It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Except that you have some shopping, baking, and merrymaking to do in addition to your normal workload.
If you feel short on time – and funds – here’s a neatly wrapped package of free resources to take your presentations to the next level. From storytelling skills to images and new options for diagrams, we’ve got something for each part of your presentation wish list.
For those of you who have “Presenting Better” on your list of New Year’s Resolutions, scroll to the end to find out how to lock in 2017 prices for the 2018 Presentation Rx Program. If there’s a group at your organization that shares this goal, ask us about our on-site Presentation Program.
Do your storytelling skills needs some structure?
Pixar to the rescue. The Khan Academy provides a learning module from Pirxar, “The art of storytelling”. You’ll hear from directors and story artists about how they got their start and what stories inspire them, and you’ll begin to think about what kinds of stories you might want to tell. The creatives who brought you Toy Story, Up, Cars and Finding Nemo know of what they speak. If they can entertain the 5 year old, the 15 year old and the 50+ year old, they can also tell us a thing or two about keeping our professional audiences engaged.
Faced with too much text?
One of the easiest ways to break up text and provide more context is through diagrams. In Apple’s Keynote, it’s easy enough to design your own will nearly foolproof alignment tools. For those working in PowerPoint, if you’re looking for something beyond SmartArt, check out Duarte’s diagrammer.com. You’ll find hundreds of free diagrams to download, and it is searchable by type, number of nodes. If your Power Point slides need an upgrade, sign up for You Exec and download free templates.
Want to tell a visual story but your set of images seems stale, or too staged?
If you find yourself overwhelmed by the volume and high prices of Getty Images or Shutterstock (and often underwhelmed by the diversity or creativity of selections), there’s a whole new world of photo sites that are organized under the Common Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. This means the pictures are completely free to be used for any legal purpose.
*Always confirm that usage policies and rights on each site, as they may change. They can also request that photos are attributed to the photographer, so double check any specific terms and conditions.
Pexels offers use of all images for free under the Common Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. This means the pictures are completely free to be used for any legal purpose, though they do not to reference anyone who might be included in them in a derogatory manner. That seems reasonable. Images are searchable by color, making it much easier for those who want to create a unity and stick to their palette of hues.
StockSnap keeps its inventory of high resolution photos fresh, adding hundreds of new images each week to its searchable database.
MMT Stock is a collection of high resolution photos from Jeffrey Betts. This is a great resource if you’re looking for images of computers and workspaces, or want to capture the outdoors with flowers and nature.
Searching The Site. If all else fails, you can search Google by image rights. Type in your search term into the IMAGE search option, which might be “skyscaper.” Before you scan the options, select the TOOL option just below the search window. One of the dropdown menus is USAGE RIGHTS, where you can filter the search to show only those that can be used by specific purpose. You can also search by color, size, type and time, but first things first – following the law.
If you have other free resources to share with your kindred presentation spirits, send them our way on the blog (link), or tweet us at @PorticoPR.
Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for a prosperous, fulfilling and adventurous 2018!
