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  Web http://www.klippert.com


  Tuesday, May 13, 2008 – Permalink –

Embed a Show

Stick it in Word



You might like to distribute a short PowerPoint slide show, and include some extra material.

Open Word and PowerPoint.

Arrange the windows so that both applications can be seen.
(Right-click an empty area of the Task bar and choose "Tile Windows Vertically."

Type your introductory text in the Word document.

Switch to PowerPoint and open the PowerPoint file.

In Slide Sorter View, hold down the Ctrl key and select the slides you want to include.

Drag the selected group of slides onto the Word document.

You will only see the first slide in the document, but if you double-click on the image, the PowerPoint show will run.

It will also work in Excel.

(This, of course assumes that the target machine has PowerPoint or PowerPoint Viewer installed)



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<Doug Klippert@ 6:20 AM

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  Monday, April 14, 2008 – Permalink –

Click to Trigger

Make it so



A trigger is an object on your PowerPoint slide - a picture, a shape, a button, or even a paragraph or text box. When you click on it an action is initiated. The action might be a sound, a movie, an animation, or text becoming visible on the slide.

Microsoft Office Online has a tutorial:
Use triggers to create an interactive slide show in PowerPoint

"Here's a Power User column for teachers. Want to involve your students more in a presentation? Set up "triggers" for them to click as they go through the show. Triggers (related to animations) let you add surprise to your slides while inviting your viewer to take part and have fun."


Indezine.com:
Trigger Animations


All 'Bout Computers:
Trigger Happy Animations in PowerPoint



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<Doug Klippert@ 6:26 AM

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  Monday, March 24, 2008 – Permalink –

Educational Slide Shows

Suggestions


Purdue University has a collection of PowerPoint shows on a number of topics.

  • Writing Skills
  • Research and Documentation St yles
  • Grammar and Mechanics
  • Business/ Professional Writing
  • Agricultural Economics/Cooperative Extension


If you have eve had to prepare a paper with MLA/APA standards these shows may come in handy:

Cross-referencing: Using MLA Format
This presentation teaches your students the purposes of MLA documentation, as well as methods for using parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page. This presentation is an important addition for the beginning of a research unit in a humanities course or any assignment that requires MLA documentation. (Writer and Designer: Jennifer Liethen Kunka)

Documenting Sources: Using APA Format
This presentation reviews the purposes of APA documentation, as well as methods for effectively using parenthetical citations and a reference page. This presentation is ideal for the begin ning of a research unit in a science course or any assignment that requires APA documentation. (Writer and Designer: Jennifer Liethen Kunka).


Purdue University



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<Doug Klippert@ 5:37 AM

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  Wednesday, March 19, 2008 – Permalink –

Beyond Bullet Points

By Cliff Atkinson


ISBN 0-7356-2052-0
Microsoft Press 2005

About the Author
Cliff Atkinson is a leading authority on how to improve communications across organizations using Microsoft PowerPoint. He is a popular keynote speaker, a writer, and an independent management consultant whose clients include companies ranking in the top five of the Fortune 500. He is president of Sociable Media in Los Angeles.

Cliff teaches at UCLA Extension, is a senior contributor for the MarketingProfs newsletter, and writes the Beyond Bullets weblog, at BeyondBullets.com.
Also see SociableMedia.com


Book Description
PowerPoint owns the presentation world. We've been cocooned by a blue gradient screen with six or more bullet points feeding information.
Or so we've been lulled to believe.
(see Edward Tufte's dissection of the Columbia PowerPoint disaster)

Cliff Atkinson takes a well researched, but almost heretical stand that a presentation is a story and that too much data plastered on the screen, dulls the audience's soul and actually reduces comprehension and retention.

Beyond Bullets walks the reader through the story process and provides tools to structure presentations to have the maximum impact.

The "PowerPoint" part of the process is easy to follow, even for a novice. The story telling sections will help improve the most experienced speaker's show.


Quote

"But what might not be evident in the simplicity of this slide is what happens when the audience experiences it along with your verbal explanation. Because the slide design is simple, the audience can quickly scan the headline and visual and understand the idea. Then their attention turns to the place you want it. — to you, the words you're saying, and the way the information relates to them. Instead of making everything explicit and obvious on the slides, you can leave the slides open to interpretation so the audience is dependent on you, and you on them.

What (the experts are) saying, basically, is that slides filled with bullet points create obstacles between presenters and audiences. You might want to be natural and relaxed when you present, but people say that bullet points make the atmosphere formal and stiff. You might aim to be clear and concise, but people often walk away from these presentations feeling confused and unclear. And you might intend to display the best of your critical thinking on a screen, but people say that bullet points "dumb down" the important discourse that needs to happen for our society to function well.

Somewhere in our collective presentation experience, we're not connecting the dots between presenters and audiences by using the conventional bullet points approach. This issue is of rising concern not only to individuals and audiences - even the major players of large organizations are taking notice of the problem. It seems that in every location where people meet, from small meeting rooms to board rooms to conference halls, people want a change."

Here's the latest edition:



[Edited entry from 3/1/2005]



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<Doug Klippert@ 5:36 AM

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  Friday, March 14, 2008 – Permalink –

No Bullets?

Heresy!


Cliff Atkinson's book, "Beyond Bullets", came out in 2005. A new version has just been released updating it to 2007.

Shellie Tucker, of Office.Microsoft.com, tried out the suggestions in a real world situation:

"It was a gamble. And it gave us pause. Could we give a PowerPoint presentation and use NO BULLET POINTS? Could we divorce ourselves from the tried and true - and deadly boring? We decided to try."

No bullets



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<Doug Klippert@ 7:50 AM

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  Sunday, February 17, 2008 – Permalink –

15 Minutes to Presentation

Show suggestions


Here are a few links that may stir up your presentation skills. You don't have to follow all of them, but there may be one or two that will help.

Having to present a report to a group is not something that most people do every day. There are sources that will help you develop an interesting, successful "show"


One spot that has a lot of information and free downloads is
Presenters University

Here's a collection of tips that may help:
15 Minute Guide to Winning Presentations


Microsoft Small Business:
Presenting with PowerPoint: 10 do's and don'ts
By Cherie Kerr


PresentationPointers.com
Summary of Article Sections


Communicating Effectively
Articles and tips - on all aspects of public speaking, formal, informal presentations and meetings; overcoming fear, fielding questions, hostile audiences, effective techniques, using anecdotes, spellbinding speeches, using multimedia for impact.

Building A Presentation
Tips and articles on using powerpoint and other presentation and related programs includes a data base of tips and tech notes from Microsofts Powerpoint related sites. Effective handouts, planning and using projectors.

Planning A Presentation
Articles to assist in the formative stages of creating a great impression. Hiring a speaker, what to include in your presentation, making a presentation memorable.

Beyond Bullets:
Board Fires CEO Over PowerPoint
By Cliff Atkinson




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<Doug Klippert@ 7:30 AM

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  Monday, February 11, 2008 – Permalink –

PPT Font Size

How big should you go?


In the old days of slide shows, presenters would hold their slides out at arm's length. If they could still see the text, then it would be OK when projected.

Dave Paradi has researched the question and offers a PDF document that compares screen size, fonts, and seating distance.

For instance:


"For example, if you're using a 60 inch screen and have 32 point text on your slides, the furthest someone should be is 57 feet from the screen."


Font Size

Dave Paradi's PowerPoint Tip



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<Doug Klippert@ 7:57 AM

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  Thursday, January 24, 2008 – Permalink –

Slideshow Accessibility

Hearing and vision enhanced


Dave Paradi has an article about how to design PowerPoint shows for those with limited hearing or vision.

With PowerPoint presentations becoming more of a standard way to communicate information of all types, we need to keep in mind that our first responsibility is to our audience. We need to use the ideas above to make sure that we make our presentation accessible for everyone.

Making Accessible Slides



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<Doug Klippert@ 6:56 AM

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  Saturday, December 29, 2007 – Permalink –

Viewer

Portable PowerPoint



If you have to show your presentation on a machine that does not have PowerPoint installed, you can use " Package for CD. "

Before 2003 it was named "Pack and Go."

Go to File> Package for CD ...
The Dialog box will walk you through the process and offer to include the PowerPoint Viewer.

PowerPoint Viewer

The problem with the earlier versions of PowerPoint, through 2002, was that the viewer only handled the features available in PowerPoint 97.


The PowerPoint 2003 Viewer lets you view full-featured presentations created in PowerPoint 97 and later versions.

Here is the download location for the PowerPoint 2003 Viewer:

Microsoft 2003 PowerPoint Viewer



Here's the PowerPoint 2007 viewer:
PP 2007 Viewer

Microsoft:
What happened to Pack and Go?

How to package and copy a presentation to a CD in PowerPoint 2003

Leave a good impression; distribute a business presentation on CD

"Want to truly impress your customers with a multimedia presentation about your business? You can easily make your Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 presentations more portable by burning them onto a CD. By including the new free PowerPoint 2003 presentation viewer on the CD, presentations can be distributed to and viewed by audiences who do not use Microsoft Office."

PP Tools:
Downloads and descriptions for other versions



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<Doug Klippert@ 8:41 AM

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  Saturday, November 17, 2007 – Permalink –

Move the Show

Portable hints


A speaker can be called upon to present programs almost anywhere. Every site is unique and has its own problems. Your show may, also, have to be sent out on its own.

Here are some suggestions that may help on the road:

Distributing PPTs - Pitfalls, Panics & Pleasures
By Steve Rindsberg


There are several potential problem areas:


  • Recipients who don't have PowerPoint
  • PowerPoint version compatibility
  • Links - to images, sounds, movies and OLE content (graphs, charts, spreadsheets, Word pages etc.)
  • Sound and movie compatibility
  • Fonts
  • Timing/Synchronization
  • VBA code and Controls
  • Recipients using assistive technology




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<Doug Klippert@ 6:10 AM

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  Tuesday, August 28, 2007 – Permalink –

Annotation Preservation

Hold that note



Remember the old days. You did your John Madden thing. You've scribbled notes all over the slide and would like to keep them. That old-fashioned 2002 version of PowerPoint couldn't help, but 2003+ will!


Not only can you save your highlights and underscores, but you can turn them on and off when you re-run the show.


Carefully mark up the slide and then at presentation time make it look like you do this sort of thing all the time on ESPN.


When you close the presentation you are asked if you want to save the changes.
You can't highlight text in PowerPoint like you can in Word, but you can do it with screen annotations





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<Doug Klippert@ 7:39 AM

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  Thursday, August 09, 2007 – Permalink –

Life with PowerPoint

Cruel tips


" Don McMillan is "Technically Funny". Before he became a nationally known stand-up comedian, Don spent 10 years as an engineer at IBM, AT&T, and VLSI Technology. He knows what corporate life is all about. His show is funny, smart, clean, AND he is the ONLY comedian working in PowerPoint.


Life After Death by PowerPoint



Don McMillan



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<Doug Klippert@ 6:35 AM

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  Sunday, July 29, 2007 – Permalink –

Non Stop Show

Stop the breakout


If a PowerPoint show is running, it can be stopped by using the escape key. Here's a way to prevent that from happening.

A User can exit out of a show accidentally/intentionally by pressing the ESC key. This add-in disables the functionality of the ESC key.

Note: If the show is set to run in Kiosk mode, disabling the ESC key will provide no way of getting out of a slide show, hence please ensure that you have provided an escape route (e.g an invisible shape set to End show) to exit the show.


No ESCape Add-in
by Shyam Pillai



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<Doug Klippert@ 7:13 AM

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  Saturday, July 07, 2007 – Permalink –

Countdown Slide

3-2-1




It can be useful to let your audience know when the show is going to begin. Here's a description about how to do it:

Create Countdown Slide Without VBA
(There is also a sample PowerPoint file with all the hard work done for you!)


The MVPS.org site also has a way to do it with VBA:
Simulate a countdown timer using Sleep API

Indezine.com has a tutorial:
Countdown Timer


Tushar-Mehta.com offers a free download:
PowerPoint Timer add-in
The add-in provides a variety of capabilities missing from PowerPoint itself. During a slideshow, it can:


  • Show the current time
  • Show the elapsed time of the presentation
  • Count down the time remaining for the presentation.
  • Optionally, it includes the ability to terminate the presentation at the end of a separately configurable grace period!


Also a tutorial on auto scheduling a PowerPoint show


Countdown with sound



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<Doug Klippert@ 8:12 AM

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  Wednesday, June 13, 2007 – Permalink –

Loop the Beginning

Then start the show


It can be effective to have an opening segment run before the actual presentation begins.

We all know how to set up a show that will run in kiosk mode until you hit escape.

Here are instructions about how to set up the loop so that you can seamlessly start the show without an interruption.

Creating & Running an Opening Loop



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<Doug Klippert@ 7:33 AM

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  Tuesday, June 05, 2007 – Permalink –

No Black Slide

End the show


After creating a presentation, save it as a PowerPoint show. This allows you to run the show and not be faced with all the paraphernalia that was used to create it.

One negative is that at the end of the show a black slide is displayed.

To eliminate this last distraction, so that the show will run and then just return to the desktop, Go to PowerPoint Options (Tools>Options or Logo PowerPoint options in 2007).

Remove the check from "End with black slide". Resave and carry on.



This will hold for every show until the setting is changed. It is not saved with the file.


"To force the presentation to end without the black screen on every computer, add an action button or autoshape on your last slide within the presentation.

You can now set the . . .action setting to "end show". This will force your presentation to end without displaying the final black screen and end of slide show message.

123PPT.com



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<Doug Klippert@ 7:54 AM

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  Monday, May 28, 2007 – Permalink –

Presentation Review

Suggestions included


... (the) CEO of Whole Foods Market, John Mackey, gave a presentation called "Past, Present, and Future of Food" for an audience of 2000 in Berkeley, California.

... (he) was there to make a presentation and have a conversation that would . . . (show) a skeptical Berkeley audience that his large company still has the credibility to lead the food movement into the future.

. . .(the) 45-minute talk "aided" by 67 text-filled slides followed by an on-stage conversation

. . . Most people felt that the evening generally was successful given Mackey's sincerity, honesty, and general likeability, but John Mackey's "multimedia presentation" as it was billed, could have been so much more.


. . . (the) presentation in Berkeley is a wonderful example of a presentation by an intelligent, personable, and passionate leader that easily could have been insanely great but was not. "[He] raced through the slides like a Ph.D. student presenting his dissertation," said the UC Berkeley reporter in the audience.

. . . it's a shame the presentation itself was not better planned and delivered given the importance of the topic and the profile of the speaker. Frankly, when you're trying to change the world, there is no excuse for being dull.
  • It's a story. This topic screams "Story" yet there was no story that I could follow.
    There were bits and pieces (some of it interesting) and way too much history and data-without-purpose.

  • Make it shorter. Cut the presentation part of the evening to 20-25 minutes and spend more time discussing on stage with the host, taking questions from the audience, etc.

  • Make it visual. There are no boring topics, but this topic is especially interesting and provocative.

Signal vs. Noise



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<Doug Klippert@ 7:00 AM

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  Thursday, April 26, 2007 – Permalink –

Show Suggestions

10-20-30


A show should have 10 slides, last no more than 20 minutes and have at least 30 point font.
Guy Kawasaki is a venture capitalist with some piquant points about presentations.

The 10-20-30 Rule



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<Doug Klippert@ 5:51 AM

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  Sunday, April 08, 2007 – Permalink –

Presentation Tips

Ideas



Unique Presentation Solutions
(See the list of articles under "Creative Techniques" .)

Terberg Design specializes in creating unique presentations. Here is an interview with Julie Terberg from Indezine.com.

PowerPoint Personality



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<Doug Klippert@ 6:41 AM

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  Saturday, March 17, 2007 – Permalink –

Shortcuts

A few good ones


Here are some keyboard shortcuts that can be used when running a show:

N, ENTER, PAGE DOWN, RIGHT ARROW, DOWN ARROW, or the SPACEBAR (or click the mouse)
Perform the next animation or advance to the next slide

P, PAGE UP, LEFT ARROW, UP ARROW, or BACKSPACE
Perform the previous animation or return to the previous slide

number+ENTER
Go to slide number

  • B or PERIOD
    Display a black screen, or return to the slide show from a black screen

    W or COMMA
    Display a white screen, or return to the slide show from a white screen

    S or PLUS SIGN
    Stop or restart an automatic slide show

    ESC, CTRL+BREAK, or HYPHEN
    End a slide show

    E
    Erase on-screen annotations

    H
    Go to the next hidden slide

    CTRL+P
    Redisplay hidden pointer and/or change the pointer to a pen

    CTRL+A
    Redisplay hidden pointer and/or change the pointer to an arrow

    CTRL+H
    Hide the pointer and navigation button immediately; prevent the pointer from appearing if your mouse is moved.

    CTRL+U
    Hide the pointer and navigation button in 15 seconds

    SHIFT+F10 (or right-click)
    Display the shortcut menu

    TAB
    Go to the first or next hyperlink on a slide

    SHIFT+TAB
    Go to the last or previous hyperlink on a slide

    ENTER while a hyperlink is selected
    Perform the “mouse click” behavior of the selected hyperlink

    SHIFT+ENTER while a hyperlink is selected
    Perform the “mouse over” behavior of the selected hyperlink


    • Ctrl-M: New slide
    • Ctrl-D: Duplicate the current slide
    • Ctrl-Shift-C: Copy Autoshape style
    • Ctrl-Shift-V: Paste Autoshape style
    • Ctrl-Shift G: Group objects
    • Ctrl-Shift H: Ungroup objects
    • Shift-F9: Toggle the grid on and off
    • Alt-F9: Toggle the guides on and off
    • F5: Start presentation
    • Right arrow: Next slide or build
    • Left arrow: Previous slide or build
    • Home: First slide
    • End: Last slide


    Also see:

    BitBetter.com

    Mini Show



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    <Doug Klippert@ 6:53 AM

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      Friday, March 09, 2007 – Permalink –

    Random Slides

    Vary the show


    Here is the code that can be used to mix up the order of your slides.


     Sub sort_rand()

        Dim i As Integer
        Dim myvalue As Integer
        Dim islides As Integer
        islides = ActivePresentation.Slides.Count
        For i = 1 To ActivePresentation.Slides.Count
            myvalue = Int((i * Rnd) + 1)
            ActiveWindow.ViewType = ppViewSlideSorter
            ActivePresentation.Slides(myvalue).Select
            ActiveWindow.Selection.Cut
            ActivePresentation.Slides(islides - 1).Select
            ActiveWindow.View.Paste
        Next

    End Sub



    Brian Reilly


    PowerPoint Tools:
    Randomize the order of a PowerPoint presentation



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    <Doug Klippert@ 6:27 AM

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      Wednesday, February 21, 2007 – Permalink –

    Auto Show

    Also Dumb No Dot



    A PowerPoint show can be set up to run automatically when it is opened.

    To do this, you could go to File>Save As and choose PowerPoint Show (*.pps) from the Save as type: list.

    Another way is to change the extension (the three letters that appear after a file name such as Report.DOC).

    PowerPoint uses .PPT for normal files, .POT for templates.

    A PowerPoint show uses .PPS.

    Microsoft "dumbed down" Windows Explorer so that, by default, extensions are not displayed.

    To see them:

    1. Go to Windows Explorer.

    2. On the Menu bar go to Tools>Folder Options
      (Organize>Folder and Search Options in Vista)

    3. Click on the View tab.

    4. In the Advanced settings list, remove the check mark from "Hide file extensions for known file types."

    5. OK your way out.


    To change a regular PowerPoint file to a show:
    1. Locate the file in Windows Explorer.

    2. Right click the file name and choose Rename.

    3. Touch the End key on the keyboard and the Backspace three times.

    4. Enter the letters PPS

    5. Hit Enter.


    You now have a PowerPoint show that will automatically run when it is opened.



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    <Doug Klippert@ 6:24 AM

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      Saturday, February 17, 2007 – Permalink –

    Can the Narration

    Pre-Record



    PowerPoint and Narration
    By Geetesh Bajaj from Indezine

    "Narration is one of PowerPoint's least-used and most-misunderstood aspects. Many people try narration within PowerPoint only to get frustrated and give up.

    Surprisingly, most PowerPoint narration problems stem from outside PowerPoint - from incompatible sound cards to loose microphone cables or messed-up Multimedia properties in the Windows control panel.

    Or maybe you set your microphone volume settings very low or even mute! That's why I've provided a checklist of things you should do before you even attempt to begin narration in PowerPoint."




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    <Doug Klippert@ 7:15 AM

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      Thursday, January 04, 2007 – Permalink –

    PowerPoint Screed

    WSJ on slide shows


    Here is another article trying to rein in the PP overkill.

    It is easier to put together a PowerPoint show than it is to write an intriguing speech; Six bullet points vs. 6 pages of text.


    Why is it the that polite audience members congratulate even the worse presentations?

    "But the civility has some self-interest. Larry Chung, a software developer, doesn't criticize fellow presenters, he says, "because I know the tables could be turned a few weeks later."
    To him, PowerPoint presentations are like corporate karaoke. "For the most part, it's tough to listen to," he says. "We all applaud each other even though we know how bad it stinks."


    Go Easy on the Text



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    <Doug Klippert@ 4:28 AM

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      Monday, December 11, 2006 – Permalink –

    World Wide Problem

    PowerPoint made as clear as the Volga




    Suggested by the BookofJoe.com:
    Death by PowerPoint




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    <Doug Klippert@ 5:14 AM

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      Friday, December 01, 2006 – Permalink –

    Answer before you do the Show

    As helpful as No-Doz (almost)


    Here are some question to answer before that presentation.
    Your audience, probably, does want to be informed not put to sleep.
    • Is this slide for me or for my audience?

    • Will it really help them better understand my message or just serve as a distraction?

    • How can I remember what I’m going to say without putting the entire text on the slide?

    • What can I do to simplify the slide so that only essential information is displayed?

    • What do I really need to do at this point in the presentation to engage the audience and enhance my message?

    • Is a visual the best way to convey the information or could a story do a better job?

    • Using ideas like this, your talk will be much stronger and your audience will be engaged and awake.


    From The Boston Herald:
    Wake me when it's over: A guide to no-nap presentations



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    <Doug Klippert@ 8:49 AM

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