Oracle's bland and boring PowerPoint transformed with technology template

Sept. 20, 2011 - PRLog -- Communicating job responsibilities to new employees is a little easier thanks to Microsoft PowerPoint.  But for David Brooks of software giant Oracle Corp., the simplistic and amateurish look and feel of his 15-minute "Regional Manager Plan" PowerPoint presentation detracted from his effectiveness in explaining the company's new strategic role for regional managers.  Brooks called on presentation consulting firm The Presentation Team for a quick and affordable transformation of his eight-page presentation into a more legible, powerful slideshow that would maintain Oracle's brand identity and stand up well to projection as well as printout.

The project was contracted as a "Speedy Presentation" a fixed-price/fixed time offering from The Presentation Team that allocates 95 minutes for development.

In most slideshows, a quality template can go a long way in fortifying the look of a graphically weak presentation, especially those of a technical nature that lack an obvious image treatment.

The Presentation Team began their makeover by working in Adobe Photoshop to create a compelling 1024 x 768 replacement template.  The template was designed to be modern-looking and clean with an element of flow of motion.  A light background was offset by a lighter white title block at the top of the screen, where the title text appeared in red.  A 1024 x 50 pixel black bar spanned with the full width of the page, to hold the Oracle logo, which they moved from the bottom.

Appearing large on the title page, and repeated smaller on the bottom right of the master template, designers used a graphic of three square stock images - a handshake, a clock, and a chess piece - to signify partnership, time, and strategy, respectively.

Four of the eight slides featured basic lines of text set in 16-point Arial.  The Presentation Team designers bulked up the text by revising it on the master template to the non-nonsense Franklin Gothic Medium Condensed (28-point).  Similarly, we changed the title font to the heavier Franklin Gothic Heavy Italic (32-point, all caps).

Originally, several slides featured flowcharts and text groupings that were conveyed weakly with lightweight arrows and black-bordered rectangles.  To add impact, presentation experts increased the width of the arrows.  For improved readability, square edges were rounded and drop shadows were added.  In the text blocks, the presentation consultants reversed the subheads over the black bars.  Next came the basic animation effects and transitions.  Finally, the designers worked with Oracle to review the entire slideshow for textual consistency.

Through thoughtful planning, file management and communication, this speedy overhaul helped to more effectively communicate company concepts while reinforcing the stability of Oracle's brand.

The presentation design and samples are online for review at http://www.presentationteam.com/presentation-tips/blendin...

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The Presentation Team (http://www.presentationteam.com) specializes in presentation / PowerPoint design, training, and products. The company offers:

PowerPoint DESIGN
Presentation TRAINING
Presentation PRODUCTS
Presentation TIPS & HELP