PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

Learn PowerPoint 2010 for Windows: Check Accessibility

There’s a new understanding that has evolved over the past few years about making all sorts of computer generated content accessible to people with disabilities. PowerPoint is no stranger to this accessibility concept, and has many options up its sleeve that help your slides be more relevant to those with accessibility impairments. Just like how PowerPoint’s spell checker alerts you to potential spelling errors, the built-in Accessibility Checker highlights potential accessibility issues in your presentation so that you can fix these potential problems and make your content accessible to everyone. Note that fixing some issues might require that you change, reformat or otherwise update your content. In addition, the Accessibility Checker also lets you know about application features that you can use to make your content more accessible.

Learn how to check accessibility for your presentation in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2010
Tagged as: Accessibility, PowerPoint 2010, Tutorials

Paul Ryan: Criticize and Propose

By Jerry Weissman

In 2007, Ryan Lizza, the Washington correspondent for New Yorker magazine, wrote a comprehensive profile of Barack Obama when he was an up-and-coming Illinois state legislator, called “Can Barack Obama Catch Hillary Clinton?”

In 2008, Barack Obama caught Hillary Clinton and kept running—all the way to the Oval Office.

In the August 6, 2012, issue of The New Yorker, Mr. Lizza wrote a comprehensive profile of up-and-coming Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan.

Five days later, on August 11, 2012, Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for president, announced that Mr. Ryan was his choice for his vice-presidential candidate.

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed Under: Guest Posts
Tagged as: Graphics, Guest Post, Jerry Weissman, Opinion, Presentation Skills

Handmade Slides: Using Scanned Pictures in PowerPoint

Using pictures in your slides does not mean that you are limited to using photographs from stock photo houses. You can certainly use your own camera — either a digital camera or even the camera built within your phone to source your own pictures. You can also look at some unconventional sources, such as a scanner. A scanner? Yes, that’s a device that several of us have not used for many years now — but if you have one of these devices attached to your computer, do consider it as a source of visual content.

Explore how a scanner can be put to good use to add interest to your slides.

Filed Under: Presentation Bank
Tagged as: Design, Graphics, PowerPoint, Tutorials

Learn PowerPoint 2011 for Mac: Slide Transition Effect Options

Once you apply slide transitions, you can tweak the actual transition effect aplenty. We have already explored how you can edit the duration and timing of any transition effect, and even add a transition sound that will play transition takes place. In addition, you can also play with some more options providing more control over the transition effect applied to the slide — these are all placed in a single broad category called Effect Options. These Effect Options, as the very name indicates are related to the individual transition effects, and options may differ for each effect. Additionally, some transition effects such as Flash, Dissolve, and Honeycomb may be devoid of any Effect Options altogether.

Explore Effect Options for Slide Transitions in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.

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

Concept Slides: Five Segment Circle

This conceptual slide contains a circle with five segments you can use to illustrate any concept or entity comprising five components/elements. Try and use pictures that complement each other – or even strongly contrast with each other. The resulting slide should have a compelling impact on your audience – and should sync with the message of your presentation. The sample presentation that you download comprises five segment circles contained within two separate slides — one with a picture fill, and the other with just a solid color fill. Copy these slides to your PowerPoint presentation and change the fills and effects of individual segments as well as the thin donut shaped circle around the segment, using PowerPoint’s fills, lines, and effects.

Download and use this concept slide in your presentation.

Filed Under: Presentation Bank
Tagged as: Graphics, PowerPoint, Presentation Samples