Step 1
Firstly, make sure that your headers and footers are set up how you like in the master template.
To do this navigate to the menu bar and select:
View > Slide Master

You will now be viewing your slide master and should be able to see 3 footer boxes at the bottom of your slide*.

*note if you can’t see these footer boxes you need to look at the ribbon and make sure that the ‘footers’ box is checked.

Step 2
The correct way to place footer text into your master slide is to navigate to the menu bar and select:
Insert > Header & Footer

This will bring up the ‘Header & Footer box where you can amend the default text that will appear in your footer boxes.

Select ‘apply’ and you will see that your text changes have been made to your slide master.

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Before you start preparing your investor reports, annual reports and media presentations it would be worthwhile thinking about steps that you can take to help make the process go smoothly.

1. Work out your schedule. When you consider multiple rounds of draft copy, formatting and design time, final approval and booking your documents in for printing, suddenly the end of June doesn’t seem so far away!

2. Think about design. Decide on the design and document layout before you begin writing your content. This way a template can be created and sent to all contributors in advance which will make the final formatting job much easier.

3. Do you have a template? If you already have a company Word template, check now that it has been correctly set up and is fully up-to-date.

4. Get a head start. Start requesting any contributions now particularly any imagery, this way you won’t be rushing at the last minute to find a picture of the new guy from Finance!

5. Plan your layout. It can be helpful to use dummy text, ‘lorem ipsum’, in your report. This will help you with planning the layout and structure of your document which will in turn help with estimating the printing and design time needed. Find out how to do this here.

6. Track document changes. Make use of the ‘document review’ tools in Microsoft Word. Using the revision tracking and comments you and your team can work together to collaborate on a final version. Find out how.

7. Merge collaborations. If a number of people are collaborating on one report you can also use Microsoft Word to merge comments and changes from several documents into one. Click here to find out how.

8. Consider a copywriter. If the report has been written by multiple contributors you may need to enlist a copywriter to re-write your content to ensure consistency of voice.

9. Remember to proofread. Make sure that you have scheduled time for someone to proofread your entire document to ensure that it is easy to read and that the grammar and spelling are correct.

10. Get some expert help. Despite your well planned schedule if you find the design and formatting left to the last minute, call in the Microsoft Word experts to transform your documents with professional results!

For more information about our Word formatting and Word template solutions give us a call on 1300 699 609.

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Warning! This slide will send your audience to sleep!

The Problem With PowerPoint

PowerPoint is one of the most widely used communication tools in business and education today, unfortunately it is also the most misused. With slides overloaded with text, charts and diagrams the norm it’s not hard to see why the term ‘Death by PowerPoint’ was coined!

The problem we are faced with is that PowerPoint has gained an association with bad presentations. Whether PowerPoint is used for day-to-day internal presentations or conferences and sales pitches, the audience often expects that the presentation will be a guaranteed snoozefest, and more often than not they are right.

It’s Time to Wake Up Your Audience!

This problem presents a huge opportunity for you to break the norm and effectively use PowerPoint to truly connect with your audience and leave them with a positive impression of you and your business.

So, where do you begin? There are three key areas that will help you make your next presentation get remembered for all the right reasons.

Develop
Before you even begin putting together your PowerPoint slides you need to first make sure that you have a solid foundation to your presentation. You need to develop the story.
• Step away from the computer and brainstorm your ideas and goals
• Grab a marker pen, some paper and storyboard your presentation
• Plot a flow and take your audience on a journey

Design
Keep it simple. Remember that PowerPoint slides are there to support you. You want to make sure that your audience is listening to you and not distracted by your busy slides.
• No clipart – use clean, strong visuals that support what you are saying
• Charts – do you need one or can you just pull out the key statistic?
• No clutter – stick to one message per slide
• Use colour wisely – make sure it is relevant to your brand or topic

Look for design inspiration on presentation  sites such as SlideShare, Note & Point or for some top PowerPoint design tips take a look at this creative PowerPoint presentation.

Deliver
If you have spent time developing your presentation story and producing considered supporting PowerPoint slides then you have the tools for a great presentation, everything else is down to your delivery. One of the biggest issues with presenters is that although they may know their topic well this does not always translate to a good presentation.
• Rehearse – to a mirror/partner/ your cat!
• Rehearse – know your slides and animations
• Rehearse – practice your timings and stick to them

PowerPoint is undoubtedly a powerful presentation design tool, you just need to know how to harness it for maximum effect. If you would be interested in learning more about how to effectively design PowerPoint presentations, take a look at our PowerPoint Design Training overview.

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This PowerPoint tutorial will show you how you can insert video into your PowerPoint presentation slides.

Firstly, make sure you know where your video file is located on your computer. Then there are two simple ways that you can insert this video into your presentation.

Option 1: Using a video placeholder
Click on the ‘film reel’ icon and an explorer window will open. Here you simply navigate to your video file, select it and click insert.

Option 2: Using the insert menu
Click on ‘insert’ tab on the ribbon and on the right hand side you will see the ‘film reel’ icon and the word ‘video’. If you click this icon the explorer window will open and here you can select your video and insert it.

That’s it! Easy. The only difference between these two ways of inserting your video is that Option 1 uses a placeholder which means that your video will be inserted at the size of this placeholder. With Option 2, you may have to resize your video to fit the slide.

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However as this example shows, when used creatively, PowerPoint animations can really transform your presentation.

Email Template – Geometric

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As more and more people use iPads for meetings, Prezi can be a great alternative for delivering your presentations. What  differentiates Prezi from other presentation software such as Keynote and PowerPoint is the unique Zooming User Interface (ZUI) which enables users to zoom in and out of their presentation media.

The Prezi style of presenting works intuitively with iPad. Using a virtual canvas Prezi allows you to lead your audience on a journey, focusing in on small details and zooming out to view the bigger picture.

Here at Presentation Studio we are pretty excited about all the presentations for iPad we have been delivering. Take a look at our latest Prezi for iPad below…

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We love that more people are using tablets to deliver presentations.

The convenience and mobility of presenting on an iPad is perfect for those 1:1 deliveries of company credentials or sales pitches.

Our team of designers are experienced at developing presentations in Keynote and iBook specifically built for iPad delivery. We work with you to understand the objectives of your presentation and view this as the starting point of the creative process.

Presentation Studio design and build your presentation with delivery on the iPad in mind. Ensuring your presentation is fully configured, looks fantastic, simple to use, and cutting edge.

Perfect for:

• Travelling sales teams
• Presenting in the café & tight places
• Always being prepared

We would like to share some of our favourite apps for delivering presentation on iPads:

Keynote App, Apple: AU$10.49

Keynote is the best app for delivering presentations on the iPad. Built by Apple for Apple products it makes delivering a world-class presentation — complete with animated charts and transitions — as simple as touching and tapping.

Key Features:

• View and edit Keynote ’09 or Microsoft PowerPoint presentations
• Format and animate your slides.
• Keynote works with iCloud, so your presentations stay up-to-date across all your iOS devices — automatically.

PowerPoint Presentation on the iPad, SlideShark: FREE

You can view and show PowerPoint presentations on the iPad through the SlideShark App.
NB. To use SlideShark you must register a Free SlideShark account.

Key Features:

• Play existing PowerPoint files properly on your iPad
• Preserve animations, fonts, graphics, and colours
• Simply tap or swipe to advance animations and slides

iPad Delivery Options:

When a 1:1 environment just doesn’t meet your needs Video Mirroring duplicates your iPad to the big screen. Simply plug in a digital AV Adapter and it works! – get both VGA & HDMI adapters for your bag – keep one of each just in case the venue has an older style projector or TV!

We would love to hear how you are using your iPad.

Why not leave a comment and let us know what you are up to with your iPad and what you wish it could do!

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This is a great month for creative inspiration with the Sydney Festival taking place until end of January. Here at Presentation Studio we are particularly excited about seeing the Bright Club sessions at The Famous Spiegeltent.

Hosted by comedian and public speaker, James O’Loghlin and showing late on Wednesday nights, the Bright Club presents an impressive line-up of lecturers and researchers from the University of Sydney as they turn their academic minds to comedy. Each speaker has just 8-minutes to present their area of academic speciality in a comedy stand-up routine.

Most of us have had to present at some point in our lives, many of us do it every day but just imagine how nerve wracking it must be when your main aim is to make your audience laugh.

However as with any type of presentation, preparation is the key to help conquering those nerves. So if you are taking the plunge into stand-up comedy or just need to present at the next board meeting, keep these top presentation tips in mind:

Engage your Audience
Stand-up comedy routines actively engage the audience. Comedians interact with the crowd and ask them questions which help to set up their next joke. In business presentations, rather than having your audience sit for an hour whilst you present your PowerPoint slides, make time in your presentation to interact with them. This can be as simple as asking for a ‘show of hands’ to a question or if you have a larger group you could use live sms polling or voting technologies.

Stick to Time
The speakers at Bright Club have only 8-minutes to present their routine. Whatever your timings make sure that your structure your presentation with a clear flow: beginning, middle and end and when rehearsing your timings allow for unexpected interruptions such as questions (or heckling!) so that you won’t feel flustered if they arise.

A fantastic tip from Nancy Duarte is to prepare two possible natural endings to your presentation, so if you do find yourself running out of time you can relax knowing that you have a safety net and your audience won’t know the difference!

Bright Club is showing at The Spiegeltent for only three weeks and kicks off tonight, Wednesday 11th January.

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