Fill your powerpoints with CRAP

Powerpoints. 

If you're like me, you've been making them since middle school, but what if I told you that you've likely been doing them wrong for years. Most powerpoints, or slidecasts as their often called, throw visual design principles out the window. They are loaded down with redundant bullet points and are nearly impossible to read without someone narrating along with it. 

Slidecasts to be truly effective should be able to be read comprehensibly without a presenter; summarizing only the most important details the author wants to get across to his audience. In general, It would be wise to remember these key points:

• Each slide should use only one point, or main idea.
• Text should be used only for emphasis.
• Any images should serve a rhetorical purpose and be relevant and engaging; avoid clip art.
• Put CRAP in your slidecast!

Set off by that last point? Don't be, CRAP is an acronym for general principles of visual design. It is all about visual contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. I could tell you what this looks like, but it would be easier to show you. 

If you click the following link you'll be taken to a slidecast by Mark Johnstone on creative adverting, in which Mark makes use of all the above pricnples. 

http://www.slideshare.net/MarkJohnstone2/how-toproducebettercontentideasmarkjohnstone?ref=http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/inspiring-slideshare-presentations-for-marketers-list

For starters, notice the CRAP layout (the good kind of CRAP). The entire presentation tends to be in black and white or a shade of gray, which shows a clear contrast between the text and background. The font he uses is an all lowercase, simple typewriter-esque serif font. These same basic feautres repeat throughout his document. Everything on his slides, his type, images, graphs, are in a center alignment. When called for, the individual pieces follow a logical order, with text on the top and bottom of each slide and an image in the middle, thus creating proximity.

Everything has a purpose. Individually, the black and white color scheme, pain typeface and center alignment are typically seen as over simple tools of design that many creating a slidecast would seek to avoid. However, Mark takes these individual facets and uses them to create a slidecast that is interesting and appealing to his audience.

Visual designs aside, mark also makes use of other points as well. He has only one main idea on each slide, his text is only ever used for emphasis, and when he does use images, they are to illustrate his point more clearly to the viewer. Above all, the presentation is entirely comprehensive without mark having to lecture us.  I don't know about y'all, but I could think of a few lecture-heavy professors who could take some design tips from Mark.



**Addendum**

To experiment with CRAP myself (pun not intended). I created a single slidecast from some research I used in one of my previous school projects, a white paper on how nonprofits use social media.

Both the text and image are aligned to the center. The color of the text and background are in contrast with one another, with the background being a very pale blue. The background also matches with the blue in the image. Lastly, all aspects of this design repeat and are in close proximity with each other. I use the same fonts and colors to portray a crisp presentation. It's by no means perfect, but I would definitely consider it a start. 

**fair use edit** to my my knowledge, the image I used in no way violates copyright. While it is an image used by an academic party to explain better a piece of an academic research,  citing the author bellow should be enough to register my use of it for noncommercial educational purposes. I came to this conclusion by working through the 4 legal factors  of copyright. 

Firstly, my use for the above image is for educational purposes only. I in no way profit financially for using this image. Secondly, while I use creative aspects to get my point across, it is still a piece of a fact based slidecast Third, I used far less of the original work then the typically accepted "10%" of legal use. Lastly, There is no way for me to harm the market or competition of the authors. Given that this pot liekly wont see the outside of this classroom, there is no danger of encroaching on possible profits of the author.

Nest Realty Reasearch

Hello everyone, as part of my service learning project, I am here to present some of the research I’ve collected so far involving realty and social media. My initial question was very broad because I’m still not sold on exactly what the best facet of improvement could be for Nest Realty. Though I have a few ideas.

Right now, I want to focus on their competition. What social media outlets, strategies and/or exercises are other realty companies using to their advantage. For one thing, some realty companies seem to be making social media activity and know-how not simply a company endeavor but an employee one as well. On February 8, 2010, Prudential California Realty began a six month training and support program designed to assist agents leverage new social media (Business WireFeb). At the time these “new” channels were Twitter and Facebook, which have since grown to become some of the most well used social media apps to date. Focusing on the agents could allow Nest Realty to ensure their agents are familiar with the latest social media and that they gain effective strategies to engage their audience.

Nest currently utilizes two primary social media apps, Facebook and Instagram, where they have a fairly strong following. As I mentioned in a previous blog, Nests strategy so far has been to focus on the quality of their posts and their own ethos as opposed to the number of posts. They want to give off a friendly, old-fashioned vibe to their audience, and for the most part they do a pretty good job. However, their social spread seems a bit thin for a business. Many of my classmates feel as though Nest should spread out into twitter, which i is incredibly popular, though there is some concern with how well the twitter dynamic would fit with Nest’s current publicity practices. I myself have another suggestion: Pinterest

“Best-selling author and media training expert Susan Harrow understands this challenge and believes that out of the endless list of social media channels to explore; Pinterest should be at the top.” Pinterest is a “visual discovery tool,” popular among young adult and college age women, that allows users to search and “pin” images and ideas related to all their interests. It is very similar to Instagram and would fit well within Nest’s current Social Media appeal.  Pinterest is the ideal place to post pictures of houses and property and it has the potential to accommodate a lot popularity with it’s hashtag #lovewhereyoulive. Given that Nest is a realty company I feel they couldn’t go wrong with experimenting with Pinterest.

Works Cited

"Prudential California Realty Launches Six-Month Agent Social Media Training and Support Program." Business WireFeb 08 2010. ProQuest. Web. 24 Oct. 2015

"The Power of Pinterest: 5 Tips on how to use Pinterest for Your Small Business." PR NewswireJan 21 2015. ProQuest. Web. 24 Oct. 2015

All about Nest Reality

Companies today go through great lengths to seem "hip" for their audiences. It is very important from a marketing perspective. The better you appeal to others the more likely your audience is to seek your business. Nest Reality is one such business that strives to stay afloat on the shifting sea of trends.
They are a Real estate brokerage company here in Wilmington, North Carolina who have done a fairly good job of building a positive online presence.

Nest Reality tries to set itself apart from other real estate companies by holding on a charming old-fashioned integrity in a business world that seems increasingly cut-throat. The seek to appeal lighthearted and trustworthy to their audience and in their philosophy towards the reality business. Transparency and the feeling of starting a relationship are qualities they seek to provide for their clients.

Ryan Creclius, whom himself works for Nest Realty had this to say in an interview. "It's a high tech world we live in, but at the end of the day, shaking hands at the end of the real estate transaction's very important."

A few of the many Nest Realty agents, each with their own bios.

The beginning to the Nest Realty Agents page.

What Nest seeks above all else is to appear credible to their clients, and not just credible as a successful brokerage, but as a fun and honest company. So far, in my analysis they seem to be doing a fair job of that. Their website http://www.nestrealty.com/wilmington/ projects an approachable  credibility. It is very simple with crisp clean colors. They feature detailed bios about all their agents humanizing them to make their company seem more approachable.

From the analysis I've gathered so far, Nest Realty seems to be doing okay in the appeal department. With my experience It will be challenging to find anything worth improving. Though I'm sure nest will be open to whatever I can find.