Using real faces in PPT (+ Microsoft AutoCollage)

I like using images of people in my PowerPoint presentations.

• Faces create an emotional connection (especially on a title page that is open for a long time on the screen while the audience sits down)
• Faces allow the visualization of a consumer segment, an image says more than a 1,000 words (college education, mid-income, Hispanic, woman, suburbia, etc.)

Things to think about when picking images:

• Select images of "real people", not "artificial" models, cliche images, or cheesy compositions of which there 1,000s on stock image sites (hand shakes, applause, "business person in suit", call centre rep, etc.)
• Images isolated on a white (or black) background often blend in most easily into your template
• Often, I use a color overlay to take the natural image colors out and replace it with a color from my client's color scheme.

I used a free trial of Microsoft Research AutoCollage 2008 to show some examples of images of "real people" I used (click on the image for a larger picture). All images were purchased from iStockPhoto.

(B.t.w., why is Microsoft trying to sell this product with many free collage utilities available on the web?)