PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

Learn PowerPoint 2013 for Windows: Insert Online Pictures

It’s always been possible to add pictures from an online source within PowerPoint. For more than a decade this online source has been the pictures available online at Office.com — in most previous versions, this was achieved through the Insert Clip Art option. Now in PowerPoint 2013, this option has been greatly enhanced — and you are no longer restricted to content from just Office.com. Of course, this also has a new name now, and it’s called Online Pictures. This feature is very helpful as you are not limited to just the pictures available on your system. You get variety of other picture sources to choose from.

Learn how to insert an online pictures on a slide in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2013
Tagged as: Pictures, PowerPoint 2013, Tutorials

Learn PowerPoint 2011 for Mac: Playing Custom Shows

The purpose of creating custom slide shows is to present them to your audience. To do that, you could access the Custom Shows dialog box, and then select a show and then choose to play it — but yes, that’s a long process indeed. In this tutorial, we will show how you can access the same custom show in a easier way. And then, we will also show you how you can set any custom show as the default, which means that when you actually play your presentation in Slide Show view, only the slides within the custom show you select will be shown.

Learn how to play custom slide shows in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2011
Tagged as: Office for Mac, PowerPoint 2011, Tutorials

Business Presentations Survey 2014

We rarely do surveys – in fact the last one we did was the Business Presentations Survey 10 years ago! And you will agree that 10 years is a long, long time – so that’s the reason why we wanted to do this survey again. Yes we wanted to ask you the same questions that we asked a decade ago, and this will help us all (that’s all of us) in determining what’s changed in a decade!

So, follow the link, fill out the survey and we will give you an opportunity to grab yourself an amazing gift!

Filed Under: Reviews
Tagged as: Business Presentations Survey, Survey

Learn PowerPoint 2011 for Mac: Creating Custom Slide Shows

Has it ever happened that you wanted to include just a few slides in your slide show rather than displaying the entire presentation? Then you need not delete the slides that need not be shown — nor do you need to create a whole new presentation containing only the slides to be shown. All you need to do is to create a Custom Slide Show! So, what’s a custom slide show? Think of your individual slides as songs within a playlist — using the playlist analogy, your custom slide show is a playlist of those songs — you just substitute songs for slides!

Learn how to create custom slide shows in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2011
Tagged as: Office for Mac, PowerPoint 2011, Tutorials

Prezi/Harris Interactive Survey: Conversation with Peter Arvai

    Peter Arvai loves technologies that enable world-changing stories to be shared. In 2008, he joined forces with Adam Somlai-Fischer and Péter Halácsy, an architect, and an innovator, to create a more memorable and engaging way for people to share stories. Today, their creation is known as Prezi. Before co-founding Prezi, Peter was already active in the information-sharing realm. In Sweden, he founded omvard.se, a company that aggregates data on treatment outcomes for hospital patients. Soon after, he developed the world’s first mobile newsreader so people could follow TED Talks from their mobile devices.

In this conversation, Peter discusses the findings of the Prezi/Harris Interactive Survey, which looks at how critical presentations are for success.

Geetesh: In your recent survey, it was found that most presenters are not effective – and audiences are not receptive! What do you think about this scenario?

Peter: Part of the reason people aren’t paying attention is related to presenters “winging it” and not taking the time to make their content relevant to their audience. Thinking through the presentation beforehand enables you to connect the dots and make sure the presentation is as succinct as possible. Mark Twain’s commonly referenced quote, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead,” applies to presentations as well. Remember, humans are programmed to engage, and not only to listen. An overly long data list and bullet point-heavy presentation will put an audience to sleep and will be hard for everyone to get through. Create an overarching story and a few main points that back it up.

Geetesh: How can Prezi help in creating a better environment for presenting?

Peter: Prezi helps the presenter formulate a conversation with the audience by showing them the big picture and the fine details, putting the message in the context which makes content more memorable and engaging. If a small business owner is explaining their company overview, for example, they could navigate between categories and details, pulling back to reveal the big picture that shows how everything relates at the end. Visually depicting the relationships between main points provides context and reinforces the larger story, helping the audience understand and remember better. Zooming in on details and zooming out to show the big picture is a powerful way to emphasize your main point, something linear slides cannot provide.

You May Also Like: Peter Arvai on Indezine | Prezi/Harris Interactive Survey: Conversation with Carmine Gallo

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, Peter Arvai, Presentation Skills, Prezi, Survey