Apple may have saved me my job - Keynote

[foidulus]

Don't forget that content is key, presentation is secondary.

Actually, I would disagree with you there. Good content is necessary but not sufficient for a good presentation. Now more than ever before people have information flying at them from every angle and are constantly have distractions at their fingertips(read cell phones with internet access).

If you are going to make a good presentation you are going to HAVE to make the presentation memorable, captivating, and as short as possible while still getting your point across. Good presentation is almost as important as good information.

Of course it's just as easy to go the other direction and let the medium drown out the message. It just takes practice(and some good tools) to really make good presentations.

 

[illegallydead]

Actually, I would disagree with you there. Good content is necessary but not sufficient for a good presentation. Now more than ever before people have information flying at them from every angle and are constantly have distractions at their fingertips(read cell phones with internet access).

If you are going to make a good presentation you are going to HAVE to make the presentation memorable, captivating, and as short as possible while still getting your point across. Good presentation is almost as important as good information.

Of course it's just as easy to go the other direction and let the medium drown out the message. It just takes practice(and some good tools) to really make good presentations.

I would tend to disagree with you here, at least in a big corporate setting. I suppose it depends on who you are presenting to, but when the big wigs are having you fight for your job, you NEED to show that you are truly good at actually doing your job, not making pretty things (unless that is your job).

When presenting to a casual audience, you are right, people are used to action action action, now now now! I suppose it is the difference between a captive (casual) and a non-captive (this) audience. Those who WANT to be there, want to hear what you have to say, not a fancy slideshow. Those who may have more interesting things to do, well, you have to entertain them somehow, and unless you are a great public speaker, Keynote could certainly help you...

 

[stu3ufc]

To quote Dwight Schrute from The Office "PowerPoint is boring!"

hahaha -- know your rules song!!

 

[mlts22]

I used Keynote for a class I had my last semester. It had backgrounds and styles different enough from your usual cookie-cutter Powerpoint slides that it kept things interesting. Its ability to export to Powerpoint is good too, as I had to present on a Windows machine.

Keynote helped me get through a time intensive class, so I also add my recommendation for iWork if someone doesn't need Microsoft Office by name.

 

[johny5]

Did you manage to get a "decent" result when you exported it to powerpoint?
They asked me for copies of the slides so I exported it to powerpoint and it looked pure ugliness so I then exported it to a MOV file. It took me a while though as it kept crashing when using the default settings but I then found out you should export it using the "playback timing" set to "Manual Advance" as when it was set to "automatic" it would simply stop exporting as a MOV file part way through the slide transitions.
You even get great results as a MOV file that you can still control the advance of, one to think of if you can only present with a windows machine, all you need is to output it as a full resolution MOV and have the latest quicktime installed.

 

[cwedl]

Did you keep your job?

 

[johny5]

oops sorry for the late post, head not with it lately for obvious reasons.
Well I have my second redundancy meeting (out of three) this Tuesday 10th.
Its to go through a skills matrix and let me know my score, I think one of the points was presentation skills
Then the final meeting is one week later.
Will keep you updated

 

[johny5]

Well, the final meeting was today....

They kept the guy with the great Keynote presentation! (me)

I feel for the other guy, its not fair etc....


To summarise, without keynote I wouldnt have been so confident in presenting, so thanks Apple
(now fix that damn airport firmware issue!)

 

[andiwm2003]

Well, the final meeting was today....

They kept the guy with the great Keynote presentation! (me)

I feel for the other guy, its not fair etc....


To summarise, without keynote I wouldnt have been so confident in presenting, so thanks Apple
(now fix that damn airport firmware issue!)

congrats!! in this economy it's twice as good to have a job!

 

[dolphin842]

Yeah, congrats indeed on keeping the job.

I have to say though, it can be risky if you use too many of Keynote's flashy features. In my seminar class in college, we would have gotten an F if we used transitions of any kind or 3D charts (for 2D data). If I were a manager and saw someone use flashy transitions, I would scrutinize the person even more because I see the use of superfluous transitions as crutch, not an asset. That said, I'm not a manager and I suppose many are easily impressed. Just don't go overboard

You asked earlier about export formats. I find the best export for use on a Windows machine is PDF. You get the same resolution and quality as the actual Keynote file, minus the transitions (which, as I mentioned above, didn't matter for me). You can also setup printouts of the slides from the Keynote print menu.

(now fix that damn airport firmware issue!)

Hear hear.... I'm actually moving my wireless router closer to my iMac to get rid of the problem, which means I have to buy a wifi card for a desktop downstairs though .

 

[ziggar]

Well Done on keeping/getting your job

i subscribed to this thread purely to hear the outcome of your presenting endeavours

 

[johny5]

Well Done on keeping/getting your job

i subscribed to this thread purely to hear the outcome of your presenting endeavours

LOL thanks very much and thank you all for your support! I really appreciated it.

 

[Consultant]

Well, the final meeting was today....

They kept the guy with the great Keynote presentation! (me)

I feel for the other guy, its not fair etc....


To summarise, without keynote I wouldnt have been so confident in presenting, so thanks Apple
(now fix that damn airport firmware issue!)

Perhaps they choose someone who has superior design sense, style, and knows how to use a better tool. =)

 

[johny5]

Perhaps they choose someone who has superior design sense, style, and knows how to use a better tool. =)

You got that right. I found out that the decision was based around me moving the company forward. Quite a lot of my presentation was based around natural abilities for innovation, enthusiasm, new technology implementation and a few other "ations" thrown in for good measure!