ONE-DAY WORKSHOPS 2026 - Better Presenting

A virtual presentation skills workshop with Rick Altman
May 19-20, 2026

We are no longer taking registrations for this workshop. If you are interested in attending a future workshop, please do let us know.

Give him just a few hours...

...and garner a new perspective on how to craft and deliver an excellent presentation

Join Rick Altman for his virtual workshop and never look at a presentation project the same way again. Whether you are the presentation designer, the content manager, the PowerPoint user, the presenter, or likely some combination of all, these seminars will open your eyes to entirely new strategies and techniques to help you do your job better, faster, and with more satisfaction. Join us and you will find:

Practical and relevant advice for day-to-day slide creators
Cutting-edge PowerPoint techniques to maximize productivity
Clear, lucid advice on slide design for those who are not professional designers
Strategies and tactics for crafting better messages and for speaking before audiences, both in-person and virtual

Detailed schedule

Click each session title for detailed descriptions and video previews of each topic covered. Times shown are approximations.

8:00am PT | 11:00am ET | 3:00pm GMT

You do not need to be a professional designer to create effective slides. You do need to understand how your audience members want to receive information and you need to focus on delivering clean, smart visuals that enhance your spoken message. In this first hour, we’ll show you exactly how to do that.

Identify the three tenets of good presentations
Blend evocative imagery with simple text messages
Master audience-centric communication

This hour will help you better understand principles of presentation design, how to think like a designer, and what it even means to be a designer.

Preview of workshop:

9:30am PT | 12:30pm ET | 4:30pm GMT

When you think of animation, do you think of flying bullets and spiraling headlines? Many people do, unfortunately, and so animation suffers a bad reputation. In fact, one of your best opportunities to shine as a content creator and presenter is through smart, effective, and appropriate use of motion: Animation, Morph, and slide transitions. In this hour, we’ll explore exactly what that means.

The power of movement, for better or for worse
When in doubt, use Wipe and Fade
Sequencing data chunks for better understanding
Creating trust with your audience

This hour will help you appreciate how effective use of Animation and Morph can make you a better storyteller. And let's be clear: telling stories is the secret sauce to great communication.

Preview of workshop:

10:30am PT | 1:30pm ET | 5:30pm GMT

Artificial intelligence is evolving at a pace that is practically ridiculous. Tools appear, improve, and are then rendered obsolete by new tools seemingly overnight. For presenters and content creators, the challenge is no longer deciding if you want to use it, but how you are going to, because those who do not are risking their careers.

This session will help you understand where the tools stand today and how best to implement them into your presentation work. Research, structure, design, visuals, and rehearsal -- there are AI tools for all of these facets! Along the way, we’ll also look at where human judgment still matters most (thankfully).

Using AI to accelerate research and idea generation
Improving structure, clarity, and slide design with AI tools
Creating images, examples, and visuals on demand
Knowing when to trust AI—and when not to

This hour will give you a practical understanding of how AI can support the presentation process today—from early idea generation to final delivery—while keeping the human voice, judgment, and storytelling at the center.

Preview of workshop:

11:30am PT | 2:30pm ET | 6:45pm GMT

Now nearly six years in with virtual presenting being a thing, few people really love it and fewer still are truly good at it. Let’s change that now with an exploration of some vital fundamentals, well-kept secrets, and a few oh wow moments to help you jumpstart your virtual game.

Your audience multitasks and has ADD. Deal with it!
Avoid being a talking head – nobody likes them
What it means to “warm to the camera”
How to take control of your own video likeness

In the words of the seminar leader, "this sh*t is here to stay," and if you want to be regarded as a skilled communicator, you need to up your virtual game. This hour provides tangible advice on how to do that.

Preview of workshop:

8:00am PT | 11:00am ET | 3:00pm GMT

Drop in the next day with all of your questions and challenges. Bring slides with you, bring follow-up from the previous day, or just bring your curiosity.

We’ll devote an entire two hours to topics that you want to have addressed.

A few of the topics we have covered in previous years:

Follow-up to topics covered and issues raised during Day One
Use of hyperlinks and triggers
Customization of the interface
On-the-fly makeovers
More on virtual engagement

This is your opportunity, with flexible time, to address any question about, or issue you have with, the presentation process.

Excellent pricing

$ 199

Four robust topics on Day One, professionally paced and delivered by one of the foremost experts in presentation design, content creation, and delivery

Highly interactive, lots of discussion and Q&A, and two hours of flexible instruction on Day Two
Attendance limited to 35
Access to a private website full of before-and-after examples, tutorials, and practice files
Complete set of professionally formatted PDF handouts to complement the seminars
Email follow-up with seminar leader Rick Altman on any of the topics covered
Apply 50% of the registration fee to the Presentation Summit in the fall

CANCELLATIONS: 80% refund given if cancellation is received via email more than 14 days before event; 40% refund if between 3 and 14 days before event; no refund within 3 days of event. Substitutions always welcome.

“Most PowerPoint users are undertrained and it’s not their fault. The software is so easy, you can start creating slides in about 15 minutes. That’s a bug, not a feature.”

This workshop thrives on content contributed by its patrons. Send us slides that you think could be improved and you might receive a free makeover that would otherwise cost you thousands of dollars.

“You do not need to be a professional graphic designer to create professional-looking slides. You just need to tune into how your audience wants to receive information. And resist the temptation to vomit text all over your slides.”

Perhaps your organization would prefer a private workshop, dedicated to the challenges and issues unique to your team. Visit our Consulting Services page or send us an email.

May 19-20
8:00am PT | 11:00am ET | 5:00pm CET

Any industry, any position

Training, sales, administrative, human resources, education, leadership, middle management, executive — if you are creating presentation content, you can probably be doing it better, and we will provide insight into the three main tenets of presentation crafting:

Message and design

Most people handle messaging backward: they focus on their own virtues without showing regard for the audience’s interests and concerns. And few who come to presentation do so from a background in the arts. Yet we are asked to design presentations, often on a daily basis.

PowerPoint technique

Truly advanced PowerPoint users are few and far between, but not because the program is exceptionally difficult; just the opposite. The software is so easy to start using, not many go below the surface to learn the program’s finer points. You will get to do that at this workshop.

Delivery

You do not have to have been born to speak in public in order to become better at it. There are tangible skills and physical behaviors you can employ to help you become more comfortable before an audience.

Should you attend?

This virtual workshop is for those who owe their professional livelihoods to the design, creation, and/or delivery of presentation material, either in person or virtual. These seminars are for you if...

You struggle with devising the best way to define your message
You suspect there is a more efficient way to design your slide decks
You're not sure how to balance message with the data you need to provide
The mechanics of PowerPoint frustrate you and its finer points elude you
You're not sure how to incorporate AI tools into your workflow

If you are in any of these categories, you will find enormous value in joining us May 19-20. This four-hour workshop (plus two-hour Q&A the following day) is your unique opportunity to become extraordinary in your presentation work. Attendance limited to 35.

These seminars are conducted presentation-style: meticulously prepared and professionally paced so users of all levels can follow. While we recognize the limitations of the virtual medium, we will reach deep into our well of experience on virtual audience engagement to make sure you feel acknowledged, included, and heard.

Patrons are encouraged to send files to us ahead of time so that Rick might include them in the curriculum as a makeover or a point of discussion. That type of work is typically billed in the low- to mid-four figures, but any slide makeovers performed at this workshop are at no extra charge.

Takeaways

Here is what you will learn and be able to implement right away:

The simple principles of slide design that all content creators can adopt, even if they have no background in the arts.
The incredible power of motion and animation and the important responsibility it holds for the presenter.
How to use PowerPoint’s tools and dedicated AI tools to define, distinguish, and highlight the important points presenters need to make.
Why many well-intentioned presenters do not connect with their audience and what they can do to solve this.
How the way that many companies tell their story in a presentation might be the exact wrong way to do it.
The commands and program shortcuts that truly do save time and effort.
The specific tactics and behaviors that all presenters can employ, even if they have no natural affinity for speaking in public.
How to resist the eye candy and silly toys that are responsible for Death by PowerPoint millions of times each day.

Rick Altman

Rick has been hired by hundreds, listened to by tens of thousands, and read by millions, all of whom seek better results with presentation content and delivery. An early adopter of virtual learning, he has been leading virtual workshops for nearly 10 years. He hosts the internationally acclaimed Presentation Summit, largely responsible for the global community of presentation professionals that thrives today.

An avid sportsman, he was not a good enough tennis player to play on the professional tour. All of this was his Plan B.

May 19-20
8:00am PT | 11:00am ET | 5:00pm CET

Give him just a few hours...

Detailed schedule

Excellent pricing

Six hours ofexpert instruction

Any industry, any position

Message and design

PowerPoint technique

Delivery

Should you attend?

Takeaways

Here is what you will learn and be able to implement right away:

Rick Altman

Six hours of
expert instruction