I know my business is called Free Beer but I should emphasize that I give it away responsibly. I’ve just done some work for Clubs WA who conduct training for people who serve alcohol. Part of that was a short intro to the course, compiled using the online tool Animoto.

Alter-ego Biscuit Carroll just completed a Powerpoint Presentation in Second Life. This was done as part of the barcamp organised by Spin Martin, aka Eric Rice.

You’re probably wondering why you would give a presentation INSIDE a virtual world. Because this is a new way for corporates to hold meetings with personnel scattered across the world. A valid competitor to video conferencing, which is expensive and telephone hook-ups, which are difficult to manage with more than three people. The advantage of Second Life is its immersive nature and the fact that it’s a pretty enjoyable interface compared to alternatives.

Was discussing at the Blog Meetup last night how virtual worlds and on-line games subvert normal hierachical power relationships. Suddenly it’s important how quickly you type. How knowledgeable you are about the medium you are using. This may be an advantage in a corporate environment, may be a disadvantage. We’ll know soon enough, as Free Beer is working with other consultants to bring this facility to the attention of interested businesses.

The Powerpoint side of things worked fine, though it’s a bit fiddly to set up. It took a while for the slides to appear; initially I thought the next slide wasn’t loading so I impatiently clicked again (if it doesn’t work, hit it) which of course loaded another slide and the presentation went out of sequence

Some presentations were done with audio streaming but my audio didn’t work. Highlights the complexity the user faces in this area. Quite frustrating to be standing there watching a mute avatar, knowing that all (or most) of those around you are listening in.

In order to do the presentation, it’s necessary to save the Powerpoint Pres as jpegs, then attach a script to the screen you create. Instructions here. Make sure you load the jpegs into the Content tab. I tried to load them as textures. *Stupid Biscuit*.

The presentation aimed to start a conversation about widening the exposure that bloggers and podcasters receive in mainstream media. Audience apparently unmoved. No-one asked any questions. Mental note to self. Next time, ask your own.

Here is the content:

Hi
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Some very smart people in this room
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Intellectual freestylers
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Should get together
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Challenge political, economic, social orthodoxy
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In mainstream media
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Speak new futures
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New ways of agreeing with each other
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A structure for turning agreement into action
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We have a platform
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SL machinima, cable tv
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Web + SL + intellectual freestylers
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= might make a difference
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A shift in human consciousness
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Starts with Africa
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Any questions?

On Friday I attended a conference on the future of the Australian wine industry. Some terrific presentations but some just awful. It amazes me that 18 years after the product was invented, people still don’t understand the basics of giving a Powerpoint Presentation. Some of these people are in senior executive roles; do they never get any training? Heads up, executive dummies:

Put your company logo subtly on every screen.
Put your name on about the first screen and your name and contact details on the last.
Don’t put sentences on a slide. A short phrase MAY be all right.
Don’t put more than 5 lines on a slide.
Don’t use more than two different fonts on a slide.
Don’t use more than two graphics on a slide.
Black Times New Roman on a white background makes you look BORING.
Don’t look at the screen and read your slides. For God’s sake.
Going to black and just talking for a while adds drama.
Don’t make it really long.

And here’s one I want to talk about in more detail. Be prepared to present WITHOUT your slides. As one presenter began talking his slides started cycling through too quickly. He had some visual gags in there and the technical problem thoroughly demolished his attempts at humour. Then the slides cycled through another seven or eight times before the problem was sorted. This was SO distracting his presentation lost all focus. What he should have done was turn to the people managing the presentation and say “stop it, I’ll talk without the slides”. The poor man ended up a victim of his own presentation.

Presentation Zen is Garr Reynolds’ fabulous blog that analyses Powerpoint Presentations and coaches people in how to do it better. Thoroughly recommended. I have a friend in Sydney who coaches in this area too. Contact details available on request.

So that’s that. I’m going to finish with two non-software do’s and dont’s.

Don’t DO NOT run over time. I know you love the sound of your own voice and your presentation is the biggest news since 9-11 but it is an act of extreme selfishness to run over time.

If you’re asked to shorten your presentation, do it. The audience appreciate it. Don’t be like one of our presenters who acknowledged he’d been asked to shorten his presentation then launched into a long, self-indulgent spiel about how he got started in the industry. Everyone in the room hated him for it.