Here are three brilliant flipchart tips that can have a big impact on your presentation. They’re from presenting guru Sakhita Sharma.

1. Prepare your flipchart pages by writing topics and cues unobtrusively in pencil on the top corners. You can refer to them during the show – but your audience won’t see them and will think all your ideas are coming straight from your head.

2. Hang 20 strips of masking tape on the back of the easel. If you decide to rip off some sheets and stick them to the walls, you have an instant supply of adhesive, so there’s no break in your presentation flow.

3. If you use a digital flipchart, you can print out your presentation and give it to your audience as they leave – or email it to people all over the world in seconds.

Do you have any flipchart secrets? Click the comments button and let everyone know!

How often should you change your PowerPoint slides when presenting?

The obvious answer is, every time you make a new point. But presenter Dick Hardt doesn’t see it that way. Watch this presentation and you’ll be amazed by how quickly the slides change – often more than once every second.

It makes for a very fast-moving, buzzy show. It’s also memorable – because it’s so different. And it’s a lot of fun.

Downside? The preparation time must have been pretty mind-boggling. But if you want to create a memorable presentation, you could certainly try his approach. Just make sure you keep a remote control gripped tightly in your hand… this isn’t a time where you want an assistant messing things up!

We think these are the world’s fastest presentation slides. If you know better, let us know… just hit the comment button.

For most of us, bar codes are eye-wateringly dull. But they don’t have to be that way.

As these pictures show, you can do anything you like with a barcode, as long as the electronic reader can still recognise it.

You can see loads more examples here.

That got me thinking. Many presentations are to tell people about why something is changing. And most of the time, you want to convince people that it’s a change for the better.

You could use these examples as background slides, and say something like, “We don’t have to do things the traditional, boring way. Like these barcode designers, we’ve taken a fresh look at an old problem – and here’s the result.”

It’s a neat, visual way to get your point across. And it makes it memorable, too.

Don’t forget to credit the Japanese design company, D-Barcode, in the small print at the end of  your presentation. Not only do they deserve the exposure, but they charge $1000s for each image. You don’t want them chasing you for money!

Planning to use a standard PowerPoint template? STOP! This brilliant SlideShare presentation takes you through everything you need to know about powerful slide design. It’s very funny too.

There are some excellent tips. If you want to talk about cutting costs, for example, just Google ‘easyjet font and colour’ and use that theme to create a low-cost feel.

And you’ll learn the critical importance of CRAP. (It’s a useful acronym, honest.)

We love to recommend other people’s good stuff. This one’s a real cracker.

To brainstorm using a flipchart see the new Nobo Kapture flip chart and send your flipchart ideas straight to your PC or laptop.

Yesterday’s video post on Seth Godin and his remarkable presentation style has generated loads of hits – you can see it here. So here’s some more from Seth, this time on how to use PowerPoint.

You can read his excellent blog at  http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog

Perhaps you’ve experienced it. You do a presentation and it works. It works! That’s the reason we keep coming back for more, that’s why so many of us spend more time building and giving presentations than almost anything else we do.

Here are some steps to achieve this level of PPT nirvana (Your mileage may vary. These are steps, not rules):

1. Don’t use Powerpoint at all. Most of the time, it’s not necessary. It’s underkill. Powerpoint distracts you from what you really need to do… look people in the eye, tell a story, tell the truth. Do it in your own words, without artifice and with clarity. There are times Powerpoint is helpful, but choose them carefully.
2. Use your own font. Go visit Smashing Magazine and buy a font from one of their sponsors or get one of the free ones they offer. Have your tech guy teach you how to install it and then use it instead of the basic fonts built in to your computer. This is like dressing better or having a nicer business card. It’s subtle, but it works.
3. Tell the truth. By this I don’t mean, “don’t lie,” (that’s a given), I mean “don’t hide.” Be extremely direct in why you are here, what you’re going to sell me (you’re here to sell me something, right? If not, please don’t waste your time or mine). It might be an idea, or a budget, but it’s still selling. If, at the end, I don’t know what you’re selling, you’ve failed.
4. Pay by the word. Here’s the deal: You should have to put $5 into the coffee fund for every single word on the wordiest slide in your deck. 400 words costs $2000. If that were true, would you use fewer words? A lot fewer? I’ve said this before, but I need to try again: words belong in memos. Powerpoint is for ideas. If you have bullets, please, please, please only use one word in each bullet. Two if you have to. Three never.
5. Get a remote. I always use one. Mine went missing a couple of weeks ago, so I had to present without it. I saw myself on video and hated the fact that I lost all that eye contact. It’s money well spent.
6. Use a microphone. If you are presenting to more than twenty people, a clip on microphone changes your posture and your impact. And if you’re presenting to more than 300 people, use iMag. This is a setup with a camera and projector that puts your face on the screen. You should have a second screen for your slides–the switching back and forth is an incompetent producer’s hack that saves a few bucks but is completely and totally not worth it. If 400 people are willing to spend an hour listening to you, someone ought to be willing to spend a few dollars to make the presentation work properly.
7. Check to make sure you brought your big idea with you. It’s not worth doing a presentation for a small idea, or for a budget, or to give a quarterly update. That’s what memos are for. Presentations involve putting on a show, standing up and performing. So, what’s your big idea? Is it big enough? Really?
8. Too breathtaking to take notes. If people are liveblogging, twittering or writing down what you’re saying, I wonder if your presentation is everything it could be. After all, you could have saved everyone the trouble and just blogged it/note-taken it for them, right? We’ve been trained since youth to replace paying attention with taking notes. That’s a shame. Your actions should demand attention (hint: bullets demand note-taking. The minute you put bullets on the screen, you are announcing, “write this down, but don’t really pay attention now.”) People don’t take notes when they go to the opera.
9. Short! Do you really need an hour for the presentation? Twenty minutes? Most of the time, the right answer is, “ten.” Ten minutes of breathtaking big ideas with big pictures and big type and few words and scary thoughts and startling insights. And then, and then, spend the rest of your time just talking to me. Interacting. Answering questions. Leading a discussion.

Most presentations (and I’ve seen a lot) are absolutely horrible. They’re not horrible because they weren’t designed by a professional, they’re horrible because they are delivered by someone who is hiding what they came to say. The new trend of tweaking your slides with expensive graphic design doesn’t solve this problem, it makes it worse. Give me an earnest amateur any day, please.

Anyway ditch powerpoint and use a flipchart see the new Nobo Kapture flip chart and send your flipchart ideas straight to your PC or laptop.

Author Jennifer Egan has published a book called A Visit From The Goon Squad… and one of the chapters is written in PowerPoint.

It’s an interesting and nicely weird idea. After all, who made the rule that books have to be written in a ‘he said, she said’ format? Using clunky PowerPoint slides is a new and different way to get her story across.

You can read the chapter, Great Rock and Roll Pauses, here. But it made me think about presentation styles. Who made the rule that you always have to present from the front of the room, next to your visual aid? Why not try something different for a change?

Maybe try walking around or through your audience… or having a co-presenter at the back of the room…

Or do something quirky. Pull a hamster from your pocket and address some comments to it.

U2′s Bono is famous for calling the White House on a mobile phone during gigs. It’s live, unexpected and helps to make the concert different and memorable.

You want your presentation to be memorable. So you don’t always have to follow the rules. Try something new – and your audience will thank you for it. After all, the last thing they want is to sit through an hour of tedium.

If you’re presenting, you’re in show business. Entertain!

A flipchart is great at 20 feet.

At 30 feet, it’s not so good.

And if your audience is the other side of town, a flipchart’s absolutely hopeless.

Use a Nobo Kapture® digital flipchart, on the other hand, and you’re laughing.

Nobo wireless technology means everything you write and draw is instantly beamed to your computer.

So everything’s sent to people across the road – or across the world – in seconds.

Click here to find out more.

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PowerPoint presentations can be terrific. But many of them are buttock-clenchingly dull.

One of the biggest problems is that PowerPoint tends to be static. Something appears on the screen and sits there while the presenter tells you… what’s on the screen. Then it happens again. And again.

That’s why the flipchart is enjoying a resurgence, particularly in the creative sector. Good presenters realise that it’s not enough to tell an audience something. You need to engage with them. Creating words and images on a blank page, in real time, is a world away from a pre-prepared series of slides – because you’re inventing new things before their eyes.

Here are some flipchart secrets.

1. Don’t write or draw too much before the presentation begins. A pre-written heading or simple piechart is fine, but if your flipchart pages are already full, you’re probably better off using PowerPoint.

2. Writing takes time and, unless you’re an acrobat, you’ll have your back to the audience while you do it. So write as little as you can. Don’t write We need to increase investment in our US operations. Write ↑ $ US and your audience will know exactly what you mean…

3. …because you’re just about to tell them! The best technique with a flipchart presentation is Touch, Turn, Talk. Touch the flipchart with your pen to write a word or symbol. Turn to your audience. Then Talk about what you’ve just written. It can feel a bit odd at first, but it means the audience always understands what you’re telling them – because it’s staring them in the face.

4. Use lively, symbolic words which are easy to replicate on the page. So, instead of saying “Performance during Q1 has been well above expectations. Sales grew by 600%”, say “Q1 sales rocketed 600%” and write 600% next to a cartoon of a rocket. (I can draw a rocket with flames shooting out of it in under two seconds. Practice before your presentation, and you can do the same. Try it with other useful symbols such as ‘bomb’, ‘dog’, ‘balloon’ and so on. People remember pictures better than words, so doing this makes your presentation more memorable, too).

5. Get hold of some big pens. A lot of flipchart pens are weedy, pathetic little things. Arm yourself with the fattest babies you can find. Use them to make big, bold, colourful words and images. Big images also make you look a lot more confident and assertive, so people will take your presentation more seriously and act on what you tell them.

6. It’s a live presentation, so why not involve your audience? If you’re presenting to colleagues, turn to one of them and ask a short question that requires only a simple answer. (“Dan, what’s selling best in the north?”) When Dan answers, write his response on your flipchart page. Dan’s involved! What’s more, the rest of the room will perk up, too - after all, you might pick on them the next time!

7. Give them something to remember. If you use a digital flipchart rather than just normal paper, everything you write and draw is instantly saved to your computer. That means you can print out copies of your presentation while you’re taking questions at the end, and give each person a set of notes before they leave the room. The technology’s not expensive, and it’s still quite new, so this creates a real impact. Or you can send the notes to colleagues over the internet.

Use these techniques, and dull PowerPoint sessions become a thing of the past. If you’d like to share your own tips, we’d love to hear them. Just click the reply balloon at the top of this post!

In marketing and advertising, it’s not enough to present.

You have to impress.

You need to demonstrate that you’re ahead of the game.

That’s why you need Nobo Kapture® digital flipcharts.

Wireless technology means everything you write and draw is instantly beamed to your computer.

So you can give your audience print-outs of your presentation – before they leave the room.

Or save and share your presentations with people around the world.

It’ll make your organisation a lot better looking – and you’ll be the hero who had the idea.

Click here to find out more.