My Favorite Powerpoints!

Hi there, 

Last thursday, the class presented powerpoints on a topic within their intended major or interest.  Let me just say that all of the presentations I saw in class were interesting and well done! I was really impressed! But, if I have to pick two favorites, they are Adan Gonzalez & Hye-Won Kim. 

 

Adan's presentation was obviously made using powerpoint XP and not Vista, so it was much simpler than most of the other presentations. In a way, that only made the information more powerful. It was obvious in his presentation that he has a strong passion for producing music. I never saw him look at notes once! He spouted the information like he'd been studying it for weeks. Not only did the powerpoint exhibit knowledge on the meaning of producing music, but he also provided lots of background information on the history of the music producing business, including its pioneers and most famous leaders.  The information provided established that Adan knows this topic forward and backward, and is well on his way to making it a career. 

 

The other powerpoint I liked best was Hye-Won's. Her layout was simple yet neat and pleasing to the eye. I loved the background picture of the gavel in black and white, it made it very dramatic (which I love :) The sound of the gavel striking the sounding block (yes, that's what it's called. I googled it) in the first slide was also very effective. Her information was also really interesting. I had no idea what to major in if you are hoping to go to law school, but now I do! I also found it truly helpful that she put instructions on applying to law schools, this shows that she has given the process a lot of thought. 

Everyone did a really awesome job, those are just my favorites! 

- Eva Thompson

ethomps4@trinity.edu 

Steps to a Great Powerpoint Presentation

After having read the three articles about how to improve powerpoint presentations,  "Top Ten Slide Tips", "Recommendations for Faculty on Powerpoint" and  "Really Bad Powerpoint - and How to Avoid It" really interesting. Granted that most of the information was the same for all three, it is still important to review helpful tips. The last article  "Really Bad Powerpoint - and How to Avoid It" was probably the most helpful to me since it corrected a lot of the ideas I had about making presentations "fancy". "Top Ten Slide Tips" seemed more general and "Recommendations for Faculty on Powerpoint" seemed to be geared towards, as it says, faculty, and was a little more professionally founded then I have real need for. 

I still think that anyone who uses powerpoint habitually should give these articles a good read, just so that they understand what is important to know about making presentations. These are my personal rules for making an effective presentation: 

1)Decide what Information You Need to Relay

Before worrying about slide transitions or effects, make sure that the facts that you need are included. On that note, you may have more information then you really need, so if you find that is the case, cut and condense anything that seems extraneous. 

2) Be Knowledgeable on Your Subject

Make sure that you aren't just reading the text off of your presentation. Your audience can read, they don't need you to do it for them. Instead, have extra facts, opinions, quotes, experiences or questions that you can use to keep your audience interested. 

3) Make Eye-Pleasing Format Choices

Choose layouts and color schemes that complement, and not clash with, each other. There is nothing more distracting in a presentation then badly-chosen text color that conflicts with the background color or image. Make it easier for your audience to see by giving them nice colors to look at ;) 

4) Use Sound and Pictures with Discretion 

A sound clip or photograph can do wonders for a presentation, if they are professional and relevant to the topic. Do not riddle your presentation with them however, because they will come off as a gimmick instead of valid points to your topic. 

5) Be Mindful of Your Audience

Know the people you are talking to. For instance, a presentation for your classmates should differ from one that would be for a prospective boss or client. Use words and phrasing that apply to your topic and to the people you are trying to appeal to. 

These are rules that I gathered from the articles I read, and from my personal experiences with powerpoint. I hope they are helpful & thanks! 

     - Eva Thompson

     ethomps4@trinity.edu 

Hi Everybody!

Using excel this semester has been really fun! I won't lie, I thought it was going to be really boring. I took a computer class in high school where we learned about excel, and it did not excite me at all.
But, I learned so many interesting things about excel, like I had no idea you could link excel spreadsheets to other programs like word documents and powerpoint presentations. Not only can you link them, but if the original spreadsheet is edited, the revised form shows up in the other program it is linked to!
I also really enjoyed all the options and design patterns that excel with Vista has to choose from. I always like having lots of choices :) It is really interesting to me that something like math or graphs or charts can be made personal.
I think my favorite part of using excel is all of the formulas that are available. Any tool that helps me avoid doing math is completely awesome in my book!
I have really enjoyed learning about excel in this class and just this class in general! I'm also really looking forward to working with photoshop and powerpoint!

Thanks,
Eva Thompson
ethomps4@trinity.edu

CLT Tour

On our tour of The AT&T Center for Learning and Technology, AKA the CLT labs, Rob Chapman told us so many interesting things. The digital audio lab and the media presentation lab were very impressive, but I most enjoyed the computers in the main studio at CLT.

            Rob told us that some of those computers are equipped with Final Cut Pro software, a program that edits video. I worked with Final Cut all of my senior year in high school in my Media Technology class. We would film, log & capture, and edit our films using the program and I am so excited that I can check out a video camera and make movies & use the computers in the CLT lab.

             I could make movie or documentary for a class project in our computer class, or in one of my theatre classes. If someone writes a script that they want turned into a film on campus, we can use the Final Cut Pro software to edit the film. I so enjoyed our tour, and will definitely be utilizing the resources provided by the CLT staff and labs.  

Pictures Can Lie Too?!?!

At the website maintained by CNet, there is an article called Pictures that Lie. http://news.com.com/2300-1026_3-6033210-1.html In this article, twenty-four pictures that have been doctored or edited are displayed and comments have been made about them. After going through all the photos, the one that shocked me the most was the one that displayed a British soldier surrounded by Arabic people gesturing for them to get down with one hand, and holding a gun in the other. Particularly disturbing is that the main person he is gesturing to has a small child in his arms, seen here.
I chose this picture because, as I said, it was the most disturbing to me, and it really bothered me that someone created this image when there is already so much controversy about the Middle East. I also feel deeply for the children, not only in the Middle East, but around the world, who are forced to endure endless pain for reasons that they are not responsible for. The manipulation shown here, putting a child in such an image, is in my opinion, hitting below the belt.
This image was originally two images; the soldier was in one, the Arabic people in the other. Both photos were taken in Basra, Iraq in April of 2003. The creator of this image, Brian Walski, a staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times and a 30-year veteran of the news business, digitally composited to two photos together. This image later appeared on the front page of the Los Angeles Times shortly after the U.S. led an invasion of Iraq.
I suspect that these photos were manipulated because the new image created is incredibly provocative and controversial. It tugs at the public's heartstrings, and most importantly, when used as a cover, which it was, it sells magazines. This manipulation is incredibly harmful. It plays on the emotions of the public solely for profit. There are more than enough shocking images from the Middle East that are legitimate, digitally compositing them is not only unnecessary, but detrimental to the support and well being of the public. Obviously, the employers at Times Magazine agree, because Mr. Brian Walski lost his job of this image.

Thank You,
Eva Thompson