PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

myBrainshark Improvements: Conversation with Andy Zimmerman

Andy Zimmerman, is the vice president of product marketing for Brainshark, Inc., a leader in online video presentations. In this role, he oversees marketing strategy, content and partnerships for Brainshark.

In this conversation, Andy discusses recent enhancements to myBrainshark.com – Brainshark’s free site for creating, sharing and tracking online video presentations.

Geetesh: Tell us about the new improvements on myBrainshark, such as the full-screen mode and availability of pre-loaded audio clips.

Andy: We are continually looking at new ways to add value for our users, and those two enhancements were a natural progression. With the latest release of myBrainshark, we upgraded the player, which now includes full-screen mode – a feature we’re really excited about. When viewers click the “maximize screen” icon in the lower right corner of the presentation they’re watching, the presentation will expand to fill the full screen – providing a more immersive and impactful way to view content on myBrainshark. Also included with the upgraded player are new survey question types for all users and new test question types for myBrainshark Pro Trainer users (including sequence, matching and “fill in the blank” questions).

Also with the new release, we’re now providing another way to help users add audio to enrich their presentations. As you know, once users upload PowerPoint decks or other static content to myBrainshark, they have the ability to add slide-by-slide voiceovers, as well as background MP3 audio tracks that span slides. Now, we’re providing a pre-loaded library of free audio tracks, making it that much easier for users to pair music with their presentations to really make them shine. We’ve included a variety of free music to help people get started… from jazz files to quiz-themed music and more. Brainshark also has arranged a discount code with Royalty Free Music Library for users seeking a greater selection of background audio. For more tips and tricks on adding audio in myBrainshark, I recommend checking out this presentation.

Geetesh: What is the myBrainshark stand-alone player? Please provide some scenarios in which this player can provide a better experience.

Andy: myBrainshark users who upgrade to a myBrainshark Pro or myBrainshark Pro Trainer subscription can now take advantage of the stand-alone player option – in addition to all the previous Pro features, such as advanced analytics, privacy-enabled presentations and lead-capturing capabilities. Users can now make their Pro or Pro Trainer presentations available via a special/separate link, so that they play in a standalone player – outside the myBrainshark site and without the myBrainshark site branding and presentation catalog. For those who want to make sure viewers focus exclusively on the content at hand – with no potential distractions – this is a great option. To see a sample presentation in the stand-alone player, please click here.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.

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

Learn PowerPoint 2010 for Windows: Change One Shape To Another

Imagine you have worked on a shape in PowerPoint by applying effects, animation, and a fill. Later you realize that you used a wrong shape, or perhaps the client wants you to change the shape but retain all the effects, animations, and fills! You may want to delete and start over again, and that is a long drawn process — but you don’t have to do that for you can change any existing shape to another by using these steps in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

Learn how you can change one shape to another in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

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

Learn PowerPoint 2010: Select and Deselect Shapes

PowerPoint follows the process of selection, then action for any slide object on a slide. If you cannot select an object, then you can probably not modify it at all. Although this tutorial explains how you can select shapes on a slide, the process works the same way for any other slide object.

Learn how to select and deselect single and multiple shapes in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

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

Learn PowerPoint 2010 for Windows: Select, Deselect, View, and Hide Shapes Using the Selection and Visibility Task Pane

Other than selecting a shape or any slide object by clicking on it, you can use the Selection and Visibility task pane to select shapes that are difficult to select, or are placed behind other shapes. The Selection and Visibility task pane option is only available within PowerPoint 2007 and later versions, and it replaces the Select Multiple Objects tool in earlier versions of PowerPoint.

Learn how you can use the Selection and Visibility task pane in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

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

NXPowerLite for Office 2010: Conversation with Tommy Powell

Tommy Powell is from Neuxpower, a software solutions company based in the UK. Neuxpower custom-builds both stand-alone applications and add-ins that enhance existing software such as Microsoft Office. Their commercially-available file optimizer, NXPowerLite radically reduces the size of PowerPoint, Word, Excel and JPEG files.

In this conversation, Tommy discusses the new Office 2010 compatibility feature in NXPowerLite 4.3.

Geetesh: Users of 2010 versions of PowerPoint, Word, and Excel can now benefit from smaller file sizes with the new NXPowerLite release – tell us more about this update.

Tommy: Yes, NXPowerLite 4.3 is fully compatible with Office 2010, so now Office 2010 users can benefit from the same huge file size reductions as users of earlier versions of Office.

At first glance, Office 2010 files are the same as Office 2007 files. But Microsoft has actually made a number of changes ‘under the hood’ in the file format, in order to support the some of new functionality in Office 2010. NXPowerLite has been updated to make the most of those changes. We’ve tested NXPowerLite 4.3 with thousands of Office 2010 files, to ensure that they are as small as possible and look identical to the originals.< NXPowerLite is also now fully integrated with Office 2010 applications, so you can optimize your files from within Word, Excel or PowerPoint 2010. Geetesh: Is this updated release a paid or free upgrade for existing users of NXPowerLite?

Tommy: Office 2010 is the fastest-selling version of Office in Microsoft’s history, so we decided to make Office 2010 support a completely free update for all NXPowerLite 4 users. Users of earlier versions of NXPowerLite will receive a 50% discount when they buy an upgrade.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.

Filed Under: Interviews
Tagged as: Add-in, Interviews, NXPowerlite, PowerPoint