PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

Learn PowerPoint 2011 for Mac: Combine Shapes Commands

Combine Shapes are new for PowerPoint 2011 and are a set of four tools that let you combine, unite, intersect, or subtract selected shapes in various ways, depending upon which shape overlaps the other. Unfortunately they are so well hidden that you may not even be aware that they exist! You won’t find these commands in any of the Ribbon tabs — nor will you be able to customize your toolbars to get these options. To view the Combine commands, you need to select two or more shapes. Then right-click (or Ctrl-click) the selection. In the resultant contextual menu, select the Grouping option to summon the sub-menu — you will find the four Combine Shapes commands here!

Learn about the Combine Shapes commands in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.

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

iPad Presenting 05: What is AirPlay?

In 2004, Apple introduced what was then a revolutionary technology that let you play music from iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC on speakers that could have been in the next room or anywhere else within your network. This technology was called AirTunes, and the speakers you wanted to play the music over had to be connected to an AirPort Express or Apple TV device. Yes, we are talking about the first generation Apple TVs here.

AirPlay is a natural evolution of AirTunes as it moves beyond sound to encompass video as well. It is only now with the launch of newer iPads and iPhones — and also with the new features in iOS 5 that AirPlay provides ample solutions for you to present your entire presentation. Essentially, if you want to present from your iPad 2 (or even an iPad 1), this is what you need:

1. An iOS device such as the iPad 2 or iPhone 4S. Older iPad 1 and iPhone 4 devices have partial support for all features you need to present well, and we shall explore these shortcomings in a future post.
2. An Apple TV 2 device, updated to the latest firmware. The current firmware is 4.4.4.
3. A TV or projector connected to your Apple TV 2. It is easy to connect to most TVs these days with an HDMI cable. Many new projectors have HDMI input options. Alternatively, you can use an HDMI to DVI converter if you have a projector with DVI input. Do note though that this approach will lose sound. Again, sound may not be a huge priority if you are showing slides without multimedia.

That’s all you need to have in place. Also, Apple TV 2 is even smaller than an iPad, and does not hamper your portability. It is a good idea to ensure though that the venue where you will present has projectors equipped with HDMI inputs. If the projector at the venue you will present has been suspended from the ceiling or has been fitted somewhere else, then you may only get a VGA cable to attach your Apple TV 2 to; and that will not work well for you to provide a professional and predictable presentation.

Everything we discussed so far in this post was relevant only to presenting with an iPad, and not necessarily for other AirPlay scenarios. The rest of this post will look at these other scenarios. Do feel free to ignore this section if this is not something you want to explore.

AirPlay lets you transmit data such as audio and video content wirelessly from:

• iTunes running on your Mac or Windows PC.
• An iOS 5 device such as an iPad 1 or iPhone 4. Both these devices only work with the Music, Video, and Photos apps, and sometimes you get only the visual content without audio. AirPlay support for the iPad 1 or iPhone 4 is a little flaky.
• An iOS5 device such as an iPad2 or iPhone 4S. Both allow full mirroring of what you see on your device.

Using AirPlay, you can send these audio and video signals to an AirPlay receiving device, such as:

• A TV or projector connected to an Apple TV 2 device.
• An AirPlay compatible receiver. As of now, Apple has only licensed AirPlay receiving technology to audio devices such as speakers.
• A Bluetooth capable audio receiver, even if it has no AirPlay support. Apple seems to have combined the Bluetooth output support for its iOS devices (iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone) under the AirPlay umbrella.

More info on AirPlay can be found on Apple’s website. Look at these pages that discuss the iPad’s Airplay features and how you can control AirPlay output from within iTunes.

In addition, Wikipedia’s AirPlay page provides a historical look at this technology along with some discussions about AirPlay alternatives.

You May Also Like: iPad Presenting 04: Add an Apple TV | iPad Presenting 06: Connecting a TV or Projector to Apple TV

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

Learn PowerPoint 2010: Creating and Editing AutoCorrect Entries

The AutoCorrect feature is dependent on a small list of words and phrases — this list contains two columns called Replace and With — for example the Replace entry for teh will correspond to the With entry containing the word the. Although this list works for PowerPoint users, what you must know is that this AutoCorrect list is global across all Microsoft Office programs such as Word, Excel, Outlook, etc. If you add, edit, or delete entries within this AutoCorrect list, all changes will be reflected beyond PowerPoint.

Learn how to create and edit AutoCorrect entries in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

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

New Year Clip Arts for PowerPoint

These New Year themed clip arts for PowerPoint are all silhouettes that are ready to use within your PowerPoint presentation slides. These have been provided in both black and white colors — both variations are contained within two separate sample presentations that you can download.

Copy the graphics of your choice from the downloaded presentations, and paste them into your PowerPoint presentation slides. You can also paste them into a Word document, an Excel worksheet, or any other program.

Within PowerPoint, all these silhouette graphics can be customized with Shape Styles.

Download these free New Year clip art graphics here.

Filed Under: Presentation Bank
Tagged as: Clip Media, Design, PowerPoint

Download Clip Media from Office.com — For Mac OS X

There is no dearth of sites providing royalty-free pictures that can be used in your PowerPoint presentations — but, none of these provide the breadth of choices that you can find at the Microsoft Office site (Office.com). Even better, all these pictures are free to all licensed users of Microsoft Office programs such as PowerPoint. Office.com allows you to download various types of clip media, including pictures.

Learn how to download clip media from Microsoft’s Office.com on a Mac.

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