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Improve Presentations With Black Slides

Temporarily switching to a black display or slide is an effective way in PowerPoint to change focus, add audience interaction or to handle discussions or content not related to the current slide in a presentation. Why bother? You don’t want to leave your audience distracted by the slide in front of them especially if the presentation or conversation has changed. Plus, a black display quickly signals a change in topic or material.

Explore the 5 ways to work with black slides in PowerPoint:

  1. Presentation Remote
  2. Projector Remote
  3. Quick Slide Show Keyboard Shortcuts
  4. Create a Black Slide
  5. End with a Black Slide

Presentation Remote

The easiest way to switch to a black display is with a presentation remote. If you use one, practice using the button to go to a black screen so you are less likely to accidentally hit this button when you don’t want it.

Projector Remote

If a presentation remote is not available, you may have access to the projector remote control. This is more likely for smaller or internal presentations when the A/V equipment is not so tightly controlled as with conference sessions or large groups. Many projector remotes have an option for “Black Screen”. Also, practice turning this feature on and off. Do not choose “Standby” as it may take several minutes to “wake-up” the projector from this mode.

Quick Keyboard Shortcuts to a Black Display

While running your PowerPoint slide show, easily switch to black by pressing the letter B (for black) or press the [Period] key while running your slide show. Just press B again to restore the presentation.

You can also press the letter W (for white) to toggle/switch to a white display. A white display, however, is often too bright in many presentation environments.

Create a Black Slide

As with other parts of a presentation, you may also want to build in or choreograph your interaction and other transitions in addition to the slide show. Do this by adding a black slide at the point where you want to temporarily change focus.

One advantage of a black slide over just turning the screen black is that, when you continue with your presentation, the next slide or topic will display instead of the slide you were previously displaying. Plus, a black slide may “jog” your memory about planned transitions.

To create a black slide in PowerPoint:

  1. Create a slide with a Blank Layout.
  2. Pick on the Design tab > Format Background.
  3. Click Hide Background graphics.
  4. Choose Solid fill and pick a black from the Color options.

End with a Black Slide

Another way to work with a black slide in a PowerPoint presentation is to choose whether or not you want to end your presentation with a black slide. Although this is a default in PowerPoint, you can quickly verify or change this option.

To set the option to end a slide show with a black slide:

  1. File > Options.
  2. Select the Advanced category. Under the Slide Show section, check or uncheck End with black slide and OK to continue.

Bonus Tip:

To avoid moving too far at the end of a PowerPoint presentation and accidentally exiting out of a slide show, I like to add a few “buffer” slides I don’t plan to show. If I do, however, click too many times with my presentation remote, the extra slide will display. Good choices for these ending slides include a simple slide with your company logo or website or an appropriate photo.

Finally, as with any presentation, make sure to practice your presentation (along with planned interaction) so that you can effectively and successfully deliver your message.

Were these PowerPoint tips helpful? Discover more PowerPoint techniques and shortcuts here.

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Debt Negotiation Tips – Why Unsecured Debt is Easier to Negotiate Now

Did you hear about debt negotiation tips six months back? The answer is no. This is because debt negotiation tips were not required. People were earning stable incomes and paying their dues in an easy manner. The present situation is a completely different scenario. Do you know why credit card companies are finding it hard to recover their dues? The unemployment rate is one of the reasons. As people are losing their jobs, they do not have enough money to pay their bills. Use the right debt negotiation tips and get your liabilities eliminated. What kind of debt negotiation tips do you need?

Attractive deals require good debt negotiation tips

If credit card firms are passing through a bad phase, this does not mean that you will be offered the best package without making any efforts. You need to bargain about each and everything. Mostly customers argue about the payment period and the installment size with the money granting company. If they get more time, the installment size is large.

Key debt negotiation tips to handle your creditor

Let’s look at some important factors required to handle the creditor.

· Do not sound desperate at any stage. If you do then the money granting company will try to convince you for a low percentage. Be firm and show that you deserve a good deal. If an experienced consultant is representing you, you don’t have to take these pressures.

· Money granting companies are quite rigid if the customer hides a point from his consultant. Do not hide any kind of information from the firm which is representing you. If you have been a defaulter in the past, your consultant should be aware of this fact.

· Generally financial companies are going through a lean patch but all of them are not facing the same kinds of troubles. Some firms offering settlements but they are in a strong financial situation. Hence, you cannot expect them to offer large reductions. On the other hand, if the financial firm is in a weak situation, it will accept anything. You can even get a reduction of eighty percent in that situation. This is because the firm will be desperate to get money. As a customer, you should analyze the condition of your credit card company before you take any kind of a decision. Using the right negotiation tips is really important.

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Job Interview Tip: How to Present a 30/60/90-Day Plan

I’ve been a recruiter and career coach for over 10 years now, and I have always recommended that my candidates use a 30/60/90-day plan in their job interviews, because I used it when I was an employee in the job search. I saw phenomenal results from using it, and my candidates do, too.

Why? A 30/60/90-day plan is an outline for what you’ll do as a new employee in the first 3 months. It shows that you understand the job, can do the job, and will do the job. It’s an “above and beyond” step that impresses hiring managers and alleviates any doubts they may have about your fit for the job. It facilitates the interview conversation, and makes you a stronger candidate.

But the other day, a candidate came back to me and said that he created the plan, but the hiring manager didn’t want to see it. He tried to bring it out and present it, but the interview, which hadn’t been going all that well so far, went from bad to worse. The candidate’s question was, of course, “What should I have done?”

It’s very rare for a hiring manager to not want to see a candidate’s 90-day plan, but when they don’t, it’s typically because they’ve already decided that it’s glaringly obvious to them that you’re not who they want to hire. There’s usually some issue there (which could be anything from experience to education to personality) that you’re just not going to be able to overcome.

In other cases, it’s simply a matter of how you’ve presented the plan. You don’t just come out of the blue in the job interview and say, “I have a 30/60/90-day plan I’d like to show you.” You have to time it right.

For your best time to present your plan, you’re waiting for the trigger point-that question that they ask that is something like,

“How would you do X?”
“What would you do in the first few months on the job?”
“How would you approach this problem?”
“How would you segment your market/customers?”
“What tasks would you tackle first?”

Any question along those lines works. That’s when you say something like, “I’m so glad you asked. Let me show you some of the notes I’ve taken on how I would approach this. They might not be perfect, but if we can talk about this together, you’re going to have a much better picture of my understanding of the job and I’m going to end up with a better understanding of the job, which is a win-win for both of us. Because if I understand the job, and you understand who I am, then we can make a better decision about whether or not to move forward with this.” Most managers will respond to that attitude and explanation very positively.

So, if a manager is not receptive to your 30/60/90-day plan, it’s either because (1) you’re absolutely not a good fit for the job; or (2) you’re just not introducing it at the right time. Keep that in mind when you go into your next interview, and I wish you the best of luck.

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