If you’ve read any recent book on improving your presentations, you’re probably already thinking that you need to get more photographs into your slides. Photos can add to your presentation’s message, connecting directly with your audience without having to wade through yet another slide of bullet points.

It’s compelling, and yet for so many presentation authors, a scary proposition.  Make no mistake, just inserting photographs in your slides is not a sure-fire cure for your presentation blues. And whether you’re creating or buying, eventually using photos as slide content is an art.

However, it’s not an art out of reach.

This episode we invite professional photographer and computer graphics expert Mark Jaremko to the mics for a roundtable conversation about the pitfalls of using photographs in presentations, and advice about how you can avoid them.  And as a bonus, we’re joined by Howard Cooperstein, another talented graphics professional and good friend who you may recall from our first episode!

Clockwise from left: Ric Bretschneider and Howard Cooperstein at the mics, and Mark Jaremko enjoying our pre-podcast dinner. Photo of Mark Jaremko by Ric Bretschneider. (Which is why it’s not as good as the other photos which are by Mark Jaremko.)

It’s great to sit down at the mics with a couple of friends, and we had a terrific time putting together one of the best roundtable recordings yet.

Hope you enjoy this episode.  -Ric

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And for those who’ve been paying attention, the outtakes for this episode start at 56:30. 

Photographs lend much to any presentation. Watch the room relax as the presenter moves from their fifth bulleted list in a row to a full screen photographic metaphor. Most any presentation expert will comment on how people learn and respond more positively to illustrations, especially photographs.

Great, so you’re convinced.  You’ve decided to jump into using photographs as a substantial part of your presentation content.  So how do you avoid creating a presentation reminiscent of the neighbor who tortured your parents with those carousel rings full of vacation slides from Indiana? (No offense intended to our Hoosier friends.)

Well, next episode we invite professional photographer and computer graphics expert Mark Jaremko to the mics for a roundtable conversation about the pitfalls of using photographs in presentations, and advice about how you can avoid them.  We’ll be joined by… well, that’s a surprise.  This episode features the return engagement by a Presentations Roundtable favorite contributor. 

Join us in a few days for this Picture Perfect Podcast.

Mark Jaremko shooting off Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay
Photograph by Ric Bretschneider

This episode is the promised published version of the “live show” we did earlier this month with Geetesh Bajaj and Echo Swinford, authors of The Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit. Yes, that makes two shows in a row about new books, and I really don’t intend for the podcast to focus on book reviews.  I think we’ll be looking at a change of pace for the next episode. More on that in a few days…

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In our first podcast, Design and Dead Trees, we hosted a lively discussion that included viewpoints on the role of print books in the world of electronic document creation. Well, in the next two episodes we will examine two unique new books that hope to help you be better presentation creators in two very different ways. Today we sit down with Wayne Kao and Jeff Huang, authors of the new Que books publication Advanced Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 join us at the roundtable to discuss the origins of their book, and why they’re uniquely qualified to write an Advanced book on presenting with PowerPoint.  Photo: Wayne Kao (left) and Jeff Huang (right)

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Who are those people who speak first at confernces?  Those keynote speakers?  And why do they go first?

Could it be they know what they’re doing when it comes to crafting a message and talking to an audience?

Jim Endicott, Nancy Duarte, Julie Terberg and host Ric Bretschneider discuss the process and construction of superior presentations in the last of a series of podcasts recorded at PowerPoint Live in October 2007. You may have missed this fifth conference on presenting and presentation design, but you can at least listen in on the keynote speakers and learn a little bit about what sets their presentations apart from the norm.

Pictured above (inserts, from left): Nancy Duarte, Jim Endicott, and Julie Terberg.

This is the third of three podcasts recorded in October 2007 at PowerPoint Live.  The first is here. The second is here.

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Links from this episode:

Jim Endicot, Distinction Services
Nancy Duarte, Duarte Design
Julie Terberg, Terberg Design
PowerPoint Live

Yes, it’s been delayed long enough. The final segment of the New Orleans trilogy will be posted shortly.  Just have to paste things together and post.  I’m currently lining up a new series of speakers that I’m particularly excited about… but more about that later.  Right now, a little peek into the final segment…

From left to right: Nancy Duarte, Julie Terberg, Ric Bretschneider and Jim Endicott.