However, a comment was made by a speaker who accused livebloggers of plagiarizing her presentation content, arguing that it also violates copyright to write down what she said.

Let me make one thing clear: I am not a lawyer. If you have any questions about this, please consult one.

That being said, a point can be made about copyright if a liveblogger copies a presentation word for word and posts it on their own blog. But this is not plagiarism. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Plagiarize as ” to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own.” To fit this criteria, the liveblogger would have to actually say that the thoughts and concepts of the speaker are their own, effectively contradicting the purpose of the liveblog. If they also use direct quotes from the speaker without attribution, this also counts. But again, most livebloggers typically say that the speaker is saying these things.

So that leaves copyright. The US Copyright office states that Fair Use and Parody Act could protect bloggers that offer “quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; or summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; ” This is where the speaker’s complaints comes in. What they’re saying is that we shouldn’t copy word-for-word a presentation and its words (And the commenter is correct.) But we are allowed to summarize their presentation and her main points, and throw in a few quotations from them as well.

I think however that the biggest problem with bitching about people live blogging your work is that you miss out on some free publicity. Someone cared  enough about YOUR work to write down the things YOU said and share it with THEIR fans and audience. Doesn’t that mean something to you? Again, a live-blogger should not dole out your entire presentation verbatim, but it does say something to be quoted by any blogger, no matter how big or small.

After all, It’s free publicity.

If you, as a speaker, do not wish to be live-blogged, just say so. Most live-bloggers will respect your wishes and not record or write down what you said. Bear in mind though that a case could still be made that would legally allow them to do so.

Or you could talk like a policy debater.  That’ll guarantee that nobody will be able to Live-blog (or understand) you.

That’s the line of thinking formed by the book Rethinking PowerPoint, by Alyssa Rich and Ron Galloway. The book concerns the idea that PowerPoint is an ineffective way to deliver a presentation . Which isn’t good because so many industries rely on PowerPoint to deliver information to others such as clients, executives and anyone else that might end up listening  to you and watching your slides.

Who this book is for

Quite honestly, it’s for anyone who has to make a PowerPoint presentation. I have seen far too many presentations that seem to rely solely on that accursed white background and black text, which in the eyes of one person is like “staring into a lightbulb.” Rethinking PowerPoint offers several tips from figures such as Seth Godin and Karen Thole on effective PowerPoint.

What I like

Rethinking PowerPoint doesn’t seem to lump everything into a few chapters. Instead, every tidbit you want is available in tne table of contents, making it a handy quick guide to making a kickass PowerPoint presentation. It even includes questions one may deem trivial such as how many slides to use (Ultimately it depends on your speaking ability) and dealing with being nervous about speaking. It offers plenty of advice for getting your presentation up. It also includes my personal #1 tip: DON’T READ YOUR SLIDES.

What I don’t like

Since the content in the book is information given by several different people, there are several areas of the book that sometimes doesn’t provide a clear-cut idea of what to do; some parts of the book have little cohesion.A better alternative would have been to have one author handle one part of the book, and another author handle another part.

The bottom line

If you need a primer on making PowerPoint presentations,or you need the basics on making one, you may want to invest in another book. Rethinking Powerpoint isn’t so much an instruction book than it is a resource for ideas, and a guide on making a good presentation. Consider it the graduate seminar on PowerPoint.

There’s plenty of good information in the book, but you’ll need to be able to work a simple PowerPoint first, even if it involves the hated black-on-white text. Once you establish that, you’ll be able to pick an choose the advice you want from this book.

Rethinking PowerPoint can be purchased on Amazon.com (Disclaimer: Aff link)

From what you can see in the video, it’s not pretty….In fact it’s pretty damn scary.

Wanna know something REAL scary? Both the competitors AND the judges are expected to take THOROUGH notes of the entire series of speeches AND for students, come up with arguments against them.

Just a simple reminder: When you speak in front of an audience, treat it like a conversation. When in doubt, go even slower.

In all cases, it’s amazing to see so many people use PowerPoint in their speeches SO DAMN HORRIBLY.

I have seen very few people actually use PowerPoint (or its Mac counterpart, Keynote) effectively. Hence why it frequently gets a bad name in the corporate/speaking sector.

It doesn’t have to be that way though. Here’s some of the mistakes you DON’T want to make when using it yourself, and if you do, how to fix them:

1. Making the PowerPoint their speech - Too many people have this mistake…well, it’s best to use a presentation to show the mistake:

Just remember: YOUR POWERPOINT IS NOT YOUR SPEECH. Use it as an outline, not as a script.

2. Baring all on the PowerPoint - I know you probsbly think it’s a smart idea to have the entire slide contents appear all at once on your screen, as the audience can see all your points. Here’s the problem though: When all the information is on a slide, your audience is busy darting around it being distracted.

Instead, you should use animation to only show the content as you need it, to help with the flow of your speech. The best thing to do is only show the content you’re currently discussing. However, be sure to not go crazy on the animation, or you’ll be guilty of the PowerPoint sin below:

3. Too much damn animation -  In one of my graduate seminars, the professor decided that everty single point on her PowerPoints should have a random effect. While dodging sin #2, we ended up having to wait up to 10 seconds for each effect to stop. In addition to this, one effect would just POP in, another would pinwheel in, another would EXPLODE onto the scene. This makes following along absolute HELL.

4. Overly distracting backgrounds – Seriously, we don’t need to see the big massive zazzle of your fireworks display, nor the one with the massive crowd or the background so colorful we’d need special glasses to see your text. This is an area where I follow Steve Jobs: A simple gradient will suffice. Minimize the craziness.

What mistakes can you think of?

Image via Wikipedia

Apple Keynotes, for the most part, are rather disappointing. However, with Tim Cook now at the help at the World’s richest company, a new direction has been taken. Hence, we take a look at the first ever presentation by the new CEO of Apple, as he unloads the iGlory upon us.

What I liked

Friendly and Approachable –  One thing that Tim really rubbed off of Jobs was his approachability. He seemed welcoming and friendly to the crowd and didn’t try to toot his own horn like some social media ignatzes do.

Sense of structure – I didn’t see structure in the keynote on the caliber of Steve Jobs, but it was still present. It wouldn’t have done Cook well to talk about the iPhone one minute, then Angry Birds the next. So it’s good to see this.

What I didn’t like

Too Casual/Apologetic – Granted it’s always great when the speaker doesn’t act like they’re the biggest thing since the iBread Slice to hit the Internets, but acting too casual can make you look unprepared. Cook himself admitted this was his first keynote since becoming CEO,

Talking to the walls – There were several times when Cook wouldn’t look at the audience. Instead, he’d stare at the wall. In particular, he would pace around (also not a good thing) and stare at the wall when he spoke.

Buzzwords aplenty – I couldn’t count how many times Cook said something Apple did was “Spectacular” or “Amazing” or “Revolutionary” or some other buzzword. Yes I know Steve was equally guilty of this, but it’s still rather annoying. The better alternative is to simply express whatever the hell it is you’ve got. We all know how revolutionary the damn thing is, STOP REMINDING US.

Other speakers got too much time – The thing about Steve Jobs was that he dominated the show. Others made appearances, but they were very minimal. With this keynote, it seemed like the entire major team had a large chunk of time on stage, which takes away from one’s ability to see what Cook himself has to offer his audience.

The Bottom line

I got to hand Tim Cook one thing: This was pretty good for his first run as the leader of Apple. And with recent current events, he’s here to stay at the helm. He can only improve, though he does need to work on his public speaking skills.

Image via Wikipedia

Practice what you preach.

It’s as simple as that. You’ve invented your brand, you can explain what it is, who it is, and what you want, and you can woo people with the awesomeness of its might. There’s just one problem. You can’t simply just present your brand and play. The way you create your brand dictates the personality and behavior your customers/audience will expect of you.