PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

Indezine News Released

Working with visuals can be so much fun, especially when you need to add them to your PowerPoint or Keynote slides. But more often than not, finding the right picture can be a challenge. Sometimes we end up with a perfect picture — at other times, we all compromise with something we think works great — but not everyone in your audience may share your enthusiasm. That’s because pictures tend to tell a story — and your story may be different from the story that the audience interprets. At times like these, you need a visual element that’s neutral, does not speak loud, and is effective at the same time. In this issue, and in some future issues we will explore what sort of pictures work well in all scenarios — and we will also share some tricks and tips.

Read more here.

Filed Under: Ezine
Tagged as: Ezine, Indezine, News, PowerPoint

Learn PowerPoint 2010: Backstage View – Info

Information is power, and within PowerPoint 2010 all the information that you need about your presentation is available in a single convenient location. This is the new Info panel of the Backstage View. This panel gives you information about permissions set for the active presentation, helps you prepare your content for sharing, and also lets you recover older versions of unsaved files. In addition, it also provides access to all the properties for a specific presentation. To access the Info panel, open the File menu, and choose the Info option.

Learn about the Info section within Backstage view in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

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

Embrace Space: 5 Tips on Slide Composition

By Chris Borales

PowerPoint and other presentation software packages try to aid novice presenters by providing pre-designed templates. These templates often clutter slide real estate and detract from your presentation’s message.

Don’t use them. Here are 5 tips on how to effectively use the solid background:

1. Embrace Space

Designers call the empty space “white space.” White space is your friend. Using it gives the text on your slides more impact.

2. Your True Colors

Believe it or not, the color of your slide affects your presentation.

White: Clean and Clear.
Blue: Trustworthy and Dependable.
Green: Soothing and Relaxing.
Red: Enthusiastic and Energetic.

Use these colors accordingly. Think of the topic of your presentation and imagine which color suits it best.

3. The Rule of Thirds

Placement of text, images, charts and graphs is important, but where to place them?

Photographers have been using this trick to create more interesting photographic compositions. Before you place your content onto a slide, divide your slide into thirds and place your slide content into these thirds.

4. Templates and the Unavoidable

My company typically wants all of its presenters to use specialized, branded templates, so sometimes templates are unavoidable. When you have to use templates do two things:

Less Text: Only keep the essential text on the slide. This means trimming away any unnecessary text that can muddle the slide.
Keep Images Interesting: Use images that enhance your points.

5. The Background Image

Background images are great ways to captivate your audience. High quality stock images or pictures that you have taken yourself work best.

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As a marketer with Blackboard Inc., Chris Borales uses effective communication techniques and in-depth technical knowledge to create presentations that truly engage the audience. His ability to take design concepts and translate them into PowerPoint presentations led him to create his Tumblr blog. His site provides visitors with creative design ideas and techniques that can help elevate their presentations.

You May Also Like: Pictures in Slides: Conversation with Hermann Narez

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: Guest Posts
Tagged as: Design, Guest Post, PowerPoint, Presentation Skills

Animated Slide: Lines All Over

These animated lines are essentially all shapes set to fit the space on the slide close enough to each other to form a geometrical pattern. The first slide contains these shapes filled with a single, gradient color while the next slide uses gradients created with the six accent colors that are part of the active, applied Theme. Change the Theme and all colors will miraculously change. We used PowerPoint 2010 to create this presentation, and it works best in either that version or in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.

Download and use this slide for your own presentations.

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

Learn PowerPoint 2011 for Mac: Smart Connectors

Connectors are lines that join two shapes or objects, and can be found within the Lines and Connectors category within the Shape gallery in PowerPoint 2011. These connectors link between (or join) two shapes like rectangles, triangles, scribbles, etc. to create a relationship. In addition, they also work with other slide objects such as pictures. Since these connectors are linked to slide objects, they move automatically when the linked objects are moved. That’s the reason why they are called “Smart Connectors”. You’ll learn more about all the other smart things these connectors do in subsequent tutorials of this series.

Learn about Smart connectors, and how they are different from conventional lines in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.

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