February 13, 2009

Many Slide Designs, One Presentation

Did you know you can choose to use multiple slide design templates within the same MS PowerPoint presentation?

As I've observed people using PowerPoint, I've noticed they always seem to apply a slide design template to the master, with the assumption it's their one and only chance to make that decision.

But cialis normal dose what if you have a long presentation with some very definite sections and you're thinking that changing the design template might be a good idea? You know, a visual clue that the subject is changing. I know we don't want to go crazy and make each slide different, but do they all have to be the same?

We all would like to think that PowerPoint isn't forcing us into anything, so I'd hope we have some control over the matter as well!

As it turns out, we do have control, so whatever your reason for wanting a design template switch, the big question now is how can you make it happen?

Fortunately, this one is probably easier to accomplish than you may think!

If you're using an older version of PowerPoint, you need the Normal View from the View menu. Now, open the Slide Design Task Pane (the Format menu, Slide Design choice will work).

For all you PowerPoint 2007 users, you're looking for the View tab on the ribbon, Normal choice. To get to your slide design choices, you need the Themes section under the Design tab on the ribbon.

With all of that accomplished, everyone needs to use the Slides tab on the left hand side of the program window to select the slide(s) that will have the Design Template. You can select a single slide or multiple slides with the Shift/Ctrl keys.

Now, locate the desired Slide Design Template in the Task Pane or under the Design tab.

If you have an older version of PowerPoint, you must click on the down arrow that appears when you place the mouse over your choice.

From the menu, choose Apply to Selected Slide.

If you have PowerPoint 2007, it's even easier! Simply click on the slide design of your choice from the Themes section.

Voila. The new Slide Design Template is applied to only the selected slides, leaving the rest as they were originally created!

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February 5, 2009

Create your own AutoContent templates for building presentations

  • Date: September 30th, 2008
  • Author: Susan Harkins

PowerPoint’s AutoContent wizard gives you a head start on setting up a presentation based on various prefab templates. But you can also plug your own presentations into the wizard, making it easy to reuse their design, structure, and content.


The AutoContent Wizard is a great place to start when you’re not sure what a presentation should cover. This wizard creates a new presentation using built-in templates, offering content ideas to help you organize the information you include on each slide.

What you might not know is that you can add an existing presentation to the AutoContent Wizard’s library. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Launch the wizard by choosing New from the File menu.
  2. Click the From AutoContent Wizard link in the New Presentation task pane.
  3. Click Next in the wizard’s first pane.
  4. Choose the most appropriate content template category from the list (Figure A) and click Add.

Figure A

  1. Locate the presentation you want to use as a content template and click OK.
  2. Proceed through the rest of the wizard’s prompts.

The presentation you added is now available to use as a template when you run the AutoContent Wizard.

Don’t cialis buying let a good generic presentation go to waste. You’ll still have to customize it to suit your particular purpose, but that’s true of any content template you choose.

Notes: The AutoContent Wizard isn’t available in PowerPoint 2007. Instead, use a themed template. Choose File from the Office menu and select New to get started.

Microsoft offers more free templates.

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February 3, 2009

Numbered My Way

Ever give a presentation that involved a couple of different PowerPoint files? Was it confusing to have the slide numbers of all the different files start over at 1? Looking for a quick fix to avoid duplicates? No, I'm not proposing something so drastic as to merge the two presentations together; it's just a quick adjustment to the slide numbering!

To alter the number of the first slide in a presentation, you need to go to the Page Setup dialogue window.

In older versions of PowerPoint, the Page Setup is found under the File menu.

In PowerPoint 2007, you can find it on the Design ribbon.

In any case, when the Page Setup window opens, take a look in the bottom left corner.

See the Number Slides From field? That's where you'll enter the number you want generic cialis buy online for the first slide in the presentation and then click OK.

There you have it. A quick fix to your duplicate number dilemma!

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November 9, 2008

PowerPoint users — don’t be afraid of rich media

  • Date: September 3rd, 2008
  • Author: Susan Harkins

Last fall, my nine-year-old granddaughter asked if I had PowerPoint and then proceeded to create a presentation for Social Studies, mostly on her own. I hovered and made suggestions, but she really didn’t need my help. She added a few pictures and a recording of Kentucky’s state song, “My Old Kentucky Home.” She got an A!

The thing is, everybody knows how to use PowerPoint these days, and that can be problematic for the professional. It’s like an amusement park — the more rides you ride, the more thrilling a ride has to be to get your attention. In other words, you now have to work harder than ever to impress your audience. The ordinary just won’t do anymore.

That’s where rich media can make a difference. Rich media is anything other than text: pictures, graphics, video, audio, animated clips, and so on. A little creative power can go a long way. Remember the old saying about a picture’s worth a thousand words? Well, I won’t bore you further with a lot of extraneous verbalization when I can prove what I’m saying with just two slides.

september2008blog1fig1r.jpg

There’s nothing wrong with the above slide, but it’s ordinary and unfortunately rather typical of the average presentation. Your audience won’t remember it. Why should they; there’s nothing memorable about it.

On the other hand, they’ll remember the slide below. Not only will they remember it, they’ll want to know who the child is and where you took the picture. Most important, the slide will implant a pleasant association with you. Now that, they’ll remember.

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Keep supporting details handy for your PowerPoint presentations

Date: August 29th, 2008

Author: Susan Harkins When someone raises a question during your presentation, you can try to wing it — or you can smoothly bring up an ancillary slide that clarifies the issue. Having a few extra slides up your sleeve can make all the difference in the success of your delivery.


To make a presentation informative and efficient, you may sometimes exclude details that aren’t of interest to the general audience. But as soon as you make that decision, you can count on someone asking about what you left out. You can try to answer the question and move on. Or you can include a supporting slide. That way, if the topic comes up, you can skip to the slide, have a short discussion, and then return to the main presentation, exactly where you left off.

Note: This information is also available as a PDF download.

Create the supporting slide

Supporting can mean many things, but for this technique, the term refers to an optional slide that’s available but that you might not display. A supporting slide contains data that further defines or augments information on another slide in the presentation. Simply insert a link on the slide that requires a supporting slide. Similarly, link the supporting slide to the slide it supports. Then, just hide the supporting slide. You can decide when — or if — to display it. In addition, you can print a support slide along with the presentation.

For example, the slide in Figure A highlights consulting skills. If someone asks how to contact a consultant, you can display the supporting slide with that specific information, shown in Figure B.

Figure A: Most slides exclude details.

main slide

Figure B: This supporting slide contains contact information, in case someone in the audience requests it.

supporting slide

Once you identify a slide that’s apt to prompt questions (like the one in Figure A), create the supporting slide and add a Return action button that takes you back to the main slide, as follows:

  1. With the supporting slide selected, choose Action Buttons from the Slide Show menu.
  2. Choose Action Button: Return (the first button on the third line). In PowerPoint 2007, choose Action Buttons from the Shapes tool in the Illustrations group on the Insert tab.
  3. Click the slide to insert a button.
  4. Click the Mouse Click tab.
  5. Click the Hyperlink To option in the Action On Click section and choose Last Slide Viewed, as shown in Figure C and click OK.

Figure C: Add a Return button to the support slide.

action button

You can change the Return button if you like. Right-click the button and choose Format AutoShape. The default button fits our needs fine.

Now hide it and link to it

To keep PowerPoint from displaying the supporting slide during the presentation, you must hide it. The slide will stay with your presentation and be available, but it’s up to you to decide whether to show it. To hide the supporting slide, choose Hide Slide From Slide Show. PowerPoint identifies a hidden slide by displaying a strikethrough line in the number icon in Normal view.

At this point, the supporting slide is finished, so you just need to link to it. Select cialis daily 5mg the slide that requires a supporting slide. If you’re lucky, the slide will contain a picture or graphic you can use as a hyperlink. If not, you’ll have to add something. (As a last resort, use an Action button.)

For our purposes, the consultant’s name provides the perfect hyperlink hot spot. To add a hyperlink to the supporting slide, do the following:

  1. Select the text or graphic you want to use as a hyperlink. In this case, that’s the consultant’s name in the slide’s title.
  2. Right-click the selection and choose Action Settings to display the Action Settings dialog box. (You could also choose Hyperlink from the Insert menu.) In PowerPoint 2007, click Hyperlinks in the in the Links group on the Insert tab.
  3. Select Hyperlink To.
  4. Choose Slide from the Hyperlink To drop-down list, shown in Figure D.

Figure D: Create a hyperlink from text on the original slide.

hyperlink

  1. In the Hyperlink To Slide dialog box, highlight the supporting slide, as shown in Figure E.

Figure E: Point to the supporting slide.

link back

  1. Click OK twice.
  2. Save your presentation.

While running the presentation, PowerPoint never displays the supporting (hidden) slide on its own. You must click the hyperlink on the original slide to display the supporting slide. When you’re finished, click the Return button to go back to the original slide so you can continue the presentation. The downside to this technique is that the hyperlink usurps the text’s format.

I’ve got that information right here… somewhere… hold on…

Being unprepared to answer questions from the audience can be frustrating (and embarrassing) for you and disappointing to your audience. Add details to supporting slides and then display the information as needed. The details are there, but only if you need them. This technique is great for displaying flow charts, detailed figures, and so on — anything that supports the presentation can end up on a supporting slide.

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