When creating a new presentation with Microsoft PowerPoint there are a few guidelines that can help to ensure quality. There are also many factors to consider when creating a new slide show that may require different outcomes. Some of the elements that I hope to give guidance on in the next few paragraphs include fonts, colors, animation and backgrounds.

When it comes to font and text the main question that needs answered is how far the projection or screen will be from the audience. Is your presentation for a small group of business associates around a table or will it be projected on the front wall of your church sanctuary for song lyrics? Obviously, the further away that the screen will be, the larger the font should be. With large room projections four to six lines may be all that you can manage while a small group or one on one setting would allow for many more lines. Another issue with text that needs to be considered is the font style. While unique fonts have good uses they should not be used for the body of the text. Staying with the simple and commonly used fonts are wise because they are clear and easier to read, especially from further distances. If you would like to incorporate unique fonts, know that they are often best when used moderately. Using one unique font for all of your headings would add the special touch that these fonts give while allowing the important content to remain readable. Often times it is difficult to read multiple lines of unique fonts.

Color is also a very crucial element to consider. The main concern is with the contrast between the text color and the background. If one is darker, make the other lighter. Also try to use complementary colors to prevent colors from clashing. If your presentation includes pictures or logos it would be ideal to coordinate your colors with them. For example, if your logo has a white box behind it, make your background white also. This will give your logo the appearance of ‘floating’ rather than being boxed in. Also if you logo or a picture has one color that sticks out, it would be nice to coordinate your font with this color to appeal to the overall consistency of the slide. One more thing about colors, and it’s not likely one you’ve thought of before. Let’s say you have the lyrics to a song showing at your church. If you have black font on a white background and the room is dark, then when the song is over, you will have a big white box glaring on the wall or screen. If you watch the people during this time you may notice that they will continue to stare at the white box despite the fact that the service or event is moving on. Rather, if you have white text on a black background, then when the song is over, everything goes dark and the people will automatically look for the next thing to focus their attention on. Color, in this instance helps you maintain the audience’s attention and assists with the flow of the service or presentation.

The last two elements worth mentioning are animation and backgrounds. Animations are one element that I have seen some people go overboard with. Here are a few guidelines. Try to stick with one consist animation throughout the entire presentation. This goes for both text entrances and transitioning to a new slide. Use an animation that is relatively quick. I have seen some fancy animations that make the font swirl all around the page before they land in place and usually take some time to do so. In fact, many times the presenter has to wait on the animation before moving on. Backgrounds can come in solid colors, gradients, templates and pictures. No matter what route you choose be sure to be consistent and use the same background throughout the entire presentation. The only exception to this should be if you have a matching or coordinating title page slide and content slide. The gradients that you can create right in PowerPoint are often over used and can distract if using two different colors. If you use a gradient, use a main color that works well with your photos, logos and text, blended with either white or black. Photos can often generate a higher quality for your presentation if used correctly. The best photo backgrounds are ones that allow plenty of room for the content on the slide. Never place text over a distinct visual item or use pictures that are ‘busy’.

As you create your next PowerPoint presentation keep some of these factors in mind. Be sure to make your presentation photos, text, colors and themes consistent. Making each slide the same or coordinating reinforces the presentation as one distinct unit. Enjoy!

One of the areas I really set out to focus on in my Beach neighbourhood portrait was the local spirit of charity and community assistance. One of the organizations that I interviewed, the Pegasus Community Project for Adults with Special Needs, left a deep impression on me. This is a day-time program for adults with developmental disabilities that also runs a local thrift store on Kingston Road to generate funding and to provide practical work experiences for the participants in the program.

Marie Perrotta, the founder and executive director of this organization, explained to me that one organization has been tremendously supportive of her initiative over the last few years: The Toronto Beach Rotary Club. So she connected me with the President, Barbara Dingle, who had also been mentioned to me by Sandra Bussin in connection with the restoration of the Gardener’s Cottage. But more about that project in a little bit.

On a frigid February day Barbara welcomed me to her home and we sat down to chat for a couple of hours. Barbara started off by giving me some general information about the Rotary Club. Rotary International is the oldest service club in the world. It was founded in 1905 in Chicago, Illinois, by an attorney by the name of Paul P. Harris who wanted to recreate the friendly spirit of his small town upbringing. The concept spread throughout the United States and by 1921, Rotary Clubs had formed on six continents. A 1943 London Rotary conference promoting international cultural and educational exchanges was part of the inspiration for the formation of UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) in 1946, illustrating Rotary International’s impact on a global scale.

The Rotary Club’s principal motto is “Service Above Self”, and its 1.2 million members worldwide in more than 200 countries provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build peace and goodwill in the world. The organization is non-political, non-religious and open to men and women of all cultures, races and creeds. Rotary’s main objective is to serve the community and throughout the world, taking up issues such as children at risk, poverty, hunger, the environment, illiteracy and violence. Youth programs and international exchange opportunities are also supported.

Rotary International is organized in local chapters, and the Toronto Beach Rotary Club is a fairly recent addition to the Rotary family. The club was chartered in 1999, originally as an offshoot of the East York Rotary Club which has been in existence for more than 60 years. Barb explained that the Toronto Beach Rotary Club is a breakfast club, and that members meet once a week on Tuesdays nice and early at 7:15 am at the Balmy Beach Club which generously makes their facilities available.

Barb herself got connected with the Rotary Club about 4 years ago when a friend introduced her to the club. About a half a year into her membership she went to approach various retail stores during a fundraising drive, and from her interactions with the merchants she realized the amount of respect and cache that membership in the Rotary Club conveyed. All of a sudden doors started to open easily, and people started to listen to her fundraising proposals.

Barb explains that she wanted to become involved in the community, but
was not sure where to start. A few visits to the Beach Rotary meetings
opened doors to the kind of opportunities she was looking for. Barb says
that the club meets once a week for one hour, not a very huge time
commitment, and added that many people might initially be scared of
committing to volunteer work. Barb feels strongly that an hour a week is
feasible for most of us and clarified that you can get involved as
little or as much as you want in the club’s activities. Time restraints
on our lives change from month to month, year to year. Barb adds that “if you have the desire to give back to your community and to play a small part in
helping humanity on an international level, Rotary Clubs have the
infrastructure to make it happen”.

When she first joined she had no idea what the Rotary Club was all about, and she learned that every Rotary Club world-wide works on two levels: to raise funds for and help local community organizations, and to become involved on a global level to support serious international causes.

On an international level, Rotary Clubs support a broad range of humanitarian, intercultural, and educational programs and activities designed to improve the human condition and advance the organization’s ultimate goal of global understanding and peace. The Toronto Beach Rotary Club’s international initiatives include the removal of landmines, the worldwide eradication of polio and leprosy, as well as AIDS orphans in South Africa.

Barb explained that to support the landmines program, the “Night of a 1000 Dinners” was held last November at Quigley’s Pub and Bistro, a popular restaurant in the Beach and a strong supporter of local charities. Quigley’s generously donated a gourmet four-course dinner for 50 guests that was accompanied by local guitarist Tom Price. A keynote speech was given by Scott Fairweather, the CEO of The Canadian Landmine Foundation who is also a Rotarian. A Clear-a-Landmine Raffle was held, and the top prizes, a watercolour painting donated by generous community supporter Ann Francis Oakes, and a day of golfing fun at the Toronto Hunt donated by Graham Sanborn went to two lucky winners. In total $2500 were raised from this event and presented to the Canadian Landmine Foundation.

In addition to international causes the Toronto Beach Rotary Club
is very involved in supporting the local Beach neighbourhood. The Club’s annual
“Bowl for the Beach” Bowl-A-Thon provides funding to the Pegasus Community Project , as well as scholarships to local high school students and after school programs, and The Haig Family Resource Program. This year the Bowl-A-Thon will be held on April 21 at the Thorncliffe Bowlerama, and Barb indicated that the event is always great fun, and many different groups from the community participate.

Another popular initiative is the Free Movie for Seniors, a weekly free
movie night at the Fox Theatre, a real landmark in the Beach and the
oldest continuously running movie theatre in Toronto. In addition, a
Christmas lunch donated by Quigley’s Pub and Bistro was held for the
seniors at St. Aidan’s Church. More than 300 seniors enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner, and Quigley’s generosity was much appreciated

Barb also explained a major community effort that has left a lasting legacy in the Beach: during the late summer / early fall of 2005, renovations to the Gardener’s Cottage (the historic Kew Williams House) were undertaken as a joint project by the City of Toronto, spearheaded by City Councillor Sandra Bussin, the City’s Parks and Recreation Department and the Toronto Beach Rotary Club. The Gardener’s Cottage is a treasured landmark at the foot of Lee Avenue, and was in need of repair.

One of the major strengths of Rotary is that each club is comprised of a
cross-section of vocations. By drawing on the club members’ wide variety
of skills and connections, amazing good work is accomplished. As a
long-term collaborator with Canadian home décor queen Debbie Travis, and
a past associate editor for House and Home Magazine, Barbara Dingle had
the perfect idea: to restore this treasured Beach icon together with a
group of talented local designers who each took over one section of the
building. The verandah, the entrance hall, the parlour, the dining room,
the kitchen, the upper hallway, the girl’s and boy’s bedrooms, the
bathroom and the master bedroom were all authentically restored and
decorated by different designers to reflect the Queen Anne period. A
large number of merchants and business people donated everything from
labour, paint and lumber to fabrics, draperies, lighting, plants,
accessories and furniture for the project. More than $70,000 worth of
goods and services were donated, and the entire Beach community came
together to restore a beloved neighbourhood icon. The results are
stunning.

For three weeks in September and October of 2005, Barbara and her team put together the “Dream Tour” which provided the public with an exceptional opportunity to view the designs and the contributions of the local designers and merchants. A beautiful full-colour magazine was put together to showcase the project, the history of the Kew Williams House and each section of the building that had been so lovingly restored. Funds from tour ticket sales were donated to Toronto East General Hospital’s Mental Health Program for Children and Adolescents. In total a donation of $15,000 was raised and passed along to the Mental Health Crisis Unit at Toronto East General Hospital – a true demonstration of an entire community coming together to make positive things happen.

Another big event in the works is an Annual Rotary Lobsterfest in the Beach. The Toronto Beach Rotary Club together with the East York Rotary Club is planning a fundraiser where people can feast on a fresh lobster dinner with all the fixings, listen to some great music and play games. The event will be fun for the whole family. Proceeds from this fundraiser will be donated to the Woodgreen Community Services Homeward Bound Program – a program dedicated toward helping women acquire life skills, computer skills, a community college education and employment training so they can learn to provide for themselves and their children.

Barbara added that the Toronto Beach Rotary Club is a small club, but it has done huge things for the entire neighbourhood. The club has many volunteers, loosely referred to as “Friends of Rotary” who are not full-fledged members, but who love to donate their time to help out. At the moment the club is looking for new members and has started advertisements with the headline “Do you need Rotary? Rotary needs you.” Barbara describes her volunteer work with the Rotary Club as an extremely rewarding experience.

She explained that joining is quite simple: a prospective member would come out to the breakfast meetings for several weeks in a row to assess the fit with the Rotary organization. At the end of this trial period they can officially join and become a regular member. The reasons for joining are many: not only does the Rotary Club provide the opportunity to serve and support local and international causes; it also provides a great realm for friendships and business development. The special events run by the club offer an opportunity for personal growth, leadership and ethics development. In addition, exposure to community and global programs provides learning opportunities for greater cultural awareness. All in all it’s a win-win situation, for the individual, for the club and for the communities, locally and abroad, that are supported by the Rotary Club.

Naturally I also needed to inquire into Barbara Dingle’s connection with the Beach. Together with her husband John she moved into this area in the fall of 1975 because they saw the Beach as a great place to bring up children. Their children Geremy and Emily attended local schools where their love for music and drama was fostered along with strong academics. She added that the Beach today is an area on the move, similar to 30 years ago. Everyone is renovating and “a spurt of youth” is being injected into the neighbourhood. The Beach is an eclectic mix of teachers, artists, professionals and people from all other walks of life, “a great tapestry of people and a very egalitarian place”, to use Barb’s words.

Barbara obviously loves the neighbourhood, and together with her friends at the Toronto Beach Rotary Club she has chosen to give back to organizations in her own community and to needy people around the world.

In almost every sales instance, the customers has been in contact with our product category before. Either they are already using a competitors product or they have been approached by other salesmen before and said no.

We are in a tough situation We have to show our customers that our products are better than the competition and while remaining professional.
Most salesmen will when meeting a customer that is using a competitors product start racking on that competitor and will often completely forget about telling the customer about what is good about the salesman’s own product.

Put yourself in your customers shoes That customer has earlier made the decision to purchase this other product and now this salesman comes in starts saying what an idiotic decision that was.

As anyone they often react with anger and will of course not purchase the new product. To be honest they don’t have a reason to either as the salesman hasn’t said anything positive about their own product.

Don’t make the customer feel stupid It is important when speaking to a customer who has purchased another product to enforce their confidence. Just as anyone they will try to defend their decision. You have to make them understand that they made the right decision at the time, but now they have the chance to make the right decision again. Show them how your product will help them with all the problems they have now and will save or make them money in the future.

It is important to build their confidence if they are to be able to make a new decision in changing to your product instead of the one they are using right now.

You have to take the time to go through the different aspects of your product and show them how much it will increase their effectiveness or how much money it will save them compared to what they are using right now.

To do this you have to have an extensive knowledge of your competitors. You have to know about their product and you have to know about their presentations. If you know their strong and weak sides you can match your strong points to their weaker ones. This way you can find a way to differentiate your product and give your customer a reason to purchase your product.

Ones you have differentiated your product you can move on with the sales process and start answering the questions your customers have.

That’s exactly the impression most formal education, corporate, and even family environments – at least in the Western part of the world – exude. So here I am, inspired to bring this concept face to face with NLP and looking into how NLP can help here.

Has it ever crossed your mind how different things would be if formal education professionals paid attention to the states of their learners? Have you ever been asked at school how you were feeling before your class started? Have you ever been asked whether there was anything you needed to do or feel before your class started? Have you ever been asked what the best state for your learning was or would be? And even if you had been asked this question, would you know the answer to it?

Maybe you would. Great for you! But you definitely are in the minority. Most people in this world have no clue, because they’ve never been compelled to explore these areas. Yet, our states of being can also be used as a tool for producing excellence.

So how can we use them? One example are presentations. Have you ever faced the hell of giving a presentation? What state were you in at that time?And when you finished, did you feel nervous as hell? Inadequate? Incompetent? Like someone [and who says that couldn't be your boss?] is gonna come up to you and say it was boring? Well, did you plan what states you’d like to take your audience through?

This is it! You might not be aware of this, but folks like standup comedians, orators, and inspirational speakers [including politicians] use states to induce responsiveness of their audiences. And while listening to them you will be going through sequences of states that is by design.

So the next time you find yourself facing the challenge of putting together a presentation or a wedding speech, first consider what state you want to be in. Then consider:

• “I want to have the listeners start here [here = in state x]. And then gradually we’ll move to here [state y]. And we’ll finish at this point [state z], because this is the note I want them to leave the room on.”

So in planning the speech, resort to this:

• What state do you want people to be in when you begin?
• What will be the sequence of states you will take them through?
• What state do you want them to finish in?
• And how will that be useful to them thereafter?

Equally, if you’re an educational professional, be it in a one-to-one tuition, in a kindergarten, at a university, or teaching anyone else, nothing’s stopping you from making this approach part of your life. And you’ll see how much success it’ll bring you and those around you!

Gerald R. Ford said “If I went back to college again, I’d concentrate on two areas: learning to write and learning to speak before an audience. Nothing in life is more important than the ability to communicate effectively.”

It’s the number one skill that’s guaranteed to position you head and shoulders above the competition, yet it’s frequently overlooked, according to female speaker, Patricia Fripp.

My own take on having the ability to speak well in public is that it’s probably the single most powerful thing you can learn to do that gives you the ammunition to say “If I can do that, I can do anything”.

If you’ve ever marvelled at the abilities of a great presenter, the clever use of words to draw pictures, the confidence and charisma that exudes from the platform and the awe in which they are held, you’ll agree with the above statements.

So why is it that when it comes to attending training courses, presentation skills are not the automatic first port of call? Could it be to do with that oft quoted (probably misquoted) statistic that speaking in public is feared more than death? Let’s not go into an examination of quite how ridiculous that would be if it were true. After all, how many of you would really swap places with the guy in the coffin if you were asked to speak at a funeral?

There’s no doubt that public presenting can get the old palms sweating, but given the benefits you’ll get when you know you can do it well, it really shouldn’t stop you. Let’s examine the causes of nerves so you lay your fears to rest and get this most important of abilities added to your arsenal of talents, shall we?

First, examine why you’re nervous. There’s always a reason for nerves so examine what the reasons are so you can deal with the cause and go a long way to eliminating the symptom. Note that I say “go a long way to eliminating”, the chances are that you’ll always feel some nervousness which is when you need to remember that nerves are your friends because they keep your senses sharp & show that you want to do well.

Even seasoned performers suffer from stage fright, some had it so bad they could barely perform. Fortunately, the thought is usually worse than the task. Once you get started, you’ll often find that your nervousness will disappear. I liken it to knowing that you’re about to tackle a drive round London’s Hyde Park Corner or Paris’s Arc de Triomphe in rush hour. Thinking about it really freaks you out but when you’re in the middle of it, you’re too busy concentrating on not hitting anyone that it’s only afterwards you get to think “Wow, I made it in one piece.”

Some of the most common reasons I’ve found for people suffering from nerves are these:

- Worry about forgetting what you’re going to say

- Worry that the audience will think you’re a fraud

- Worry about saying the wrong thing and offending somebody

- Worry that someone will ask a question to which you don’t know the answer

- Worry that you’ll get a dry mouth or get tongue tied

- Worry that you’ll finish too soon or run long

Some of the less common ones I’ve heard were “I’m worried in case there’s a fire alarm halfway through my talk” and “I’m worried that the hem on my trousers will unravel in front of everyone whilst I’m speaking.”

I could dismiss all these are “silly” or “invalid” and tell you that none of them will ever happen, but the fact is that they often will. (Yes, even the trouser hem thing’s happened to me!). Looking down the list, you can see that there’s a lot you can do to avoid these situations occurring: being well prepared, stating your qualifications in your introduction, knowing your subject matter inside and out, timing yourself several times during rehearsals, and so on (sorry, I don’t have a magic bean to disable fire bells during speeches).

But so what if any of them still come to pass? What’s the worst that can happen? Well it’s not life or death, you know. You have to learn to keep your fears in perspective. And remember, the audience wants you to succeed. Nobody enjoys a bad speech.

Do what you can to be prepared and don’t let fear of speaking stop you from gaining that most revered of all skills, the one that will impact every area of your personal and business life. Give yourself the very best opportunity of succeeding and you’ll find the rewards are massive.