PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

PowerPoint Text Effects – 02

There are 12 different text effects contained within the sample presentation that you can apply to any text in PowerPoint 2007, 2010 or higher on Windows (and also PowerPoint 2008, 2011 or higher on Mac). Starting from hatched to sketchy and from clean to outlined, these text effects will make your text look great. We created all these effects to replicate a hand drawn look so that it appears that someone drew pencil or charcoal lines inside your text. Some of these text effects may work better with only larger text – play around to see which one works best for your text. Note that, none of these effects are suitable for body text. To use these effects, copy the effect from any of the sample text containers with the help of the Format Painter button, and then click on the text to which you want to apply it.

Download and use the text effects in your own presentations.

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

Learn PowerPoint 2011 for Mac: Picture Fills for Slide Backgrounds

When you want to format your slide background to look different than the default background styles available in PowerPoint, you can certainly explore both solid and gradient fills for slide backgrounds — we have already explained these two options in separate tutorials. In addition, you can also choose a picture or texture fill for your slide backgrounds. We cover picture fills for slide backgrounds in this tutorial, and will look at texture fills in a subsequent tutorial. Before we go further, let us explore how picture fills are different from texture fills. Although both picture or texture fills work very similarly, choosing one option over the other can make the same background look so different. While a picture background results in your slide using a single picture as a backdrop, using a texture background can result in the same picture being tiled across the slide background. Also some pictures lend themselves better to being used as textures, especially if they are seamless.

Learn how to apply picture fills for slide backgrounds in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.

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

Brainshark’s Blackboard Partnership: Conversation with Kate Skelly

Kate Skelly is vice president for corporate and business development at Brainshark, Inc., overseeing strategic partnerships, and the addition and integration of complementary products and services. Brainshark’s cloud-based software enables users to create, share and track online and mobile video presentations, for use in eLearning, sales, marketing and corporate/HR communications. Thousands of companies use Brainshark to improve the reach and results of their business communications, while dramatically reducing communications costs.

In this conversation, Kate discusses Brainshark’s newly expanded partnership with learning industry leader Blackboard, and integration with Blackboard Learn for Sales.

Geetesh: What exactly is Blackboard Learn™ for Sales, and how does Brainshark’s partnership help end users with rapid content creation?

Kate: Blackboard Learn for Sales is Blackboard’s cloud-based learning management solution that is fully integrated into Salesforce CRM. It’s geared toward companies that are focused on sales training and professional development. Because Brainshark is so firmly entrenched in sales and sales training communications within companies, this partnership is a terrific fit.

It’s also an extension of our previous relationship with Blackboard and reflects on how much we’ve enjoyed working together. Now, through this expanded partnership, we’re pleased to report that Brainshark has been selected as the exclusive rapid content creation solution for use with Blackboard Learn for Sales. So Salesforce.com users who use Blackboard Learn for Sales to manage their training can now take advantage of Brainshark to quickly create high-impact, interactive courses and eLearning content.

Geetesh: So does this mean that users can easily create content suitable for Blackboard by using Brainshark’s easy process of integrating PowerPoint and voice? Tell us more.

Kate: Exactly. Blackboard Learn for Sales customers can use Brainshark to create multimedia sales training content within minutes, using simple business tools like PowerPoint and the phone or computer microphone. It’s so easy to do -– sales leaders, product managers, executives and other experts at all levels across an organization who need to deliver training and communications to sales teams can easily use Brainshark to create training modules. When used with Blackboard Learn for Sales, the content you create via Brainshark can be delivered through Blackboard’s system. Brainshark presentations and courses can be viewed on-demand, anytime, from computers as well as mobile devices -– benefitting salespeople who are frequently on-the-go and companies who want to establish mobile learning (mLearning) initiatives.

We look forward to continuing our work with Blackboard -– helping Blackboard Learn for Sales users get even more value from Blackboard’s platform, and helping organizations quickly create and deliver formal and informal learning content to meet their training needs.

See Also: Brainshark’s Partnership with Blackboard: Conversation with Kate Skelly

Filed Under: Interviews
Tagged as: Brainshark, eLearning, Interviews, Online Presentations, PowerPoint

Learn PowerPoint 2010 for Windows: Video Styles

Similar to Shape Styles that you apply to shapes, PowerPoint provides you with Video Styles for to your inserted video clips. These pre-built Video Styles add edges, shape, and effects to videos — and can be applied with just a single click. Your videos no longer need to be rectangular — some of the Video Styles change the video clip so that it plays within an oval or a rounded rectangle. Video Styles also transform the look of your inserted videos by applying borders, 3-D effects, shadows, frames, etc. around your video clip.

Learn how to apply preset Video Styles to video clips in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

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

Learn PowerPoint 2011 for Mac: Gradient Fills for Slide Backgrounds

Like earlier versions, PowerPoint 2011 continues to provide an amazing array of options to format your slide backgrounds. We have already explored how you can format the slide background, including options to use solid color fills for slide backgrounds. This tutorial builds upon what you have already learned, and shows how you can cover your slide’s background with a gradient fill. Gradient fills are typically blended fills between two or more colors that graduate from one color to another — they are sometimes also called fountain fills or blended fills in other programs.

Learn how to use gradient fills for slide backgrounds in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.

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