Power Point Presentations

My power point was on my field of study, Media Communications & Film. I really enjoyed talking about what Trinity has to offer in my major, and I thought that the graphics and special effects I added really contributed a great deal to the quality of my presentation! I used animated GIFs, fade effects, and a special fonts that were color coordinated. I'm awesome. And stuff.

My favorite presentation so far was Lindsay Marotta's! The graphics she used were really good - you could tell she put a lot of effort into it with the music and customized slides. She was really passionate about the topic and she really knew what she was talking about. Same goes for Lachlan Fogarty's presentation on beach preservation and surfing in Australia. I like how he made a topic so broad and semi-bland into something very interesting! I loved the pictures he provided and the YouTube video at the end.

To be continued when presentations finish................

Cheers,
Kendra

Microsoft PowerPoint: Excel's Ugly Sister.

::sigh::

Besides spewing vast amounts of common sense, the 'Good PowerPoint' articles were somewhat helpful. A PowerPoint can give your presentation a visual edge that you would otherwise lack in giving a lecture; if used properly, your audience will be more interested in what you are talking about. PowerPoint is a useful tool to help keep an intrigued and alert audience; that being said, the user must know how to not distract their audience or bore them to tears. I gathered from the articles and my own common knowledge how to make an effective PowerPoint presentation. Yayyy.

If you plan on making a PowerPoint, I recommend you follow these simple guidelines - from me to you:

1) Powerpoints are not meant to be novels. Don't insult our intelligence by reading every single word off the slide - being in college indicates that we possess reading skills... for the most part. And if we wanted to be bored to death by reading about economics or tree frogs, we'd go on the internet and do it ourselves, with Facebook on another tab (it's boring, remember...?). Be concise and relevant, and you're good.

2) Nobody likes being lectured, so at least make the Powerpoint fun to look at. Make your presentation well organized and use good graphics if you want any hope in holding an audience. Be sure to use pictures, videos, colors - everything a 3 year old would be entertained by. No overkill, please. If I can't see the title of your farm presentation because there are 68 different pictures of cartoon chickens - that is a problem. We want to appreciate detail and not get confused by it.

3) As with perfume, makeup, and Celine Dion music - LESS IS MORE.  If we are reading more than you are speaking, you have too many words on your slides and that is very annoying. Make one-sentence bullet points and expound on the general ideas of the slide. Don't let the slides present for you. Booooring.

4) Keep it simple. Using every color of the rainbow on each slide is distracting and unprofessional. Make your color scheme congruent throughout the presentation to make it look tidier.

5) Make use of all that torturous Excel training. If you have statistics of any kind, take the information from Excel, make a chart or graph, and transfer the data accordingly to the slide. I would personally much rather look at a pie chart than read a bunch of numbers. Naturally, the entire world shares my point of view, so just take that into consideration. Please and thank you.

Cheers,

Kendra

Not so Excel-lent. But it'll do.

Though Excel and I have had a tumultuous relationship, I suppose I can walk away from this tech affair with a decent learning experience. Though I don't consider myself logistically inclined (meaning I don't do numbers, formulas, nor am I fan of conventional common sense), Excel has challeneged my normal ways of systematic organization. I believe that maybe Excel will help me if I ever spontaneously venture off into some business/accounting career - but I can assure you, that is highly unlikely.

So, Excel... I bid you farewell. It was nice knowing you... for the most part. On certain days.
I guess.

Cheers,
Kendra

The Tech Dungeon

I am incredibly pleased to know that Trinity has a large technology department - I had no idea! The tech dungeon down here is so convenient! I do a lot of video editing with Final Cut Studio, and sometimes I need more resources beyond what TigerTV can offer. I know that CLT is closely connected with ITS in working with tech support around campus and they offer several utility stations for things like graphic design, video/audio editing, podcasting, and tech training. I can come here to work on my video editing for my independent film projects, and maybe get professional help with Excel -- which is clearly something I am having constant trouble with.

Clearly.

Cheers,

Kendra

Photoshop Deception

It's really incredible to see what lengths the media will go to in order to make sales or get an audience. I chose to analyze photo #9, because it stuck out the most to me. It was a photo that George W. Bush used for a political ad in March of 2004; it shows a group of soldiers standing before a crowd of their fellow citizens. It is SO obvious that the picture had been altered - it was digitally altered by copying and pasting. If you look closely, some soldiers appear more than once. I am assuming this was altered for dramatic pathos affect to generate some sort of emotional response from the audience. I believe the manipulation was harmful because they are trying to manufacture an emotional response by using false imagery. After the Bush administration admitted to using digital technology to alter the photo, they immediately removed the photo from the ad and re-doctored it to it's 'normal' state.

How honorable. *ahem*

Cheers,
Kendra