PowerPoint tip Archives

3 Ways to Live Stream Your PowerPoint Presentation

Posted on September 25, 2017May 3, 2023 by Rick E

Distance shouldn’t be a barrier between you and your audience. Bring your pitch out of the boardroom and into the Web. Reach out to a wider audience with your deck without sacrificing your presence.

Live-stream your PowerPoint in three ways:

1. Share as a Link

In his article on digital video hub Field59, Michael Worringer gives his readers a run-through on how to broadcast your presentation from PowerPoint 2010 and 2013 by sharing it as a link.

For the purpose of this tutorial, we’ll be using PowerPoint 2013.

Unlike its 2010 version, whose Broadcast Slide Show option is found in the Slide Show tab, PowerPoint 2013 lets you live-stream your presentation through the Share option in the File tab.

A dialog box will appear with your presentation’s custom URL once you click Present Online. Copy the link or send it via email to your audience.

After they’ve received the link, click Start Presentation. Now you’ll be able to guide your viewers through each slide in real time at your own pace.

Below, you’ll find how Presenter View will appear on your screen. However, your audience will only see your slide show as you present it.

Once you’re done, exit the slide show mode and select End Online Presentation in the Present Online tab.

The slight downside to this broadcast method is that while you’re free to share your PowerPoint, some of your original deck’s features may be compromised. All transitions will be set to ‘fade’ from the audience’s view, and a file size may be imposed on your upload, depending on your broadcast service.

A compact and concise deck is more advisable for this PowerPoint live-stream technique to minimize the lag in your loading times.

2. Use Office Mix

If you’re using PowerPoint 2013 and are subscribed to Office 365, live streaming becomes even easier with the downloadable free add-in Office Mix.

Unlike the previous method, Office Mix is more accommodating with your slide contents. You’re free to add audio, video, polls, and quizzes to your slides. This is especially helpful for educators who want to track their students’ progress outside the classroom and for presenters who want to maximize audience engagement using their deck.

These are all available in the Quizzes Video Apps found in the Mix tab that will appear once you’ve downloaded it.

Source: https://mix.office.com/watch/qn821zf10bni

There’s also live digital inking, a more hands-on approach to presentation that lets you guide students through your slides in real time using video, audio, and illustration.

Source: https://mix.office.com/watch/1uoglxt8jp9mt

Office Mix has its own site dedicated to help users navigate through this handy feature. First-timers can benefit from its tutorials that show Mix at work.

Similar to the Broadcast Slide Show in PowerPoint 2010, Office Mix requires an Internet connection to share your presentation to a selected audience. However, another unique option of this add-in lets your audience review and play back your slides to their own pace even after you’ve exited your slide show.

True to its name, Mix crosses the boundaries between the Microsoft Office programs. Import viewers’ data and feedback on your deck for a more in-depth analysis.

3. Upload to Online Platforms

The third route to live-streaming your PowerPoint doesn’t let you interact with your audience as much, but it may be the easiest yet.

If you don’t have the last two PowerPoint features, you can upload and design your presentation using a private account to online platforms made for deck hosting, such as SlideShare.

Publishing your slides on online platforms is meant to improve reaching out to a wider audience. Although you can configure your uploaded deck’s settings to selected viewers, following default settings leaves your deck open for public viewing. You can add tags to make your PowerPoint easily searchable online, further reinforcing its inclination towards mass sharing.

At the same time, this technique can be considered a combination of the previous two PowerPoint live-streaming methods. It has a file size limitation like PowerPoint 2010, but it lets your audience enjoy your presentation at their pace, like Office Mix. Making use of online platforms requires compressing your slide contents into a file size that you can manually upload to the website.

Conclusion

Your deck is an important part of your presentation. Don’t let the distance between you and your audience deter you.

Broadcast your slide deck using three different methods, depending on the type of program available to you and on your intended audience. Share your PowerPoint with a link and broadcast it live with PowerPoint 2010 and 2013. Interact with your viewers in real time with Office Mix. However, if neither of these are available to you, you can always upload your presentation to an online platform like SlideShare.

There are a number of ways to make your presentation accessible. Just reach out to the one that works best for you.

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References

Worringer, Michael. “How to Broadcast a PowerPoint Presentation with a Live Stream.” Field59 Inc. April 21, 2015. www.field59.com/broadcast-powerpoint-presentation-live-stream
“What Is Office Mix.” Office Mix for Teachers. www.mixforteachers.com/what-is-office-mix.html

Featured Image: “Man Holding Laptop Computer Typing While Dog Watches” by Image Catalog on flickr.com

Improve Your Deck with Interactive PowerPoint Presentations

Posted on July 25, 2016May 4, 2023 by Rick E

The goal of any presentation is to engage its audience. There are a number of rhetoric techniques to achieve this, such as appeals to emotion and reason. However, you can also apply these techniques on your deck.

Aside from tapping into basic design principles that make your PowerPoint more eye-catching, current innovations in the presentation program have made it possible for an interactive presentation.

Find out how you can create a winning deck using three of PowerPoint’s interactive features:

1. Interactive Feed

One of the biggest breakthroughs of our time is the rise of social media. It has brought people closer and allowed new connections to form across geographical and cultural boundaries. Among the leading social platforms online, Twitter lets you interact directly with your audience and gain insight on their thoughts when you display a live feed on your slides.

Tap into the power of social media during your presentation, and encourage people to bring out their phones so they can tweet about your pitch.

Make use of a hashtag specific to your event, and look it up using a Twitter wall. Web sites like Tweet Beam let you view live tweets about specific events or hashtags and show them to your audience for added credibility, according to its founder, Pim Stuurman.

Import the live feed onto your deck by clicking Insert > Web Page. Copy the URL from the Twitter wall and paste it on the dialogue box that will open.

Unfortunately, LiveWeb is only available in PowerPoint 97 to 2010. You can download the LiveWeb add-in for PowerPoint to display your live feed for a more interesting and engaging deck. You can also add Web pages in PowerPoint 2013 onward through free add-ins like Office Mix.

2. Animation

If you prefer not to put up an interactive feed on your deck, attract and hold the viewer’s gaze with animation.

Just last year, Microsoft released an add-in that makes it possible to craft seamless basic animation that elevates the quality of your slides: PowerPoint Morph. This comes with an Office 365 subscription for PowerPoint 2016, but once installed, it creates unprompted effects that look like convincing basic animation.

Morph is found under the Transitions tab, and it gives you the option to animate objects, words, or characters. Just move your selected slide element in the path you want it to move after choosing the Morph option. Without needing any clicks, it will move in your desired path once you play the slide show.

This lets you discuss your pitch and interact with your audience further with your animation as a supplement.

3. Hyperlink

Take your pitch outside the slide with hyperlinks. This can be as simple as hyperlinking a specific word or phrase on your deck or to designing shapes or buttons that will help you navigate through your slides. For specific details on making the latter, check out our previous tutorial on hyperlinks.

Whichever object you choose, right click on your chosen slide element and select Hyperlink. A dialogue box will appear, where you can either insert a site URL or direct to another slide on your deck. Unlike the previous two options, this will require some work on your part as you go over your pitch.

You’ll need to click on the hyperlinks every time you want to move around your deck, but this is a relatively easier method than sifting through slides or opening a new window and loading a page.

Conclusion

An interactive PowerPoint can boost your audience engagement and successfully pique people’s interest faster.

Tap into social media and display a live feed on your wall. Find out what your listeners feel about your presentation and address their concerns in real time. Attract attention with effortless animation. Install the PowerPoint Morph add-in to achieve self-presenting animation on your deck. For easier navigation across and outside slides, add hyperlinks on selected slide objects. It’s designed to help your pitch move along smoothly by removing the hassle of manual backtracking, so strategically place them throughout your slides.

If you’re still having trouble with your presentation design needs, contact our SlideGenius experts today for a free quote!

References:

Pillai, Shyam. “LiveWeb – Insert and Update Web Pages Real-time in PowerPoint.” OfficeTips. n.d. www.skp.mvps.org/liveweb.htm
Stuurman, Pim. “How Do You Display a Live Twitter Feed in a PowerPoint Presentation?” TweetBeam. February 10, 2015. www.tweetbeam.com/blog/twitter-feed-powerpoint
“Using the Morph Transition in PowerPoint 2016.” Office Blogs. n.d. support.office.com/en-us/article/Using-the-Morph-transition-in-PowerPoint-2016-8dd1c7b2-b935-44f5-a74c-741d8d9244ea

Featured Image: “Interactive Interactive – Laura” by Dan Zen on flickr.com

Protect Your Slides in PowerPoint 2013

Posted on May 4, 2016May 4, 2023 by Rick E

Today, anybody can easily access and share millions of presentations online, whether for personal or commercial use. This is great if you want your file to be shared everywhere, but this isn’t so great when you’re aiming to keep your deck confidential. If you want to keep your PowerPoint presentation solely your intellectual property, you need to set your file’s privacy and viewing permissions properly.

Did you know that anyone can just copy or edit your content whenever they have access to your file? Luckily, this can be avoided with PowerPoint 2013’s file security options, allowing you to protect your slides for good. Here are several ways to protect your presentation from unauthorized access and unwanted changes:

1. Click on the File tab on the ribbon. This leads you to the Backstage View window.

2. While in the Backstage View, click on Info in the menu.

3. Choose Protect Presentation. This will reveal three options you can choose from:

a. Mark as Final: Marking a presentation as final gives you a read-only copy of your PowerPoint. A dialog box will prompt you to accept the changes.

When you try to open a PowerPoint file marked as final, a thin yellow ribbon will appear with a warning. Next to this is a button that says Edit Anyway. Clicking on this button will make the file editable again.

b. Encrypt with Password: Click this if you want to set a secure password for your presentation. A dialog box will prompt you to set a password for your file. Take note that the program cannot recover lost passwords.

c. Digital Signature: Adding a digital signature establishes your identity and assures people viewing the file that the presentation is your own. To create a digital signature, you need to send the following to Microsoft:

a. Signing certificate and a public key
b. Certificate Authority

In Short: It’s Easy to Protect Your PowerPoint

Protecting your PowerPoint file keeps your presentation from being edited or viewed by random individuals. If your deck contains confidential or sensitive information, don’t take any risks. Use any of the three options to give yourself some peace of mind and maintain your creative ownership.

Just one thing: Remember your passwords when you choose to encrypt your PowerPoint files. The program cannot retrieve the password when you lose or forget the password you set for it.

A digital signature makes your work appear more authentic and is an excellent way for you to leave your stamp of ownership on your file. The requirements for a digital signature will take more time and effort on your part, but it will be worth it for the extra security it gives.

References

Bajaj, Geetesh. “PowerPoint 2013 Tutorials – File Menu and Backstage View.” Indezine. January 9, 2013. www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/learn/interface/file-menu-backstage-view-ppt2013.html
“Add or Remove Protection in Your Document, Workbook, or Presentation.” n.d. Office Support. www.support.office.com/en-us/article/Add-or-remove-protection-in-your-document-workbook-or-presentation-05084cc3-300d-4c1a-8416-38d3e37d6826#__toc311701333
“Digital Signatures and Certificates.” Office Support. n.d. www.support.office.com/en-us/article/Digital-signatures-and-certificates-8186cd15-e7ac-4a16-8597-22bd163e8e96
“Protecting Your Presentation.” GCF LearnFree. n.d. www.gcflearnfree.org/powerpoint2013/28.2

Choosing the Right Template for Your Presentation Type

Posted on April 18, 2016May 4, 2023 by Rick E

Your PowerPoint is your presentation visual aid. That’s why it should reflect your character as an organization or individual, from the deck’s content all the way down to the design. However, some presenters tend to overlook this aspect of PowerPoint and craft a deck that doesn’t match the message they want to convey.

If you want slides that will win your audience over, it’s best to have customized PowerPoint templates created specifically for your brand. However, if you’re pressed for time and budget, using templates with premade layouts can still do the trick, but that doesn’t mean choosing a generic design, though.

Choose the right PowerPoint template for your pitch by keeping three things in mind:

Make It Memorable

Compared to less strict occasions, presenting in a formal setup may call for a particular design. You’ll want to draw attention to your deck without being too loud or overly embellished. Experiment with various color schemes that will fit the essence of your pitch.

A combination of warm colors can attract your viewers’ gaze. On the other hand, cool colors will put them at ease. Although using these colors can evoke certain emotions in the viewer, the best way to get the audience to associate your brand with your deck is to use your company colors in your slides.

Select a template that already has your brand’s colors in it. If you can’t find one that exactly fits, you can change template colors without affecting the overall layout. PowerPoint provides an option under the Design tab that lets you do just that.

For Office 2013 users, simply click Colors under Variants group. A dropdown of various color combinations will appear. Change the template’s hues by clicking on the color scheme you want.

Engage the Audience

The success of your pitch lies in your audience’s response. Choose a template that resonates with your prospects to generate positive reactions. For example, most people want a deck with prominent visuals instead of blocks of text. In that case, you’ll be inputting more pictures and visual representations of data. Refrain from using templates that have elements such as frames and pre-installed illustrations. These graphics can clutter up your slide and distract your audience from your main point.

Leaving room for white space, or the absence of visible objects on your slide, relaxes the eyes and lets it focus on important points on your deck. Opt for cleaner slides you can overlap with big and bold images. If you’re planning to use images throughout your presentation, it’s best to do away with pre-installed graphics.

But if you’ve selected a template with illustrations and only want to remove them on a specific slide, take them out by going back to the Design tab.

Under Customize, click Format Background.

Select Hide background graphics to hide any pre-installed elements on the current slide.

Account for the Venue

Where your presentation is held can affect people’s perception of your pitch. Survey the area before the actual date of your presentation to get a good feel of what type of deck would suit the setting.

Consider things like lighting and the size of the place you’re presenting in. Your goal is to deliver your message in a readable and comprehensible deck. A template that’s already too bright in an open area may lose its visibility to any audience members sitting in the far back.

Conversely, a place where you can dim the lights gives you more leeway on saturating your template. Check that your slide elements are distinguished from their background. After all, contrast factors in greatly when it comes to readability. A slide with well-contrasted objects is visible from afar compared to slides with objects that are hardly distinct from one another. Use dark text on a light background, or vice versa, to highlight the slide object.

In Conclusion: Templates Can Work, If Used Well

A good template is the first step to a great deck design. Bright colors will grab attention, while subtler ones will relax the eyes. Avoid templates with distracting designs that will steal attention away from your key points. Choose a readable template that has high contrast to make your deck more viewer-friendly.

PowerPoint templates aren’t just a matter of playful design. Given the right template, you can interest and attract new clients. Make your pitch memorable with a deck that reflects your brand and fits the occasion.

References

Sibley, Amanda. “19 Reasons You Should Include Visual Content in Your Marketing [Data].” Hubspot. August 6, 2012. blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33423/19-Reasons-You-Should-Include-Visual-Content-in-Your-Marketing-Data.aspx#sm.0001frknxr3k3dlkqq22lsqtd9h7a
“PowerPoint 2013: Modifying Themes.” GCFLearnFree.org. www.gcflearnfree.org/powerpoint2013/29

Featured Image: “Choice” by zhouxuan12345678 on flickr.com
www.flickr.com/photos/53921113@N02/5453214046

How You Might Be Missing the Point in PowerPoint

Posted on April 11, 2016May 4, 2023 by Rick E

PowerPoint’s a must in the field of presentation. However, critics have raised several points against it, one of the most notorious being “Death by PowerPoint.”

Under its premise, this phenomenon is when a presenter bores a reader with their lengthy and rather clunky slide deck. However, is it really the presentation tool’s fault, or does the speaker have a hand in the mishap?

Find out how you might be misusing your slides:

It’s Not Your Crutch

Don’t fall into the trap of using your slide deck as a safety blanket.

It’s still necessary to practice your public speaking skills even if you have a winning deck. Reading from your slides will only cut off the personal connection you need to establish between yourself and your audience. Be more natural in your presentation and drop the script. Rehearse your pitch in front of a mirror and try to incorporate things that will further engage the audience, like your body language and posture. Make sure to maintain eye contact as you speak to people so that you appear both conversational and professional in your delivery.

You Have Too Many Slides

This well-known phenomenon, “Death by PowerPoint,” occurs when an inexperienced presenter drowns the audience with a barrage of slides and innumerable bullet points.

Remember that people can only process so much information at once, so it’s important to keep your presentation as short as possible. Leave out things from your slide that aren’t direct key points. Covering too many topics means you’ll be adding more slides to list them in. Business expert Guy Kawasaki formulated the 10-20-30 rule as a guide for presenters. Stick to 10 slides in 20 minutes, and don’t go below a 30-point font size. Your audience will only remember the highlights of your presentation, so don’t bombard them with too many slides that can distract their memory.

Your Design Might Need Tweaking

Some design choices can be detrimental to your overall slide deck. Since PowerPoint is primarily a visual tool, the way its aesthetics contribute to your core message affect people’s reception of it.

Take a step back and reconsider your deck’s design. Tap into its different aspects, like color and layout. Different colors evoke different emotions in people, so use the appropriate hues for your deck to get the right attention. Make use of white space to draw attention to important elements on your slides and let your audience’s eyes relax at the same time.

Conclusion

As the presenter, make sure that it’s not your own design choices that are holding you back from delivering a good pitch and presenting a well-made deck.

A deck isn’t an excuse to slack on your speech, so make sure to treat it only as a visual aid reserved for your key points. Cut back on the amount of slides you have and leave room for you to expound and explain each part of your presentation. Tweak your design to evoke the right response from people.

If you want a deck ready for your brand to use without the added hassle, contact our SlideGenius experts today for a free quote!

References

Hedges, Kristi. “Six Ways to Avoid Death by PowerPoint.” Forbes. November 14, 2014. www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2014/11/14/six-ways-to-avoid-death-by-powerpoint
Kawasaki, Guy. “The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint.” Guy Kawasaki. December 30, 2005. http://guykawasaki.com/the_102030_rule
“Understanding Information Overload.” Infogineering. www.infogineering.net/understanding-information-overload.htm

Featured Image: “Confused” by CollegeDegrees360 on flickr.com

View Notes During Your Presentation for PowerPoint 2013

Posted on April 1, 2016May 4, 2023 by Rick E

Speaker notes, or “notes” for short, are every presenter’s guide when presenting in front of a crowd. These scripts are often used so that presenters can avoid getting mental blocks while speaking onstage because adding notes to your deck helps you recall important points from your pitch.

If you have existing notes in your slides and you only need to check them, just click on File, then click on Open to view your PowerPoint presentation.

In this post, we’ll cover how to view your script and take advantage of one of Microsoft PowerPoint’s most useful features: Notes.

Show Speaker Notes

1. Click on the Slide Show tab.

2. Go to the Monitors group and check the Use Presenter View checkbox. This lets you read your notes on your laptop without affecting the slides being projected onscreen.

Before using this option, double check if the laptop or computer that you’re using allows you to project using two or more monitors. If PowerPoint can recognize your projector or your second monitor, just check the Use Presenter View box and hit the F5 key to start your Slide Show.

View and Add Notes

Here’s how to make notes appear while editing your slides.

1. Click on the View tab on the ribbon.

2. Under the Show group, click on the Notes icon.

3. The notes section will appear underneath the slide area and will now be visible for all of your slides. It will contain the text “Click to add notes.”

4. Clicking on the area will remove this text and allow you start typing.

An easier way to make notes show up is by going to the Status bar at the bottom of your screen and clicking on the Notes button, next to Comments. Clicking on it will expand or collapse the Notes area.

View Your Slide and Notes in One Page

1. Click on the View tab in the ribbon.

2. Under the Presentation Views group, select Notes Page.

The slide page’s orientation will now be in portrait mode. Each page will display the slide number on the bottom right corner. Simply scroll up or down to move to the next slide.

The Notes Page will have two areas: your visible slide area above and an expanded view of the Notes page below. This type of view is helpful if you’re going to hand out copies of your presentation and need more space to append your notes.

Watch this video tutorial and learn how to view notes in PowerPoint 2013

Now you know how to view notes from your PowerPoint!

PowerPoint notes are convenient, especially for presenters who find it difficult to speak without scripts. Make your message memorable and more accessible by maximizing PowerPoint’s Notes Pages. With the help of PowerPoint’s overlooked yet important feature, you can convey your message professionally without forgetting significant points.

To help you deliver an error-free PowerPoint presentation, SlideGenius experts can assist you and offer you a free quote!

References

Bajaj, Geetesh. “Status Bar in PowerPoint 2013.” Indezine. May 31, 2013. www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/learn/interface/status-bar-ppt2013.html
Thornton, Billy M. “ITIP: Using PowerPoint’s Presentation Option: Use Presenter View.” Colorado State University. www.biz.colostate.edu/mti/tips/pages/ITIPUsingPowerPointsPresentationOptionUsePresenterView.aspx
“View Your Speaker Notes Privately, While Delivering a Presentation on Multiple Monitors.” Microsoft Office. n.d. www.support.office.com/en-nz/article/View-your-speaker-notes-privately-while-delivering-a-presentation-on-multiple-monitors-321c0948-4ada-4d50-872f-41f279ae6ef6

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1. Share as a Link

2. Use Office Mix

3. Upload to Online Platforms

Conclusion

Get hundreds of PowerPoint slides for free.

Sign up for your free account today.

References

1. Interactive Feed

2. Animation

3. Hyperlink

Conclusion

References:

In Short: It’s Easy to Protect Your PowerPoint

References

Make It Memorable

Engage the Audience

Account for the Venue

In Conclusion: Templates Can Work, If Used Well

References

It’s Not Your Crutch

You Have Too Many Slides

Your Design Might Need Tweaking

Conclusion

References

Show Speaker Notes

View and Add Notes

<img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-19572 size-full" src="https://www.slidegenius.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/View-and-Add-Notes-5.jpg" alt="PowerPoint 2013 Tutorial: Notes area" width="800" height="400" />View Your Slide and Notes in One Page

Watch this video tutorial and learn how to view notes in PowerPoint 2013

Now you know how to view notes from your PowerPoint!

References

View Your Slide and Notes in One Page