More tips on PowerPoint presentations

Here you can find list of do's and dont's for PowerPoint presentations.

The dont's for PowerPoint

Here you can find Don McMillan's standup on the dont's of a PowerPoint presentation.

The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

Here you can find Guy Kawasaki's recommendations on the length (10 slides), duration (20 minutes) and font size (30 points) in a PowerPoint presentation.

Here you can find a stream of his pitch. ('Bozo' means 'fool'.)

Lists of three and the rule of three: three speeches

Here you can find the first part of Steve Jobs's iPhone product launch speech.

Here you can find Barack Obama's inauguration speech.

Here is Steve Jobs's famous Stanford commencement speech submitted by S.  Thank you S!

In both of them, please pay attention to the usage of the lists of three and the rule of 3.

Here is a stream where the rule of 3 is explained among other useful tips on making presentations.

Here is another article on the rule of 3 submitted by E.  Thank you E!

Political situation in Belgium

Here you can find a stream, which gives an overview of the political and administrative system in Belgium.

Here you can find an article from The Economist, which is a commentary on the political situation in the country. I do not think it has changed significantly since the article came out.

Here is a more recent article from The Economist.

Here you find a Wikipeadia page submitted by S.  Thank you S!

Journalistic titles

Here you can find a brief explanation on journalistic titles used in, e.g., newspaper headlines.  We, however, should not use this style for our titles in administrative writing.  How would you change the headlines provided as examples in the hot-linked document into administrative style titles?

Living in Belgium

For our next session, we will be talking about living in Belgium.  In this context we can table some of the best kept secrets of this country for day and/or weekend trips.  We can also talk about the cultural activities on the offer in Brussels.  Finally, we can exchange some unique experiences we have had living in this country.

You can hereby have access to Agenda, the weekly magazine for the cultural events in Brussels. The website seems to be only in Dutch and French, but the paper version is in three languages, i.e., English, Dutch and French.  If you live in Brussels, you can get a free subscription for home delivery.

Is the EU a real democracy?

Here is a page from the UN website on what democracy is.

Here is a BBC piece on the three main European Institutions.  It aired before the Lisbon Treaty.

Here is a page from the Commission website on improving transparency and democracy in the EU after the Lisbon Treaty.

Here is a webpage with a call for more democracy in the EU.

For those of you who have the time to watch it, here is a documentary on the role of lobbyists in Brussels.

Moreover, here is you can find a Eurobarometer survey on the perception of the EU by citizens. Thank you F!

We can start the session by defining what democracy is. Then, we can talk about the power dynamic among the three main institutions.  Afterwards, we can discuss the apparent disconnect between the average European citizen and the EI. Finally, we can talk about the role of the lobbyists in the legislative process in Brussels, i.e., of course if we have enough time.