make Big Things Happen with Small Teams by Jason Fried of 37Signals. I’ve heard (seen) him speak and he kept my attention — I could actually follow along and cared about what he had to say.
18. I Am the Media: On word of mouth.
19. Inbox Zero by Merlin Mann
20. An Introduction to Visual Thinking
21. Kill Bullets
22. Meet Henry, Mr. MBA who doesn’t know spit about presentations. Now Meet Everyone.
23. Logic + Emotion and One Year Later
24. Panipuri: Presentation on a food item.
25. Pecha Kucha: Get to the PowerPoint in 20 slides then sit the hell down.
26. PowerPoint 2007 Design Fashion Trends
27. Present! Re-thinking presentation design
28. Shift Happens: Everyone I knew was talking about it including a middle school principal, a university professor, family, and business colleagues. It’s rare when a topic crosses all parts of my life (business, personal, and educational). It caught so many people’s attention that information visualizing firm Xplane helped tweak it. The story behind the presentation and its wikispaces page.
29. Sky McCloud Presentation: Cartoonist Scott McCloud’s daughter tells about their trip across the country in a creative way.
30. Social Media: Good except for the blinding red slides.
31. Sustainable Food Lab: An organization bringing sustainability to food systems.
32. Steve Jobs’ iPod Introduction: I read about the presentation in The Perfect Thing, which had me in awe. Remember I don’t hear presentations very well, so reading about it had an impact — thus, the real thing had to be as great as it sounded. Of course, the iPhone and Macintosh (1984) introductions. Slides from the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference.
33. TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design): Contains many great presentations — not many examples of slides. TED blog.
34. Thirst: We all need to do our part to help with the water crisis or prepared to be thirsty… and when we go without water for a week…
35. Translation as Vocation: Exactly that.
36. Two states of matter they didn’t teach you about in school [PPT file]: My third grader came home from school and asked me how many states of matters there were. I answered three: Solid, liquid, gas. He told me there were five. We researched this on the Internet and this PowerPoint presentation was the first thing we found. That’s all it took for us to understand it.
37. Unlocking Cool: What a trend hunter does.
38. Usability Anonymous: 12 Step Program for Better User Experiences
39. Visual and Creative Thinking: What We Learned from Peter Pan and Willy Wonka
40. What Is Design?
41. What the **** Is Social Media? One year later…
42. WOMM: Why word of mouth marketing works.
43. Zimbabwe in Crisis: Breaks my heart.

Resources

1. 10 Modern Powerpoint and Keynote Templates that Deliver Clear Presentations: Awesome templates.
2. 11 Ways to Visualize Changes Over Time: Design ideas for when you need to show changes.
3. 43 Folders Best Presentation Tips
4. Absolute PowerPoint: Can a Software Edit Our Thoughts? [pdf file] By Ian Parker — From The New Yorker
5. Alltop Public Speaking blogs
   
6. American Rhetoric: Top 100 Speeches
7. Animotoritize: Help Banish Boring Business Presentations
8. Bad, bad, bad presentation. Do the opposite!
9. The Best Kept Secret of Great Presentations includes examples of great presentations
10. Beyond Bullet Points teaches how to tell a story with PowerPoint without resorting to useless templates. Think of it as presentation turned into visuals. Fabulous book and resource.
11. Brainy Betty: PowerPoint templates.
12. Briefcase Books: What Makes a Great Presentation? [pdf file]
13. Death by PowerPoint (YouTube version) and SlideShare version
14. Doc Searls’ It’s the Story, Stupid
15. Don Norman’ In Defense of PowerPoint
16. Ellen Finkelstein’s PowerPoint section
17. Guy Kawasaki on 10-20-30 presentation rule (video) and blog entry
18. “How to” Visual Effects in PowerPoint
19. The London Speaker: Toastmasters of London with plenty of good info.
20. m62 visualcommunications: Resources and tips.
21. MasterViews: Tons of tips, articles, and resources on presentations
22. Mother Tongue Annoyances: Lose the ums!
23. Official PowerPoint Home Page: Templates, training, articles, downloads and more
24. PowerPoint Extreme Makeover: Too long, but good info.
25. The PowerPoint FAQ
26. PowerPoint for Educators: Tricks and samples
27. PowerPoint in education: Many resources and samples.
28. PowerPoint in education: More examples of using PowerPoint in the classroom.
29. PowerPointless: Waving Goodbye to Bad Presentations
30. Presentation Revolution: Great stuff on storytelling
31. Presenters Online: Epson-sponsored resource for multimedia knowledge
32. Presenters University: Resources, articles, and forum
33. Seth Godin’s The Hierarchy of Presentations
34. Seth Godin’s Really Bad PowerPoint (and how to avoid it) [pdf file]
35. SlideBoom: Share live presentations online.
36. slide:ology by Nancy Duarte. Book’s companion site.
37. Slideshare: Share presentations online.
38. Sucking the Suck Out of Presentations
39. Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes: Download the complete text.

Blogs

1. Bert Decker
2. Brad Montgomery
3. Business Presentations
4. Communication Nation
5. Dave Paradi’s PowerPoint Blog
6. Great Public Speaking
7. Guy Kawasaki’s Pitching and Presenting posts
8. Indezine: Blog and free PowerPoint templates.
9. The Extreme Presentation Blog doesn’t like Guy’s 10-20-30 rule and makes a good point. About time someone argued against the rule. Seriously — how many people follow this rule? Many of the great presentations don’t.
10. Pistachio Consulting Blog
11. PowerPoint Blog by TLC Creative has a pre-show checklist for downloading so you can verify all systems go or fix anything that’s stalled.
12. PowerPoint without Bullet Points Blog
13. The Presentation Examples Blog
14. Presentation Helper
15. PresentationZen: Wonderful blog on everything presentation. Garr published a book on the topic.
16. Professionally Speaking
17. Public Speaking Blogs list
18. Six Minutes and its massive list of public speaking blogs
19. slide:ology
20. Speaking about Presenting
21. Speak Schmeak
22. Speak to Lead
23. Tony’s PowerPoint Weblog
24. The YouBlog: Ideas on presentations, persuasion, selling, and communications.

Fun and Humor

1. Claymation with PowerPoint
2. How Not to Use PowerPoint
3. Origins of PowerPoint plus a sequel and other shows
4. PowerPoint Ballad
5. PowerPoint Karaoke: Make a PPT file of multiple presentations slides and cue ‘em. Each singer ad libs a presentation.
6. Presentation Pitfalls: Don’t Let This Happen to You Can you find all of the errors?
7. Read at Work makes it possible to read fiction and poetry… after all, it’s in PowerPoint and it looks like a real desktop.
8. Tim Lee PowerPoint comedy

When you read a book or article, do you “hear yourself” reading the words in your head or move your lips without making a sound (sub-vocalizating)? Doing this helps you have conversations while you write — without making a sound.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m deaf or not, but I’ve always “heard” people’s voices in my head as well as my own. If I didn’t have my hearing aids turned on, my head hears a person’s voice while he or she speaks. It sounds very real.

Hearing voices in my head has become such a habit that whenever I have hearing tests — I’m not sure if I heard the sound or if my head tricked me as it expects to hear something. It doesn’t take much to play tricks when you repeatedly hearing beeps and buzzes.

As I write this blog entry, I hear these words in my head and it sounds conversational. To verify you’re writing conversationally, read your writing out loud and see how it flows. When I stumble or feel awkward during the reading, then it’s a sign to make edits.

Many formal publications — newspapers and magazines — used formal writing that rarely appeared in the first person or in a conversational way. The Internet and blogging changed that. Now you see this writing in the big publications including The New York Times. Publishers learned that conversational writing tends to be easier to read and more enjoyable.

Game du Jour offers “one deal a day” for indie and casual PC games. For 24 hours, a game is available for a much lower price than its regular price. The nice thing is that you can first try the game for free to see if you like it. Remember to play and buy it by midnight Central Standard Time before the deal is gone.

The site sells action, board, card, puzzle, and strategy games. You can get an idea of the games sold from the PC Game page.

Like Woot, the game isn’t available once the 24 hours passes. To avoid missing a game that you might love, you can subscribe to the newsletter or RSS feed. Some sites publish the lineup for the week — but I could not find one that does it on a consistent basis.

The Success Effect takes a different tack to many books with interviews by printing them in question and answer format. Such an approach doesn’t always succeed. However, Eckberg successfully culled great material from past interviews and put them together to create a conversational and educational resource.

A chapter consists of an interview and interviews range from a couple of pages to over ten pages and every bit — no matter the length — is worth reading. Eckberg adds a dash of color to the interview by including the interviewee’s current music and reads. These appear as “Books on the nightstand” and “CDs in the changer” (obviously these interviews occurred before MP3 players became commonplace). Some interviewees share their favorite meal or what’s on their coffee tables.

The chapter titles for the interviews come from the interview’s main theme, which covers risks, persistence, communication, loyalty. Interviewees hail from various careers and industries including doctors, entrepreneurs, professors, and inventors in the industries of high tech, real estate, sports, and more.

Eckberg, a business reporter with The Cincinnati Inquirer, kept his tapes from interviews he conducted as a reporter. He discovered he had a gold mine in his tapes as the interviews together offer unusual tidbits and insight into the minds of these successful, innovative, and intelligent people. The result is a lovely quilt where the patches come from the leaders’ stories.

Neil Rackham of Huthwaite, Inc. discusses how people buy today and how sales personnel must change to remain successful. David Pelz, golf coach, advises that practicing good habits helps players improve. If you repeatedly practice using bad form, you don’t improve — instead you “become a more consistently mediocre player.” It doesn’t take much to see how valuable this advice would be in other aspects of life.

Thanks to Eckberg’s atypical questions, the answers don’t sound like anything you’ve read or heard before in a business magazine, a news interview, or a Web site’s contents. Furthermore, these interviews could be over a few years old, but most of the shared thoughts are timeless.

Whether you’ve heard of the person interviewed doesn’t matter. In fact, the interview with Donald Trump wasn’t insightful. Reading The Success Effect resembles listening to a conversation between two intellects without the big words. This coupled with Eckberg’s conversational style writing makes the interviews with successful people who have become significant an enjoyable read.

• Title: The Success Effect: Uncommon Conversations with America’s Business Trailblazers
• Author: John Eckberg
• Publisher: Sterling and Ross Publishers
• ISBN: 0976637243
• Date: March 2007
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 256
• Cover Price: USD: $22.95; Amazon: $15.61

I enjoyed, Cradle of Rome, the predecessor to Cradle of Persia, so I was excited when I heard this one was coming. It took longer to get into Cradle of Persia. Eventually, it hooked me, but not as much as its ancestor hooked me.

The major difference between the two comes in how you make the match three. In Cradle of Rome, you select three or more items to make the match. Cradle of Persia not only requires selecting three or more items in a row, but also deciding which direction to go in making the match. If you make the match starting with the first object and moving to the right, the objects behind the first match will move right to replace the matched items’ spots. The same goes for all directions.

It took time to get a handle on this new thinking because the direction you move in can create a new and needed match or break an existing match. Despite the need to use the brain in making the right move, I still prefer Cradle of Rome.

What made Rome appealing was the process of building the city and adding citizens. It’s a great feeling when the screen pops up saying, “You’ve earned a new citizen!” Persia does the same and changing the theme, of course, and the music fits well with the Persian backdrop.

Unlike Rome, Persia lets you know what you need to do to add a citizen with an associated building. In Rome, you had to hope you made the right move. Right-click any building and Cradle of Persia provides the details including the building type, what you earned, and — if applicable, as not all buildings have one — what task to complete to add the citizen. Having this knowledge does not make the game too easy as some tasks are HARD.

Power ups are included, but they work differently. The power ups are not the same as the original and they each have four levels of power. Level 1 provides the least amount of power. For example, dynamite at level 1 only explodes one box while it explodes more at level 4 power.

The good thing about the four levels of power is that you can gain level 1 quickly and have something to use. In Cradle of Rome, you had to wait until the power up filled up to use it. Waiting for each level to power up can make a person antsy. A power up has a thin green line that glows as you destroy its associated power up. The green line proceeds around in a circle. When the circle completes, you gain another level of power.

Some gamers complain about developers releasing a similar version of a hit game, but Awem Studio did a lovely job Cradle of Persia with giving fans of Cradle of Rome the opportunity to get more of the same game play without being too similar. Awem took care to change the power up types, themes, objects, and tasks for earning citizens.

I’m all for Awem doing another. Maybe the company could explore a different one than the often-used Greek (though I do love Greek myths) or other frequently used themes. American history? African theme? Shakespeare theme?

Cradle of Rome fans will enjoy Cradle of Persia and those not having played Cradle of Rome will discover playing Cradle series as fan as a magic carpet ride (well, unless you’re afraid of heights then it’ll be like discovering a Genie in a bottle.).

• Windows 2000/XP/Vista
• 1.0 GHz processor
• 256 MB RAM
• DirectX 8.1 or later
• 81 MB hard drive space