Monthly Archives: January 2008
Presentation Tips
January 31st, 2008 by Kelly Guimont
I did a week’s worth of demos and talks at Macworld this year, and I’ve done other events at other places too where I had to get up and talk to a group of people. I am one of “those”, the people who actually like getting up in front of people and talking or singing or whatever it may be. So I submitted an idea for a talk to the local Ignite event, and I got accepted! It breaks down like this: Five minutes, 20 slides, show us whatcha got. Five minutes one second? Nope. At that point a slide comes up that says “BUZZ!” and the audience is encouraged to yell that loudly, and the person onstage is done. You get five minutes for ANYTHING, and as proof that anything does in fact go, here is the list for Ignite’s second event. In fact, we’ve covered it before here on Manage This.
Since I have another talk to give in the very near future, it seems like a bunch of presentation related links have crossed my path lately, so I have a few here to pass on to you, in case you are the type who likes or has to get up in front of people and present.
First, Ben from Instigatorblog has published a list of Dos and more importantly, Don’ts for giving any kind of presentation. Check out the links too, a solid piece of advice comes from the “When Demos go bad” link there-be completely prepared to give your talk “naked” (sans slides). If you think about any speechy event you’ve been to where you were impressed, however nice the slides were, if you weren’t impressed by the speaker there’s no slide on earth to make it better.
Also BusinessWeek has put up an article about giving a Steve Jobs level presentation. I’m partial to Steve so getting tips about how to give a Steve-style talk are always welcome in the Kellyverse. (Yes yes, I already know that wearing a black turtleneck and jeans will not impart magical Steve-like powers.) I enjoyed reading this because everything he says is pretty accurate and he identified things I have seen but not put my finger on. Thanks Carmine!
And because I cannot resist a bit of silliness too, I also came across a video displaying how NOT to use Powerpoint. I have done my best to avoid all of the “nots” in this video, and hopefully my slides will reflect that.
And I also got a couple of tips from Jeremiah Owyang but I can’t find a link for you: Be available after your talk if possible so people can follow up. Also, get there early and if you have eager beavers in the front row, ask them what they came to see or hope to get out of the talk-sometimes (and I do this a lot) you can tailor your talk to those folks a little by spending a bit more time on the things they say they are there to see.
That’s what I have for presentation tips, so now I am going to go back to panicking over the fact that I have a talk to give on Tuesday night to a crowd that is more than double the size of my entire high school. If I don’t cover it for you next week I’m sure Jim or Lucien will put something up about how it went.
R.I.P Think Secret
January 30th, 2008 by Nicole Andergard
In the days and weeks leading up to Macworld Expo, I tend to get rather focused, which must have been the case again this year considering I missed the big news over at Apple rumor site, Think Secret. Apparently, the well-known site will be shutting down for good in just a few short weeks.
For the past three years, Think Secret has been engaged in a lawsuit with Apple instigated when Think Secret leaked information about the Mac Mini and iwork before Apple’s big launch at Macworld ’05. For those of you that haven’t had the opportunity to access the show floor before the official show opening, I’ll tell you Apple is very serious and secretive about product announcements. They even drape their gigantic booth so that the other Expo vendors don’t get a sneak at the new product messaging before the show’s keynote presentation.
Apple and Think Secret reached a settlement in December resulting in the closure of the Think Secret site come mid-February. Think Secret’s publisher, Nick Ciarelli appears to be in pretty good spirits about the situation, perhaps it’s because he never revealed his source. To see his official statement on the matter check out the press release here.
Post-holiday purchases: it’s kismet
January 29th, 2008 by Amanda Paull
Yes, I’ve suddenly turned into one of those–an after-Christmas shopper. I never used to be. I used to think that you’d just acquired so much, why on earth would you want more? But then I started having more and more occasions to give gifts. Maybe that’s just an excuse. Anyway…
So I purchased a creative notebook for work- you know, all my many to-do lists are housed in there. (yes, some things in my life are still analog.) I go through them like water, so no point spending a fortune. I bought this one on Dec 26 last year. Not until recently, when I carried it into work, did I notice who produced it: Savannah College of Art and Design. They’re a customer! How cool is that.
They have a really fun venture where they productize student projects and sell them online- and apparently through wholesale. The venture is called Working Class Studio. I had to give them a shout-out, because their products are a great gift idea for the creative in your life (which may prove to be you). Check them out.
Hey, look! This month’s Mac|Life, featuring Kelly!
January 28th, 2008 by Kelly Guimont
I must admit I feel a little weird writing a whole post about me. I mean, I do write some personal blog posts for myself from time to time, but those are things about what I ate today or this thing that makes me cranky, not usually posts about the awesome thing I did, and I think this is pretty awesome.
I have written a couple of small articles for Mac|Life, the magazine that used to be MacAddict. I did some Shareware Pick Of The Month columns-they were a small portion of a page-but for someone who only ever had something published in a now-defunct local publication (ComputerBits, in case you’re local too) it was pretty cool to be asked, let alone to actually write it!
Anyway! A few months ago they asked me if I would write a font management article. Of course I would! It just so happens that I know an awful lot about the subject, what with my day job being what it is. So I got to work turning all the random font management and tips and tricks rattling around in my head into a piece of writing that met a word count limit (something blogs thankfully don’t have!) which was new. Not to mention I had to make it coherent and interesting to someone who had never managed a font before, but also make it handy for someone who has a grasp of the whole font management thing. It was a challenge I actually enjoyed.
So I wrote and wrote and deleted a bunch and wrote it again and obsessed over word count and tweaked and edited until it was finally a document I could live with, and I sent it off. I got a couple of small changes to make, made them, and waited (and waited and waited and waited, which I’m bad at) until the February issue appeared in our office, and the Learn: section is my article! Two full pages of stuff I wrote. So I got to make an awesome phone call to my mom, who likes the internet and sort of gets the blog thing but is way more excited about being able to go to the store and buy a magazine I am in.
Self-promotion aside, I really do think it’s a good article and if you would like a nice compact overview of how to start managing your fonts and stop letting your fonts manage you, this is a great way to start. You can actually do all of the “work” parts of this article in a very small amount of time, and it really is possible to bend your font collection to your will. If you subscribe or you happen across a copy, let me know what you think!
Portfolio 8.5.1 now available
January 25th, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
The newest update for our Portfolio suite of products is now available for download. This update adds some new functionality as well as fixes a number of issues. This is a recommended update for all Portfolio users.
To download the newest versions, check out the downloads page of our website.
Here is a quick overview of the new items by product:
Portfolio Server 8.5.1
- AutoSync Improvements – Portfolio Server offers additional improvements for AutoSync folders on Mac OS X.
Leopard Compatibility - Leopard compatibility – Portfolio is now compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard).
- Improved XMP metadata support – Portfolio Server has been updated to use the Adobe® XMP Toolkit v4.1.1, offering improvements for both extracting and embedding XMP metadata.
- Support for new digital camera Raw formats – The newly supported camera Raw formats include:
- Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III
- Canon EOS 40D
- Canon PowerShot G9
- Nikon D3
- Nikon D300
- Olympus E-3
- Sony DSLR-A700
Portfolio Client and Single-User 8.5.1
- Leopard Compatibility – Portfolio is now compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard).
- Save Catalog Types – Portfolio can now save custom Catalog Types, using the current catalog’s settings.
- Improved XMP metadata support – Portfolio has been updated to use the Adobe® XMP Toolkit v4.1.1, offering improvements for both extracting and embedding XMP metadata.
- Collect for Output improvements – When collecting files for output, Portfolio checks for any missing original files before collecting the files. If there are any missing files, Portfolio only warns you once before proceeding. At the end of the collection process, any missing files are displayed in a scratchpad gallery so that you are able to locate the original files.
- Support for new digital camera Raw formats – including all file formats listed above in the update to Portfolio Server.
Portfolio NetPublish 8.5.1
- Leopard and Apache 2.2 Compatibility – Portfolio NetPublish is now compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and will install under Apache 2.2 on this version of the Mac OS X operating system.
- Improvements to Assets Log – Additional data has been added to the Assets log, allowing more information to be gathered about items downloaded from NetPublish sites.
Portfolio Project Sync 1.0.1
- Users can now apply and edit metadata via the Adobe Bridge Metadata Panel, Metadata Templates and File Info dialog box.
Typecon 2008 – call for submissions
January 24th, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
Hot on the heals of a whirlwind trip to San Francisco for Macworld 2008 I’ve been thinking about trade shows and conventions. There are many of them that you could attend each year, but probably only have the budget to attend one or two.
If you were to ask me which event is my favorite, it’s not the huge, glitzy shows like Macworld that attract me most. While they’re great for large shows, I prefer the events where it’s easier to rub elbows with the celebrities in the industry. I prefer shows that feel comfortable like your favorite pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and that show for me is TypeCon. I had a great time in 2007, and am really looking forward to 2008 in Buffalo.
TypeCon is organized by people who really, really love type. Managed entirely through volunteer effort, every dollar in registration fees goes directly into program efforts, and it shows. Each presentation at the 2007 event was well organized and attended by an appreciative audience.
Last week the organizers put out a call for presenters and workshop proposals. Last year’s presentations were on a very wide array of topics – from woodblock printing to entirely new character sets being developed for languages just being committed to paper for the first time.
If you are able to add your unique voice to this great event, I highly recommend submitting a proposal. All submissions should be sent to info [at] typesociety.org by February 15, 2008.
Here are the show details:
TypeCon2008: Punkt
July 15-20, 2008
Hyatt Regency Downtown
Buffalo, New York
Hope to see you there!
MacBook Air or Asus EEE PC
January 23rd, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
Last week Apple premiered its new ultra-portable laptop the MacBook Air. I played with it a bit on the show floor at Macworld and was a impressed with it’s size and form factor. In my previous post I compared it a bit to other laptops in the same class – most notably the Asus EEE PC. This tiny little PC costs less than one quarter of the cost of the MacBook Air, and could be very useful for many of the same needs – email, web surfing, short document creation, watching YouTube videos, etc.
When one of my coworkers here at Extensis read the previous post, she immediately came up to me and said “I have one of those!” Which was somewhat surprising to me, since the EEE uses a custom Linux operating system, and the fact that they’re terrifically difficult to find and purchase. Well, she was kind enough to bring it in for me to play with for a few minutes. I’m happy to report that the operating system is very easy to use, and it has many common open source applications pre-installed.
Here’s a short video of the EEE – man, it’s really tiny!
Universal Type Server product feature demos
January 22nd, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
While at Macworld 2008, we took the opportunity to record a few quick demonstrations of features included in Universal Type Server. I asked people who were staffing our booth to each describe a different feature of the product in 60 seconds or less. These short little videos give you a quick look into the features of the product.
Product Marketing Manager, Cindy Valladares demonstrates the backup feature.
Megan Banman shows off the Smart Set feature of Universal Type Server in this video.
In this one I describe the benefits of the font license tracking feature.
Claire Taylor demonstrates the keywording feature.
Marisela Alzuhn describes the QuickFind feature, and how it helps you to quickly locate fonts in the Universal Type Client.
Also, if you missed it, this earlier post contains videos about the Previewing capabilities of the Universal Type Client as well as the web based server administration tools.
Stay tuned to Manage This for more product demos and information about release dates.
Macworld 2008 – other fun stuff in the expo hall
January 21st, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
OK, the show is over, but I’ve been going through my videos, and I have a few other fun things to share from the Macworld 2008 show floor.
The Smart Technologies booth had an interesting motion sensing tech that was being used for painting.
Here’s one huge printer at the Canon booth – it’s about six feet across!
David J of the bands Love and Rockets & Bauhaus was at the Best Buy booth from time to time.
And, here’s the Microsoft booth. They were showing off the Office 2008 for Mac. I’m looking forward to seeing the improvements in Entourage, that’s for sure.
Macworld 2008 – the show is over
January 21st, 2008 by Jim Kidwell
Macworld 2008 ended last Friday. It was a great place to show off Universal Type Server for the first time publicly.
I had a bit of time this past weekend to upload some additional videos. Here’s what the show floor looked like just 30 minutes after the show floor closed. It’s amazing how quickly everything comes apart. It’s all basically all held together with velcro, gaffer tape and zip ties.
Stay tuned for more Universal Type Server videos as well as videos of other items on the show floor.
