Powerpoint presentation / Tree Care & Landscape Design

[M.D. Vaden]

Have any of you folks made a presentation to groups with Powerpoint and projection equipment?

After 3 years, I have accumulated a lot of digital photos, and produced a powerpoint file of 54 slides on Tree Care and Landscape Design, including establishing a "design legacy" by way of proper tree selection, placement and care.

So far, I have an extra computer built for the purpose. Now I'm looking for a good and affordable projector.

If any of you have done a presentation like this, have you learned any methods that are useful...

How far to place the projector?
Placing projection to a side, or the center?
How long to dwell on a powerpoint slide?
Aspects that people find more interesting?
Etc.?

Also, if any of you have have only sat throught a speaking session with projection, is there anything that you noticed - good, bad, or that you would have wanted different if available?

This should be fun, once it gets rolling. Speaking at the 2003 Portland Yard, Garden and Patio show, I used an overhead to draw, and a section of tree to illustrate pruning. That went quite well, so I imagine that a projection display with images should be even better, especially since the image can be scribbled on using a mouse - not to mention exact pictures.

Thank-you for your ideas.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Unless you're a good, creative, visual artist, keep the cutesy special effects to a minimum. Too often people play with the FX in PP with bad results. Make all of your backgrounds and borders the same. Personally, I prefer to see the slides appear without spinning, wipes, checkerboards, stars and all of the other froo froo that PP has available.

There are guidelines that relate type point to distance to screen. I would bet that this sort of stuff is covered in one of the Dummies books. Make sure taht you don't try to pack too much reading material into one slide.

If you use a laser pointer and don't have a rock steady hand you need to stablize. Two ways that I've learned. One is to lay the pointer in your hand and then lay that hand across the back of the other wrist. Another way is to put it up at the side of your head in the same place that the bow of your glasses are. It becomes an extension of your eye.

Tom

 

[cybergeek23851]

Powerpoints, God Bless Bill Gates for one truly great program.

Now as for projectors I would look at these sites

New Egg

or


Tiger Direct

 

[M.D. Vaden]

That sounds like a good idea on carrying an extra bulb. I hear those are expensive, but I'd imagine it's better than the embarrassment.

In the text boxes of my slides, I did list a plant name on most of them down near the bottom or side.

All the backgrounds are the same.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

If this attempt worked - here's a representation of one slide. I couldn't copy from Powerpoint, but made one sort of like it in Adobe photo - but Powerpoint backgrounds are much more elegant looking. See if it displays...

Looks like it worked. That was my design and install for a week of April.

The homeowners wanted the canopy close for shade and wanted foliage that suspends over the roof - otherwise those trees would be about 10' further out. Those little lots are a challenge.

That yard was a complete redo. You might like the before and after of the entry with the decorative gravel if you go to "Landscape Design" on the menu at www.mdvaden.com

The Powerpoint file also has photos of tunneling under roots, cross cut dissected samples of large trees to show decay, sunburn examples, girdled trees, and so on.

Most of the photos are intended to educate non-aborists, like homeowners, designers or gardeners.

 

[OutOnaLimb]

I never thought in a million years that I would be responding to this thread, but..... When I finally got busted up for the last time in the Army I got stuck in the Operations Office. I hate to say it but Yeah, I had to plan out all the Battalion Commanders PP presentations. Its really not all that hard. I would have to plot all the helicopter movements on a map and add air movement routes on that to the LZs and PZs. I dont know what type of projector you are using, but the one we used would project the image in reverse so that it could be projected back on the screen from behind so that the one giving the presentaition would not have to deal with a shadow. It took a few early morning rehearsals, but at the end I could get a photo of the PZ we were leaving from, plot that on a Topo map then get a pic of the LZ(pretty basic) The old man could give a 45 min briefing on the ends and the outs of the opperation. The bad thing is it took me 6 hours to set up. Playing around with it I could have gotten into a lot more detail on other things. He just liked the pics of the choppers flying through the air and the topo's of the LZ's. I was also in charge of the whole battalions training schedule. Resupply, and other opperations, so I never go to deep into the old mans wish list of cool stuff to do. But looking back now, there is no reason why you couldnt put together a killer PP presentation on pruning, cabling, treatments, or so forth. It would actually be a lot easier than doing an interstate air mobile operation, involving 300+ men and a complicated air movement plan.

Kenn

 

[OutOnaLimb]

Single slides are easy to work on powerpoint. But you can take weekly pics from the same spot and over time, build a "time lapse" Presentation. This could be good if you are pushing Cambistat. or other things like Syxtrex. Snipper or Turbo. Keep in mind that trees dont grow or adapt as fast as the camera shutter closes. On any tree job you need at least a years results to post in in any type of slide. Two years being more prefered.

Kenn

 

[M.D. Vaden]

out on a limb...

Your post reminds me of my helicopter ride in May.

I've always been afraid to ride in a helicopter, but recently, driving to Seaside, Oregon a bit over an hour away at the coast, I recalled the helicopter ride place. I decided to give it a shot no matter what.

And, driving, I thought "Maybe the pilot is ex-military with lot's of experience. Sure enough - while paying inside the office, I saw a Marine emblem. For some reason the idea of a military pilot made me feel at ease.

It was fun too.. I put a link to them from my website links with a photo from my ride posted on my Advice page.

...from your post, I think I know what kind of screen you are referring too. I can see why they might like that..no shadows - consistency = accuracy.

 

[OutOnaLimb]

OK, and the last thing. (my wife wants me to get off the internet with all my arborist buddies.) A presentation is simply that, a presentation. Who ever is standing up on that stage needs to know his ins and outs. He has to be knowelagable, proficient, and have a generable understanding of tree biology. A picture is worth a thousand word. But if the ******* doesnt know cambium from cranium, whats the point? 90% of this presentation is made by the guy who is up there preaching the gospel. The power point presentation is just a high tech aid to him. He has to be able to relate to the customer. Thats where your sales are made.

Kenn

 

[OutOnaLimb]

And if that Heilocopeter crashed out in the middle of no-where, would you know how to turn the fuel pumps off and stop the rotors from spinnin???? Probibly not. Do your customers know that topping thier trees or thinning out more than 1/3 of the canopy is not good. Do they know about drob croutching to the next laterel branch? Do they know abou soil compaction, or the benifits of Mychorichae fungi? Probibly not. Dont you think that it shoud be your job as an arborist to inform them about such things just like a chopper pilot should tell you about such things as emergency rotor shut down, the seat belts or the break away seating? Not every one has ridden in a chopper, but most people have trees. Its our job to inform them.

Kenn

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Yes to more pictures less talk, yes to more timelapse; it'll be fun for me in Pittsburgh with 2 years of pics instead of 1.

Yes indeedy to having what you're showing down, and leaving time to throw it out to questions and being very practiced and confident enough to throw answers back.

The best comments I've heard were "It's nice to hear someone who doesn't sound like an academic" and "You must know your stuff; how else could you say things so outrageous".

Ask for and look closely at evaluations and feedback and check your ego at the door; I've learned the most from the negative comments.

Yes ppt. is a great tool but it can be mindnumbing; your content should stretch your audience's envelope, whatever that is.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

Guy...

Can you explain "stretch" ing the audience's envelope?

Does that mean to have enough variety of material to interest everybody?

Or does that mean to be prepared to take them beyond their scope of awareness?

One reason I ask...and it's an experience that may cause be to sidetrack from your meaning...

When I spoke at the 2003 Portland Yard show on pruning, I got the impression from the audience that they had predetermined in their minds what I was going to talk about - not in a controlling way, but because of their experience of what they had seen done in the past.

Sort of like - "well, good ol' Mario is going to teach us to tip back the Roses in fall, and cut more in February...and oh, yes, we are going to hear about clean tools and making 3 cuts to remove a limb"...

In other words, there's this formula way of speaking that people come to expect sometimes, because some speakers follow a formula.

I think they were shocked at first - not in a negative way. I did a miniature version of cabling with small eyes. And I had a cross cut section from a maple removal that was sliced right through a proper pruning cut of about 8 years ago that showed the fully compartmentalized stub and how it had sealed over nice.

Basically, I was talking about things unfamiliar to them. And that was really why I signed up to speak. I really don't like talking to people about what they know - maybe what they forgot, but not what they know.

That's why I retake my Pesticides class every 5 years or so. I remember too much to take it in 2 years. But I'm 40% brain dead on the details in 5 years, so I retake it all for a review.

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by M.D. Vaden
Does that mean to have enough variety of material to interest everybody?

Or does that mean to be prepared to take them beyond their scope of awareness?

Both. It sounds like your presentation did both, and that's great.

A lot of presentations I've seen had some content that was boring to me becasue I'd heard/read it recently, and nothing original was added. Others seemed boring because the format/delivery was unimaginative. Like the bottom line of the excellent article here
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html
puts it, you must Respect Your Audience.

Points can be made well with ppt. graphics. One that blew my socks off was the image of decay slowly spreading from root injury into the trunk. Yes it's ok to review the basics, but you've got to reach into some new areas if you want to make the experience worthwhile for your audience.

Now, offtopic slightly into culture and politics, but fun, here's a reach into the mind of a Talking Head:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt1.html