About FindPowerPoint.com
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FindPowerpoint.com aims to be the one stop shop for PowerPoint and Presentation tips, tutorials and resources for the older and newer versions of PowerPoint. There are a lot of related information on the internet, but there are not that many dedicated websites for PowerPoint that provides resources for the people that needs it the most. Those who makes frequent presentation needs to keep learning and keep building their skills. FindPowerPoint also reviews websites that has good and unique and post them here as well. So, don’t be alarmed to discover website reviews, as you may find it a valuable resource as well. Be sure to bookmark this website, as you may need to visit it very frequently.
Finally, if you want to contribute a PowerPoint or presentation related article or resource to the site, feel free to register and submit your article.
When Should You Use PowerPoint
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I was speaking recently to a group of keynote speakers at a professional speakers convention on the topic of when PowerPoint should be used. Many people found the ideas I shared helpful, so I thought I would share them with you in this article.
As I explained to the group, I think you can see almost any business-oriented presentation as somewhere along a continuum where one end is a fully inspirational presentation and the other end is a totally informational presentation. One of the key distinctions along the line between the two ends is how many points you want the audience to remember.
A purely inspirational presentation, like a pep talk you would give your team, has very few points you need the audience to remember, perhaps only one key point. A highly informational presentation, like a training program, can have many points that you want the audience to remember in order to improve their job performance. In between the two ends of the spectrum there are a variety of different presentations with various numbers of points being made.
To help the audience remember your message, you should use recall aids. A recall aid is something that the audience can use to recall the points you have made after you are finished the presentation. There are many different forms of recall aids, including handouts, workbooks, cards, and yes, PowerPoint. PowerPoint can be a recall aid because it can give visual reminders of the points we are making.
The most popular usage of PowerPoint as a recall aid is when we use the title and bullet points to reinforce the key points we are speaking about. An even more effective way to use PowerPoint as a recall aid is to use photographs to help tell a story that illustrates your point.
Audiences remember your powerful stories more than any other part of your presentation. You can burn the points in their memory even more by showing a photo, telling a story related to that photo, then making the point that the story and photo illustrate. In this way, the emotional impact of the photo will add weight to the point you make through the story.
PowerPoint should not necessarily be the only recall aid you use, but it could be a valuable tool in helping your audience remember and act on your points. When you plan your next presentation (you do plan your presentation instead of just jumping in to PowerPoint I hope), think about where you are on the continuum between an inspirational and an informational presentation. Then consider how PowerPoint may fit into your plan for recall aids.
Dave Paradi’s Think Outside the Slide™ approach helps presenters get results by showing them how to quickly create effective PowerPoint presentations. He is the co-author of “Guide to PowerPoint”, part of the Prentice Hall Series in Advanced Business Communication. He offers a free PowerPoint e-course, newsletter and articles on his web site at www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com.
Excel Tables into PowerPoint
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If you have PowerPoint slides that report regularly updated financial or numeric data that comes from an Excel spreadsheet, you can save a lot of time by linking the data instead of retyping it. This technique also allows you to secure the data from others changing it and prevents accidental transposition errors. This article shows you the step by step procedure for importing linked data from an Excel spreadsheet into a PowerPoint slide.
Step 1: Create the table in Excel
The first step is to create the table of data in Excel so that it looks exactly the way you will want it to look on the slide, including titles, row labels, column labels, gridlines, text and background colors and text formatting.
Step 2: Copy the table in Excel
Using your mouse or arrow keys, highlight the table of data in Excel. Click Edità Copy to copy the data table to the Windows Clipboard.
Step 3: Prepare the slide in PowerPoint.
Create a new slide in PowerPoint. The slide layout with a title only is usually a good choice if the imported table will be the main focus of the slide.
Step 4: Paste the Table on Your PowerPoint slide
Click Edit => Paste Special. In the Paste Special dialog box, select the Paste Link radio button and the dialog box will look like the following:
Click the OK button to insert the table.
Step 5: Resize and position the table object
The table comes on to the PowerPoint slide looking like a picture type object and can be sized by dragging the corner white circle resizing handles. Drag the corner handles to make the table as large as you want it to be. You can also drag the entire table to a new position by dragging the center of the table object.
Now, any time the data is updated in the Excel spreadsheet, when the PowerPoint file is opened, the new data will be retrieved and displayed (if the system asks you whether to Update the linked data, always select the option that allows the data to be updated with the latest information). If you move the Excel file, the link will not be able to update as it won’t be able to find the file in the original location, which is what the link on the slide is pointing towards.
If you want to edit the data in Excel, you can double click on the table object on the PowerPoint slide and the Excel spreadsheet will open. If you want to prevent others from changing the data in the Excel spreadsheet, make the Excel file a read-only file. This will allow them to see the data in Excel when double clicking on the inserted table, but they won’t be able to save any changes to the file.
If you want to send the file to someone else or take the file to another computer to present it, the program will ask if you want to update the links when you open the file, but in this case you will select the option to use the current data since the source spreadsheet file is not available. You will still be able to see the data table, it will contain the current data only and not any updates since you last opened it on your machine where the Excel file is available.
This procedure is very helpful if you have financial data, performance figures or other data that may be prepared and approved by a compliance area and changes monthly or quarterly. It allows the latest data to be shown in the linked PowerPoint slides, making sure that the presentations are compliant with regulations that require updated data to be presented to clients.
Dave Paradi’s Think Outside the Slide™ approach helps presenters get results by showing them how to quickly create effective PowerPoint presentations. He is the co-author of “Guide to PowerPoint”, part of the Prentice Hall Series in Advanced Business Communication. He offers a free PowerPoint e-course, newsletter and articles on his web site at www.ThinkOutsideTheSlide.com.
Top 10 Things To Improve PowerPoint Presentation
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Determine the Purpose of your Presentation
Most presentations are simply informative – The goal here is mainly to be informative. Other presentations are persuasive, you are trying to persuade the public to take action. Before you write your presentation make a list of what you want your audience to know when you are done presenting.
Use a good Presentation structure
Once you have a predetermined goal, it is necessary to determine the state of mind of your audience and determine a plan as to how you will get them to move from where they are mentally when you start presenting and where you hope they will be when you are done presenting. This will include analysis of the level of knowledge and prejudices of the audience and the credibility it has with them.
Select colors that will contrast each other
When you are putting together your presentation, stick to colors contrast each other so that the text and graphics are easy to be seen when they are shown. Popular choices include dark background color as blue or dark purple with a clear text color like white or yellow. This makes the text float on top and makes it easy to read. Think about how white will look on a yellow background! Your audience will not be able to read the slides.
Choose fonts that are not too large or too small
You should probably never use a font smaller than 24 points, preferable between 24 and 32. For titles use a font between 36 to 44 in size. A small font is hard to read and the message will be lost, a large font throughout your presentation seems unprofessional.
Use bullets
Instead of sentences, use bullet points to give the key ideas in the slides. Using bullet points, make sure to not to put too much information on one slide. The 6 by 6 Guideline is good to have in mind – each bullet item must have no more than 6 words and each slide each one must have no more than 6 bullet points.
Build Bulleted text
When using bullets, build them one by one in the slide and avoid excessive bullet points. In this way, you can talk with each issue separately and the audience will know what idea is expanding.
Avoid movement of the slide elements
While moving around text or graphics to the slide may seem fun, it’s a great distraction for your audience. Avoid excessive animated effects where the movement is outside the boundaries of the text or graphic. The effect is preferable to create the effect appears when the text appears only in the right place on the slide. Use animated effects that will emphasize a concept and don’t just do it just to make a slide be more interactive.
Carefully select Graphics
You should only use graphics or images if they will complement your message and your slide. There are so many images available for use today, with social media, but many of them will only be a distraction to your presentation. Always check that your image or graph enhances the points you are presenting before putting on the slide.
Use the appropriate box
Charts – charts and tables – can be a great way of presenting information if used correctly. When you select the chart type, consider whether the data you are trying to show is sequential in time or not and how many sets of data will be displayed. For complex ideas, the division of a graph in small amounts of common data in a graph in general can be the best way forward. This is better than throwing out a lot of complicated information at once.
Read, Read and Practice
You need to feel one hundred percent when delivering your presentation and the best way is to be really prepared! That way you don’t have to be scared of potential questions. As a matter of fact you should try to predict questions so that you can have an answer ready. There is no way to be prepared without practising. All good speakers has mastered the art of presenting and they have mastered ways of being confident. Practice in a setting that best mimics where you will actually present. Practice what you plan to say, but it is necessary to remember, because a memorized speech sounds “canned” or like an animated robot and not as a conversation, how does a good presentation sound?
PowerPoint Extreme Makeover
By · CommentsThis video tutorial is a great presentation about good PowerPoint skills and especially how to make appropriate PowerPoints. hope you enjoy it!