PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

Spence-Chapin Brainshark Program: Conversation with Sabra Larkin

Sabra Larkin, director of communications for Spence-Chapin, has been working with staff for the past 10 years to help implement Spence-Chapin’s mission of finding loving homes for children in need both in the United States and internationally.

Spence-Chapin recently received a free Brainshark software license, as part of Brainshark’s Non-Profit Program, where Brainshark awards technology grants to non-profits on a quarterly basis. In this conversation, Sabra discusses how the use of PowerPoint and Brainshark helps them.

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

Concept Slides: Fading Squares Animated PowerPoint

Squares can be animated like any other shape to appear and build up but that looks conventional. So, we cooked up this different style that combines squares filled with pictures and other shapes that just have gradient fills to animate together in sequence. The result is an animation style that’s simple, yet different.

You can download the presentation here.

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

Concept Slides: Zoom in Zoom Out Credits

Unlike the Credits animation sequence that’s built within PowerPoint, this is different because you get a zoom-in, fade, and movement effects, all at once. Then, the text descends and disappears. Keep adding any number of text boxes as you want and they will seamlessly animate one after the other.

You can download a sample PowerPoint presentation here.

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

PowerQuizPoint: Conversation with Benjamin Radclyffe

Benjamin Radclyffe is Vice President, Product Development at DigitalOfficePro. DigitalOfficePro’s products include PowerFlashPoint, PowerQuizPoint, and SlideServe. Benjamin joined DigitalOfficePro in 2007. He is a visionary and has extensive domain expertise in product development and the e-learning ecosystem.

In this conversation, Benjamin discusses PowerQuizPoint.

Geetesh: Tell us more about PowerQuizPoint, and how does it work within PowerPoint?

Benjamin: PowerQuizPoint is an innovative product from the DigitalOfficePro stable. PowerQuizPoint software allows you to create easy and user-friendly quizzes directly from within PowerPoint (versions 2010, 2007, 2003, and 2002) that can be published in the Flash file format. Quizzes created with PowerQuizPoint have the added features of both PowerPoint and Flash. The most important feature of the program is its interface, which allows you to create rich media quizzes without any programming skills. When creating quizzes, you have the option to include a header, categories, questions, and choices for multiple answers, and also a description for the answers.

There is also a question bank that lets you save questions in a database that can be used subsequently. Also, you can choose from ready quiz templates based on the subject matter of the quiz that you are creating. The Quiz Creator has an email feedback feature that lets the publisher of the quiz receive results via email.

Feedback from clients has provided us with valuable feedback to enrich the program further. We are constantly working on new features, and one of them is the QMS (Quiz Management System) feature that will be released very shortly.

After you install PowerQuizPoint, a tab of the same name can be found on the Ribbon in PowerPoint 2007 and 2010. A toolbar shows up in PowerPoint 2003 or earlier.

When you click on the Insert button, it opens up the Quizmaker interface. Follow step-by-step instructions to select from the various options to create questions and answers. Once you are done, click on the Insert Quiz Question option. This will insert the question within PowerPoint. Repeat the process to add multiple questions. After you have added the requisite number of questions, click the Finish button. To view the quiz, click on the View Show button, or press the F5 shortcut key in PowerPoint.

More details can be found here.

Geetesh: Can you share some scenarios in which PowerQuizPoint can be used to add extra value to a presentation?

Benjamin: PowerQuizPoint PowerPoint to Quiz Publisher is being used successfully by eLearning professionals, trainers, teaching professionals, evaluators, etc., to easily create rich-media interactive quizzes in Flash format for online training.

We have seen that users love PowerPoint’s ability to have complete control over slide fonts, formatting options, and animation effects. PowerPoint editor provides this. By leveraging the power of PowerPoint’s advanced editor features, PowerQuizPoint helps users create quizzes and publish them online. Creative possibilities then become endless. With basic PowerPoint knowledge, users can create quizzes that work within PowerPoint and can also be published as Adobe Flash. So, the learning curve is nearly nil. Again here, they can select from our template selection to base their quizzes on. The user can then use PowerPoint’s advanced features to enhance the quizzes further. This, we believe, is the key differentiator when compared to some of the other Flash Quiz Products available in the market.

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: Interviews
Tagged as: Add-in, Interviews, PowerPoint

Zinali Slideboxx 2.1 Improvements: Conversation with Charles Wolfus

For almost a decade, Charles Wolfus has worked closely with scientists and executives, finding ways to increase efficiency and optimize IT systems. For the past few years, he has been co-founder and CEO of Zinali, LLC, a San Francisco-based company dedicated to improving PowerPoint slide search.

In this conversation, Charles talks about new improvements in their slideboxx 2.1 version.

Geetesh: Can you tell us more about the improvements in the new 2.1 version of slideboxx?

Charles: slideboxx 2.1 is still the same great slide management tool PowerPoint users have come to depend on. It automatically builds your PowerPoint library, allowing you to quickly find and reuse your slides for authoring new presentations.

But slideboxx 2.1 has a number of key improvements including:

Speed: First, it’s much faster… up to 3 times faster building your slide library, and much faster displaying slides in search results.

Background Indexing: Now, you can choose to shut off background indexing. Background indexing allows your library to always be up to date. But some people don’t like having programs running in the background when they are not actively in use. Now you can take advantage of background indexing or not, it’s your choice.

Install Anywhere: If you have many slides, your slideboxx library can grow very large. Now you can choose where to install your slide library; in the default location, another hard drive, or even a USB-attached drive. For those who store their slides on a USB drive and connect them to different computers, the added benefit is that you can now take slideboxx with you!

And much more!

Geetesh: I read that many improvements were a result of customer feedback. Can you tell us more, and also how do customers get in touch with you?

Charles: Yes, I would estimate that 70% of the enhancements and fixes were a result of customer feedback.

As a slideboxx user, you already know we take customer support very seriously. We believe building a relationship is what’s best for our customers and for us. As a result, many of our customers regularly communicate with us about what they like, what they don’t, and what they want to see in new versions.

It often starts with a help request, using the built-in help tool in slideboxx, or an email request. Because we believe in the relationship and look to our customers for opportunities, we don’t use a remote support team. Email requests go straight to the developer, where they get more thoughtful attention and response. Those requests are always opportunities for us: Opportunities to shine, and sometimes opportunities to identify new features or even products that are needed.

We then run private beta tests with customers who made suggestions. This works great; giving them direct access to the development process means they get to know us, and we get to know them. They also get a tool specifically made for them, and we are assured we are developing what they want and need.

This happens in big software companies too, but generally they work closely with a few big customers that drive development. But with slideboxx anyone can play a part and have an impact. You can help make slideboxx the tool you need.

slideboxx 2.1 is available online for only $119. Learn more about slideboxx 2.1 and Zinali, LLC by visiting the slideboxx PowerPoint library website or page.

See Also: Zinali slideboxx: Conversation with Charles Wolfus

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: Interviews
Tagged as: Add-in, Interviews, PowerPoint, Slide Management