PowerPoint Tips
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Ellen Finkelstein
Lots of tips and techniques here! They're organized into 3 categories. First the newest tips, then listed alphabetically.
- Content: About crafting memorable content. Writing and organizing
- Design: About designing compelling graphics
- Delivery: About delivering with confidence!
Craft Memorable Content
- Use presentations for high-impact, low-cost marketing NEW!
- Create a fast-moving presentation
- Put one point on a slide
- Use copywriting principles for your presentations
Support your statements - Use presentations for high-impact, low-cost marketing
- 3 Components of an effective presentation
- Audience: Choose words for your audience
- Audience: Create slides from audience input
- Base content on your audience
- Beyond Bullet Points by Cliff Atkinson
- Beyond words
- Bullets: How many bullets should I put on a slide?
- Bullets: Quickly get rid of bullets
- Convert PowerPoint to video (SWF - Flash movie format)
- Custom Shows: Add flexibility with custom shows
- Education: PowerPoint principles for education
- Expand one slide into two
- Hyperlinks: Using hyperlinks
- Hyperlinks: Hyperlink to slide in another presentation, or location in a file
- Hyperlinks: Link to other presentations and return
- Introductions: A good introduction/opener
- Introductions: Create a looping introduction
- Is PowerPoint evil?
- Menus: Create a drop-down menu
- Menus: Create a visual menu
- Menus: Design a Web-style presentation
- Notes: Add notes during a presentation
- Outlines: Organize content with an outline
- Organization: Mind Mapping® to organize your presentation
- Pecha Kucha: Stay focused with pecha kucha
- Quizzes: Create a quiz in PowerPoint
- Relevance: Add relevance with layers of meaning
- Repurposing: Repurpose presentations for a kiosk or the Web
- Research: Do the research!
- Sections: Create section markers
- Security: Protect slide content
- Speeches: Understand the types of speeches
- Stories: Tell a story, or where's the point in all this?
- Structure: Use an audience-centered structure
- Summary slides: Choose titles for a summary slide
- Summary slides: Use a Summary Slide for questions & answers
- Text: Export all presentation text
- Text: Import text from Word or Notepad
- WebQuests: Create a WebQuest in PowerPoint
- Use presentations for high-impact, low-cost marketing
Design Compelling Graphics
Our biggest category: choose from these sub-categories. First the newest tips, then listed alphabetically.
- Animataion & transitions
- AutoShapes (shapes) & text boxes
- Backgrounds & color
- Charts, tables & diagrams
- Design principles
- Hyperlinks
- Images
- Multimedia: Music, sound & video
- Slide layout
- Slide masters, templates & themes
- Text & fonts
Animation & transitions
- Tutorial on animation and best practices NEW!
- Duplicate animation
- Animate a bouncing ball
- Animation for entertainment NEW!
- Create a video effect NEW!
- Animate a chart or table
- Animate a revolving earth
- Animate text on top of text
- Animate a table in 2007
- Cascading animation
- Circle an object
- Create a pop-up window
- Create a slide show that really slides!
- Create the effect of a line drawing itself
- Dissolve one image into another
- Highlight important words
- Magnify an image
- Make an object disappear behind another object
- Match the end of a motion path animation to the beginning of another
- Motion path animation effects
- Multimedia animation techniques
- Putt Flash animation in PowerPoint
- Quickly change text color line by line
- Synchronize animation with music
- Text animation techniques
- Undim bulleted text
- Use advanced animation to show growth & motion
- Use triggers to create interactive charts
AutoShapes (Shapes) & text boxes
- Create soft shadows
- 3D effects with radial gradients
- Attach objects exactly
- Change the default for new objects
- Create Bezier curves
- Create cutouts
- Create multi-color gradients
- Create soft edges
- Create text reflections
- Cycle through overlapping objects to select them
- Layer two fill effects
- Rotation tips
- Use materials and lighting for interesting fills
- Use transparency gradients
- Turn AutoShapes into pictures
Backgrounds & color
- Create a better PowerPoint template NEW!
- Choose colors based on desired results NEW!
- Find PowerPoint color scheme colors (theme colors) with kuler
- Backgrounds: Using mid-range colors
- Choose fonts and colors for legibility
- Copy colors from a Web site
- Create an instant background from a photo
- Create a simple border
- Create multi-color gradients
- Use Web page backgrounds in PowerPoint
Charts, tables & diagrams
- Create a timeline/agenda in PresentationZen style
- Animate a chart or table
- Create effective graphs/charts
- Designing chart titles
- Formatting bar charts
- Push PowerPoint charting options to the limit
Design principles
- Use presentations for high-impact, low-cost marketing
- Put one point on a slide
- Best practices for PowerPoint presentations in Second Life
- Beyond Words
- Design guidelines for web conferences
- Design: The importance of design
- Design: Try design variations
- Simplicity and understatement
- Tell 'n' showSM slide design
- Use presentations for high-impact, low-cost marketing
Hyperlinks
- Hyperlinks: Create hyperlinks in a timed presentation
- Hyperlinks: Create invisible buttons
- Hyperlinks: Hyperlink to slide in another presentation, or location in a file
- Hyperlinks: Link to other presentations and return
- Hyperlinks: Using hyperlinks
Images
- Change a picture in PowerPoint 2007 NEW!
- 3D: 3D and reflection technique
- Colorize a photo for a background
- Cool contour shadows
- Crop around an image
- Emphasize a section of text or an image
- Find free photos
- Import art into the Clip Gallery
- Inside secrets to making your visuals look professional
- Magnify an image
- Manage graphics to reduce size
- Recolor bitmap images
- Recolor graphics in PowerPoint 2007
- Resize your presentation
- The Magic of False Backgrounds
- Turn AutoShapes into pictures
- Where and how to insert an image
Multimedia: Music, sound, & video
- Video: Put a YouTube video in PowerPoint NEW!
- Convert PowerPoint to video (SWF - Flash movie format) NEW!
- Insert video in PowerPoint NEW!
- Music: Convert iTunes M4P (and other) sounds to MP3 NEW!
- Music: Play music continuously in a Web-based presentation
- Music: Play music or narration throughout a presentation
- Music: Synchronize animation with music
- Video: Control movies with buttons
Slide layout
- Align objects perfectly
- Beyond Words
- Create a custom layout
- Create a grid for perfect layout
- Nudge objects slightly
- Put objects exactly on top of each other
- Reapply the slide layout
Slide masters, templates & themes
Text & fonts
- Animate text on top of text
- Choose fonts and colors for legibility
- Choose the most readable font
- Control text shadows
- Emphasize a section of text or an image
- Fit more text in a Placeholder or AutoShape
- Highlight important words
- Quickly change text color line by line
- Set vertical alignment of text
- Text animation techniques
Deliver with Confidence!
- For a professional image: Good-bye filler words & hello eye contact NEW!
- Use presentations for high-impact, low-cost marketing NEW!
- Successfully print presentations
- Add taped narration to a presentation
- Ask the audience questions
Create a timeline/agenda in PresentationZen style - Best practices for PowerPoint presentations in Second Life
- Comedy! Life after death by PowerPoint
- Create a timer
- Custom shows: Add flexibility with custom shows
- Display a quarter-size slide show view
- Feedback: Collect information or feedback
- Feedback: Have a conversation with your audience
- Feedback: Use feedback to complete the communication cycle
- Handouts: Create a background for printed handouts
- Handouts: Export the text in a presentation
- Handouts: Make great handoutsRehearsal: Rehearse with narration
- Handouts: Print in black & white or grayscale
- Education: PowerPoint and the Future of Education
- A good introduction/opener
- Guest Expert: Dana Bristol-Smith-It's All About Presentation: 8 Lessons from Japan
- Guest Expert Jim Endicott: Keys to being a unique and memorable presenter
- Guest Expert Jim Endicott: Presenting to young audiences
- Guest Expert Suzanne Bates: How to Be Yourself in Front of an Audience
- Import a PowerPoint presentation into Flash
- Manage the process from conception to rehearsal to handouts
- Notes: Add notes during a presentation
- Notes: Create a slide list
- Notes: Create a compact list of notes
- Notes: Create notes as you deliver in PowerPoint 2003
- Navigation: Black out the screen and other delivery tips
- Navigation: Go to the previous slide when you have text animation (builds)
- Play sound or music without clicking
- Presentation styles
- Quizzes: Create a game quiz (similar to Jeopardy®)
- Repurpose: Put a presentation on a CD that runs automatically
- Reduce the size of your presentation files
- Speaking: 12 steps to becoming a charismatic speaker
- Speaking: Don't look at the screen!
- Speaking: Public speaking is the number 1 fear -- How to beat it
- Start a presentation at a specified time
- Turn off pop-ups when presenting
- Use presentations for high-impact, low-cost marketing
