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How to insert footer text into PowerPoint

May 15th, 2012

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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Death by PowerPoint? Not on Our Watch!

May 14th, 2012

Research suggests that a massive 95% of business use PowerPoint. This means that it is highly likely that you are delivering your sales pitch presentations in the same format as your competitors. Now, imagine that you are on the receiving end of multiple sales pitches delivered in the same, predictable format. It’s no wonder that the aptly named term ‘death by PowerPoint’ was coined!

HOW TO DESIGN A WINNING PRESENTATION
So, how do you make your next PowerPoint presentation stand out from your competitors? Below are our top tips for creating a memorable PowerPoint presentation.

1. Avoid data overload.
Your audience don’t want to sit through multiple slides of charts and graphs to show how you got to your results. They want to see the key information and hear what this means for them.  This is where your presentation design can really help you stand out. Use infographic design to help visualise your data, pull out the key figures and keep your audience engaged.

2. Use animation effectively.
There are a whole suite of animations available for your use in PowerPoint as well as custom animations that you can create yourself. When used correctly animations are a great way of breaking up information on your slides and enhancing your message. The key thing to remember is to keep it simple… sometimes all you need is a subtle fade or wipe animation to really help to bring your slide to life. Check out our PowerPoint animation example for inspiration.

3. A simple slide transition makes a big difference.
Similarly, slide transitions can also transform your presentation. As standard, a subtle fade transition across your entire presentation will give it an instant professional finish. If you really want to stand out, try the new slide transitions in PowerPoint 2010 such as ‘cube’ or ‘gallery’ but as with animations make sure that they support your overall presentation design and don’t distract from your messaging.

4. Make it interactive.
PowerPoint doesn’t need to be presented in a completely linear way. Try using hyperlinks throughout your slides to make your presentation more interactive and intuitive to audience responses. Or check out this new App, ‘Slide and Polls’ a tool that allows presenters to interact with their audience by asking questions using live polls and surveys.

5. Get inspired!
To create a PowerPoint presentation that really stands out you need to keep on top of the latest presentation trends and get inspiration to keep your presentations fresh and exciting.

A few of our favourite presentation resources are:
www.noteandpoint.com
Slide:ology by Nancy Duarte
www.presentationzen.com

6. Think like a designer.
PowerPoint’s possibilities for presentation design are endless when combined with a bit of creative know-how. We offer PowerPoint training with a unique focus on the design skills needed to create impressive presentations. Click here for more information on our upcoming workshops.

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TOP 10 TIPS FOR PREPARING MICROSOFT WORD REPORTS

May 9th, 2012

It’s hard to believe that we are only a couple of months away from EOFY 2011/2012. Time sure does fly when you’re having fun!

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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TOP TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS

April 23rd, 2012
Bad PowerPoint Presentation Example

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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How to insert a video into a PowerPoint presentation

April 16th, 2012

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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PowerPoint Tip

March 13th, 2012

Animations should enhance your presentation, not distract. If your message can be understood without the use of animation… you don’t need it!

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

 

 

Email Template – Geometric

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Prezi for iPad

March 6th, 2012

We have been keeping a close eye on the exciting developments of the cloud-based presentation software Prezi since it’s launch back in April 2009. Most recently we were pleased to see that the team have launched an upgrade to their iPad app, Prezi Viewer with improved usability and the option to revise and re-touch your prezis on-the-go.

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…

If you are interested in finding out more about our iPad and Prezi presentation services, why not give us a call: 1300 699 609. We would be happy to help!

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Presentation Design for iPad

February 15th, 2012



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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Public speaking… with a comedic twist

January 11th, 2012





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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Season Greetings from the Presentation Studio Team!

December 22nd, 2011

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