Archive for April, 2008

When was the last time you sat through a PowerPoint presentation and thought “wow, that was really interesting, informative, and easy to follow“? If you’re like us, it was probably a long time ago! The trouble with PowerPoint is not the software itself, but the fact that people attempt to overcommunicate, cramming far too much information on to each slide.

The expression “a picture paints a thousand words” is never more true here. A good presenter will often be able to inspire us simply by talking around a few striking images. This in turn makes the presentation more fluid, more engaging, and more memorable.

If you’re seeking a little inspiration, then head on over to SlideShare, a website where you can view other peoples presentations (and even upload one of your own).

In the meantime, here’s one which illustrates exactly what we mean:-

| View | Upload your own

Image by Shermeee

You will undoubdtedly be aware of the increase in ‘internet shopping’ over the last 12 months or so. Unsurprisingly this trend is set to continue, with market researchers Key Note predicting around 30% of all future UK purchases to be made at home.

This represents a massive change in consumer spending patterns, and will affect retailers and manufacturers within a very short time frame.

All elements of the ‘marketing mix’ (product, price, place, promotion) will require review. For example, ‘on shelf’ presence is currently important for brands within a store, but how will this translate to presence on a retailer website?

Brands will undoubtedly need to focus more on internet shoppers, and may even need to completely change their packaging to adapt for delivery to the individual home.

If you haven’t yet considered the impact on your business, then it’s probably time you did! Thankfully, here at blue sky, we are experts in both retail and the web. If you would like to discuss how your brand can adapt to changing consumer behaviour, we’d be only too happy to help.

via The Retail Bulletin

Image via easyontheeye.net

We’d like to think that we’re pretty good typists, but the truth of the matter is that we never learnt to ‘touch type‘. As such we still find ourselves hunting around the keyboard for an ocassional letter or punctuation mark.

Whilst we’re busy looking at the keyboard, it means we’re not looking at the screen (as we should be) and sometimes we realise that we’ve aCCIDENTALLY hIT tHE cAPS lOCK kEY wHILST tYPING.

This is most annoying. Not only do we feel foolish for making a mistake, but then we have to take the extra time to correct our sILLY eRROR.

Thankfully there is an ‘accessability’ feature in Windows (both XP and Vista) that comes in very handy. It’s part of an application called ‘toggle keys’ (originally designed for people with vision impairment). When activated, you will hear a beep whenever the ‘CAPS LOCK’ or NUM LOCK’ key is pressed.

Simply press and hold the ‘NUM LOCK’ key for 5 seconds to activate the feature. This method will work on most machines, but if it doesn’t work for you, there’s an alternative method detailed at the How To Geek and Microsoft sites.

Obviously, you will need your speakers to be turned on, and volume turned up to hear the beep!

Image by outlan2000

Here’s a handy way to read text more quicky:-

1. Open a document, and copy the text you would like to read.
2. Visit Spreeder.com and paste the text in the box provided.
3. Click on ‘use’, and then ‘play’.
4. The text appears in a movie clip, one word at a time.

According to the authors, regular use of this technique should help you improve your overall reading speed.

Admittedly, seeing words whizz on and off screen really quickly takes a little getting used to, but after a little practise it actually becomes second nature. To make things easier (or harder!) you can change the playback speed (and size of words etc) by clicking on ’settings’.

via Lifehacker

Image by talkingplant

See if you can guess the name of the manufacturer in this new car ad.

Clearly there is a bold statement being made here. We’re not convinced that audiences will buy into the message however. Worse still, does the ad’ have a disappointing ending, which simply re-enforces a negative stereotype about the product in question? Only time will tell.