PowerPoint Tips Newsletter

Review of PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:04:53 -0600

A new book by Geetesh Bajaj and Echo Swinford, PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit, is both unique and uniquely useful. PowerPoint 2007's interface, the ribbon, is so different from what we're used to, that running through a tutorial like this one will make the difference between tearing your hair out while staying up until midnight and ...

Turn off pop-ups when presenting

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:14:09 -0600

In a given day, or week, or month, how many messages pop up on your computer to: Update Java, RealPlayer, or Windows? Connect to a wireless network? Keep you up to date on your subscribed RSS feeds?

Some of these pop-ups may appear while you're presenting in slide show view! Not a pretty picture! One possible solution may be...

Tell 'n' show slide design

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:16:35 -0600

A number of communication experts have recommended slide design that has a slide title that makes a complete statement (often suggested to be a complete grammatical sentence), and then an image that provides evidence of the statement.

I call this tell 'n' show. It's the opposite of the show 'n' tell that you may remember from 6th grade, because first you tell (in the slide title and by speaking out the statement), and then you show (by using a visual, and explaining it). Find out more...

Create a drop-down menu

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 15:11:32 -0600

In the PowerPoint discussion group, in response to a request, Shyam Pillai shared a presentation that has a drop-down menu that he programmed. However, you can create a drop-down menu using animation. Find out how...

Top 3 tips of February, 2008

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:48:51 -0600

My site has so many tips on it now, that I'm aware of the fact that they can be hard to find. Don't forget that the Tips menu has a Search box where you can search for tips that meet your needs.�Another way to discover new tips is to find out what other people are looking at. Here are the top 3 tips from February, 2008: Putting Flash animation in PowerPoint (http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/powerpoint_tip_putting_flash_in_powerpoint.html)- This tip shows you how to add Flash movies (SWF files) to a PowerPoint presentation. I recently gave a webinar on this topic. Watch for an update to this tip! Create a timer (http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/powerpoint_tip_create_timer.html)- This tip shows you how to create a timer for breaks from 1 minute to 1 hour and anything inbetween. There are a lot of steps, but the whole process will take about 5 minutes. Easily create a quiz in PowerPoint using Visual Basic for Applications (http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/powerpoint_tip_create_quiz_with_vba.html)- There are many ways to create quizzes in PowerPoint (and I gave a webinar on this topic a few months ago), but this tip shows how non-programmers can use some easy VBA to create quizzes.

New e-booklet: 7 Steps to Great Images

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:53:15 -0600

My newest work is a 22-page e-booklet that describes 7 steps or techniques that you can use to banish unprofessional images in your presentations and replace them with images that really pack a punch! The e-booklet is based on content from my webinars and on principles I've developed over the years. At only $6.95, you can buy one for yourself and another for that colleague who really, really needs it. E-books make great take-homes for conferences and meetings. Recently, a conference organizer bought 40 copies of my 101 Tips Every PowerPoint User Should Know, to give each attendee one on a flash drive. What a great idea! And more useful than the tee shirt you usually get. Read more about it at http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/estore/7steps.html.

March 2008 Resource of the Month - Presentation Zen

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:25:21 -0600

Presentation Zen is Garr Reynold's blog on on presentation design from the Zen perspective. His articles and ideas are always interesting and right on. His designs are inspiring.

March 2008 Free Background of the Month

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:15:52 -0600

This sophisticated tiling reminds you of a mosaic. Of course, you should change the photos to suit your situation. The photos are AutoShape fills. The download file contains both PowerPoint 2003 and 2007 versions.

Importing a PowerPoint presentation into Flash

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:09:18 -0600

In my Putting Flash animation in PowerPoint tip, I explain how to bring a Flash movie into PowerPoint, but how about bringing a PowerPoint presentation into Adobe Flash? You can't do it directly, but you can save the files in WMF format and import them into Flash. This method does not preserve any animation or transitions. However, you can, of course, add animation in Flash. Here's how...

Use materials and lighting for interesting fills

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:07:48 -0600

You can fine tune the fills of your AutoShapes (Shapes, in 2007) by applying a variety of surface materials and lighting treatments. The differences are subtle but can impart a more professional result and create a realistic 3D look.

How many bullets should I put on a slide?

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 14:44:44 -0600

People often ask, "How many bullets should I put on a slide?" First I'll tell you what others are saying. Then I'll give you my answer.

Put a presentation on a CD that runs automatically

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 14:38:25 -0600

You can send potential clients or friends a CD that contains a presentation that runs automatically when they put the CD in their CD-ROM drive. If you add narration, the presentation will start automatically and run from beginning to end by itself. This technique works well for sales brochures that you create in PowerPoint, for a narrated slide show of your vacation pictures, or any other use you can imagine. The beauty of it is that the receiver doesn't even have to have PowerPoint.

Interview with Wataru Sugawara, CEO of SoftAdvance

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:44:24 -0600

Prezvision (actually, prezvision, with a lower-case p) is an exciting new 3D animation program that starts with PowerPoint content and creates an amazing transformation. Because you start with PowerPoint, you can easily create 3D animation that would otherwise involve very expensive software and a huge learning curve. Wataru Sugawara, CEO of SoftAdvance, the company that created Prezvision, and Ron Radcliff, VP of Business Development, showed off the software's capabilities at PowerPoint Live in New Orleans, in October, 2007. Wataru Sugawara agreed to be interviewed by e-mail.

Result of poll on which PowerPoint versions you use

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:41:19 -0600

The results of the poll are in. With 97 people responding, here are the results:

Use an audience-centered structure

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:11:11 -0600

In my webinar, "Create audience-centered presentations," I covered many ways to organize, design, and deliver a presentation around the needs of the audience, and in turn, get better results. If you missed it, I can share one of the concepts in the area of organization. First...

Recolor graphics in PowerPoint 2007

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:09:40 -0600

PowerPoint 2007 introduced the ability to recolor and adjust bitmap graphics. Bitmap files types include GIF, JPG, and PNG. You can recolor both inserted images and background images. These are exciting, new capabilities. Previously, you had to use third-party software to accomplish this task. To insert a picture from a file, choose Insert>Picture and choose the pciture file. To insert a picture from the clip art collection, choose Insert>Clip Art In the Clip Art task pane, enter keywords. Be sure to specify the type of clip art that you want from the Results Should Be drop-down list; you can specify photos only, for example. You can make minor adjustments to brightness and contrast, or completely recolor an image. Read on...

Use advanced animation to show growth and motion

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:53:29 -0600

You can create the illusion of growth and motion using the technique of frame animation. Frame animation duplicates the same object in slightly different positions or sizes and then quickly displays one after the other. This is how old-fashioned movie animation was done. Remember, though, that this process was very labor-intensive. Good animation is usually 15-30 frames per second, meaning that you need to create at least 15 images for each second of animation! You can create a simpler version in PowerPoint fairly easily. You can use this process for anything that moves or grows and that you can draw in PowerPoint using AutoShapes. Here's the basic process that I use:

February 2008 Resource of the Month - TED

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:52:39 -0600

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and it's a conference that brings together thinkers and doers from those fields, and more to "give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). The site presents the best talks and performances, all for free. It's a great resource for viewing top-notch talks and presentations.

3 great webinars coming up - 10% discount!

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:54:12 -0600

I have 3 great webinars coming up. Look at the January 31st entry of my blog for the URLs for each one. Wed., February 13th: Use PowerPoint to Bring the Audience into Your World with an Audience-Centered Presentation. Learn how to design an audience-centered presentation from the ground up and discover a simple formula to determine what content comes first, second, and so on. Find out how to incorporate audience input and convey ideas visually. And much more! Your 10% discount code is 10%offppt. Wed., March 19th: Add Pizzazz to your PowerPoint Presentations with Flash Animation. Learn why Flash animation is so powerful and how to add it to your presentations. Discover where to find Flash animations and how to control them in PowerPoint. Find out how to convert an entire presentation to Flash animation format. Your 10% discount code is 10%offppt. Wed., April 9th: Stop Force-Feeding Your Audience: Create Interactive and Flexible PowerPoint Presentations. This webinar will show you how to create a non-linear presentation that meets the unique needs of your audience. You'll learn how to create a menu as the front end for a presentation or to jump-start questions at the end. Your 10% discount code is 10%offppt.

2 polls

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:51:15 -0600

I've created 2 polls that will help me serve you better. If you haven't already done so, please complete both. One takes a few seconds, the other less than 5 minutes. Click the links below to enter. Thank you! You can find the links in the January 31st blog entry or go to: What version of PowerPoint are you using? http://www.polldaddy.com/p/177663/ What do you want to know about PowerPoint and presenting? http://www.polldaddy.com/s/6CDB355DE88430AC/

January 2008 Free Background of the Month

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:43:01 -0600

Fireworks! Great for any celebration or to generate excitement about a project.

January 2008 Resource - Six Minutes: A Public Speaking and Presentation Blog

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:34:01 -0600

Six Minutes is a Andrew Dlugan's blog on public speaking and presenting. He writes often and is truly informed about all that is going on in the field.

Add flexibility with custom shows

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:58:52 -0600

You may need the flexibility to vary your presentation, depending on the audience, last minute decisions, or the amount of time you have available. Building this flexibility into your presentation can avoid embarrassing time overruns, last minute corrections, or not having the information an audience member asks for. There are several ways to create options that allow your presentation to change at the last minute. For example...

Try design variations

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:03:42 -0600

Designers have an excellent sense of color, but even they try out variations to see which looks best. Those of us who are not designers absolutely need to create variations of colors before making a final decision. Color has a major impact on the effect of a presentation, but on a subtle level. By changing a presentation's colors, you can make it more upbeat or more low key.

Winners of the "False Background" contest

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 10:27:21 -0600

Congratulations to Bob Mathews and Alan Taylor for winning a copy of "7 Steps to Great Images!" They both sent in excellent slides using the "False Background" technique in response to my offer for the free e-booklet.

December 2007 background

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 15:25:46 -0600

The Earth and Water background is a soft, yet crisp title bar with a teal-colored Earth at the left and the texture of water throughout.

December, 2007 Resource of the Month - Presentation Magic

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 15:04:23 -0600

Presentation Magic is Glenna Shaw's excellent site. Glenna is a PowerPoint MVP. Her site includes some excellent tutorials and articles that are well worth the visit.

The importance of design

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 10:51:25 -0600

Do you design PowerPoint presentations? Do you have difficulty getting your company -- or your clients -- to realize the importance of good design? Perhaps you can provide some information about the relationship between design and profits. Here's a point to make...

Undim bulleted text

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 15:09:30 -0600

Bulleted text elicits a lot of animated, opinionated discussion. I've covered the pros and cons of bulleted text and provided some tips for working with, or without, them. Sometimes, you can't think of a way to avoid bullets. So, how do you format them?

The magic of false backgrounds

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:35:03 -0600

Glen Millar, of Glen Millar Communications, introduced this animation/graphics technique at the PowerPoint Live conference. He called it the False Background. It isn't really a false background, but uses the technique of giving an AutoShape (shape, in 2007) the same background as the slide. You can then animate the AutoShape/shape, or layer it, for some stunning results. Follow these steps to set up this technique...

November 2007 Resource of the Month - VectorMagic

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:07:27 -0600

VectorMagic is a free service from Stanford University Artificial Intelligence Laboratory that vectorizes bitmap images. In other words, it takes JPG, GIF, TIF, or PNG files that are made up of dots and translates them into lines and equations. You can resize vector files without losing sharpness, which is the main reason to use this service. It works especially well with pixelated logos.

PowerPoint Live 2007 Report

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 14:44:46 -0600

I've just returned from PowerPoint Live 2007 in New Orleans. This is my second year, and each time I've felt that I learned so much! This time I'd say that the underlying theme was creating audience-centered presentations. (That's my term; I didn't hear it at the conference.)

Recent Seminars and Webinars

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 14:43:45 -0600

I wanted to let you know about some of the recent talks I've given, in case you might find a similar event useful for your organization. I've started to give webinars (web-based seminars) and seminars at a conference. The webinars have been on the following topics: * Designing PowerPoint Slides Like a Pro * Making the Upgrade to PowerPoint 2007 Easy * Creating Interactive Quizzes in PowerPoint

Create a visual menu

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 14:15:13 -0600

I recently gave to workshop seminars at a conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. Both were on Creating Effective Presentations, but one was called PowerPoint 101, for intermediate users, and one was called Advanced PowerPoint, for advanced users. In the advanced session, I covered using video, Adobe Flash, and animation. I also discussed the concept of a visual menu, with links to sections of the presentation. To show you how this works, I've created a fictitious hotel, Shangri-La Hotel, and used it for the presentation. It's a great place to go!

Export presentation text

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:00:07 -0600

Have you ever wanted to export all of the text in a presentation? There are several reasons for doing this: * To repurpose the text to a report or other document * To give a presentation a makeover, starting with just the text * To use as notes during delivery

Highlight important words

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 14:45:44 -0600

Slides with lots of text on them are hard for audiences to comprehend quickly. There's simply too much information. Either people listen to the presenter and ignore the slide, or more likely (and worse), they read the slide and ignore the presenter. The brain simply has difficulty listening to one set of words while reading another set. Also, studies show that people tend to skim what they read on screen (as opposed to what they read on paper); therefore, they miss many of the words. The best solution is...

Best practices for PowerPoint presentations in Second Life

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:37:19 -0600

Based on my experience with the grand opening of Virtualis (see my review), the conference center in Second Life, I�ve put together what I believe to be the first set of guidelines for creating and delivering PowerPoint presentations in Second Life.

April 2008 Resource of the Month - Echo's Voice

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:44:42 -0600

Echo is a PowerPoint MVP and her Web site contains a series of in-depth articles and tutorials that everyone will find useful. Look for her excellent PowerPoint 2007 tutorials.

April 2008 Background of the Month

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:52:44 -0600

Charismatic is a template (.pot file, zipped) with a sunburst on the title slide and a sky-blue gradient for the slide master. You can use it in PowerPoint 2002/2003 as well as PowerPoint 2007. Excellent for inspirational topics.

Amazing! Grand opening of Virtualis conference center in Second Life

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:37:37 -0600

On April 23 and 24, 2008, I attended the grand opening of Virtualis, an amazing new conference center in Second Life. I was new to Second Life until about 3 weeks ago, so there was that amazement to get past. If you don't know, Second Life is a 3D virtual world that lets you build practically anything, script objects (using Second Life Script, or SLS), interact with others using an avatar (your persona in Second Life), by text or speech, and even conduct business! You can purchase virtual land and create your own world...

Over the last couple of years, the team has designed, built, and programmed the most incredible conference center, one that can hold many types of events. They've created both traditional (as traditional as something can be in Second Life) and outrageously creative meeting places. The facility can be used for conferences, meetings, parties...