Boris Hristov

Founder of 356labs

Founder of 356labs
and PowerPoint MVP.
Speaker, Trainer & Author.
A guy that loves to do sports, have fun and enjoy life. Gallery / Blog / Contact

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Podcast: Presentation Design, 356labs and a Bit of SQL Server

June 14, 2016 By Boris Hristov Leave a Comment

Chris_Bell_Podcast_356labs_boris_hristov

It’s a podcast after podcast, after podcast! This time I was invited by a friend of mine from the SQL Server community – Chris Bell to talk about my shift from the world of databases to the world of presentations and presentation design. We chatted for an hour and discussed a ton of things around what it takes to become a successful speaker and how to create stunning slides that differentiate you as a presenter. I shared quite some really practical advises, so go ahead, click the link and enjoy listening!

Filed Under: Perosnal, Presentation Skills & Presentation Design, Public Speaking, SQL Server Tagged With: Career Development, Microsoft, Policy-Based Management, PowerPoint, Presentation Design, Presentation Skills, SQL Server Community, Training

Podcast: Successful Presentations, Starting a Company and More

June 9, 2016 By Boris Hristov 1 Comment

Madeira Podcast

Here we go again! Again?

A few months back I was invited to join my friends from MadeiraSQL – Matan Yungman and Guy Glantser as part of their podcast and this time we talked not about SQL Server! This time we focused on my new adventure – 356labs. However, the podcast turned out to be not just on presentation design and why it matters, but incredibly practical. I thought it would be really cool to share a ton of seriously practical advices and so I did! 

Enjoy listening as this is probably one of my best podcasts ever!

Filed Under: Presentation Skills & Presentation Design, Public Speaking, SQL Server Tagged With: Career Development, Podcast, PowerPoint, Presentation Design, Presentation Skills, SQL Server Community

Leaving the SQL Server World.

June 2, 2016 By Boris Hristov 20 Comments

It’s an important day for me. I am making a move and leaving my SQL Server career to spend my whole time and energy on 356labs – the company I started last October. Our mission is simple – I want us to help and raise the level of the presentations out there because we are far away from being where we need to be.

And so with the below video I am asking you for your “Good luck, man!” and I am asking you, if I was of help to you at least once,  just know about us, the services and trainings that we provide. Probably this way we will be able to help more people and who knows – we may see each other at a training or an event…

Cheers, everyone and thank you for everything!

Filed Under: Business, Perosnal, Presentation Skills & Presentation Design, SQL Server Tagged With: Career Development, PASS, Presentation Design, Presentation Skills, Training

The Training Library is Finally Here!

May 10, 2016 By Boris Hristov Leave a Comment

356labs_trainingsEvery single time when I am on a business meeting for my company 356labs, I am shocked when the person across me shares that when he/she goes on our web site, it is not clear what trainings or services we provide. 

That’s what happened 2 weeks ago when we were discussing our training portfolio with a partner of ours. I was sharing what courses we provide and frankly, she was quite amazed. However, she then told me that all of that is great, but she was not able to see that from our site. As you can imagine, I was not happy to hear that, so it was obvious I needed to address it. Quickly.

A few day later, I am happy to share that all of the presentation courses 356labs provides are now on our web site. What’s more, a lot more details on each course is coming soon, but now you can at least all see the portfolio of trainings that we can deliver for you. I would argue that it is probably one of the most complete ones in the presentation world out there, but let the market decides.

So, in case you and your company is searching for any presentation training, click on the image above, choose and give us a call. We would be happy to level up your presentation game and help you achieve more when presenting! 🙂

Filed Under: Business, Courses, Presentation Skills & Presentation Design Tagged With: 356labs, Career Development, Courses, PowerPoint, Training

Train the Trainer!
A Collection of 50 Posts For You!

April 26, 2016 By Boris Hristov Leave a Comment

A few months ago I got a chance to train and mentor a group of 20+ future IT trainers as part of a Train the Trainer course at the Software University in Bulgaria. Back then I decided I will take notes of the mistakes I see and then blog about them thus creating a small library of useful knowledge that can help everyone who is or wants to be a trainer at some point in his career.

Below are the 50 blog posts that I wrote on my company’s site that I am sure will make you both better trainer and speaker in general!

Enjoy reading and in case you want me to come and train you and your team, you obviously know how to reach me now!  😉

Mistake 1: Phones Ringing
Mistake 2: The Dying Battery
Mistake 3: Not Using Your Own Machine
Mistake 4: Not Using a Presenter(Pointer)
Mistake 5: The Screensaver
Mistake 6: The Notifications
Mistake 7: Busy Demos
Mistake 8: Equipment Problems
Mistake 9: Projector Problems
Mistake 10: IDEs Not Demo Ready
Mistake 11: Your Name, Please
Mistake 12: EXCUSES
Mistake 13: Weak Start
Mistake 14: 0 Experience!?
Mistake 15: Reading From Your Slides
Mistake 16: The Watch
Mistake 17: Notes In Your Hand!?
Mistake 18: Timing Issues
Mistake 19: Skipping Slides
Mistake 20: Too Much Stuff
Mistake 21: Acronyms
Mistake 22: “As You Know”
Mistake 23: Foreign Words
Mistake 24: Filler Words
Mistake 25: The Wrong Approach!!!
Mistake 26: No Audience Involvement 
Mistake 27: Slide Mix
Mistake 28: Thinking You Are A God!?
Mistake 29: Staying Behind Something
Mistake 30: No Eye Contact
Mistake 31: Hands Behind The Back
Mistake 32: Talking Fast
Mistake 33: Irrelevant Demos
Mistake 34: Summarize The Demo
Mistake 35: Not Sure In Your Demo
Mistake 36: Writing Code Live
Mistake 37: No Data Source Referenced
Mistake 38: Spelling Errors
Mistake 39: Weak End
Mistake 40: The Microphone
Mistake 41: Too Much Text
Mistake 42: 16:9 not 4:3 
Mistake 43: PowerPoint Templates
Mistake 44: No Text Animation
Mistake 45: Weird Animations
Mistake 46: 3D Stuff
Mistake 47: Images Everywhere
Mistake 48: Different Fonts
Mistake 49: Color Combinations
Mistake 50: Slideshow, please!

You read them all? Let me know what you think in the comments!

Filed Under: Presentation Skills & Presentation Design, Public Speaking Tagged With: Career Development, Mentoring, PowerPoint, SoftUni, Training

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