PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

iPad Presenting 08: Business use of Tablet Computing Surges

As expected, the iPad has led the revolution in tablet computing, even for business users. A survey-based study released by IDG shows that iPads are increasingly being used for business use — for everything from web browsing to communication, and social media to reading. You can download a copy of this survey as a PDF from the IDG Connect site.

Although the survey does not explore presenting on an iPad as a separate category, it goes without saying that the iPad has emerged as a mainstream work platform, albeit one where more content is consumed rather than created.

The following excerpt from the survey will certainly want you to explore the iPad as a business tool:

Fully 51% of IT decision-makers say they ‘always’ use their iPad at work (and a further 40% say they sometimes use it at work). Out-of-home usage is even more intense, with 79% of IT decision-makers saying that they ‘always’ use their iPads ‘on the move.’

And if you think that users have the same sort of fascination for tablets other than the iPad, then hear what IDG Connect, a mailer that I subscribe said:

An astounding 83% surveyed said they would not consider buying a different tablet next time.

Significantly, IDG’s survey results came in from respondents in all continents, representing a worldwide phenomenon, and these findings will play a very important role in how both vendors and users will look at computing platforms like the iPad.

At Indezine, we have already seen a huge surge in interest from readers about presenting using the iPad. We predict this interest will only grow higher! Watch this space for more stories on iPad Presenting.

You May Also Like: iPad Presenting 07: Wired iPad to VGA with the Apple Digital AV Adapter | iPad Presenting 09: Picture Slides on the iPad

Filed Under: iPad Presenting
Tagged as: iPad, Keynote, PowerPoint

Learn PowerPoint 2010: Guidelines on Changing Proofing Language for an Entire Presentation

While it is easy to change proofing language for selected text containers, that happens to be a piece meal approach and can be a great time waster if you need the language changed across all content in 100 or more slides! There are two ways to set the proofing language for your entire presentation — and you can use one or both of these approaches. Make sure you have the proofing tools installed for all or any of the languages that you need to work within PowerPoint. Then follow these steps.

Learn how to set proofing language for an entire presentation in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

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

Learn PowerPoint 2011 for Mac: Curved and Straight Line Segments

A line (outline) in PowerPoint contains both points and segments. You already learned about the three types of points in PowerPoint 2011 in a previous tutorial. Now we are going to show you how to work with segments, the lines that connect one point and another. There are two types of segments: straight and curved. You can edit these segments and also convert a straight segment to a curved segment and vice versa, as you will learn in this tutorial.

Learn about Curved and Straight line segments in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.

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

iPad Presenting 07: Wired iPad to VGA with the Apple Digital AV Adapter

So much about presenting with an iPad depends upon how you can send the visual signals from your iPad to the projector or television outputs. We have already established that the wireless way of connecting the iPad to some output is far superior since it lets you hold the iPad in your hand and control your slides wirelessly. This wireless option ensures that you are free to move around in your presentation venue. More often than not this approach requires an in-between device such as an Apple TV 2.

What we have not discussed so far is how you can use a wired option that lets you cable your iPad directly to an output such as a VGA-capable projector or television. Well, this was actually possible much before the advent of the Apple TV 2 or even the iPad 2. What you need is the Apple Digital AV Adapter, and this product has been available in some form (or some name) or other since the launch of the original first-generation iPad. You can see how this looks in the picture below.

If you go to the Apple Store page for this product, you will read all sorts of bad reviews! One of the reviewers says: People buy these accessories mostly to do demos of apps, or to mirror whatever’s on their device’s screen?…I found that it only works when playing video… Yes, the reviewer has got it right — this product has limitations depending upon which iPad you are using:

• iPad 2 users can use this product to mirror whatever they see on their iPad screens with few exceptions. Even in those cases, you may see something else on the iPad screen, but you will see what you expect to see on the larger screen projected.
• iPad 1 users are not so lucky. That’s because on iPad 1, only the Photos and Videos apps can send audio-visual signals to a projector or television output.

Beyond these limitations, the product works as advertised!

You May Also Like: iPad Presenting 06: Connecting a TV or Projector to Apple TV | iPad Presenting 08: Business use of Tablet Computing Surges

Filed Under: iPad Presenting
Tagged as: iPad, Keynote, PowerPoint

Learn PowerPoint 2010: Setting Proofing Language for Text

Do you have a presentation that contains text that needs to be spell-checked in more than one language? Or do you and your client or colleague work with different localized versions of Microsoft PowerPoint? It may be that you use English (US) and color is a perfectly valid spelling — but someone else in another part of the world uses English (UK) and their spell checker suggest that the word color be changed to colour. Or if they use the French version of PowerPoint, then both spellings of color/colour would be flagged as incorrect — they use the term couleur. You first need to have the proofing tools installed for all or any of the languages that you need to work within PowerPoint.

Learn how to set proofing language for selected text containers in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

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