8:45am PT ⬥ 11:45am ET | Conference Central
To get to fifth gear faster
Led by John Chen
Jumpstart your day with a jolt of John -- our virtual MC John Chen. He's more potent than caffeine!
9:00am PT ⬥ 12:00pm ET | Conference Central
Cognitive Conclusions Curated from Covid
Led by Carmen Simon
Living through an international pandemic provided unique opportunities for discovery and our favorite neuroscientist wasted no time pondering the question: Which mode of presentation delivery is the most effective: face to face, virtual, hybrid, or telephony? Is it better to stand or to sit? What if you have more than one presenter? And just how long can you expect to hold someone’s attention? Answers to these and many other questions as we jumpstart the conference with some serious brain science.
SEE FULL OUTLINE10:00am PT ⬥ 1:00pm ET | The Studio
Next-level PowerPoint charting
Led by Nolan Haims
We all know it can be a struggle getting our charts formatted quickly and looking the way we want them to. This session covers tricks, techniques, and hacks to help you work more quickly with charts and to overcome seeming limitations to make professional and effective looking data visualizations.
This session is for anyone who wants to create and format charts more efficiently and more confidently.
SEE FULL OUTLINE10:00am PT ⬥ 1:00pm ET | The Lab
Animation without embarrassment
Led by Rick Altman
Take your pick, PowerPoint’s animation engine can be seen as one of the finest works of digital engineering ever...or as one of the most loathsome creations in history. Or both. That’s a pretty powerful software application that can evoke such a wide range of responses. As always, the real control is in the hands of the violinist, not the violin, and the type of concerto that you choose to compose has everything to do with your ability to recognize the true purpose of animated objects in your presentation. This session will help you appreciate properly-conceived animation.
This session is for content creators and presenters who want to be smarter with their content delivery and create deeper bonds with their audiences.
SEE FULL OUTLINE11:00am PT ⬥ 2:00pm ET | The Studio
Before-and-after example slides
Led by Julie Terberg
Before-and-after pictures, stories, and programs are always popular because they allow us to see what can be. The same is true for the always-popular makeover sessions at the Presentation Summit. See what can be—and learn how to get there. In this session, you’ll see real-world examples of before slides along with the redesigned after slides. We’ll cover what changes were made and why, discuss suggestions for further improvements, and share ideas that you can apply to your own presentation designs.
If you’re interested in improving your presentation designs, this session is for you.
SEE FULL OUTLINE11:00am PT ⬥ 2:00pm ET | The Lab
Is AI the new life-blood or death knell?
Led by Rick Altman
Artificial intelligence is permeating just about every aspect of business and society, and presentation is not late to the party. Far from it, as ChatGPT and its brethren carry profound implications for how we approach, prepare, and create presentation content. Join in on this first look at how AI will impact our workflow as presentationists: how it can assist in research, photo search, fleshing out of content, and actual building of slides. Soon, you might not be able to tell if a human authored those slides and nobody really knows if that is a good thing or a bad thing. This introduction and overview addresses these implications. It answers the question of how and how not, why and why not to use these powerful new building blocks of content.
This session is for content creators who want to better understand how AI can help them do their jobs more efficiently and more effectively.
SEE FULL OUTLINE11:45am PT ⬥ 2:45pm ET | Conference Central
Once around the virtual conference
Led by Rick Altman and John Chen
Normal people might actually take a break when given a precious 30 minutes off. Not your host and virtual MC -- they will eat lunch together on set, and you're invited to join them for whatever meal it might be in your time zone (or happy hour--that works, too). Entirely unscripted so we can't really tell you what to watch for.
The Daily Dish is for all Zoomies.
12:15pm PT ⬥ 3:15pm ET | Conference Central
Discussions among the like-minded
Here's your chance to sink your teeth into the issues that are most salient to the world of presentation. We will head into dedicated Zoom rooms. Here are the topics:
Let’s Get Physical!
How can you calm yourself before a presentation when your heart is beating out of your chest? How can you increase your confidence, command the room, and control the occasion? We will explore the ways you can take advantage of your body and your physique to become more comfortable in front of audiences? There are tangible skills you can employ and physical behaviors you can practice. (Led by Rick Altman and Glenn Gibson)
You Want What??
Working on presentation projects with others can be a challenge. Whether it is your boss, your peer, or a direct report, the people skills you must employ are every bit as important as the design and slide-making skills you need to possess. This discussion explores how best to navigate these often treacherous waters. The seminar with the same name will then take a deeper dive into the slide-designing and slide-making skills that will help you collaborate better. (Led by Emily Lefebvre)
Listen up, Microsoft!
The Official Making of the Official Wish List. Join one of the members of the Microsoft MVP team to share, hope, wax on, or just flat-out bitch about the features that you want to see in a future version of PowerPoint. From your contributions will be created a single set of feature requests that will be sent directly to the development team. (Led by Echo Swinford)
Now Presenting...with AI
Designed to complement the “Artificial Presentations” seminar offered that morning, this discussion will explore the tools and the methods already in practice by presentation professionals. Bring your experiences and your can-it-do-this questions. (Led by Camille Holden)
Joining Forces
How can presentation coaches and presentation designers team up to create a whole new
level of excellence for presenters? Where can each help their clients recognize the value of the other? How can they influence and enhance one another’s process as well as final outcomes?
(Led by Ilene Bergelson)
1:15pm PT ⬥ 4:15pm ET | The Studio
Not just for websites
Led by Stephy Hogan
Accessible digital design is becoming increasingly important, but the vast majority of resources are focused on web design. This session will give you the tools you need to make sure your presentations are accessible. You also need to be able to defend the accessibility of your presentation when PowerPoint’s accessibility checker gets it wrong. And while we talk specifically about PowerPoint in this session, the goodies you’ll walk away with will apply across Office programs and other presentation software.
This is for anyone who already knows that they need to design with accessibility in mind, has a very basic knowledge of accessible design, and who needs to make their presentations as accessible as possible, as fast as possible.
SEE FULL OUTLINE1:15pm PT ⬥ 4:15pm ET | The Lab
Simple tricks for more effective templates
Led by Echo Swinford
Thorny template issues crop up for most of us weekly. This session explores case studies -- some with major overhaul situations and others that maybe just need small tweaks -- to talk about which battles you should pick and which you can let slide.
This session is for people who design and build PowerPoint templates.
SEE FULL OUTLINE2:15pm PT ⬥ 5:15pm ET | The Studio
For the minimalist in all of us
Led by Mike Parkinson
Learn how to make simple yet engaging and professional slides and do it fast. Often we have to make presentations with very little time and money. Using the K.I.S.S. principle, discover tips, tricks, and techniques to developing amazing slides using the latest design trend: simplicity. Less is more in this session.
This session is for those who want to learn how to make simple and professional slide designs quickly. It is intended for designers and non-designers alike.
SEE FULL OUTLINE2:15pm PT ⬥ 5:15pm ET | The Lab
Down-to-Earth tips for busy people
Led by Chantal Bossé
Time is a scarce resource in the business world, having users scrambling to create their presentations. This session covers tips to help you plan and leverage some of PowerPoint’s features to create better visuals and practice your delivery. Led by a full-time presentation designer who has worked with small and large companies, this session shares best practices, strategies, methods, and tricks for optimizing decks.
This session is for anyone who works with slide materials that will likely be shared without a presenter.
SEE FULL OUTLINE3:30pm PT ⬥ 6:30pm ET | Conference Central
The intersection of creativity, ingenuity, and foolishness
You haven’t lived until you have watched, or played in, our PowerPoint Trivia Contest, taking place immediately once seminars break for the day.