Just to be clear... we're not declaring war on PowerPoint itself.  PowerPoint is simply a tool.  And like any tool, it can be used well... or it can be damaging.

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....!!!

This December, BigBlueGumball was happy to deliver our first workshop for the UJA Federation of New York.

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:

Due to Hurricane Sandy, our event has been rescheduled for February 21, 2013.  Stay tuned for more details...!

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.

If confronted with these two restroom signs (on the right), which one would you choose?  If you drove up to a green stop sign, would you stop or go?  If the "No Smoking" sign was on the bottom of an upside-down ashtray... hmmm... where to even start....?

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....!!!

At BigBlueGumball... we have a dream... that one day... everyone... will recognize the power of visual communication.

As communicators and presenters, we all recognize the power of words.  What is often overlooked though, is the added impact that visuals have on an audience.  The power of visuals not only comes from the things we see, but also from the things we hear.  When Martin Luther King, Jr. told us that he "has a dream," he painted his dream for us using vivid language, metaphor, and tone that automatically turned our minds into a canvas for our imagination.

Last week, Todd and I had the opportunity to be guest presenters for VizThink NYC.  Through a series of interactive exercises including VizProvization, VizBiz Pictionary, and sketch-noting, we explored the power of visual communication, and unleashed the power and creativity that existed in all who attended. 

VizThink events tend to attract incredibly creative, talented, insightful, and friendly people from around the globe, which always makes each event a fantastic experience.  Last week's event drew people from as far away as Sweden, California, Westchester, Long Island, and the Upper East Side...!

To more fully engage in the experience, please check out the following links:

VizThink.com (event write-up)
http://vizthink.com/blog/2011/04/02/the-power-of-visual-communication

Pictures on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/merrybrain/sets/72157626408290350

Visuals For Change (blog post with sketchnotes)
http://www.visualsforchange.com/blog/2011/03/31/vizthink-nyc-presents-the-power-of-visual-communication-with-bigbluegumball/

Present Your Story (blog post with sketchnotes)
http://www.presentyourstory.com/blog/2011/4/5/vizthink-nyc.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Special thanks to VizThink, MJ Broadbent, Ray DeLaPena, Amanda Lyons, Nolan Haims, and Liquidnet.