Post on 23-Aug-2014
description
Converting your written
content to SlideShare
By Dave Paradi of partnering with
At the recent Authority 2014
conference, a lot of attendees and
speakers talked about the great
opportunity to convert written
content to SlideShare
As a presentation expert,
I saw this need, and
decided to offer some
ideas on how marketing
experts can convert their
existing written content to
the visual format of
SlideShare.
Dave Paradi Author of seven books, four
Kindle ebooks. One of thirteen
people in North America
recognized by Microsoft with
the PowerPoint Most Valuable
Professional Award.
Here’s what this deck covers:
A A What is the same
A B What is different
Planning the slides
Creating the slides
Testing the deck
A A
What is the same in
written content and a
SlideShare deck
They both have a story structure
There needs to be a flow through the deck, just like
there is a flow through the written piece
They both have sections
Written content uses
sub-headings to denote
the sections.
A SlideShare deck uses
section header slides to
denote each section of
the deck.
They both have calls to action
Start sending me tips!
The calls to action can be shapes, like buttons,
text, or images.
Click here to read the
detailed data sheet Click on the
book cover to
purchase
They both need to be consistent with your
brand identity
Colors
Fonts
Logos
Brand voice
A B
What is different between
written content and a
SlideShare deck
Primarily visual
Written piece
SlideShare deck
Restricted fonts in PowerPoint format
SlideShare recommends you
save your presentation as a PDF
file so that fonts are preserved.
You can easily do this from
PowerPoint.
If you upload a PowerPoint file, you
are restricted in the fonts you can
use. SlideShare does not support a
wide variety of fonts in PowerPoint
format files.
50% of the words in your written piece, or fewer.
This is a visual, not text medium. You will
still have text to enhance the visuals, but
not as much as the written piece.
2-5x the number of slides you would usually
create for a typical presentation
Plan your slides based on
the written piece
Create a hierarchical outline of the content
using sticky notes on a wall, whiteboard, or
table. Write down what that slide will say to
move the story along.
What is the
same
Story structure
What is
different
Sections (like
sub-heads)
Primarily
visual medium
Font
restrictions if
using PPt
format
Plan the slides
Hierarchical
outline
Select best
visual for the
message
You can also create the outline in Word. Use a
landscape page and a table to organize the
outline.
Graphs show numeric data
67
54 52 49
Product A Product B Product C Product D
Product A has greater tensile strength than competing products
psi required to cause product failure in lab tests
Diagrams show processes
Invoice
entered in
system
Invoice sent
to manager
for approval
Invoice sent
to VP for
approval
Invoice
returned to
AP Dept.
Approval
entered into
system
Timelines show when things happen
Jan Feb Mar Apr May June
1
RFP sent
to vendors 15
RFP
response
due back
31
Vendor
selected 15
Project
initiated 31
First
version
available
for testing
30
Testing
complete
Make a conscious choice of the visual. The
visuals in a SlideShare deck are important. You
don’t need to hire a designer to select visuals.
You can do it yourself. No matter what your
background.
I have a Chemical Engineering degree and an
MBA – no design background at all. I figured out
a way that anyone can select a visual based on
the message they want to communicate. I call it
What Visual To Use and you can learn more
about it in this SlideShare deck.
Creating your slides
What tool should you use? There is no one tool
that is significantly better than the others. As
long as you can save the deck to a format that
SlideShare supports, you will be fine. If you are
already familiar with PowerPoint, just use that.
There are four types of slides you will likely use
in your SlideShare deck:
Title slide
Organization slides
Narration slides
Visuals
Let’s look at each of these individually …
The title slide is the thumbnail that people will
first see on SlideShare or wherever your deck is
embedded. Make it noticeable.
Large enough font so it can be read
on a mobile device
Large visual that is easy to understand
Organization slides help the viewer know where
they are going at the start and where they are
during viewing.
Agenda style slide at start gives the
roadmap
Section header slides announce a
new section
Narration slides help move the viewer through
the story.
Not every slide must be visual.
Text slides are OK too.
Write narration slides in your brand voice so the
viewer hears you when they read it.
Most of your slides will be visuals. Make the
visual large so it is easy to see on a mobile
device and it makes an impact.
vs.
Direct the viewer’s attention in a visual by using
a callout. Like the one above. It makes sure the
viewer understands the message we want them
to understand.
Building a visual piece by piece is a good way
to keep viewer interest.
In PowerPoint you can do this with the
animation feature. But SlideShare doesn’t
support animation sequences.
So you have to create multiple slides to end up
with the same effect.
Like this …
How to decide what speed of internet
service you need
Do you
regularly
watch videos
or listen to
audio online?
Do you use an
online backup
service?
Level 1
service
No
No
How to decide what speed of internet
service you need
Do you
regularly
watch videos
or listen to
audio online?
Do you use an
online backup
service?
Level 1
service
Level 2
service No
No
Yes
How to decide what speed of internet
service you need
Do you
regularly
watch videos
or listen to
audio online?
Do you use an
online backup
service?
Do you watch
videos more
than twice per
week?
Level 1
service
Level 2
service No
Yes
No
Yes
How to decide what speed of internet
service you need
Do you
regularly
watch videos
or listen to
audio online?
Do you use an
online backup
service?
Do you watch
videos more
than twice per
week?
Level 1
service
Level 2
service
Level 3
service
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
How to decide what speed of internet
service you need
Do you
regularly
watch videos
or listen to
audio online?
Do you use an
online backup
service?
Do you watch
videos more
than twice per
week?
Level 1
service
Level 2
service
Level 3
service
Level 4
service
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
If you are using an image, like a screen capture,
where there is one area you want the viewer to
focus on, you can use a zoom in sequence of
slides.
Start with the full screen capture, then use a
shape to show the viewer where on the image
you want them to focus. Finish with a larger
view of just that one area of the image.
Like this …
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In the top right side of the page
Click on the Member Home link to login
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Decide which slides you want to have calls to
action on. Earlier you learned you can use any
object or text as a call to action (CTA) link.
SlideShare converts PowerPoint website
hyperlinks to active links in your SlideShare
deck. That means you can put CTAs anywhere
in your deck.
Because the hyperlink is a regular URL, you
can use a URL that tracks the clicks, such as a
Google Analytics campaign code.
You can use a unique code for each link in the
deck. You see which link the viewer clicked on if
you have multiple links to the same destination.
Click the image above to read a great article by
Joanna Wiebe on making your call-to-action
buttons better
Never added a website hyperlink in
PowerPoint? Here’s how you do it.
Select any shape, text, or image you want to
add the hyperlink to
On the tab, click the button
1. Select the Existing File or
Web Page category
2. Enter the full URL of the link,
including tracking code
3. Click OK
Testing your deck
You can simulate viewing on SlideShare
using the PowerPoint Show file format
A PowerPoint Show file opens directly in Slide
Show mode, so you can email the file to others
and get their input.
Spelling and grammar of all text
The visuals look good on different
devices (view the PPSX file on mobile
devices)
Any builds across slides
The message flows smoothly from start
to finish
Before you upload your deck to
SlideShare, test the following:
The fonts did not get substituted
The text aligns properly
The visuals look correct on all devices
After you upload your deck to SlideShare,
check the following:
If you find any issues, correct them and re-
upload the deck to SlideShare.
Distribute your SlideShare
Social media like Twitter and LinkedIn
Embed in your website
Embed using the iframe code
Use the iframe code that SlideShare gives you
for embedding instead of the WordPress
shortcode. This will ensure views get correctly
counted in the SlideShare stats.
Use this code to embed in your
website
Watch page load times
Monitor the page load time after embedding a
SlideShare deck. The embed can sometimes
increase the load time because the page now
loads images of each slide from the SlideShare
servers.
You can do this!
You don’t need to be a designer
&
You don’t need special software
You can follow the process in this
deck and convert your written
content into SlideShare decks
1. Select the written content you want to
convert to SlideShare
2. Plan the slides that will cover the key
messages from the written piece
3. Create the slides
4. Test the slides
5. Save as a PDF file
6. Upload to SlideShare
7. Make sure it looks correct on
SlideShare
8. Share the SlideShare deck
Here are the steps to follow:
SlideShare FAQ & support site
Article on Buffer blog by Kevan Lee
Article on Kissmetrics by Mauro D’Andrea
Article on Social Media Examiner by David
Waring
Other good information on using
SlideShare:
(Yes, those links are live and will take you to the articles.)
Add your thoughts to the discussion on
If you are a member of the Authority
community on Copyblogger, join me for a
webinar on June 27
Read the article this deck is based on
Check out my website for more resources on
creating effective PowerPoint presentations
All logos and product names are trademarks or copyrights of the respective companies. This work is not endorsed by any
of these companies. ©2014 Dave Paradi
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