Resources

Resources are organized here alphabetically by broad category:

BOOKS | COLOR | EXAMPLES AND INSPIRATION | FONTS | GENERAL | IMAGES | LEARNING | ORGANIZATIONS
PREPARATION | SLIDE DESIGN | SOFTWARE | STORYBOARDING | WRITING

BOOKS

Visit my list on LibraryThing.

COLOR

http://kuler.adobe.com
Kuler is Adobe’s Flash-based color palette creator. Use the tools to create your color palettes, then save them to Photoshop or share them with others on the site. Kuler is a fun way to explore color and get some ideas for your presentations.

http://slayeroffice.com/tools/color_palette/
This nifty tool helps you quickly create a color palette based on a color you select. You do need to know the hexadecimal notation for the color but it can quickly and easily give you a nice, harmonious range of colors to use in a presentation.

http://www.mariaclaudiacortes.com/
This Flash-based site is a fun way to learn more about color and color symbolism.

EXAMPLES AND INSPIRATION

The Dieline (http://www.thedieline.com) is a website about package design. It is an excellent resource for design inspiration. See a design element you like? How can you incorporate it into your slides?

Note and Point (http://noteandpoint.com) is a curated collection of well-designed slide decks.

http://www.colormatters.com
Excellent site for information and ideas on using color effectively.

FONTS

Fonts (or “typefaces”) help to subtly reinforce (or detract from) the message you are trying to present to your audience. Getting a feel for what a type “says” to the audience can help you select the most appropriate font for your needs.

http://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology
Want to learn more about fonts? Use the self-study materials available at Fonts.com’s Fontology site.

GENERAL

http://www.beyondbulletpoints.com
Cliff Atkinson is the author of several Beyond Bullet Points books advocating a different approach to PowerPoint presentations.

http://www.presentationzen.com
Garr Reynolds’ blog, “Presentation Zen” is one of the best. Read it regularly.

IMAGES

Free Images.com (http://www.freeimages.com); formerly Stock Xchange.
My preferred source for free photographs.

Creative Commons Search (http://search.creativecommons.org)

Flickr Creative Commons (http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons)

LIFE magazine archives on Google Images (http://images.google.com/hosted/life)

US Government Images (http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml)

World Digital Library (http://www.wdl.org)

LEARNING AND PRESENTATIONS

“Five Ways to Reduce PowerPoint Overload” by Cliff Atkinson and Richard E. Mayer. Cliff Atkinson is the author of Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate and Inspire (ISBN: 978-0-7356-2387-3) and Dr. Mayer is a noted authority on cognitive psychology. This short article gives additional information and helpful tips for improving your presentations.

ORGANIZATIONS

http://www.iabc.com
International Association of Business Communicators

http://www.stc.org
Society for Technical Communication

http://www.toastmasters.org
Toastmasters International

PREPARATION

Preparation Worksheet
Use this sheet to help you gather the logistical details (time, venue, audience, etc.) for your presentation.

SLIDE DESIGN

“Rethinking the Design of Presentation Slides: The Assertion-Evidence Structure” by Michael Alley. See also this bibliography.

Presenting research or teaching complex content? Consider using the AE slide design method.

“Before and After 2008” and “Text to Pictures SD Example” provide examples of different slides before and after editing. Use these examples for ideas on restructuring your own slides.

Before & After Magazine (http://www.bamagazine.com). This is an occasional publication that provides practical design advice for print, web and presentation projects. It is an excellent resource for non-designers to learn some design basics while getting tips and ideas that can be immediately put into practice.

SOFTWARE

Microsoft PowerPoint
Adobe Presenter (This is a plug-in for PowerPoint to add audio/video.)
Apple Keynote for Mac
Haiku Deck (iPad and Web)
StoryDesk (iPad)
Prezi

STORYBOARDING

Simple storyboard template

Online storyboard template generator (http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/storyboard/)

Storyboard template for a Moleskine notebook (DIY)

WRITING YOUR SCRIPT

Beyond Bullet Points Script Template

What resources do you rely on for your presentations? Leave a comment and share them!

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