1. Follow a standard subject line protocol in all emails involving the project. Project number and client name – description EXAMPLE: 12-0000 Big Hot Co. – Event keynote sample slides 2. Use a consistent name for the project. Too many times, clients have varying nicknames or acronyms for projects and we can’t tell if it’s a new [...]

The Selection and Visibility Pane is an extremely useful feature in PowerPoint 2007/2010. So useful, in fact, that you may wonder how you ever worked without it. The Selection Pane keeps track of everything on the slide in a task pane on the right side of the desktop. View the Selection Pane: On the Home [...]

Bluewave is all about visual storytelling. We design professional presentation media that help our clients deliver clear, compelling and visually impactful communications for corporate events, keynote executive speeches, product launches, sales meetings and road shows. These are often big-stakes situations, where high pressure, precision and state-of-the-art multimedia predominate. But sometimes the most effective selling tool [...]

Many PowerPoint presentations are formatted at the default 4:3 aspect ratio, which is the display size used by older TV screens and projectors. Widescreen shows, with a 16:9 aspect ratio, are becoming more and more common. Keynote conferences and other high-end events will likely be displayed in widescreen environments. For smaller venues, widescreen HD-capable DLP chip projectors are now very [...]

Microsoft Office Discussion Groups is a great resource for any questions you may have about working with PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Outlook and other Microsoft Office products. It’s the place to go when you’ve finally thrown in the towel and conceded defeat, or just want to get more familiar with techniques and procedures. http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx  You can ask questions [...]

Needs Analysis Review project briefs or outlines Clarify the message Identify the target audience Determine the optimal media/platform Proposal Development Statement of work — Includes a description of the project and list of deliverables. Budget — Each budget is project-based. We keep our customers continuously updated on budget as we proceed through design and production. Schedule — [...]

By Randy Schroeder, Bluewave Producer Life is like a yardstick. In some ways, the easy part is the last 11¾ inches. The hard part is often the first quarter inch: getting organized and defining goals. Don’t cut corners on that first quarter inch, for it often moves the project from good to great. Many of our clients have [...]

By Randy Schroeder, Bluewave Producer Rule #1 — Allow plenty of time. Not enough time is the most common problem any design firm faces. Too often, the client is expecting a fast turnaround at a low price. Rule #2 — Respect the design team. Respect their creativity, judgment and effort. They are professionals and deserve [...]

All a design firm has to sell is time — time to create artwork. Clients don’t always understand the full scope of the design process. All parts of the project must be billed. Here is a list of billable items in a typical presentation project, in timeline order: Discuss the project. Often free, but it [...]

A few years ago, Dave Nix outlined the basic steps Bluewave follows in taking a presentation design project from start to finish. Format existing graphics Format all slides to the guidelines established in the template Implement a consistent layout throughout different sections Format all charts, graphs and tables for consistency and style Check and fix [...]