PowerPoint Presentation Management

Join us at the 2008 PowerPoint Live User Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Paull) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:57:00 +0000

This year's PowerPoint Live Conference will be in beautiful San Diego on September 21 -24. It is a great venue to meet PowerPoint experts from around the world and network with people that create and manage PowerPoint.

The conference agenda is packed with good, practical information that you can put to use immediately.

As one of the long-standing sponsors of this event, we will be there, demonstrating the latest version of SlideManager. If you have the opportunity to attend, do it, you won't be disappointed. To learn more visit the PPT Live web site.

Stop PowerPoint From Changing Font Sizes

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Paull) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:05:00 +0000

Have you ever typed text in a placeholder and the font size suddenly gets smaller? For example you are adding bullets to a slide and suddenly the type size shrinks and the line spacing changes, moving the bullets closer together.

At first glance this is really convenient... you can add really long bullet copy and get more on a slide. However, at the same time you may drive you audience crazy. If every slide has different font sizes your message can get lost as your audience struggles to read it. And we all know that too much text on a slide can convert your audience to readers instead of listeners.

There is a setting in PowerPoint 2002 and 2003 that will prevent font sizes from changing...you can turn off a couple of AutoCorrect options that are automatically turned on, by default, when you first install PowerPoint.

Go to Tools>AutoCorrect Options

Click the "AutoFormat As you Type Tab." Uncheck "AutoFit title text to placeholder"and "AutoFit body text to placeholder"

I also recommend unchecking "Automatic layout for inserted objects" which will prevent existing content from moving when inserting an object.

By turning off these defaults you will create more consistent slides and enforce more concise messaging. Your audience will appreciate it.

Where are my favorite PowerPoint 2003 commands in 2007?

noreply@blogger.com (Leslie) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:24:00 +0000

You finally upgraded to PowerPoint 2007. Do you wonder where your commands from PowerPoint 2003 went in PowerPoint 2007? Microsoft developed a visual, interactive reference guide that guides you to each command’s new location in 2007.

If Microsoft’s guide doesn’t show you the commands that you’re looking for, customize your Quick Access Toolbar. If you want to add your favorite commands, use the Quick Access Toolbar drop down menu and select More Commands....

Here you’ll find hidden commands that aren’t included on the Ribbon by default. Add these commands to your favorites on your Quick Access Toolbar.

Imagine Having iTunes for PowerPoint

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Paull) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 07:23:00 +0000

I store more than 24,000 songs in my iTunes library yet it takes me just a few seconds to build a playlist. To find the right songs I just drill into the library by genre, artist, album, song title or search by keyword, then click and drag them into into a playlist in the desired order. And, more often than not, I will use the same song in more than one playlist.

SlideManager works a lot like ITunes, but instead of managing songs it manages slides, and instead of building playlists, it builds PowerPoint presentations. I use ITunes for fun. SlideManager is all business. SlideManager is Presentation Management.

With the right library design in SlideManager you can easily build a presentation in less than two minutes. You click on categories and drill down to just the right slide for the audience and presentation objective. The library gives you slide choices and keeps the story flow in order. And slides can appear in multiple categories, just like my songs in ITunes. You only have to maintain one version of a slide - worldwide.

While building a library for your presenters, you can create a library for your administrators to make slide management a breeze. Group slides into categories for easy access by your subject matter experts and create categories like "Slides to update quarterly" to quickly access slides that change. Then, or instead, you can organize slides by 'Owner' for worry free maintenance. Lock slides together into "sets" to keep message segments intact or comply with regulatory requirements when necessary.

With SlideManager, libraries are easy to build and easy to change, assuring your presenters that they will have a playlist for every occasion. And with a little planning, building presentations can be like listening to your favorite iTunes playlist.

"Hot Traffic" - new slide idea for media sales

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Mauldin) — Tue, 22 May 2007 17:10:00 +0000

We are seeing more research studies that measure "hot traffic" - readers actively shopping and buying as they read the newspaper or read online. Example? Print or online readers who read the classified section, and even better, read the auto or real estate or recruitment sections.

The story is almost always impressive, so we recommend "Hot Traffic" slides when we plan sales libraries.

The formula is simple: Use the relevant audience (e.g. "classified readers") as the base, and the Hot Traffic response (e.g., read auto ads or not) in pie slices.

If you have Hot Traffic data for both print AND online, you also want the "combined audience" version of the slide.

Have favorite slide ideas to share? Add a comment here or send a sample and a story to SLIDE IDEAS!

Welcome to the Presentation Management Blog

noreply@blogger.com (James) — Mon, 14 May 2007 22:41:00 +0000

This will be the spot to view tips, talks and links on PowerPoint Presentation Management, general PowerPoint news, usage and training as well as client announcements and case studies.

Feel free to consider this your user community and comment and expand on any topics.