With that clarified, we have declared war on crappy PowerPoint..!   We're determined to rid the world of horrible PowerPoint one presentation at a time.

To mark the occasion, we kicked off the revolution last night with the launch of the Power Presenters Meetup Group, and our first public workshop on creatiing more effective PowerPoint presentations...!  

Thanks so much to everyone who came out to support the revolution and carry out the first mission.  For pictures of the event and all of the fantastic, smart, insightful, and attractive attendees, click here.

A big thank you to our favorite coworking space New Work City for hosting and co-sponsoring the event.

Please join the Power Presenters Meetup Group for infomation on all future events - which will focus on all aspects of effective presentation and communication.

Viva La Revolution....!!!

As professionals, we all need to influence in some way.  And, since Visual Storytelling is such a powerful means of communication and influecning, it only made sense to deliver a workshop on Influencing Through Visual Storytelling.

So what does that look like?  See the presentation here:

BigBlueGumball is proud to announce that we are headed up to Stamford, Connecticut to present to the Fairfield County Communications Association (FCCA) on the evening of November 15th.

The FCCA is the premier regional networking organization for public relations, marketing, and communications professionals who live and/or work in Fairfield County and the surrounding area.

FCCA is on an exciting and ambitious mission to develop a "Creative Corridor" that will leverage the innovative and creative talents of the local professional community. And our intention is to make a creative contribution to this effort -- while adding some interactivity and fun to the process.

How, you ask...?

By helping FCCA members to...

 "Unleash the Power of Visual Communication"!

To get your creative juices flowing and rev up for the event, please enjoy the video below...

BigBlueGumball at FCCA from Steve Cherches on Vimeo.

BigBlueGumball at FCCA - Promo from Steve Cherches on Vimeo.

These are just a few of the extremely important questions posed at BigBlueGumball's recent VizThink NYC workshop entitled "Red Light Go: Mixed Signals in Visual Communication."  

We live in a world in which we regularly encouter mixed signals that lead to miscommunication, misunderstanding, and uninformed decisions.  Visuals can (and should) help clarify our communication, but poor visual choices can amplify the confusion, and lead to disasterous results.  

"Red Light Go" was an opportunity to examine the impact of mixed messages in visual communication, as well as an exploration of how we can avoid them by becoming more effective visual communicators.  The end result looked something like the image below (courtesy of Amanda Lyons of Visuals for Change)...

For more about the event, please see the VizThink.com blog (courtesy of Dean Meyers), and check out the event photos on Meetup.com.

To stay in the loop on future VizThink NYC events, please click here and join the VizThink NYC Meetup Group.

Ready.... GO....!!!

Todd & Steve were proud to be the guest speakers at the May 2012 meeting of the NYC chapter of the ICF (International Coach Federation).

Held at the NYU midtown campus on W. 42^nd St., our presentation, entitled, “The Power of Visual Thinking: An Innovative Approach to More Effective Presenting & Coaching” was attended by a high-energy and highly-engaged group of approximately 50 members of the local coaching community.

We presented our, “Ten Top Tips for Designing & Delivering More Effective Presentations: A Wild 30-Minute Roller Coaster Ride,” followed by an interactive exploration of how to leverage the power of visual thinking and visual communication in a coaching context.

Among the various topics discussed were: what visual thinking is all about; napkin sketching; the use of visual language, metaphor, and storytelling; and how to create your own Visual Coaching Toolkit.

As promised, following are the answers to the top three questions we were asked:

[1] Can you post a copy of your “10 Top Tips”?

[2] Where can we find visual images to use in powerpoint presentations?

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/ 

www.iStockphoto.com

http://www.photoxpress.com/

http://www.sxc.hu

http://www.everystockphoto.com/ 

http://compfight.com/ 

http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2006/01/where_can_you_f.html

http://www.rethinkpresentations.com/presentation-images/

[3] Can you post a copy of your presentation skills book recommendation list?    

The List:

1.  The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs – by Carmine Gallo

2.  Slideology – by Nancy Duarte 3.Resonate – by Nancy Duarte

4.  Presentation Zen – by Garr Reynolds

5.  The Naked Presenter – by Garr Reynolds

6.  Presenting to Win – by Jerry Weissman

7.  The Exceptional Presenter – by Timothy J. Koegel

8.  Beyond Bulletpoints – by Cliff Atkinson

9.  Power, Influence & Persuastion – by Harvard Business Essentials

10.  The Confident Speaker – by Monarth & Kase

11.  The Story Factor – by Anette Simmons

12.  How to Develop Self-Confidence & Influence – by Dale Carnegie

13.  The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking – by Dale Carnegie

14.  10 Days to More Confident Public Speaking – by Princeton Language

15.  Present Like a Pro – by Maxie & O’Connor 

For further questions, please contact us any time.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Well long story, short, I was so inspired by that week's interview with Linda Lausell Bryant, the executive director of Inwood House -- a NYC-based organization that "Helps Teens Take Charge of Their Lives"-- that I did something I had never done before:

I sent her an email out of the blue saying, "How can we help!?"

As it turns out not only is Inwood House an amazing NYC-based organization, but they are our neighbors... located right here on the Upper East Side, less than a 5-minute walk from BigBlueGumball's home office!

So I am proud to say that over the past ten months we have had the pleasure of working with Linda and her brilliant and incredible team (some of the smartest, nicest, and most dedicated people we've ever had the pleasure of working with!), to help their staff develop their skills in the areas of management, leadership, communication, and innovation.

In addition to the pure satisfaction we receive from making a contribution to this amazing organization that is, literally, saving the lives of New York City teens, the following words of appreciation from Linda was, perhaps, the greatest gift of all:

"Meeting you and having the benefit of your brilliance and commitment to us is indeed one of the biggest blessings that came out of the New York Times article. In every interaction we have with you, we come away having learned something and ready to apply something. Thank you for your priceless partnership with us. We are thrilled to be your friends, your fans and your students!"

Humbled by these incredibly kind remarks, we would like to say thank you to Linda for what you do, for how you do it, and -- most of all -- for who you are.

We truly love working with you and your team, and thank you for this opportunity to make a difference, and to share in this wonderful partnership.  

As a long-time volunteer for Big Apple Greeter (16 years and counting -- see MSNBC article and fun pic below!), my full-time focus on growing our BigBlueGumball business has made it difficult for me to do as many "greetings" as I used to.

But Steve and I were thrilled to have the opportunity to pay a recent visit to Big Apple Greeter's NYC headquarters to deliver a pro bono training workshop for their amazing leadership team of Lynn Brooks, Alicia Pierro, Elizabeth Holmes, Gail Morse and other key staff members. We volunteered our training expertise in visual thinking and visual communications to assist them in their quest to "Design & Deliver More Effective & Persuasive Communications & Presentations." 

A good time was had by all, and we look forward to continuing to contribute in any ways we can to help support Big Apple Greeter in their mission to help make NYC the greatest -- and friendliest -- city on earth.

“Todd and Steve were a fantastic duo…we laughed throughout the casual but professional workshop while learning and honing in on some excellent management tactics and techniques.” – Avi Lugassy (Campaign Manager)

“Todd and Steve were fun, personable and clearly had a genuine interest in developing us as managers…all in all a fantastic experience” – Jamie Bryans (Campaign Manager, Los Angeles)

“I feel I have left the forum better equipped and prepared to manage my teams and myself. Thank you BigBlueGumball for a great time and a fantastic learning experience.” – Jorge Quinta (Campaign Manager, Chicago)

Please click here for more details about our wonderful partnership with this great organization.

Todd quoted in article.