Dec 08 2008

Content Staging: Propel Your Slide Content Higher

Like a rocket, introduce your content in stages to propel your slides higher!

When you’re presenting your slide content, the last thing you want to do is overwhelm your audience with too much information on any one slide. If you find that you have too much content on one slide, you can divide it up and spread it over several slides. However, sometimes it’s not about simply breaking the content apart across multiple slides but about displaying the information more effectively in bit-size, digestible chunks in one slide. In these latter cases, I leverage a PowerPoint Ninja technique called content staging. Continue reading “Content Staging: Propel Your Slide Content Higher”

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Nov 20 2008

PowerPoint Slide Transitions are Empty Calories

PowerPoint ninjas hate jelly beans (c)iStockPhoto/Christine Glade

One form of animations in PowerPoint that you may want to avoid is slide transitions. Transitions are the animation or motion effects that occur as you move between slides in a PowerPoint presentation. Continuing in my tradition of comparing PowerPoint to food, I consider slide transitions to be “empty calories” within PowerPoint – high in calories (sizzle) and low in nutritional value (substance). Continue reading “PowerPoint Slide Transitions are Empty Calories”

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Sep 23 2008

New Selection Pane Will Keep You Sane

If you have ever built complex animations in previous versions of PowerPoint, you may have experienced the frustration of trying to select and edit objects that were in different layers on a slide. I know I have dreaded making small changes to one object that was behind several other objects or text. In PowerPoint 2007, a great new feature called the Selection Pane was added to alleviate this challenge. Continue reading “New Selection Pane Will Keep You Sane”

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Sep 19 2008

Five Keys to Creating Effective PowerPoint Animations – Part II

In my previous post, I covered two of the five keys to creating effective PowerPoint animations. In this article, I will discuss the three remaining keys of timing, arrangement, and review. Continue reading “Five Keys to Creating Effective PowerPoint Animations – Part II”

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Sep 17 2008

Five Keys to Creating Effective PowerPoint Animations – Part I

Custom animations can help you to communicate your message or idea more effectively. If you are looking to use animation to “spice up” your PowerPoint presentation, then you should look elsewhere. Animations shouldn’t be used randomly or without a real purpose. They will just distract from your message if used improperly.

PowerPoint ninjas use custom animations in situations where they are trying to control the flow of information on a particular slide and hold the audience’s attention. Animations can be great for leading an audience through a complex concept, process, problem, or solution. Continue reading “Five Keys to Creating Effective PowerPoint Animations – Part I”

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