We understand that being green is no longer just a fad. It’s the future. That’s why Ethos3 is committed from this day forward to build and design presentations that are more earth friendly. Granted, we know we will have our fair share of challenges ahead of us. Like Kermit said, it’s not easy being green. Thus, here are a few small (and easy!) suggestions on how we plan to keep Kermit’s pad in mind when creating presentations. We encourage you to embrace them as well.
Push Away Paper
The days of a million hand-outs should be over. Ideally the corporate world would eliminate hand-outs altogether, but sometime there isn’t a way around them. If you must print, reduce. Print four slides to a page and make sure you use the front and back each page. To further decrease your printed page count, think long and hard before you print out a draft of your presentation to make corrections. Edit as much as possible on the computer first. Instead of printing out copies for your 17 colleagues, use online presentation sharing sites like SlideShare to elicit their edits and comments.
It Could Be Nicer Being Red
But it will be nicer to the environment if your printed presentation wasn’t. Although Kermit wished he was something more colorful, don’t assume that your presentation feels the same. When printing, print in black and white. Your audience will still be stunned by the beautiful kaleidoscope that is your presentation when it’s on the big screen.
Spend Less Bonding Time with Mr. Computer
This one is simple. Computers use much less energy when they are turned off. Instead of staring at a blank PowerPoint slide for hours, start by sketching out your presentation ideas on scratch paper. Once you know how you would like to structure your presentation, you will spend less time on the computer using the electricity it loves so much.
Fade to Black
If your presentation discussion goes off on a tangent, take a moment to dim your current slide to black-out. You’ll find that many questions will lead to conversations that don’t necessitate your presentation slide being in the background. Saving just a little energy by dimming your projector will make that much more of a difference at the end of the day. Although it might seem small, remember that Kermit wasn’t too big either and he always managed to save the day.
If you liked this article, you can read a similar piece we put together for the SlideShare blog.
