Rock Star Tips

Whether you’re a Haiku Deck rock star or you’re new to the club, you’ve probably figured out that Haiku Deck is not the tool for creating slides crammed with text and bullet points that you can stand up and READ to your audience, right?

Which is good, because nobody wants to listen to that anyway. (Seriously. Nobody.)

When you create a Haiku Deck, you’ll notice that we limit the amount of text you can put on each slide. We designed our app specifically to help you focus your message on what’s most important, to put images front and center, and to produce slides that are beautiful and easy to read. Most presentation experts agree that when it comes to text, less is more.

We also wanted to make true storytelling more central to presentations. When you’re not reading your slides word for word, you’re bound to be more authentic and more passionate–and, as a result, more likely to captivate and connect with your listeners.

For many of us, learning how to present this way takes some practice. In her awesome book Slide:ology, Nancy Duarte compares the process to learning to ride a bike without training wheels.

Private Notes

While public notes are available on all versions of Haiku Deck (web and iOS), Private notes are one feature that only exists on the iPad and iPhone apps. For an explanation of the two, please visit this article in our user guide.

With Private notes you can present right from your iPad like a total rock star and still keep track of your key talking points–projecting your gorgeous slides in all their glory, with your private notes visible only to you. It’s like having your own personal teleprompter.

Our Haiku How-To: Notes Overview video on Vimeo.

Here’s how to do it.

Adding Private Notes

In EDIT mode, tap the slide you’d like to annotate with a private note, then tap the yellow NOTES icon.

Tap PRIVATE NOTES. (The default is PUBLIC NOTES, which play a different–yet equally awesome–function altogether, so be sure to select PRIVATE NOTES.)

Present Like a Rock Star: Adding Private Notes in Haiku Deck

Haiku Deck for iPad: Tap the yellow Notes icon, then PRIVATE NOTES

Tap the white pane, then use your keyboard to type your talking points (or, if you really need those training wheels, a full script). Tap the Hide Keyboard button in the bottom right when you’re finished.

Present like a Rock Star: Adding Private Notes in Haiku Deck

Haiku Deck for iPad: Type your private notes, then the Hide Keyboard button

Tip: For iPad3 users, Private Notes supports the Siri voice-to-text functionality. When the keyboard pops up, simply tap the microphone button to speak your notes, and let Siri do the typing for you.

Present like a Rock Star: Adding Notes with Siri

Haiku Deck for iPad: On iPad3, tap the Microphone icon to speak your notes

Presenting with Private Notes

When it’s time to take the stage, connect your iPad to a projector using a VGA adapter or AppleTV.

Tap the PLAY button to enter Present Mode, then rotate your iPad to portrait orientation (vertically). Your private notes will be visible only to you as you project your slides.

Present Like a Rock Star: Presenting a Haiku Deck with Private Notes

Hold your iPad vertically to view your private notes as your talk

Simply swipe to advance your slides and reference each slide’s talking points or script.

More Rock Star Tips

Get more tips for presenting directly from your iPad in our Present Mode Tutorial.

When you’re presenting from your iPad, including a Haiku Deck bar graph or pie chart has been proven to boost your rock star quotient by at least 43%. In Present Mode on your iPad, these charts display dynamically with a sleek animated effect, and you can even tap a specific data point to emphasize it as you talk.

Present like a Rock Star: Presenting a Haiku Deck on iPad

Haiku Deck for iPad: Tap any data point to emphasize it as you talk

After your talk, be sure to add Public Notes (from your iPad  or the Haiku Deck website) — or copy and edit your Private Notes — to unlock the full value of your Haiku Deck as a content asset. Publishing your slides to the web, and using Public Notes to add helpful context and supporting detail, is the best way to extend your moment in the spotlight and bring new fans into the fold.

Bonus iPad Tip: If you’d like to modify a Haiku Deck for a new audience or event, simply press and hold a deck on the Main Screen to make a copy.

Also, be sure to submit your rock star Haiku Decks for inclusion in our Gallery or our Pinterest boards! You can email a link to gallery@haikudeck.com or tweet it with the hashtag #hdgallery.