The PowerPoint® Blog

I work with PowerPoint on a daily basis and I am very honored to be a Microsoft PowerPoint MVP. We have a talented team of presentation designers at TLC Creative Services and ThePowerPointBlog is our area to highlight PowerPoint tips, tricks, examples and tutorials. Enjoy! Troy Chollar

Website Mockup in PowerPoint

Some projects are perfect for PowerPoint even if they have nothing to do with a presentation. As example, I have completed dozens of website mockups for the sales team at TurnTo. Using a combination of SnagIt, Photoshop, and PowerPoint I can quickly develop an animated mockup of a webpage experience that provides an example of how the TurnTo technology could be implemented on a website.
[youtube src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/PEbDbBjE72U?rel=0″]
This video shows a PowerPoint presentation that is a mockup of a demo webpage – all with no HTML/CSS coding. Just one example of using PowerPoint outside of the presentation world and allowing me to work smarter and providing faster and more economical results for clients.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T10:02:06-07:00July 21st, 2011|Portfolio|

TLC Sample Presentation

[youtube src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/AtGcUZI3WL8?rel=0″]

All was developed in PowerPoint: animation, transitions and music syncing; then, exported to video using the PPT 2010 Create a Video feature.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T10:02:23-07:00July 19th, 2011|Portfolio|

3 Questions At The Start of Every Project

With every presentation project for a corporate event, my first 3 technical questions are:
– What version of ppt?
– What is the projector and scaler resolution?
– What is the screen size (screen does not always match projector aspect ratio)?

Based on these answers, I am able to begin developing presentation templates, images and content.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T10:03:56-07:00July 17th, 2011|Resource/Misc|

Woody Flies On This Slide

Marketing presentations for Pixar properties are always fun! In this slide, I was provided art from Toy Story 2 with the instructions to make it lively for the product introduction.
[youtube src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/-DZZsOXnu3A?rel=0″]

Here is the slide with is composed of 3 animated images:

Animation:
1. The background image (picture 7) is oversize and uses a short motion path to make the sky move as Woody flies by.
2. The first instance of Woody flying is the image on the right (picture 4), which uses a custom motion path.

3. Finally, Woody flies back and stops in the middle of the slide with a simple Fly In animation.

Note: Images for this presentation are provided by client and cannot be distributed (so the editable slide is not available, sorry).

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T10:05:21-07:00July 15th, 2011|Portfolio|

How Do I know if Service Pack 1 For Office 2010 is Installed?

There is a lot of confusion over the recent (and much anticipated) SP1 (Service Pack 1) for Office 2010. The install process was easy, but verifying it was installed has been a source of confusion.

Back with Office 2003, it was very easy and clear to know if a Service Pack was installed. Open PowerPoint, go to HELP and ABOUT and just read the first line of information:

But in Office 2010, that simple information is missing… Go to FILE >> HELP >> and in the right section is the install information – but where is the “SP1?”
(Before SP1 install)

(After SP1 install)

The answer is in the numbers. Thanks to PPT MVP Steve Rindsberg for figuring this out.
– Base build = 14.0.4760.1000
– Service Pack 1 = 14.0.6023.1000

The “6023” is the important number as it equals SP1. Now you know.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T10:06:10-07:00July 13th, 2011|PowerPoint, Resource/Misc|

What Version of Flash is Installed On My Computer?

Flash is still a major component of many projects. On a recent presentation that integrated Flash elements, I ran into a need to know exactly what version of the Flash Player was installed on each computer.

I use this website to instantly tell me exactly what version is installed (Click here to open):

Note: Firefox and Internet Explorer (IE) use separate installs of the Flash player. If you use Firefox as the default browser but a Flash app does not work, be sure to update Flash player through IE too as most applications access the IE player (like PowerPoint).

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T10:08:23-07:00July 11th, 2011|Resource/Misc, Software/Add-Ins|

Breaking Down Web Design

I read this explanation of how multifaceted web design has become –

“You have to realize that Web design is broken apart in several areas:

1. UI ‘Front end development’ (Which includes HTML, CSS, Photoshop, and some Jquery, Java Scrip and Flash elements, Etc….)

2. Web Programmer ‘Back End Development’ (Which includes PHP, Java Script, C#, CMS, Ajax, Apache, Ruby on Rails, Python, Etc…)

3. SEO Specialist ‘Search engine Optimization’ (Which includes Ad words, Blogging, Press releases, Forum Posting, Key word research, Meta Tagging, Etc…)”

That got me thinking how diverse “PowerPoint” is: speaker support presentations, kiosk presentations, learning modules, visual displays, etc. Each is a very different use of the PowerPoint application and each is really an expertise in itself.

Just something I was thinking about…

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T10:08:48-07:00July 9th, 2011|Resource/Misc|

The 2011 Presentation Summit

The Presentation Summit is most likely the largest gathering of PowerPoint users at a dedicated presentation-specific conference. I was also at the inaugural event (then called PPTLive) several years ago and have participated in some capacity every year since.

This September, the Summit is in Austin, TX and should prove to a be another fantastic event for the 250 lucky enough to attend.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T10:09:19-07:00July 7th, 2011|Resource/Misc|

2011 4th of July PowerPoint 16×9 Template

The 4th of July weekend was great! Lots of relaxing, time with family and grilling. This template is posted after the weekend, so everyone is very prepared for next year! This is a full featured 4th of July themed PowerPoint 2010 template that is setup for widescreen (16×9) presentations.

1 = Theme slide
2 = Title slide
3 = Content slide, and all standard layouts based on this one

Download the template here.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2025-06-09T15:59:18-07:00July 5th, 2011|Templates/Assets|
Copyright TLC Creative Services, Inc | All Rights Reserved
Go to Top