PowerPoint

PowerPoint With Pizazz Topics Covered

Easy, Fast, Good

4 Layouts that always look good. Using images, it is about the placement.

Using the Title Only layout, add vertical image on right side
Using the Title Only layout, entire image on slide
Using the Title Only layout, Top left diagonal
Using the Title Only layout, image flip
- Insert image
- With image selected, from Format tab, use picture styles, rotate & white frame. Giving the image some type of treatment works with some but not all images.

Removing Background From an Image

Select the picture that you want to remove the background from.
From Picture Tools, on the Format tab, within the Adjust group, click on Remove Background.
Click one of the handles on the marquee lines and then drag the line so that it contains the portion of the picture that you wish to keep, and excludes most of the areas you wish to remove.

NOTE: If you do not see Remove Background or the Picture Tools tab, make sure that you have selected a picture. You might have to double-click the picture to select it and open the Format tab.

Screenshot of PowerPoint Picture Tools. Across the top is text that says Picture Tools. Below that are a series of options in a Format window. The first is Remove Background with an icon that looks like a picture with a horizon line. The icon and text have a green background and both are outlined by a pink square. To the right is text that reads Corrections with an icon that looks like a yellow sun. There is also a black triangle pointing down. To the right, is text that reads Color with an icon that has blue mountains at the bottom and a sun in the top right. There is also black triangle pointing down. To the right, there is text that says Artistic Elements with a black triangle pointing down. The icon is a square with a blue horizon line. To the right there are three vertically listed options. They are Compress Pictures (with a square with arrows pointing to each of the corners as an icon); Change Picture (with three overlapping squares as an icon), and Reset Picture with a black triangle pointing down (with a square and a blue arrow as an icon). Below all of this is text that reads Adjust.

Make Points Stand Out

Use SmartArt Graphics

Select your text
From the Home tab, within the Paragraph group, click on Convert to SmartArt
Select a SmartArt Graphic and click on close.

Screenshot of PowerPoint Smart Art options. The Convert to SmartArt option is selected. The icon is a white rectangle with a green arrow icon. The options in Convert to SmartArt show a variety of flow charts, tables, and graphics. All in gray and made up of squares, rectangles, and circles.

Make Images Transparent

Rather than importing your images directly onto a slide in PowerPoint, you need to insert the image into a PowerPoint shape.

Instead of importing images directly onto a slide in PPT, insert the image into a PowerPoint shape.

Create a Shape on a slide, right click on the shape and select Format Picture.
From the Fill section, select picture or texture fill
Insert picture from, select File, navigate to the image you want to place and double click.
Within the format picture window, transparency option set the transparency anywhere between 0-100%

Screenshot of Image Background formatting options. At the top of the screen, there is header text in orange that reads Format Background. Below that is an icon of a paint can in an orange outline. To the right of that is a pentagon shaped-icon in white. To the right of that is an icon that looks like an image with mountains and a sun. The paint can icon is selected. In the paint can menu, there is a subheader in orange that says Fill. Below that are a series of radio buttons that say Solid fill, Gradient fill, Picture or texture fill (selected), and Pattern fill. There is also a checkmark option that says Hide background graphics. Below that is a thin horizontal black line. Below that is text that reads Insert picture from. There are three buttons below, they are: File...; Clipboard (grayed out), and Online...Below that, there is text that reads Texture and a dropdown field with a gray box in it. Below that is text that says Transparency. To the right of the text is a black slider bar and a field that shows percentage. The field currently has 11% in it. Below that, there is a checkbox with text that reads Title picture as texture. Below that, there are four fields with percentage options. They are Offset left, Offset right, Offset top, Offset bottom. Below that, there is text that says Rotate with shape and is grayed out. At the bottom left are two buttons. They are Apply to All and Reset Background.

Hyperlinks

You can link to webpage, blog post, PDF, Word & Excel documents, and any other program file which is installed on computer.

Copy Hyperlink
Insert picture, graphic object (clip art), and Screen capture
Right click on object and select Hyperlink

Insert Media

From Insert tab, Select Online Video, search, select, and click on Insert.
Additionally, you can insert a video from a file on your computer.

Effective Introductory Slides

If you can successfully create an attention grabbing introductory slide, you can be on your way to a successful presentation. Gaining attention in the first few slides is essential for any presenter.

Curtain Transition:

The first slide is always a black curtain effect
Subsequent slide transitions use the previous slide as the curtain!
Add a Blank slide (first slide), fill it with a red colored rectangle, and add a transition time of 00:00 seconds – you just faked out PPT and made a red curtain effect!

Motion Path Animation

A unique feature of a motion path is that it has the ability to auto-reverse. The animation will play and reverse after the original path is complete, returning your object to its starting point. In addition, motion path animation can be set to repeat with the use of both features you can create a loop animation.

Insert a new slide before the main presentation. Include welcome text as well as an object that will move continuously on the slide.
With the object selected, from the Animations tab, within the Animation group, from the drop down menu, within the Motion Path section select Custom Path. Select Curve from the Effect Options drop down menu.

Screenshot of Microsoft PowerPoint screen. The Effect Options button is selected (highlighted in yellow) and has an icon that is a gray star. The options are organized into three areas: Type, Origin, and Paths. In the Type category there are three options: Curve (with a red dot and a green dot and a line connecting them that looks like the letter "S"); Line (with a red dot and a green dot and a vertical black line connecting them); Scribble (with a red dot and a green dot and a squiggly line connecting the two). In the next category, Origin, there are two options. The first is Locked (with a gray lock icon and a green dot, red dot, and a black line connecting. The second item (which is selected with a yellow background) has a gray unlocked icon with a green dot and a red dot and a vertical line connecting them. The last section, Paths, has two items. The first is Edit Points with five black dots that connect to form a contiguous shape. The second item is Reverse Path Direction with a red triangle and a vertical line pointing left and a green arrow pointing left. There is a line connecting the two. There is also a green triangle pointing right and a red triangle pointing right and a vertical line. There is a black line connecting both.

Click on the object and continue to click forming an arch over the text ending on the opposite corner of the slide. Double click to end the motion path of the object.

With the animation item selected, within the Advanced Animation group, click on Animation Pane, click on the down arrow and select Effect Options.

- From the Custom Path dialog box set Start With Previous and set Duration to Slow or Very Slow.

From the Custom Path dialog box, click on the Effect tab, select Auto-reverse, and from the Timing tab, select Until Next Click and click on OK.

Screenshots of two dialog boxes from Microsoft PowerPoint. Both dialog boxes have translucent gray outlines and light gray interiors. They also have a question mark icon and an "X" icon in the top right. The first dialog box has Custom Path in its header. Below that, there are three tabs. They are Effects, Timing, and Text Animation. The effect menu is selected. At the top, there is text that says Settings and a horizontal black line. Below there is text that reads Path: and a dropdown field that has text that reads Unlocked. Below, there is text that reads Smooth start with a slider bar and a field box. The field box has 1.5 sec in the box. Below that is text that reads Smooth end and has a slider bar. To the right is a field with 1.5 seconds in it. Below that, there is text that reads Bounce end, a slider bar, and a text field with 0 sec in it. Below that, there is a checkmark box (checked) with text that says Auto-reverse. Below that, there is text that says Enhancements with a horizontal black line. Below that is text that reads Sound and there's a dropdown field to the right with text that says [No Sound]. Below that, there is text that says After animation: and to the right is a dropdown field that says Don't Dim. Below that is grayed out text that says Animate text, a grayed out drop-down field, and a grayed out field with text to the right that says % delay between letters. To the right of these options, there is a button with a speaker on it. Below in the bottom right are two buttons. They are OK (with a blue outline) and Cancel. The second dialog box has the same tabs across the top (Effect, Timing, and Text Animation). Timing is selected. There is text that says Start: and to the right there is a dropdown field with text that says With Previous. Below that, there is text that says Delay. To the right, there is a field with "0" in it and to the right, there is text that reads seconds. Below that the text is Duration. To the right, there is a dropdown field with text that says 3 seconds (Slow). Below that is text that says Repeat:. To the right there is a dropdown field with text that says (none). There is also a window open with more options for this dropdown box. The options are (none), 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, Until Next Click, and Until End of Slide. To the bottom right, there are two buttons. They are Ok (with a blue outline) and Cancel.

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