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AuthorAdam Tratt

Help! I Want To Use My Own Images, But I Can’t See Them

September 5, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Accessing Local Photos (iPad Only)

Most people don’t think about it, but photos on your iPad often contain hidden location tags in them. In order for the Haiku Deck iPad App to access these images, you need to allow the app to use “location data.” If you deny this permission the first time you run Haiku Deck, your local photos may not appear.

If you’re trying to use images  stored on your iPad in a Haiku Deck and you can’t see them when you click the “IMPORT” button, try this simple fix.

If you’re on iOS 6 or 7:

  1. Go into to your iPad’s settings menu.
  2. Choose “privacy” on the left.
  3. Choose “photos” on the right.
  4. Find Haiku Deck in the list of apps that appears.
  5. Turn location services ON for Haiku Deck.

If you haven’t upgraded to iOS 6, the process is a little different:

  1. Go into your iPad’s settings menu.
  2. Choose “location services” on the left.
  3. Find Haiku Deck in the list of apps that appears.
  4. Turn location services ON.

The next time you try to access local images, they should appear.

Learn more:  Import Images to Haiku Deck Like a Pro.

And if you’re still having issues or you have a question, please drop us a line in our Support community!

Easy As Mom’s Brisket

September 4, 2012 / / 0 Comments

When we set out to make Haiku Deck we had a few product goals. “Make it easy” topped the list, along with “deliver flawless beauty.” With these in hand, we sat down to establish benchmarks for measuring our success. During that meeting I joked that I would know we had achieved our goal of making Haiku Deck easy if my mom could create a deck without needing to call me for technical support. Don’t get me wrong- my mom is an intelligent, creative, and incredibly talented woman. She raised not one, but two “computer genius” sons (neither of us can write a line of code), she runs a medical office entirely by computer (1980’s era, no less), and she had the foresight to buy her sons an Apple II+ when all they wanted was an Atari. All this, and mom makes a brisket famous the world over.

Like lots of moms and dads out there, she didn’t grow up around computers and can’t always make sense of them. So we kept mom in mind when we were designing Haiku Deck.

When I told mom about our meeting and how we tried to build a product that she could enjoy using without a technical support call, she responded with the most delicous deck we’ve seen yet. When I asked her if we could share it on the blog she said, “Sure, just as long as you don’t call me for technical support when you’re making the brisket.”

How To Use Haiku Deck with Apple TV via Airplay

August 30, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Using AppleTV

Using AppleTV for easy, wireless presentations to a TV is a snap.  When your iPad and AppleTV, or computer and TV, are on the same wifi network, you can wirelessly stream your deck to the TV, controlling it from the iPad and having access to your private notes for added presenter support.

From an iPad or iPhone:

1.  Make sure your device is connected to the same wifi network the AppleTV is.  (The AppleTV’s network settings can be found in the Apple TV’s main menu, in the Settings icon, under General – Network.  Your iPad’s wifi settings can be found from your home screen under the Settings app.)

2.  Swipe upward from the bottom of your screen to access control center, then tap the AirPlay button near the bottom right.

IMG_0836

3.  Choose AppleTV in the menu that pops up.

4.  Go back to Haiku Deck and tap the play button for your deck (from the center of the deck in the main menu, or the top right corner in edit mode; it’s a square with a right-pointing triangle)

5.  To use your private notes as a presenter, rotate your device vertically.  For more info about private notes, check out our article about notes here.

From a Mac:

1. Publish your deck.

2. Make sure your Apple TV and Mac are connected to the same network. (The AppleTV’s network settings can be found in the Apple TV’s main menu, in the Settings icon, under General – Network.)

3. Click the AppleTV icon in the menu bar at the top of the screen. It looks like the symbol on the AirPlay button shown above in the iPad steps.

4. Choose Apple TV. This will stream all of the contents on your screen to the AppleTV (so make sure nothing private is visible!).

5. Pull up your deck from its URL or by signing into your Gallery on haikudeck.com.

6. Play the deck in full screen with the steps here. Everything on your screen will be shared to the Apple TV.

7. Whenever you’re done, return to the Apple TV icon in the top right corner of your screen to turn off airplay mirroring.

 

In both cases, please note that this presentation method will require an internet connection during the presentation, so it’s always good to make sure you’ll have internet connectivity wherever you’re presenting.  One way to play it safe if you created your deck on the iPad is to save a PowerPoint or Keynote version of your deck that you can pull up regardless of your wifi access, just in case.

 

For more about AirPlay, the technology used to stream to an AppleTV, check out this article on Apple.com.

Ignite Seattle 17

August 19, 2012 / / 0 Comments

We’re proud to showcase Haiku Deck tonight at Ignite Seattle 17. Ignite was started in Seattle in 2006 by Brady Forrest of O’Reilly Radar and Bre Pettis of Make. Since then Ignite events have sprung up the world-over. Each Ignite speaker gets 20 slides, 15 seconds per slide. Yikes! Our talk is entitled “Bullet Control Now,” a homage to Chris Rock’s argument that if bullets cost $5000 each, people would think twice about killing one another. We couldn’t agree more and we think the idea ought to be extended to bullet points too. We hope you enjoy the deck and we’ll post a link to the video as soon as it’s available. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

 

What’s Your Favorite Blog Post Of All Time?

August 7, 2012 / / 0 Comments

One of our favorite ways to use Haiku Deck is to take great blog posts and bring them to life by matching key points with awesome images. Recently we were honored by Brad Feld (investor, entrepreneur, and mentor extraordinaire) who reposted our summary of his thoughts on Marketing.  This got us to wondering… What’s your favorite blog post of all time? Is there one that makes you laugh? Cry? Taught you something new? Send us a link at info@haikudeck.com and we’ll consider making a Haiku Deck homage to the post here.

 

Why Haiku Deck?

August 1, 2012 / / 0 Comments

We believe everyone has great ideas and fascinating stories itching to get out. We also believe that crafting ideas and releasing them into the wild should be a joyful exercise of creativity. In the age of smartphones, tablets, and web connectivity, sharing thoughts is easier than ever, but getting people to listen? That’s another challenge completely. We also believe that listeners deserve to be captivated and inspired, not filled with despair at the sight of another dull presentation.

This is why we set out to create Haiku Deck, a simple way to instantly unleash your ideas through beautiful decks that are as visually stunning as they are easy to create. Haiku Deck’s image search engine spurs your creativity by providing a beautiful photographic backdrop to accompany your written words. We suggest related terms to help you find the perfect image and we even let you use your own photos if that’s what you want. Haiku Deck also includes easy-to-use design filters, helping you pick the perfect look for your deck, without requiring any design skills. Our goal is to make you look your best, every time you share.

Lastly, we know that inspiration can strike any time. Wherever you feel like crafting a Haiku Deck, just pull out your iPad. And whenever you have an audience–whether it’s on the bus, at a cafe, in a conference room, in an elevator, or on a stage, your Haiku Deck is there for you.

Most presentation tools aim to pack in as many features as possible with complicated menus, toolbars, and a range of capabilities to address every possible use case. Haiku Deck is intentionally simplified. We’ve focused on making it fast and easy to create the kind of decks you share every day. Here are a few ways you can use it to set your story free. We can’t wait for you to try Haiku Deck and send us your feedback at founders@haikudeck.com.

Create a Visual Resume

August 1, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Six seconds. That is, on average, how long you need to work on your abs. It is also how long recruiters spend scanning your resume before they decide to keep or toss it. (Read the cold, hard truth here.) It doesn’t seem fair when you’ve probably spent six hours or even six days or weeks crafting your masterpiece, but that’s the reality.

6 *SECOND* ABS Program
photo by seamus_walsh
 

We’ve spotted some helpful articles explaining how to optimize your resume for speed-of-light scanning, such as 10 Ways to Craft Your Resume for Ultra-Short Attention Spans, from Fast Company, and How to Make Your Resume Last Longer than 6 Seconds, from Time. And while we get the importance of maximizing white space and stripping out distracting details, we also believe there’s a time and a place for personality, creativity, and fun.

Our challenge: Try using Haiku Deck to create a visual resume. Sure, you’ll probably need a “real” one, too, but there might be times when a creative twist will help you stand out from the crowd. Here’s mine. And we’d love to see yours–you can post your links in the comments.

(By the way, we’re hiring! Send us your resume at jobs@haikudeck.com)

One Idea Per Slide

July 27, 2012 / / 0 Comments

one
Photo by andrechinn
We totally love showing people Haiku Deck for the first time, and seeing their reactions. They are almost always wowed by the amazing images and beautiful layouts. One thing we hear occasionally, though, is “It’s so cool! But how can I fit all my text on just those two lines?”

Guess what? If you can’t fit your text on two lines, you have too much text.

That’s right. Forget all the times you’ve crammed a document’s worth of ideas onto a single slide using 12-point bullets. That’s way too much for any audience to absorb. (And you’ve been in that audience before too, right?)

In fact, the pros at the 99% headline this awesome infographic, How to Create a Captivating Presentation, with this rule of thumb: One idea per slide, and no more than six words.

It sounds radical, but it can be radically freeing, as well. Try it! And if you need a slide makeover, give us a shout in the comments. We’re here to help set your story free.

5 Awesome Apps that Inspire Us

July 25, 2012 / / 0 Comments

When we set out to create Haiku Deck, we set the bar high. Even with hundreds of thousands of apps crowding the App store, we want to be a stand-out product that inspires creativity and changes a category. We started by studying other apps that wow us and zeroing in on the qualities that make them so awesome. Here’s our list.

1. Magically Interactive
Tablets can immerse us in work and play through touch, and we appreciate apps that make inspired use of the swipe, the pinch, and the tap. Flipboard not only makes it easy to enjoy our favorite content, but brings it to life with intuitive navigation that transcends all other readers.

2. Creatively Inspiring
The impulse to create and share is universal, even though most of us don’t think of ourselves as creative geniuses. We have a soft spot for apps that make it easy to create cool things we’re proud to show off, whether it’s art, music, or photos. Instagram, which makes this crummy photographer with a lowly iPhone camera feel like a virtual Annie Liebowitz, is one of our favorites.

3. Beautifully Designed
In the ocean of apps, few stand out as truly beautiful. We admire apps that feel like the flawlessly designed lobby of a boutique hotel. We love it when menus and controls are there when you need them, but vanish when you don’t. 2012 Apple Design Award Winner Paper by FiftyThree nails this.

4. Effortlessly Flexible
We admire apps that do one thing really well, but are flexible enough to use in different ways. Evernote, for example, nails note-taking, but their powerful platform has been embraced by screenwriters, cooks, interior decorators, vacation planners, and so on.

5. Surprisingly Fun
We also love apps that transform something humdrum into something humdelightful. Swackett puts a smile on our faces with its innovative and awesomely human presentation of weather information. Check it out!

What apps inspire you? Let us know in the comments.

How We Got Here

June 1, 2012 / / 0 Comments

How We Got Here

Storytelling is at the heart of being an entrepreneur. Over the years, I’ve figured out that I’m way better at the “telling” part than I am at the “story” part. And by “story,” I mean the visuals that go with the words. I’ve also discovered that when I have an amazing deck to back up my message, I feel practically unstoppable.

I felt this when we first went to investors with the most beautiful professionally designed PowerPoint deck I’ve ever held in my hands. I felt the opposite of this a year later when, without a professional designer on staff, I had to go back to the drawing board to tell a new story to the same audience.

When my partner Kevin first proposed the idea for Haiku Deck, it was a complete departure from our previous experiment in social games, but we instantly felt a magnetic pull towards the idea. This was something we both wished we had, and the more we asked around, the more we realized how few people love the tools available for making presentations.

We spoke with hundreds of people and stood over their shoulders while they made presentations. We saw how existing tools don’t really help non-designers create things of beauty. Sure, PowerPoint and Keynote have templates, but these aren’t exactly stopping anyone in their tracks. Even products that have come along more recently don’t address the fundamental problems we all face: Make it easy to create something beautiful. Make it impossible to mess it up. Make the stories look as good as they sound.

And so, Haiku Deck was born.. We want to live in a world with powerful stories and images that move us. We want to live in a world where stories, pitches, lectures, updates, lessons, and ideas grab us by the collar and pull us forward in our chairs.

Gandhi once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Haiku Deck is the change we want to see in the world. We hope it inspires you to set your story free.

–Adam

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