Academics and Industry work together to uncover the secret of effective presentations

PowerPoint presentations will never be the same again! The Cork subsidiary of World Class Solutions has teamed up with University College Cork to discover how images, colours and motion can influence decision makers.

April 7th 2008 - Pat Hough, the CEO of WCS explained why they commissioned the research. "Imagine a company trying to sell their product or service to a multinational company or a state agency. They’ll only get a few minutes to make their case. We want to select the images and colours that will give them the very best chance of success.”

WCS develop high-end presentations for clients and use three-dimensional animated graphics to deliver the client’s message. “There’s evidence that images and words together are much more persuasive than words alone,” Pat Hough explained. “However, we believe it’s important to match the images to the audience’s personality type. That’s why we want to find out exactly what images and colours are most effective with each type.”

The UCC team is headed by Dr. Jurek Kirakowski of the Human Factors Research Group. He believes that harnessing the results from academic research can provide a significant advantage for commercial companies. “This research project has forced us to take a closer look at areas of research that are rarely connected together. It’s exciting to see how the pieces fit.”

Noirin Curran is the chief researcher on the project. She has already found evidence that the use of colour can impact on the cognitive resources used by the audience and she has even identified rare situations where black and white images can be more effective. She is also excited about the outcome of the project. “It’s particularly interesting to see how personality types and persuasion can impact on each other,” she said.

Unique Vision Limited, a subsidiary of WCS, is also involved in several other research projects including the use of Neuro-Linguistic-Programming techniques to identify an audience’s primary and secondary representational systems. World Class Solutions can be found on the web at www.WCLASS.com and can be contacted by telephone on 353-21-4373283.

Free PowerPoint backgrounds are only available for a limited time

PowerPoint backgrounds are available for free – but only for a limited time - from the World Class Solutions website at www.wclass.com. The firm is also developing a range of 3D animated backgrounds and the first of these will be available as a free download for the first thousand visitors to the site.

March 01, 2008 - World Class Solutions (WCS) have launched a new series of PowerPoint backgrounds on their website and right now these are available as free downloads. The backgrounds complement the firm’s 3D animation software that was launched in January.

‘We are aware that many of our customers are still using PowerPoint so we’ve decide to make those backgrounds available for free – for a limited time,’ explained CEO Pat Hough.

WCS are also working on a new series of products to support the traditional presentation market. ‘We are using the same technology that was developed for our presentation software to develop these 3D animated backgrounds for PowerPoint,’ he said. The 3D backgrounds will be available directly from the WCS website.

As a special bonus for frequent visitors to wclass.com the firm have decided to give away one thousand copies of the first 3D animated background for free. ‘We are hoping that visitors to our website will keep coming back,’ explained Pat Hough. ‘We will put the free animated backgrounds on our website some days before we release the news – that way we expect that our repeat visitors will get most of the copies.’

World Class Solutions sell two dedicated presentation software packages that combine the advantages of 3D graphics and animation with significantly reduced preparation time. These stand-alone packages are called ‘Executive Impact’ and ‘Executive Earth’. There is also an auto-run version of ‘executive Impact that is ideal for tradeshows.

World Class Solutions also develop high-end custom presentations. These are fine-tuned to appeal specifically to decision-makers. Images, colours, timing and keywords are all carefully chosen for maximum impact.

‘Executive Impact’ and ‘Executive Earth’ are stand-alone presentation packages for Windows XP or Vista. They do not require Microsoft PowerPoint. Each package is based on a single theme. More information is available at http://www.wclass.com

New presentation package uses the power of visual metaphors to get customers to listen and remember

World Class Solutions have just launched a new presentation software package to help business users make their point quickly and effectively. It’s called “Executive Earth” and it’s available from their web site at www.wclass.com.

February 04, 2008 - The latest presentation package from World Class Solutions makes extensive use of visual metaphors to capture the audience’s attention and retain their interest. Anyone can use the package to develop a presentation in minutes just by typing text into a form. When they give their presentation the words are embedded in the animated graphics. The results looks stunning - but more importantly - the underlying visual message complements the presenter’s words.

Visual metaphors are a very effective way of getting people to listen, remember - and take action. That’s because the audience receives several streams of information through different sensory channels at the same time. When those channels are merged the streams are linked in memory. It’s like a visual mnemonic – it makes things much harder to forget.

Of course it’s important that the key elements of the message are linked to the appropriate sections of the animation. That’s why, for a limited period, World Class Solutions are offering everyone who buys the package a free consultation (by email) on their first presentation.

“We hope this will encourage business people to be more adventurous and more focused with their presentations”, said CEO Pat Hough, “more people are using graphics and animation in their presentations but we believe it’s important that the graphics work hard to sell the message.”

The low-cost package is available from the firm’s web site at www.wclass.com.

Executive Earth is a stand-alone presentation package for Windows XP or Vista. It does not require Microsoft PowerPoint or other presentation software. The package is based on a “near space” theme and costs €50 + VAT (about US$75). More information is available at www.wclass.com/acatalog/Presentation_software.html

New PowerPoint rival uses 3D animation to slash preparation time

Presentations that blend text with 3-D animation can now be created in minutes with Executive Impact™ - a new low-cost software package from World Class Solutions.

December 05, 2007 - World Class Solutions has officially launched a new class of presentation software that combines the advantages of 3D graphics and animation with significantly reduced preparation time. The low-cost package is available from the firm’s web site at www.wclass.com

“It’s called ‘Executive Impact’ because it’s possible to create a complete presentation from scratch in less than 7 minutes”, explained CEO Pat Hough. “Most business people don’t have enough time to create effective  presentations because they’re just too busy. This package will help them focus on their message – the most important part of any presentation. The graphics and structure are already built-in.”

Executive Impact™ actively blends 3D graphics with text. “Our aim was to develop something new to give our customers a professional edge. I think they also enjoy the irony that the best-looking presentations now take the least time to create”, said Pat Hough. Audiences agree that the results are exceptional - a departure from PowerPoint templates that use graphics only as a backdrop.

Executive Impact™ is a stand-alone presentation package for Windows XP or Vista. It does not require Microsoft PowerPoint or other presentation software. Each package is based on a single theme and costs €25 + VAT (about US$37). More information is available at www.wclass.com

New presentation software website launched

November 01, 2007 - World Class Solutions has launched a new e-commerce website to support the increasing demand for training and information on presentation skills and for low-cost high-quality presentation software. The site incorporates an on-line store where a new range of presentation packages will be on sale.

"These products will target a new segment of the presentation market," CEO, Pat Hough, explained. "Our traditional business is developing custom presentations. These are used primarily by corporate clients and by high-potential start-ups. We build-in specific elements to target and actively persuade the target audience to take action. The new site will build on that experience. There will be presentation advice and low-cost software available for anyone who wants to give an effective presentation."

The new website can found at www.wclass.com