In this Issue:

PowerPoint: Not Just for Projectors!

Visual Tool: Flower      

     Application  

     Drawing Lesson

     PowerPoint Tip

Related Resources

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Issue 1

Thanks for subscribing to the newsletter of Diverse Solutions, your resource for clear and visual communication.  Visit our site at www.divers-e.com to see how we can help you design effective PowerPoint® presentations, logos, workshops and meetings using the power of image.  

PowerPoint:  Not Just for Projectors!

If you have ever worked at a company, or had a corporate client, then you have worked with PowerPoint, the number one presentation tool for professionals.  With this user-friendly application, you have, at minimum,  typed words into a template, picked a background color or template and then clicked your way through your presentation.  Right?

Well, PowerPoint® is not just for live presentations -- it can also be used to prepare attractive presentations in paper formats.  For instance, a small business can use PowerPoint® to design a multi-page marketing tool which can be easily adapted to a changing business and clientele (and change they do!).  Often, entrepreneurs jump too soon into the expense of a professionally printed brochure only to find that they outgrow it long before the boxes of promotional materials are empty.  

PowerPoint® is a cost-effective option for creating clear and professional presentations that can evolve with your work.  Plus, you can dispense with the layout decisions of Publisher® and the hassles of repagination associated with Word®.  That said, let me emphasize that PowerPoint® is not the appropriate software for long or text-heavy documents.  These require the handy automated documentation features of other applications (e.g., repagination, table of contents, complex tables), and you should use them!

How can you maximize PowerPoint® features?  Three points for you to consider:

• Remember that you can customize existing templates or create your own backgrounds -- the color, the objects, anything you want!  Whatever you choose to include, e.g., logo, contact information, or your tag line, put them in your master slide so that they will consistently appear in the same place on every page.   
  
• Invest in a high quality color printer and paper, so that your information has presence and elegance when printed.  Based on your printer model, certain paper will yield the better quality -- read your manual to see what the manufacturer advises (and don't forget to choose the Best/High quality print option on your printer dialogue when printing the final version.)  
  
• Get another opinion on your presentation, both the content and the design.  This is good advice for any form of communication.

In subsequent issues, we will discuss various ways to layout slides, choose colors and fonts and the myriad of options that PowerPoint® offers to create communications tools that represent you well.

Visual Tool:  Flower

Strange weather this month here in North Carolina, home of Diverse Solutions.  In honor of the daffodils that actually believe Spring has arrived (and who may shortly regret their eagerness to bloom), this month’s issue will focus on the simple flower as a tool for thinking and communicating.  Lest you think flowers have no place in business . . . consider that we are examining here the structure of the flower, not its aesthetic or romantic qualities!  But, first, a little "floral background" . . .

Flowers have symbolized many things throughout history and cultures, and are generally positive symbols.  The lotus flower, for instance, represents spiritual unfolding and regeneration, probably because its structure is that of a flower within a flower – it even contains seeds which themselves contain fully formed lotus flowers!  In Christian traditions, the lily was associated with the Virgin Mary and represented purity, virtue and motherhood, and you will see this symbol frequently in religious art.   

Also, did you know that in the early 19th century a flower dictionary was compiled and published in France called "Le Language des Fleurs" (The Language of Flowers)?  With this valuable compendium you could use certain flowers to relay messages that were perhaps too sensitive to say with words (hmm, wonder what flower said, “Thanks, but no thanks” – I’ll have to check).  All to say that flowers have a long history in art, architecture, religion, and many other aspects of human existence.

Application

The structure of your basic flower is useful in depicting ideas because it contains a center point  (central idea) surrounded by petals (related ideas), which is valuable when you want to break an idea or project into its component parts.  So what can you do with a flower?

•    Rather than a standard list, use each petal to introduce topics on your agenda and “build” the flower as you introduce the topic.  Each petal can have a different color or even shape, as long as they are all unified by the center, or the stamen.  The benefit: your "flower" will help your presentation stand out in the minds of attendees.
  

•     As an introductory exercise, have people draw a flower that represents who they are (or their life), using the petals to indicate the most significant components of their person or life.  Then have them share their depiction with the group.  You might be surprised by how the variety of flowers, colors and other elements in the picture add another dimension to how people describe themselves verbally!  Most importantly, the exercise evokes a lot of humor, energizes the whole brain and gets people feeling more relaxed with each other – and ready to work.

 Drawing Lesson  

As you can see from the examples above, flowers can be drawn all sorts of ways.  Yours may be playful and curvy or sharp and geometric.  It’s up to you!

• The center can be big or small, smoothly round or with curvy edges. 

• The petals can be a series of ovals, hearts, diamonds or moons arranged around the center.

• The petals may be connected to the center or not

• The petals may be spaced far apart or close together, and there can be as many as you want

Here’s the sequence for a basic flower.  To change the style, simply replace the oval petal with another shape (a heart, a diamond, a moon?).

 PowerPoint® Tip

l       If you want to create a flower in PowerPoint®, click on AutoShapes>Basic Shapes and select the diamond, heart, moon or other shape for the petals.  Use the Draw>Rotate feature to position them at the angle you want.

l       Shortcut:  To quickly create multiple petals from one shape, here’s the quickest way to copy.  Press the Ctrl key and click/drag the object at the same time.  Voilá!  No more Edit>Copy>Paste! 

Related Resources 

You can also put visual thinking to work in setting goals for your life or your business, visualizing the life you want.  It’s not enough to say it and write it –  you must be able to “see it” in order to “get it.”  However you choose to do this, make it graphic and post it where it is visible daily to keep the vision “fresh.”

A partner in this process, a coach, a mentor, or anyone else you trust, is invaluable for supporting your vision.  Partners at the top of my list include:

• Blue Sage Group:  To those entrepreneurs who are challenged by visioning their business brand, I suggest visiting www.bluesagegroup.com.   Through BlueSage, you may attend free teleclasses on the topic of branding hosted by Genece Hamby, the brand sage!

• Career Aspirations:  Are you ready to go to the next level of achievement in your work or personal life?  Then contact Deb Weiler, at coach@careeraspirations.com, executive and sports coach for individuals facing the next challenge on the horizon.  

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