How to use the iPad to showcase your work portfolio

One of the most powerful sales tool for any business is a good portfolio of work. Regardless of your industry and the nature of the products or services that you offer, case studies and showcases are a very good way to show your prospects what you are capable of doing, and who you already did it for. It makes your business seem more real and it can make you look very professional if done well. For example, most photographers use their portfolio to display the best photos they took for their clients. It's natural and crucial for them to have a portfolio given the visual nature of the job. But many other types of business can benefit from a portfolio: a house renovator could show before/after transformations, a chef could show menus he created, etc..

A portfolio of work can also be used at a more personal level, to showcase your own abilities. For example, I created a portfolio of my professional achievements and used it at numerous occasions when trying to land a new job. Initially I created a pdf portfolio and would send it by email or post it online, but later on I discovered the powerful magic of the iPad. I would take the iPad to a job interview and towards the end of the meeting would ask the recruiter if they would be interested in seeing my portfolio, to illustrate all the things we discussed during the interview. Needless to say, I had great results with this. For a start there is the effect of surprise, employers don't always expect to be presented with a portfolio (at least for a marketing job - it might be different if you apply for a graphic artist position), but mainly it's the iPad that adds the interest. It gives you this geeky edge, you become original and the best part is that your portfolio actually looks amazing on the ipad, way more attractive than printed and placed in a ring binder.

 

So let's look at how you can create your own portfolio, and how to transfer it to the iPad.

Creating a portfolio

I used Indesign to create my portfolio because I like to control my design to perfection, but not everyone is comfortable with Indesign and to be honest there is no need to go over the top for this particular exercise. Powerpoint might just do the job if used well.

What goes inside a portfolio?

It will depend on the type of work you want to display, for sure a photographer won't show the same thing as a house renovator, but the principles stay the same: you want to show what you can do, what you have done before, what people think of your job, and maybe how to work with you.

For example in my own portfolio I had a cover page, a shorten version of my resume, cover pages for categories of work (print advertising, web design, event management, etc), photos of my achievements with a short explanatory text, and referrals from previous employees.

How to design your portfolio?

Since the nature of the portfolio is very visual, I think it's important to make it look as pretty as you can. If you're not a designer at heart, don't worry, you can find beautiful templates on the web that will make your job very easy, for less than 20$.

I would recommend that you buy a premium powerpoint template and don't waste too much time trying to start something from scratch yourself. My favorite website is www.graphicriver.net where you can buy photos, illustrations, but also templates for brochures, business cards, posters and of course presentations. Type "powerpoint" in the search bar and you'll be presented with hundreds of beautiful templates. You can also browse through categories if you prefer. A little tip to find the best designs is to sort the results by "sales" and look for the ones that were downloaded the most. They usually offer more features and options: for example a template might come with 5 different color variations and 12 pre-designed slides. Install the template on your machine, select the slides that are relevant for the portfolio and insert your text and images.

How to transfer the portfolio to your iPad?

There are two easy ways to present the portfolio on the iPad:

1. Save your slides as images, and transfer them to the iPad. You can create a new photo album called Portfolio and view your photos like you usually do, by swiping left to right.


2. Save your presentation as a pdf document, send it to your iPad and view it in the iBooks application.

I prefer the second option, so that's what I'll explain now in 3 easy steps.

1. Create a pdf from your presentation:
   Once you have created the presentation, you want to save it as a pdf. Depending on which computer and software you have there might be various ways to do it. For me on my mac, I print as a pdf.


2. Transfer it to your iPad:
   You can either send the pdf to your email address and retrieve it from the mail application, or host the pdf online (for example in Evernote, on Wordpress or in DropBox) and download it from Safari.


3. Open it in iBooks
   When you open the pdf from the mail application or from Safari, if you just touch the screen once, a little icon will appear on the top right corner of the screen, presenting you with various export options. Choose "Open in iBooks". Go to the iBooks application, your pdf is now on the shelves under the pdf collection. You can review it by swiping the pages like any other book or pdf.

 

 

Quick tips for presenting your portfolio:

• Make sure the iPad has enough battery


• Open the portfolio in iBooks before going to your meeting to avoid a bad surprise. You don't want a compromising photo appearing on the screen when you turn the iPad on.


• Know you portfolio well and prepare a little speech for each slide.


• Offer to send it by email if the person wants to review it later. They might also be interested to pass it on to other potential clients.