PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

Theme Fonts in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows

In PowerPoint, any Theme brings to the table several unique facets such as Theme Fonts, Theme Colors, and Theme Effects — and also Slide Layouts, Backgrounds, etc. When you apply another Theme to your PowerPoint presentation, the changes reflect in all slides in the presentation. Yet, the change is complete, and thus the resulting slides all look consistent. In this tutorial, our focus is primarily on Theme Fonts — we’ll explore how Theme Fonts work in your presentation.

Explore Theme Fonts in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2016
Tagged as: Fonts, Microsoft Windows, Office 2016, PowerPoint 2016, Templates, Text, Theme Fonts, Themes, Tutorials

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Filed Under: Ezine
Tagged as: Indezine, Nuts and Bolts, Offers, P-Spice, PowerPoint

Preparation Before Speaking: Conversation with Nigel Holmes

   Born in England, Nigel Holmes studied illustration at the Royal College of Art in London and then freelanced for magazines and newspapers for 12 years in London before going to New York in 1977 to work for Time Magazine. He became graphics director and stayed there for 16 years. He has written several books on aspects of information design. With his son Rowland, Holmes makes animated short films. Clients have included the TED conference, Fortune Magazine conferences, Good Magazine and the National Geographic Society.

In this conversation, Nigel explains how he prepares for each speaking event.

Geetesh: Nigel, When you need to present, what are the most important things/issues you take care of—and how has this preparedness helped you in the past?

Nigel: Here are a few things I look at:

• Appropriateness for the audience. Have they seen it before? This was a mistake I made at Rick’s conference in New Orleans: people complained to him that they had seen some of the material before. This may not matter if what you are saying is solid teaching information, but if it is more theatrical, as some of my things are, then I do understand some people’s complaints. However, I’ve also been told just before a presentation that they hope I’ll do the million billion trillion things (for instance), again!
• I always read through my notes and compare them to the slides. Never be taken by surprise by something being out of order. Also, read through to time the talk. Adjust the number of slides if necessary.
• It’s very important to know what the next slide is before it appears on the big screen. This way I can build suspense or surprise. Timing and the pacing of the talk is very important. I include some black/blank slides to signal either that I am changing the subject, or want people to just listen to me speaking, with no visual to distract them. Also, I go through some slides quite fast, while others stay on the screen for longer. As I said, pacing is important.
• If I’m involving the audience, I measure the space before the talk. And practice where people will stand. And place any props in the right place so I’m not looking for them during the speech.
• If the timing of the talk is critical, pre-select members of the audience so when you ask for volunteers, they come up quickly.
• I always try to talk to the AV people before a talk to make sure the technical side (sound and projection) is OK. In New Orleans, they assured me that it would be OK, but it wasn’t and that actually upset me quite a lot.
• I always know more details about everything I’m talking about. At one conference, I was informed during my speech that the next speaker had been delayed and could not make it. The organizer asked: could I speak for twice as long?! In that case, I made good use of question time, as well as stretching what I had to say!
• I think of the speeches I make as a performance. I rehearse. I go to sleep reciting to myself the actual words I’ll start with…then during the actual presentation, my notes are just there to help with specific points, names, dates, numbers. I never read the notes…with the exception of quotes (if they are not on the screen).
• I move around, rather than just stand at a podium, or, worse, sit behind a computer to present; so that means you need to ask the AV people for a wireless microphone you can wear.
• I always try to look at the audience; not at my notes and certainly not at the screen. People have come to hear you, not to read along with you as you read what’s on your slides (and anyway, don’t put too much on one slide).

Geetesh: Can you share some thoughts on what wannabe presenters should do to get their preparedness perfect the first time?

Nigel: Basically all of the above. If i had to choose only one thing: rehearse.

Humor can be difficult to pull off. If you feel that the audience isn’t with you when you tell a joke or use a lighter approach to your subject, you’d be wise to stop doing it, and be more straightforward.

See Also: Nigel Homes on Indezine

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: Interviews
Tagged as: Interviews, Nigel Holmes, Opinion, Prepare, Presentation Skills

Change Bullet Styles in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows

People talk about how bullets can cause “death by PowerPoint”, and while that may be partially true, it certainly is not the complete truth, not everyone is in the rush to abandon bullet points in their slides! Even then, too much of anything cannot be good and bulleted lists are almost the mainstay of PowerPoint slides these days. Most of PowerPoint’s slide layouts are already set up with placeholders for bulleted lists (or paragraphs). So, when you start typing into a text placeholder, your text is automatically bulleted. Making changes in how bullets appear visually can make a subtle difference; so we show you how you can change the bullet styles for your text placeholders (or text boxes) in PowerPoint 2016:

Learn how to change the bullet styles of selected text in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2016
Tagged as: Bullets, Microsoft Windows, Office 2016, PowerPoint 2016, Text, Tutorials

Character Spacing in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows

Font size does make a difference for the aesthetics of your slide, but what do you do if the text itself uses more or less space than you may want? Sometimes, you may want the text to take just a wee bit lesser space so that all content can fit within two lines rather than three. If you would like to alter the spacing between text characters, you can do so by using PowerPoint’s Character Spacing option, which affects the appearance and readability of both title and body text. Essentially Character Spacing is the amount of space in-between individual letters. You can easily adjust this spacing for a cleaner look or to make more or less text fit within any text container.

Explore Character Spacing options in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2016
Tagged as: Character Spacing, Fonts, Microsoft Windows, Office 2016, PowerPoint 2016, Text, Tutorials