While you certainly can just listen to this interview with Mike Robertson, I encourage you to watch it Mike Robertson on YouTube so you can see for yourself the magic Mike does with PowerPoint and Keynote.
Show notes from Is This Mike On? with Mike Robertson
Phil: I met Mike Robertson at an NSA conference 2 years ago - and he’s a magician with PowerPoint (and Keynote) too! I knew once I launched my podcast I had to have him on the show, and you'll want to watch the video on YouTube to see just what I'm talking about.
Phil: So Mike – how did you get started with these amazing presentations?
Mike: Sometimes our greatest gift are right in front of us and we don’t even see them!!
Let’s start with PowerPoint magic!
I was a graphic designer for 20 years and before that I was into magic! I’ve always had this performance urge.
Five years ago, I wasn’t even using slides or even PowerPoint! I started delving into the programs.
Now, I get hired quite a bit to create slides for speakers. I look at the slides as a blank canvas and what is going to enthrall the audience.
It looks like an image… like an abstract, an image of modern that you would see in a modern hotel. Only it’s a brick. At a local gas station that has been banged into by so many different doors and as I looked at this image.
As we speakers, we are always looking for stories, looking for the story to tell. And for this one I came up with two.
I came up with you are going to get knocked and bumped around and banged throughout life and as long as you stay the course things are going to be ok.
The 2nd and more profound no matter where you go you are are always going to leave a part of yourself behind leave an impression behind what are you leaving behind damage scrapes beauty artistic.
That shows you the power of something that lasts, something you can do with art.
Phil: Talk to us about the process… don’t give us all the magic. Do you have to buy another program?
Mike: Everyone has PowerPoint, most people don’t take the time to delve into, they just use the templates. It’s like having a piano and using it to set your drink on! I take the time play around and experiment around with the sliders and confetti effects and scenes. A lot of it is knowing the capabilities of the programs.
Fonts can make a huge difference on your slide, there is a perfect font for everything but no font is perfect for everything.
Learning to think more creatively or artistically vs a whiteboard or chalkboard.
Resizing your pictures instead of just stretching
Every slide you put up is a chance to reinforce your brand
Phil: Do you think many miss the boat with the brand is because they don’t know or they don't care?
Mike: They don’t know. I hear most people gasp. We tend to forget our audience has just seen the most advanced of all graphics. The slide can become your partner or sidekick in your presentation, but you need to think of it differently. You need to stretch the boundaries.
Phil: Talk to us about magic! How did you get interested in magic?
Mike: I got a magic kit as a kid and then I started checking out books from the library and my dad used to go the convention center in Dallas and there was a magic store next door and he would bring me a new magic trick each year and I would love to stand in front of family and friends and perform. And then at 13 or 14 playing the guitar and the girls loved that and i was a music guy for many years and i loved playing and performing. After all of the things i've dabbled in this is the think i;ve landed in because it satisfies all those urges and lets me use all those skills that i've acquired all the years. We don’t often recognize our own gifts. We miss our own gifts because they are part of our own DNA. I look for new ways to channel and new directions. You have to find your niche and expand it yourself.
Phil: How can people get started on finding their own gifts?
Mike: Ask your friends/family. Find what you are good and find a way to use that people aren’t using it, that takes you on your own path.
Connect with Mike Robertson and see more of his presentation magic
Watch this episode on YouTube to see the cool things you heard us talk about
Visit IsThisMikeOn.com to get in touch with Mike Robertson
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