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Thoughts and impressions of happenings in the world of PowerPoint and presentations, continuously updated since 2003.
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SmartDraw announced the release of version 2009.5 of SmartDraw. This new release includes updated features and enhancements that allow easier interoperability with Microsoft Office applications:
Users can now add images, animation, and text that is replicated within PowerPoint as native PowerPoint objects when exported from SmartDraw.
Users can take the tasks, sub-tasks, and dependencies from a smaller SmartDraw-created Gantt chart and export it directly into a larger Microsoft Project chart.
Users can directly import and manipulate Microsoft Excel spreadsheets inside of SmartDraw, which means charts and graphs can be created and changed without exiting the SmartDraw file.
Existing version 2009 users of SmartDraw can get the 2009.5 upgrade free of cost.
More info is available on the SmartDraw site.
Filed Under:
Companion Programs
Tagged as: Charting, Companion Programs, Graphics, PowerPoint, SmartDraw
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Apple announced the release of iWork ’09, including Keynote ’09, the presentation component of the iWork suite. iWork ’09 also includes Pages ’09 and Numbers ’09.
There are plenty of changes in Keynote ’09, but the most noticeable of these is the new Magic Move option that allows you to add an across-the-slides animation to a single slide object. To do so, you select Magic Move as the transition between consecutive slides with a repeated slide object that could be a logo, a picture, some text, etc., and then watch as that object changes location, scale, opacity, and rotation automatically across successive slides. There’s a demo of how Magic Move works on the Keynote page of Apple’s site.
Other new features include a Theme Chooser, more transitions, chart animation improvements, the ability to use an iPhone or iPod touch as a presentation remote, and better PDF and PowerPoint sharing capabilities.
Pricing for iWork ’09 is $79 for the single pack, and $99 for the 5-computer family pack. No upgrade pricing seems to be available to users of existing iWork products.
Filed Under:
Keynote
Tagged as: Apple Mac OS X, iWork, Keynote
In this series of tutorials, we are going to learn about fills for shapes in PowerPoint 2007, these fills include solid color, picture, gradient, and texture. In this tutorial, we’ll explore solid color fills and picture fills.
Add solid color or picture fills to shapes in PowerPoint 2007 for Windows.
Filed Under:
PowerPoint 2007
Tagged as: Color, Fills, PowerPoint 2007, Shapes, Tutorials
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Life changes every day, and the world goes around. And even if we did nothing, said nothing, or put ourselves in the depths of contentment, change will still happen. Change is akin to growth—and that growth might be a sapling sprouting from its seed or a conglomerate increasing its reach in world markets.
Both the sapling and the conglomerate can use PowerPoint slides in different ways—and that’s the ironical twist in the tale that brings us to the subject of this blog post. Before, we tell you where PowerPoint slides come in the picture, let us share some info about the inspiration for this post.
Olivia Mitchell of the Speaking about Presenting blog sent a note about this new group blog initiative that she was spearheading to collect opinions about PowerPoint design changes in 2009. Fresh from vacation, work on the next book was underway, and the inbox was overflowing. But Olivia was persistent—and she even responded to our request to view posts by others.
Ellen Finkelstein, a dear friend says “design” rhymes with “2009”. And half a dozen posts later, we knew we had different (but not opposing) opinions than the rest. So, we got started with this post.
So, now about PowerPoint slide design, and what we are hoping will change in 2009. We kept our list very simple with ideas you can use straightaway. If this helps, do come back and read this post again because most of our thoughts seem to indicate that “repeat” is a great word! Of course, feel free to comment on that as well.
First of all, as we mentioned earlier, change happens if you do something, and also if you do nothing. However, that statement is not an incentive to do nothing, but it certainly does indicate that you need to sometimes press the pause button.
At some point, most presenters fall into the trap of doing too much—overloading slides with information and, in the process, obscuring the core message beneath unnecessary detail. Exercising restraint is often the simplest and most effective way to improve slide quality. This does not mean discarding valuable content; instead, supplementary material can be made available as handouts or downloadable resources. With less on each slide, more time and attention can be devoted to thoughtful design, resulting in clearer communication and stronger visual impact.
When insufficient time is invested in shaping the message and narrative flow of a presentation, the impact is often reflected in the design as well. While time constraints are sometimes unavoidable, this challenge can be mitigated by proactively developing a set of core concept slides for frequent use—well before a specific presentation needs to be designed or delivered. This approach ensures greater consistency, clarity, and efficiency when timelines are tight.
Always start your presentation on paper—draw your ideas, link relationships between concepts, and create a storyboard. Take another sheet of paper, redo the entire thing. This time, remove all unwanted info, and fine-tune further. Repeat as often as required—show this to a trusted colleague or friend, and use their opinions where relevant. Think of the entire presentation from the audience point of view, and make more changes. This process will create an effective slide design in your mind, subconsciously. It just works!
Now move the concept to the computer—and don’t start with PowerPoint yet. Use a mind mapping application if you are comfortable with it, or just use Notepad or Microsoft Word—create a sequence and flow between successive concepts. Rethink, reorder, and reorient as required—repeat as often as you want
Get to read more books in 2009, but don’t think they are the end-all. Consider them as inspiration to learn more, think about presenting concepts, and experiment with your design. We’ll recommend these books:
As we move through 2009, one truth remains constant: effective slide design grows from clarity, intention, and thoughtful preparation. Whether we pause to simplify, sketch ideas on paper, or refine our narrative before opening PowerPoint, each deliberate step strengthens the final message. Change in design isn’t about trends alone—it’s about cultivating habits that help presenters communicate with purpose. By reading, experimenting, and revisiting the fundamentals, anyone can elevate their slides from routine to remarkable. And like all meaningful improvements, the key lies in repeating what works and refining what doesn’t.
Filed Under:
Thoughts
Tagged as: Design, Opinion, PowerPoint
In previous tutorials, we have covered solid, gradient, texture and pattern fills for AutoShapes in PowerPoint 2003 or earlier versions. In this tutorial, we finish this series by showing you how you can use picture fills.
Add picture fills to shapes in PowerPoint 2003 and 2002 for Windows.
Filed Under:
PowerPoint 2002, PowerPoint 2003
Tagged as: Color, Fills, PowerPoint, PowerPoint 2002, PowerPoint 2003, Shapes, Tutorials
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