WebProNews

Gmail Previews PowerPoint Files

Gmail added a new feature last week: a PowerPoint viewer. Now, if someone emails you a PowerPoint presentation (.PPT or .PPS file) as an email attachment, you can click a View As HTML or View As Slideshow link to view that file in your web browser. Presumably, this takes advantage of features developed for Google Docs’ upcoming Google Presentations software, which is supposed to release sometime this summer, or even uses some of the tech acquired from Tonic Systems earlier this year.

Google Apps Not Ready For Prime Time

Judging by one domain administrator's experience with Google Apps and email, Google's claims that it is not competing with Microsoft for the productivity space has a ring of truth.

Demo of Google's Powerpoint-like Tool

Tonic Systems has a demo of their TonicPoint presentations software, the software Google has just purchased to become its presentations software. Enjoy!

Google Drinks Tonic, Readies Presentations

Google added another piece to their Frankenstein-ish productivity suite by acquiring Tonic Systems for its technology, which will allow Google to add a PowerPoint competitor to its Docs & Spreadsheets product.

Using Numbers for Effective Presentations

My friend Darcy at Fair Isaac Corporation shared a fascinating tip with me for making more effective presentations. This is something I had never really thought about. He says that publishers have long been aware of the power of numbers in grabbing people's attention. Think about titles of popular books such as "1,000 Places To See Before You Die" and "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." Television does it with their countdown shows and websites do it with lists: "AFI's 100 Greatest American Movies" or "VH1's 100 Greatest Kid Stars."

Modern Marketing and Change

Three years ago Jeff Jarvis was kind enough to share one of his presentations with me about the changing trends in media.  It provided a wonderful insight into the US market in 2004. 

European Expansion for MySpace

MySpace.com, the online social network, is often a topic I include in presentations and workshops about social media and social computing.

Oracle OpenWorld - OAUG Call for Presentations

I got a mail from the Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) the other day informing me of their call for papers for Oracle OpenWorld, being run at the Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA USA from October 22-26, 2006.

Trying a New Approach to Presentations

Several years ago, I saw a presentation at a conference in which the presenter used web pages in a browser instead of Powerpoint (or any of its kin).

Final Presentations, The Finish Line

After days or weeks of preparation, after a strong presentation, don't drop the ball as you near the finish line. How you follow up after your sales presentation will help you get across the line.