PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

Backstage View – New Option in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

When you launch PowerPoint 2010, it always opens a new blank presentation for you. Further, if you are already working on an open presentation, and want to create a new presentation at that point, you can do so using the New option within the Backstage View. Follow these steps to explore the New option within Backstage view in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

Learn about the New option within the Backstage view in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2010
Tagged as: Backstage, Interface, Microsoft Windows, Office 2010, PowerPoint 2010, Tutorials

Recent Tab of Backstage View in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

The Recent option within the Backstage view provides you with a list of recently opened presentations so that you can quickly select the one that you want to work on. Additionally, the Recent option offers a few more useful functionalities.

Learn about the Recent option within Backstage view in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2010
Tagged as: Backstage, Interface, Microsoft Windows, Office 2010, PowerPoint 2010, Tutorials

Presentation Summit 2016: Conversation with Taylor Croonquist

Taylor Croonquist is the co-founder of Nuts & Bolts Speed Training, a website delivering actionable PowerPoint training and speed strategies, helping professionals cut their build time in a third. Prior to Nuts & Bolts, Taylor lived and worked in China for 10 years in finance and consulting. When he’s not busy crafting PowerPoint training, you can find him traveling and scuba diving.

In this conversation, Taylor discusses his sessions at the upcoming Presentation Summit 2016 series.

Geetesh: You are doing two sessions this year: Stop Retyping! and Faster, Faster, Faster! What can audiences anticipate as takeaways from sessions on these important topics?

Taylor: In these Speed Training sessions we’ll look at performing everyday PowerPoint tasks 2x to 10x faster than most people are currently doing them. So we’ll be diving into a bunch of PowerPoint hacks, tips and tricks (my favorite topics!).

A great example of this is getting text out of a picture.

When most people want to get a bunch of text out of a picture, they typically just retype it, right? Well, why bother when you can simply copy the text out of the picture using OneNote and then paste it into PowerPoint?

That’s just one example of the many little hacks that we’ll cover in these sessions. And the cool thing about most of these tricks is that once you learn how to pull them off in PowerPoint, they apply to all of the other Microsoft programs as well. So it’s a triple dipper (at least)!

Geetesh: You have positioned yourself as an expert in speed techniques to tame PowerPoint in doing tasks quicker, but that’s not my question. The question is what do you do in all the time that you save?

Taylor: Oh man, where does all the time go?

Outside of the normal slide-grind, all of my free time recently has been going into learning French. And thankfully I think I’m finally getting the gist of it.

That said, don’t worry, all of my sessions at the summit will still be in English.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.

Filed Under: Events
Tagged as: Events, Interviews, PowerPoint, Presentation Summit, Taylor Croonquist

Change Shapes within a SmartArt Graphic in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows

The default look of SmartArt graphics works great, and you may not want to change a thing! Yet, it’s good to know that you can change your SmartArt graphics to other layouts, change the color of SmartArt graphics, or apply a SmartArt Style to make your SmartArt graphic appear distinct and unique. You can also change the actual shapes within a SmartArt graphic — for instance, you can change some circles in your SmartArt graphic to squares with a mere click or two!

Learn how to change shapes within a SmartArt graphic in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2013
Tagged as: Diagrams, Graphics, Microsoft Windows, Office 2013, PowerPoint 2013, SmartArt, Tutorials

Presentation Summit 2016: Conversation with Jim Harvey

    Jim Harvey is an entrepreneur; he has taken three businesses from start-up to sale since 1991. His job is simple—to help his brilliant clients sell their ideas, products, and services more effectively all across the globe. He started learning how to sell while working on his uncle’s market stall in Birmingham, UK back in the 1970s. He’s still learning today. He started Presentation Guru with two of his heroes from the world of presentations; Emma Bannister and John Zimmer.

In this conversation, Jim discusses his session at the upcoming Presentation Summit 2016 series.

Geetesh: You are presenting the No Excuse for Not Being Charismatic and Is English EFL or ESL? sessions, the latter with Emma Bannister; what motivated you to choose these topics, and what you believe an attendee will take away from these sessions?

Jim: What motivated me—I used to look at speakers who could make their audiences feel real emotion and wonder how they did it? I wanted to find out for myself so I could teach and sell and speak with more power, and I’ve spent 25 years watching great communicators & learning how. Not the big names, not the famous, or the rich, but the ordinary, everyday charismatics who do so much good in our schools, businesses, and homes.

What will people get out of the No Excuse for Not Being Charismatic session? I think that most people would like to be more charismatic at work and in their personal lives. Some people think they are and aren’t. More people think that they aren’t and they really are. This session is to help every attendee understand that they are already as charismatic as they will ever need to be, they just need to be more careful to show it and use it. They’ll learn:

• The link between power, wealth and fame, and charisma.
• The single most important skill in becoming more charismatic.
• 3 simple steps that will make every one of us more charismatic more often, every day.

About what motivated me about the Is English EFL or ESL session—I work every week with speakers from all over the world building their skills in presenting to international audiences in English at global political, scientific, and business events. I’ve noticed that the most confident and worst understood are often the native English speakers. Yet the most easily understood, though more worried and nervous are the ESL and EFL speakers. The English naturals (English, US, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, South Africa, etc.) are often immensely unaware of their weaknesses as ‘international speakers’ and I want to put that right for the benefit of every speaker, and every international audience out there.

What will people get out of the session? I think that most experienced speakers are aware of the basics of effective speaking to International audiences in English. I want to reinforce those things and deepen our knowledge in a unique and practical way with my colleague Emma Bannister.

They’ll also learn:

• How to write and design presentations for an international audience in ways that no one else does and gives you a commercial advantage when pitching for that kind of work.
• The single most important performance skill in speaking English live to an international audience.

Geetesh: Jim, you recently launched the Presentation Guru site—can you tell us more about this endeavour?

Jim: I wanted to create a truly global perspective on world-class presentation design, delivery, and the latest presentation technology because I couldn’t find one place that was truly expert and truly global in all of those things. So, I looked around the world and started the site with three people I’d known and admired from afar for years. The team is John Zimmer – Canada, Emma Banister- Australia, Jim Harvey, UK and Farshad Iqbal in Pakistan.

Our mission is to provide free and inspiring information, education, and advice in three core areas (Design & content creation, Performance & Technology) for our readers all across the globe. Who’s the Guru? It’s our global community of designers, presenters, coaches, and geeks who give their time energy, and expertise to us so that our readers can change their worlds one presentation at a time.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.

Filed Under: Events
Tagged as: Events, Interviews, Jim Harvey, PowerPoint, Presentation Summit