Wednesday, June 17, 2009

How To Make Powerpoint Templates To Present Your Business Ideas

Most working people are too busy with their work and have little time on preparing their Powerpoint presentation. Certainly, there is a better way to solve this particular problem. Is it wonderful to create a stunning template for frequent use. Thus, you do not have to spend extra time on making new slides. In addition, you will also be able to create simple slides that can make your audiences put extra focus on your your speech and your slide text-area and layouts.



Before we proceed further, you need to know how to use the slide master. Slide master is commonly used to create Powerpoint template in which you can standardized the slide format (including type of fonts, font-size, alignments and so and so forth) and slide layouts (including color background, adding picture and many more).



Let's create slides that have a stunning landing page-like slide. This includes embedding of hyperlinks on the landing page that link to other remaining slides.



Initially, based on the main menu, choose View/Master/Slide Master and you will see a plain white-colored slide and a small "Slide Master View" menu. Then, press and hold Ctrl+A buttons to select the whole title and text boxes. After that, select fonts and formating based on your preferences. When you are done, click the "Close Master View" from the "Slide Master View" menu.



From the main menu, click Insert/Picture/AutoShapes. As soon you select it, a small "AutoShapes" menu appears on your screen. Within the menu bar, point at the icon (without clicking on it), it will show the features that you can apply on your slide. Click the "Action Buttons" icon and select the home icon. Immediately, click and hold your mouse left-button at the bottom right corner of the slide; and drag the home icon and place it on the slide. An "Action Settings" menu will appear on your screen, then click "OK".



Before you start adding pictures and text-contents on your slides, it is preferable to use "Title Only" text layouts. Leave the first slide blank. Once you have done that, it is time to start inserting pictures and adding text-contents into your slides except the first one. You have to align your pictures and text-contents as tidy as possible. For more convenience, use text box to put text-contents into your slides, so that you can drag and position them easily according to your own preferences.



My suggestion is that pictures are better situated at the left-side of the slide, whereas the text-contents are better viewed at the right-side of the slide.



After you have creating your brand new slides, save your work twice - first, as in "ppt" file format, while the second, as in "jpeg" file format. In order to save your Powerpoint presentations as "jpeg" file format, click "File" from the menu bar, and then click "Save As". Soon the "Save As" menu box appears, you will see "Save as type" text-line at the bottom of the menu box. Click the pull-down menu and choose "JPEG File Interchange Format" and press "OK" button.



After that, a "Microsoft Office Powerpoint" menu appears and choose "Every Slide". Then, click "OK" button when another menu appears.



Now, you can insert those newly saved jpeg-files (or pictures) into the first slide which you have left it blank earlier. Adjust the size of these pictures so that you can fit all of it into the first empty slide. Then, add hyperlinks to all these pictures in order to link them to remaining slides within this Powerpoint presentation.



Finally, you will be able to allow audience to experience "website-surfing" from your presentation as if you are bringing the whole entourage to an exciting trip to Neverland.




If you want to create "web-surfing" Powerpoint Presentations experience for your audiences, start with the basics of creating simple and stunning Powerpoint templates, designs and presentation ideas via http://presentationism.com

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Five Minute Business Presentation Ideas

Most of us feel that making a five minute Powerpoint presentation is like putting an elephant into a small refrigerator. It is just a metaphoric example to express how difficult to cut-sized your product launching report as your product has several important features. It is extremely a challenge to make your audiences listen to your product promotion within given short period of time.



Why it has to be done within five minutes?



No other reasons. If your product is good, it can only take few minutes to mention. It is like TV and radio advertisements - the delivery of the main messages counts, not the total amount of the presentation slides.



How to make a slide that can promote your product fast and simple?



For instance, let's say we want to promote various of associated computer mouse products.



In the beginning, you need to have high resolution pictures of the computer mouse products. Avoid using low resolution pictures as your audiences will not able to see your products clearly even though it is within viewing distance.



Creatively align these pictures on your slides. You do not have to enlarge these pictures on one slide. It is possible for you to include several pictures on your slides. For better view, include three to four pictures on your slide. After adding pictures into your slide, start using simple effects on these pictures. In this case, choose "Grow/Shrink" for "Emphasis" custom animation. This particular animation will enlarge each of the picture within customizable sizes. In this example, once you click on the slide, the picture will enlarge by 400%. Once the picture is enlarged, you can take this opportunity to elaborate your product during the actual presentation.



Since you have added all pictures with custom animations, you need to make it disappear after you need to proceed with the other picture. Basically you need to create "Now-You-See-It-Now-You-Don't" picture appearance for your audiences. Take note that no text-contents are included in this slide. Within the custom animation task panel, earlier you will see the "Grow/Shrink" effect that you have added earlier. Add "Exit" effects on the selected pictures and choose "Box" exiting effect.



Finally, manually arrange the sequences of selected effects earlier ("Grow/Shrink" and "Box") in order to create an "Now-You-See-It-Now-You-Don't" picture appearance. Now, you are ready to fascinate your audiences with your new product launching.




This "Now-You-See-It-Now-You-Don't" presentation method does not involve any text-contents in your Powerpoint presentations. It saves time in making your own Powerpoint slides for your product promotion. For more pictorial description of this method, please log on to http://presentationism.com

Monday, June 15, 2009

The Randy Pausch Last Lecture Powerpoint Presentation Tips

Some of you might heard of Randy Pausch - a dying pancreatic cancer sufferer and a Carnegie Mellon University Academician of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design; have inspired and attracted millions of audiences about his 'Last Lecture'. We are not going to discuss about the speech content as we are pinpointing about his simple and captivating Powerpoint presentations.



First of all, presentation slide layout must be simple and clear. In his lecture, he had used black-colored background and light colored fonts. He regular uses two to three bullets for the text-contents. In some slides, he did not use any bullets at all. As for the image display, especially putting pictures about his childhood and also his rejection letters, he had included maximum of three pictures in one presentation slide. If it is only one picture in one slide, magnify this picture so that it fits exactly on the slide. Please make sure that the pictures included in these slides must have high resolution for better display.



Other than that, he had improvised his speech earlier in order to have a smooth delivering skills, in terms of clear pronunciation and suitable body language. He has used several suitable metaphors for instance - "there is an elephant in the room...", that allows audiences to get along with his speech.



Besides the Powerpoint presentations, it is very important to have a positive mind in order to become a true presenter. You need to learn to put aside your problems quickly before your presentation starts - as if it is your 'Last Lecture'. Perform your skills to the fullest without concerning much about the final outcome. In conclusion, Randy Pausch is a great presenter and he is able to make audiences listen to his speech - so can you!




Time is running out for all of us - including presenters who want to inspire any audiences. If you haven't watch Randy Pausch's 'Last Lecturer', watch it via http://presentationism.com and learn to make your own simple and efficient 'Last Lecture' Powerpoint presentations.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

How To Make Simple And Elegant Business Powerpoint Presentations

Most presenters have remarkable skills in making unique Powerpoint slides which contain related images and text-contents; and complicated multimedia such as video and music clips. Audiences will be mesmerized by these complicated presentations that cause many people to adopt this style of making complicated slides.



Every presenter has his own style, and you do not have to imitate the styles of other presenters. For example, everyone wants to become Steve Jobs - CEO and co-founder of Apple Inc., who is a brilliant presenter who has his own remarkable style of delivering his speeches. You have to be what you are, and show them your very best.



Making a simple and elegant presentation slides can be done with ease, which includes only text-contents. Only a few related images might be included in these slides. It is suitable for non-creative business presenters who have not much time in slide preparation. This method is known as the Classy-Black-and White Method.



What is the Classy-Black-and-White Method all about?



In this method, please use plain white background as your slide layout. Use black font color in all slides. You can choose to use either text box or WordArt for displaying your text-contents in your slides. Ideally, it is better to use "Title and Text" for the text layouts. It makes easier for you to input your text-contents into your slides. Bullets are not used along with the text-contents, and you can enhance the impact of the text-contents by manipulating the text-alignment and font size. It is preferably to use Century Gothic font which it looks elegant and easily viewable for audiences. If you want to introduce yourself at the beginning of the presentation, you can create a plain-black-and-white "business card" slide.



On the other hand, the Zig-Zag Method depicts quote-like contents showing your audiences about company goals, mission statement, and products testimony. Based on the name of this method, it means that these text-contents are placed as quote-like texts in a zig-zag orientation. It works perfectly with italic Century font.




Now, you have been introduced to Classic-Black-and-White and the Zig-Zag methods of making simple business Powerpoint presentations. For more pictorial description of these methods, log on to http://presentationism.com

Saturday, June 13, 2009

The Art Of Making Simple Business Powerpoint Presentation Slides

It is normal for people who want to be outstanding in their presentation as they regard "simplicity" as being lame. Most of them are willing to spend enormous amount of time in their presentations such as putting complicated multimedia and trendy Powerpoint templates. You might ask yourself whether these enhancement are necessary in your business presentations. There are times that a presenter with good oral skills could not close a business deal due to over-complicated presentation slides. Therefore, it is time for a good chance by learning the art of simplicity.



What is the art of simplicity?



First of all, being simple does not lull your audiences into a state of boredom. In fact, it can make your audiences focus at the text-contents on white-colored background slides. For example, if you use black-colored fonts on your white-colored background slides, your messages are able to transcend into the minds of your audiences.



Basically, types of fonts are important in delivering clearer messages to your audiences. Ideally, types of fonts which are mainly use are Arial, Century Gothic and Times New Roman. For best results, it is preferably to use Arial and Century Gothic fonts which are easier to be viewed by your audiences. Do not attempt to use non-formal fonts such as Comic Sans which could undignified the whole presentation.



For better slide enhancement, you can include images from Microsoft Clip Art. It is better to use related images in slide which corresponds to your text-contents. It is pointless that you put images that are totally irrelevant with your slide contents. Always bear in your mind that time is precious for your audiences, so you need to capture your audiences' attention as fast as possible.




If you want to have positive changes in your Powerpoint presentations, say goodbye to over-complicated presentation slides by mastering the art of making simple business Powerpoint presentations via http://presentationism.com

Friday, June 12, 2009

Present Your Business Proposal Effectively With Powerpoint Presentations

Business proposal is important for individuals who wants to set up a new company, or promoting new products and services to your future clients; or selling effective business ideas in a profitable price for your prospective buyers. The most common problem that every presenters encounter is that delivering such a lengthy business proposal could actually turn off audiences' attention. You must deliver relevant messages within short durations. There are several ways to boost your presentation effectively with Powerpoint presentation slides.



You do not have to include everything in your slides.



All of the contents are included in your business proposal handouts. Your audiences might have (or not) read your handouts in advance. Based on the handouts, you need to summarize the contents from every chapter before putting it into your slides. For example, if you want to show your main objectives or mission statement of your company to your audiences, list out 2-3 objectives per slide. On the other hand, you need to improvise for the elaboration of these main objectives beforehand in order to capture your audiences' attention. In other words, it is pointless of you if you include every contents from your handouts into your slides; which produces non-interactive communication with your audiences.



Use simple layouts and suitable fonts in your slides.



Basically, you use any layouts for your presentation. If you want to make it simple and clear, it is advisable to use plain colored backgrounds with black colored Arial or Century Gothic font. Make sure the font size is greater than size 40. Avoid complicated backgrounds that could distort the whole display in your slides.



Minimize the use of complicated multimedia in your slides.



If you are preparing Powerpoint presentation on your own, embedding multimedia such as video and music could be distracting to your audiences. Furthermore, you need more time to improvise for the video contents. This could only make you feel more nervous and therefore, it will affect your speech presentation.



You can import your colored graphs and charts from Excel to your slides if you have related data in your business proposal. Please use primary colors for your graphs and charts before placing it on your white-colored background slide. For effective display, make use of custom animation to present your related graphs and charts to your audiences.



Bear in your mind that these simple steps matter for better slide enhancement, though you find these steps are rather tedious. It is worthy that these steps would increases the probability of your clients could buy from you.




Creating effective Powerpoint presentations for business proposals can be done with ease. If you want to make a simple Powerpoint presentation that can make clients buy from you, learn the basics via http://presentationism.com

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Presenting Your Powerpoint Presentations Effectively - For Beginners

You might be distracted when you start doing your Powerpoint slides. You want to make a better presentation to deliver your information to your audiences. Many good presenters had made their way to effective communication with audiences when they first started with the basics. So if you are a beginner, you need to focus on few things that have most impact in your presentation.



  • Start to make simple presentation slides.

  • As a beginner, it is advisable to use simple layouts for your slides. For the slide layouts, please use less striking colored background to allow your audiences to see your contents clearly. It is best that you choose white colored backgrounds and dark colored fonts. Basically, this method enables audiences to perceive your contents much easier compared with distorted backgrounds and unmatched colored fonts.


    It is better if you minimize the use of bullets in your slides. Too much bullets in your slides will turn off audiences' attention. Make use of the text box to arrange your text-contents creatively as long as it is viewable to your audiences. Consistently use 4-5 text boxes in one slide. Similarly, too much text boxes could fail to capture your audiences' attention.



  • Get used with the performing stage in advance.

  • You need to familiarized with the new surroundings before you meet your audiences for the first time. Presentation mode differs in types of places such as lecture halls, small rooms and conference rooms. In other words, you could not adopt the same style of delivering your speech in a large hall as previously used in a small room. If you able to adopt proper speech delivery in respective places, you will be able to develop a good rapport with your audiences.



  • Say "No" to handouts.

  • Do not print your Powerpoint slides as handouts. It is not necessary to distribute handouts to your audiences. That is why you need to improvise your speech beforehand. Most people will not keep your handouts in long-term basis.




    Tired of making lame Powerpoint slides for your presentation? If you want to capture your audiences' attention with less effort in making these slides, start learning how to make simple effective Powerpoint presentations via http://presentationism.com