SlideMagic Blog

This post on AVC describes a common situation: technical problems when setting up a presentation. Different computers and different screens (dimensions, operating systems, resolutions, cables, plugs) make it unpredictable what happens when you connect the 2.

This a particular problem in marathon meetings, where a large number of presenters show up one after the other. It is a time waste for the audience and a concentration breaker for the presenter.

The solution in the post was an interesting one: use Zoom (or another web conferencing service) locally (i.e., standing in the same room). This eliminates the need for hardware connections and allows presenters to line up, solve any technical issues before they are due on stage.

In the absence of such a solution, my recommendation would be to always carry a USB stick with your deck around (in PowerPoint and PDF), just in case. Ultimately portable projectors will be compact and capable enough that everyone who has a high-stakes presentation to pitch will carry one around.

Photo by Jeremy Yap on Unsplash

My first software product that I coded myself seems to be working and I need a handful of beta testers to work with. I want to see if there are unexpected bugs still hiding in the product, and what happens if people start installing things on a machine other than my own (full of developer privileges when it comes to accessing hard disks, etc.)

What is this product? A plug in for PowerPoint that converts SlideMagic presentations to 100% perfect PowerPoint. Extra bonus: automatic translation to and from a dark background, and flipping between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio in a second without distortions. Users get sent a “.MAGIC” file that the tool can interpret.

It runs on Windows only, since I had to dive pretty deep into the Microsoft .NET libraries to get all this to work. (At the moment, I deal with Mac-originated conversion requests partly manually, you get the same quality conversion sent to you with a time zone delay, but this will not be sustainable if request volume goes up).

This product is not the final stage of SlideMagic, more a first step for me to test whether I can ship useful software. I am catching up with technology since my 1992 graduation from engineering school, now I have moved on from PowerPoint plugins to writing Windows desktop applications from scratch for a next product release. Desktop apps are a bit “1995”, but for B2B design work, “cloud” might not always be the best solution. In any way, I have to pass this station before being able to move on to web and possibly mobile app technologies. It is fascinating to see that you can basically do anything in software if you are not intimidated by technology and have the courage to leave the traditional boxes/application models and user interface approaches.

Computers and software have become powerful enough that it is now possible to have them sing a song on a melody and lyrics you write. (Vocaloid by Yamaha). The quality is not yet that of a diva, but the result is acceptable enough for trying out songwriting ideas.

This “text to speech” technology could be interesting for presentation design as well. If a computer voice can read out your pitch with a convincing intonation, you could test out your ideas without having to contract a voice actor (which you would never do for an everyday business presentation).

When you glance over a sentence in a document for the 100th time, you are not really reading it anymore, you just check the latest edit you made. Hearing the whole thing out loud, can wake you up to the fact that it has become bloated, fluffy, loaded with jargon, buzzwords, and boring.

Photo by Maaria Lohiya on Unsplash

In the coming days, I will switch SlideMagic PowerPoint conversions to the new software that I have written: no more imperfect renderings but a perfect 1-to-1 translation. The conversion still involves processing centrally, but ultimately, I will release a DIY plugin for Windows users, I am still stress testing it.

In the future, this feature might become the premium offering of SlideMagic, the ability to save “.magic” files to your computer, translate them to PowerPoint freely to collaborate with your colleagues, and present decks offline.

Cover image by rawpixel on Unsplash

When people submit their SlideMagic documents for conversion to PowerPoint, I still have to peek inside for a second for a quick manual operation. Here is the most common design mistake I see: different font sizes in boxes that are part of the same list or grouping.*

Yes, bigger fonts are better, but in case of lists, it is the lowest common denominator that determines their size. Slide design is like formatting headlines in a print newspaper: you need to edit text to make the message clear, but also to fit things in the typographical constraints.

• Users in te app are warned beforehand about this.

Cover image by Andre Benz on Unsplash

I am now working with my new MacBook Pro computer set up for 2 weeks. In 2015, I got an iMac because it was the only option to enjoy that huge 5k screen back then. Some observations:

• I am happy to have the option of mobility again. If your work consists of replying to emails, mobile devices are OK to work outside your office, but for design and coding, that is a different story.
• While the LG 5K monitor is less sturdy than the iMac, it is easier to adjust and has a much smaller footprint. The screen quality is exactly the same (it is probably the same hardware panel as the iMac), some might perceive the glossy finish of the iMac to produce deeper black tints.
• Having worked for a number of years on 1 monitor, I rarely switch back to a 2 monitor set up (laptop + monitor). I tend to use that second screen for distractions (email, Twitter), and life is actually better and more productive without these. (I do need those 2 monitors to test my “presenter mode” feature of my app, pulling my hairs out over how hard it still is to coordinate 2 application windows in 2018…)
• The monitors have become so good today that there is no longer the issue of “compromise”: working on the desktop monitor is better because the screen is better. Now there are 2 different work modes with equally good monitor options: laptop screen at close range with trackpad, fixed monitor and mouse at longer range. Both are good.
• There are a number of 13” screens in the family, and I must say I much prefer my 15”.
• People have been bashing the MBP in reviews, but I must say it actually works fine. (Contrary to popular taste, I got the silver one and not space grey for that retro feel).
• USB-C dongle hell is hidden, after some trial and error with USB hubs, I now have my entire office (plus music studio) feed of one single charging/monitor/USB cable, easy connecting and disconnecting in my office.
• I am not using the touch bar that much. The ESC key could as well have been a real key. It is baffling that the volume slider is not present as the default option, but requires an extra click. Touch ID is great.

I upgraded my setup to the latest MacBook Pro (the i5 processor started to struggle with some of my music creation plugins) and can gives some updates on my previous posts over the last 2 months or so. Basically all glitches were due to the late 2015 iMac, especially its graphics card. All is fine now:

• No pink letter rendering in Chrome
• No corrupted cursor when waking up from sleep

Now it is just down to small things: a colour picker, screen shots, and that CMD vs CTRL issue.

Cover image via WikiPedia

It is possible to add incredibly elaborate formulas into 1 spreadsheet cell. My advice: don’t. All my spreadsheet basically rely on simple +, -, *, / formulas that have 2 inputs. Each step in the calculation is clearly labeled, nicely rounded, with pretty formatting.

• You can spot and trace errors easily
• You can copy things easily
• You can change things easily (add more inputs, years, etc.)
• You can remember easily what yo did 6 weeks ago

Yes, your spreadsheets will become a lot biger, and yes, there will be a lot of repetition as you pull numbers down in new cells, instead of adding the reference directly in the formula. But it is worth it.

I see similar things happening now on the world of coding, where programmers use incredibly dense and clever code. I find it actually much harder to read and understand. And I don’t think it makes any difference to the efficiency of a program, at least when it is compiled, where the compiler strips any excess code.

Cover image by Marco Bianchetti on Unsplash

As I continue to break my head over presentation design software, I came to realise that design software is tricky, because - unlike other apps - it covers a lot of different aspects. What is one piece of software, is in fact a bundle of many:

• A sketch pad to map story ideas and organise your thoughts
• An canvas that facilitates a creative process that enables you to make something artistically beautiful
• A library/filing system of information: your own audit trail of your work going back for years, but also the archive of building blocks that colleagues need (the latest product deck, etc.)
• The central switchboard for collaboration and decision making among colleagues, both in terms of getting/preparing the idea, and presenting, discussing it.
• The computer interface that everyone (young and old) has mastered, the basics of creating, sending, receiving, opening, printing, “stuff” using a computer. Most people understand their browser, email application, and PowerPoint when it comes to computers
• A tool that is used for junior people (analysts, secretaries), to “execute” visual ideas handed over to them by others. Someone scribbles a chart and request to have it turned into a digital format. Software needs to be ready with a lot of features to support these random visual ideas.
• Legacy file formats and user interfaces. Microsoft cannot simply say sorry, this app won’t open files that were created before 2005 anymore.
• Design software has much more intricate relation to the user interface of a device: small screen, big screen, mouse, touch, keyboard, it will turn the options you have to create something completely upside down. (Unlike, let’s say a database or email app that you can pretty much implement on anything and it will do the same thing).
• An extremely broad range of users: professional designers, secretaries, CEOs, analysts, all are forced to use the same interface.
• A wide range of applications: TEDTalks, conference rooms, email attachments.

Inconsistent numbers in your presentation are a blow to the credibility of your story, and distract the audience as they are trying to figure out why the sales on page 19 differ from those presented on page 5.

• Calculation errors and typos
• Forgotten updates to the latest version of the model for some slides
• Rounding
• Different sources of market data
• “Footnote details”: certain numbers include something, others not (sales tax, etc.)
• Last minute manual edits by someone without access to the spreadsheets

Some of these are not even “your fault” and can be perfectly explained. How to prevent them?

1. Decide on one view of the world, picking one market data source to go with, maybe with some adjustments, but that’s it. During the analysis phase of the project, ambiguity is OK, when it comes to presenting your story, ambiguity creates confusion,
2. Put all data in one spreadsheet, and link the different components of your model: if you forecast more sales, market share must go up if the market forecast does not change. More sales, means more sales reps, etc.
3. For each slide in your presentation, create a small worksheet, or part of a worksheet, that pulls the numbers from your model, and rounds them correctly. Nothing else should be in this worksheet. A column chart for 10 years: just 10 numbers in a row, nothing else. No need to dive into a big worksheet, dig up the numbers, round them. All possible sources of errors and inconsistencies.
4. Let no one touch the master version of this model