Old Pickit Blog

37 years after it's invention, Microsoft Word is still the go-to for most text-based documentation in the majority of businesses and organizations. This year alone, billions of Word docs will be written and circulated by ordinary (no offense!) office workers like you and me. That said, despite decades of practice and an increasingly image-savvy user base–thanks smartphones!–so many of us still struggle to put together a killer doc that harnesses the right visuals, fonts and design practices to enhance our work and help get our message across.

In this post, we'll walk you through some common mistakes to avoid and a few simple ways you can turn your newsletters, meeting notes, memos and more into something people really understand and remember–and want to read in the first place. 

Online presentations are the new norm now that more people are working from home. For many of us, moving from in-person presentations to online presentations may bring a new set of challenges to overcome.

A good presentation can mean the difference between winning the pitch or losing the deal. Between securing the budget you need for next year or dealing with cutbacks. Between educating, informing and inspiring people or putting them to sleep. 

In other words, the humble PowerPoint presentation is not to be taken lightly. With enough practice and the right tools, a simple 10-slide deck can create life-changing moments for you, your business and your audience. However, it's surprisingly common in this day and age to still be seriously underwhelmed by most presentations–even those created by extremely smart people working at very successful organisations.

In this practical post, we cover the 5 common presentation fails you can easily avoid with the help of a few simple tips and access to the right images.

Have you ever witnessed a crime scene? A brand crime that is. 

It's easy to find plenty of examples of bad branding over the years. What's surprising is that some of the most successful brands in the world continue to clumsily get involved in some high profile 'kerfuffle' with surprising frequency–the impact of which can have long-lasting consequences on the products or the entire company and employees.

How many times have you sat through surprisingly poorly designed PowerPoint presentations from top organizations that were boring, cluttered, and distracting? Yes, that's right, probably way too many. Even though we all loathe a boring presentation, when the time comes to creating one ourselves, can we do it any better than the average PowerPoint user?

"What does body language have to do with a PowerPoint presentation?" you ask. Well, more than you think. In the same way it's always worth putting some thought into the placement of our text and images or the way we design a slide, it's also worth thinking about the placement of other things "outside of the presentation" like our hands and eyes, as well as the way we present ourselves (no pun intended).

The thing is, you're using body language whether you realise it or not. There's no vacuum here, so you may as well be intentional about it. Being aware of and leveraging the way you come across when presenting can be a great way to add that extra layer of clarity, conviction or persuasion we need to win that pitch, secure that raise or get the team on board for the next project. 

It's been said a million times that a picture says more than a thousand words, but it's also worth pointing out that there are thousands of ways to use each picture, and how things like placement, cropping, filters and adding text can either enhance or detract both from the visual appeal and effect of the image.

It goes without saying that one of the main reasons people choose to create a presentation and not a Word doc or Excel file is so they can use photos, icons and clipart to enhance their message, so we take a look at a few dos and don'ts to keep in mind when working with presentation images. 

In this post, we get straight to it and list ten things to keep in mind when you're creating your next PowerPoint presentation. Follow these and you'll be well on your way to mic-dropping at work. 

Now that many of us are working remotely, we're suddenly spending a lot more time in front of a webcam–whether it be for staff meetings, brainstorming sessions, webinars or online social events after work. For some, this new shift is a welcome opportunity to catch a glimpse of where and how our colleagues (not to mention celebrities) live. It's also a narcissist's nightmare given that our new camera-driven careers happen to coincide with some pretty out-there hairdos brought on by the sudden closure of many local beauty salons and grooming establishments.

Whichever category you belong to, we'll help you find the right image and look your best on your next Microsoft Teams call.

Whether you feel like a presentation pro or you get the shakes when it’s your turn to step up for a monthly report, delivering a deck remotely is often a different animal altogether to live presenting. No more relying on stage presence, charisma, persuasive body language or your ability to work a room. And if you're more of a butterflies-on-steroids presenter, you probably think this is your ticket out; “Finally, I don’t need to bother with all that empty rhetoric stuff and can get straight to business.” 

Not so fast!