Oct 29 2008

Four Steps to Customizing PowerPoint Clip Art

Have you ever struggled to find just the right clip art for a particular slide in a presentation? You may have searched through PowerPoint’s extensive collection of clip art images and identified some possible options. However, the clip art weren’t exactly what you had in mind due to one of the following reasons:

  • Image was okay but the colors didn’t match the rest of the images or slide background
  • Image was close to what you wanted but it had a few extra details in the illustration, which were unnecessary or distracting
  • Image contained a useful illustration but several background elements made the clip art unusable Continue reading “Four Steps to Customizing PowerPoint Clip Art”

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Oct 25 2008

PowerPoint 2007 “Save As PDF” Add-in

If you have PowerPoint 2007, you may not realize that you can download a free add-in from Microsoft that allows you to export and save your business presentations as PDF files. This feature is not included in a standard installation of Office 2007. Over the years, I’ve used several third-party tools that provided this functionality; however, the translation of the PowerPoint presentations into PDF files usually exhibited some small flaws (e.g., poor conversion of images, objects with gradients, and shadows). Continue reading “PowerPoint 2007 “Save As PDF” Add-in”

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Oct 21 2008

Book Review: Presentation Zen

Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds

Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery, written by Garr Reynolds, is an informative guide to presentation preparation, design, and delivery. If you’re not already familiar with the popular Presentation Zen blog, this book highlights many of his theories and techniques. If you’ve seen a presentation from famous presenters such as Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, or Steve Jobs, you’ll be familiar with the highly visual, stock-photo-heavy style that Reynolds advocates. Overall, I recommend this book (four of five stars) as a great resource for business presenters who want to improve their slides, not necessarily their PowerPoint skills. Continue reading “Book Review: Presentation Zen”

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Oct 18 2008

PowerPoint Graphics: Clip Art or Pictures?

As you build your PowerPoint slides you may wonder whether you should use clip art or pictures. Many presentation experts have touted the benefits of using stock photos to enhance your slides. Clip art doesn’t receive as much love from these experts, and some people have even suggested never using clip art. PowerPoint ninjas know that each type of presentation graphic is effective in different situations. Continue reading “PowerPoint Graphics: Clip Art or Pictures?”

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Oct 14 2008

Essential PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts

PowerPoint ninjas need to be agile and resourceful. Microsoft provides many different shortcuts to streamline repetitive tasks within PowerPoint 2007. Rather than overwhelm you with all of the shortcut key options, I’d like to focus on a lethal subset of key strokes that can significantly impact your PowerPoint productivity. If you don’t feel you need shortcuts, remember that slow, inefficient ninjas are dead ninjas. Continue reading “Essential PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts”

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