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

AI For Presentation ShowDown

At the 2024 Presentation Summit conference I was invited to be part of a fun event, “The AI for Presentation Showdown”. The goal was 5 event presenters each had 4 minutes to display a real-world application of an AI tool of their choice used for presentation – which could mean presentation design, presentation content creation, etc.

My AI tool was using Microsoft CoPilot, from within PowerPoint, to provide a 3rd party/unbiased review of the presentation and provide a summary of the content, based on the slide content. The prompt was simply “Summarize this presentation”. The idea is to review with the presenter and see if the external summary of the presentation message aligned with the message they planned.

I think this is a great use of AI as it provides an unbiased review and summary, which is a great conversation starter.

(note: I intended to have a video of my portion of this talk, but sadly no video was captured…)

Troy @ TLC

By |2024-10-24T07:51:54-07:00October 24th, 2024|PowerPoint, Resource/Misc|

Fun with Friends at the 2024 Presentation Summit

The 2024 Presentation Summit with ~200 presentation designers, trainers and speakers is a great place to be this week! In addition to being directly on the California beach with amazing sunsets, we heard from amazing presenters from Guy Kawasaki to Sally Koering Zimney. We have been with many, many amazing presentation designers, we’ve being geeky and gathering around computer screens to see the presentation work of others, we’ve enjoyed group dinners, and even star gazed to try and get long exposure photos of the Comet A3 just after sunset.

Troy & Lori @ TLC

By |2024-10-21T21:05:58-07:00October 22nd, 2024|Personal|

WeCompress is the Online Version of NXPowerlite!

If you’re frequently working with large files, especially images and presentations like the TLC Creative design team does every day, you might already be familiar with the pain point of dealing with oversized files. WeCompress is an online app designed to alleviate this problem by compressing a wide variety of file types — whether you want to compress PDFs, PowerPoint Presentations, Word documents, or images.

At its core, WeCompress is essentially a free, web-based version of the popular NXPowerLite desktop application. Developed by the same team at Neuxpower (who makes NXPowerlite), WeCompress allows users to upload and compress files without the need for installation, account or subscription. This makes it incredibly convenient for anyone who needs quick, on-the-go file compression, especially for presentations or documents that exceed email attachment limits.

One thing to keep in mind when using WeCompress, especially for images, is that it doesn’t save your files into different formats. For instance, if you’re working with a TIFF image that you’d like to use in a presentation, you want to convert it to an optimized PNG. But that’s not how WeCompress works. Instead, it will compress the file while keeping its original format intact. So, if format conversion is part of your workflow, you’ll need to use a different tool.

TIP: there is a file size limit. WeCompress will allow files up to 50MB.

TIP/or maybe this is a Public Service Announcement (PSA): the wecompress website contains A LOT of sponsor ads – everywhere on it. While these ads help keep the service free, they can be distracting or misleading, so be cautious about what you click on. Stick to the main functionality of the site, and you’ll be good.

The TLC Creative design team has the desktop version, NXPowerlite, on all design computers. NXPowerlite allows for larger file sizes (ugh, 2GB + presentations!), batch compressing of multiple files, and more advanced features like custom profiles.

Let’s walk through a demo of how to compress a file using WeCompress.com:

  1. On https://www.wecompress.com/, upload a file for compression by either dragging the file to the upload area or clicking the purple + icon in the middle of the screen.
  2. Select a file for optimization, then click OPEN.
  3. The file uploads (FAQ says it is a temp file and not stored after file compression completes)
  4. After the upload is complete, there is a notice that file compression is in process.
  5. Once the file is ready to download, a “File Ready” notice appears with the new file size, and information about the percentage of compression.
  6. Click DOWNLOAD FILE. The new file name has (wecompress.com) added to the original file name.
  7. After download, a successful download notice with a link to compress another file if needed.

That’s it. Easy, quick (depending on file size and internet speed), and free! WeCompress offers only 1 compress option with no levels of compression or profiles, which is possible in NXPowerlite. Bookmark WeCompress and test it, the TLC Creative design team has used it many times (especially when working on provided show computers that lack our suite of apps and settings).

-Amber

By |2024-10-03T20:57:28-07:00October 17th, 2024|Software/Add-Ins|

TPP e208 – Mike Power

One of the superpowers of PowerPoint is its ability to allow third party add-ins to expand its functionality. Neuxpower is the software company behind NXPowerlite and Slidewise, two add-ins installed on every computer at TLC Creative Services. Mike Power of Neuxpower spends some time with us talking about PowerPoint, add-ins, and what’s new on the horizon!

Join the conversation through your favorite podcast app, or at the episode 208 page, with shownotes.

Click here to listen.

By |2024-10-11T06:42:38-07:00October 15th, 2024|PowerPoint|

Build-A-Graphic Review

Build-A-Graphic seamlessly integrates with Microsoft PowerPoint, whether you’re using it on Windows, Mac, or PowerPoint Online. It offers a massive 10K+ library of pre-made, but fully editable graphics. Including graphs, charts, infographics, a favorite- Isometric (2D with a fixed 45º grid to easily align and mix-and-match) elements, and much more.

On the technical side, this is a JS Add-in (install through the “add-in” button on the PowerPoint Insert tab). As a JS add-in it enables it to be used within PowerPoint Online, and on any computer you are logged in with the registered Microsoft account.

Click the Build-a-Graphic button on the PowerPoint HOME tab. From the Build-A-Graphic action pane, search its library, or view the graphics by category and then by graphic type.

One of the best things about virtually all of the Build-A-Graphic content is they can be edited in PowerPoint; colors, text and other elements can be adjusted to align with a brand or the theme of the presentation. As an example graphic, here is a before (default on left) and after (customized on right) graphic. Colors and font changed; some content removed for a graphic customized to align with the presentation’s design.

A lot of the graphics include tips on how to edit them. As example, This Funnel graphic has a tip in the lower left about ungrouping to customize.

TIP: remove these tips before presenting!

As mentioned earlier, the primary advantage we see, is Build-A-Graphic content is PowerPoint native vector art and significant edits can be made directly within PowerPoint, saving time and simplifying the workflow. When ungrouped, elements can be deleted, customized, or replaced. A good example is that many of the graphics include icons. But the icons are not “locked” to the graphic, but separate elements (when ungrouped in PowerPoint) allowing each graphic element to be modified with different icons easily. For advanced editing beyond PowerPoint’s capabilities, graphics can be exported from PowerPoint as .SVG vector graphics and edited in Adobe Illustrator (then copy/pasted back to the slide).

Aside from the main draw of the graphic design library, one feature we like is the “Chunking” feature (yes, that is the real name!). With one click you can turn a slide full of text into separate smaller text blocks, in a stylized visual layout. Those smaller text blocks can then be modified as needed to better fit on the slide.

As example, here is a slide with 3, dense, paragraphs of text (Lorum Ipsum text for the example):

Using the “Chunk Text by Paragraph” tool, it separates the Lorem Ipsum text into separate text boxes and into separate paragraphs in one click. This can be just a starter and the new text boxes and styling elements can be edits, resized, recolored as best for the slide and content/message.

Incorporating Build-A-Graphic into a design routine can be a good time saver and an easy path to creating visual slides that stand out. Being able to quickly tweak graphics inside PowerPoint keeps things simple, especially when you’re working against tight deadlines. While it may not replace specialized graphic design software for more complex projects, it has the breadth of graphics to offer a convenient solution for enhancing slides directly within PowerPoint.

Note: Build-A-Graphic is a subscription and locks the subscription to the registered Microsoft ID (eg. your Microsoft 365 account) – and this is the first software we have used that leverages the Microsoft ID as the user.

See examples and details at the Build-A-Graphic website here.

By |2024-10-07T19:36:50-07:00October 10th, 2024|Software/Add-Ins|

How PowerPoint can use Adobe CC Fonts

The Adobe Creative Cloud font library is vast, with a much larger offering of font options than Microsoft provides. The question is, can an Adobe Creative Cloud font be used in a PowerPoint presentation? 

The quick answer is “yes”, but there are some gotchas to know about. The first gotcha is that to use Adobe fonts (anywhere) an Adobe Creative Cloud account is needed. Once you have signed up for the Adobe CC service, download and install the Adobe Creative Cloud app from the website. Then login using your credentials. To find fonts, you can use the Adobe Creative Cloud app.  From the menu on the CC homepage, click the “f” icon to navigate to Adobe Fonts: 

Once here, you can see the Adobe fonts you have added to your CC account or have installed on your computer. “Added Fonts” are all fonts you have simply added to your CC account. “Installed Fonts” are fonts you’ve added AND installed on your computer (this is an important distinction).  

To find more fonts to use, you can browse fonts via the Adobe Fonts website by clicking on the “BROWSE MORE FONTS” button: 

You can find all fonts in the Adobe library here. Filter fonts by tags like “calligraphic”, “clean”, “rounded”, along with serif, sans serif and other properties.  

Once you find a font you’d like to use, click “ADD FAMILY”. This will add the font to your CC account: 

You’ll be prompted to open the CC app back up. Then you can find the font(s) that you’ve added there. And here is the second gotcha: you can’t use the new fonts in PowerPoint until you click “install family”. This will allow you to not only use the font in PowerPoint, but across other apps on your computer!  

The computer now has the installed Adobe fonts available to ALL apps, including PowerPoint! However, you’ll need to restart PowerPoint for the fonts to be recognized. 

On the list of gotchas – PowerPoint does not have a warning when fonts are used in a presentation but not installed on that computer. So, knowing an Adobe font is needed, is not obvious when a presentation is opened. 

And one final gotcha: anyone wanting to view or edit a presentation using an Adobe font must have an Adobe CC account and install the font on their computer through that CC account. For designers and some corporate users this won’t be much of an issue. This is because the Adobe CC suite is widely in use by this group (just remember to install the Adobe CC font). However, for many corporate users, using a presentation with Adobe CC fonts will be an issue if they do not have an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. 

-Jake @ TLC

By |2024-09-06T17:57:24-07:00October 8th, 2024|PowerPoint|

Creative Use of Aptos Font for Design

Aptos is one of the newest fonts from Microsoft. We talked about Aptos in detail in this post from last year, August 2023, HERE.  

The Aptos font is now the default font for Windows OS and all Microsoft apps, and we’re pretty sure that everyone has seen and probably used this new font. The previous default font, Calibri, is a nice font and still available, but Aptos has much more design appeal. 

Aptos is not a single font; it is a font family. A font family is a collection of fonts that share a common design aesthetic and typeface, but may differ in style, weight, or slant. The Aptos font family has 28 variations that all have the same aesthetic across the many different weights and styles.  

A font weight is the overall thickness, also called the typeface stroke. The most common weights are regular and bold, but weights can be thin, condensed, extra bold, and heavy to name a few.  

REAL VS FAKE 

As much as designers love font families with multiple fonts and styling options, PowerPoint does not always show all the options. As example, Aptos has “Aptos Bold”, but in the PowerPoint font list, “Aptos Bold” is not seen. However, when the “B” bold button is applied to “Aptos” in the PPT font ribbon, PowerPoint uses “Aptos Bold” – a real font.  

The same applies to italics. Making text italicized with the “I” italics key, PowerPoint uses the real font, Aptos Italics. In contrast, the font Papyrus does not have an italics version, so when text is italicized with the “I” italics key, PowerPoint applies a “fake” auto-generated right angle to the text.  

TYPOGRAPHY CREATIVITY 

Aptos provides design creativity when mixing different versions of the font to create a dynamic slide layout.  

CONCLUSION 

The Aptos font family, with its 28 styles, provides a lot for presentation designers to work with. Its range of weights and styles allows for creative flexibility, whether aiming for a professional, formal look or a more casual, approachable feel. The font’s flexibility ensures that it can meet the aesthetic and functional needs of any presentation, making it an asset in any designer’s toolkit. 

~Thanks to Amber on the TLC Creative presentation design team for assisting with this blog post and designing the demo slide. 

By |2024-09-06T17:57:08-07:00October 3rd, 2024|PowerPoint|

TPP e207 – Mike Parkinson, AI

In this episode of the Presentation Podcast, Troy, Nolan and Sandy spend some time with Mike Parkinson, a graphic designer, prolific conference speaker, and the person behind the Build-A-Graphic PowerPoint add-in. We talk about the evolving landscape of presentation design, particularly the role AI tools now play. Mike shares his “3 AI truths”, emphasizing that AI tools enhance productivity and creativity, not threatening jobs. We also cover the importance of understanding the audience, effective storytelling, and common presentation mistakes. Listen to the conversation now!

Join the conversation through your favorite podcast app, or at the episode 207 page, with shownotes.

Click here to listen.

By |2024-09-27T12:10:14-07:00October 1st, 2024|Resource/Misc|

Less than 30 days until we meet at the Presentation Summit!


(Troy & Lori recording podcast conversations at the 2022 Presentation Summit)

The 2024 Presentation Summit is coming in less than 30 days! This is an annual event that I book on our calendar to not miss. In fact, I have officially missed only two of the summits throughout its 22 year run (a few, like last year, I was only able to be at for part of the in-person event).

Last week’s episode of The Presentation Podcast with Rick Altman, conference director of the Presentation Summit, Rick offered a registration promo – $75 off to either the in-person event or the virtual event.

If you are planning to attending this year, here is that promo/discount code (that we are making available to all PowerPoint blog readers!):

  • When registering, in the Client Field, enter “prespod75” for an instant $75 registration discount.

Both Lori and myself (Troy) of TLC Creative will be in attendance, so say hello!

Event registration is here: https://betterpresenting.com/summit24/registration

By |2024-09-15T16:21:54-07:00September 26th, 2024|Resource/Misc|

Who’s the new kid – Figma Slides!

Figma is a collaborative web-based design tool that many consider a competitor to Adobe. There are different capabilities between Figma and Adobe apps, but the key difference being that Figma operates entirely web-based, requiring no software installs, or updates. Figma works on any operating system, Windows, Mac, Linux, and any device; computer, tablet, phone, even on Chromebooks.

Figma is popular in the design and UX communities. Its real-time collaboration capabilities are good for teams to work simultaneously on project design elements. Figma has integrated Slack as its communication channel, and any design edits or comments are easily “slacked” to the design team. The collaboration goes further with any update requests automatically update anywhere that design element is embedded in other files (very cool!). And similar to Microsoft Teams and Google apps, you can see who also has the file open (via small onscreen avatars).

FIGMA ENTERS PRESENTATIONS

Figma announced Figma Slides on June 26th, 2024. The CEO’s clever reveal is worth a watch – go to 51:55 of the video:

FIGMA SLIDES

Figma Slides is like all other presentation and slideshow software. It creates visual aids for presentations as a series of “slides” with each slide being a combination of text, images, charts, diagrams, videos and other graphic elements. The interface is familiar, matching the layout PowerPoint established in 2010 with navigation pane on the left, current slide in the center, presenter notes under the slide, and a tools pane on the right.

The Figma slides as presentation software highlights we found include:

  • Presentation templates and many customization options with workflows that seamlessly connect to the other Figma Design tools.
  • Supports co-authoring of slides, presenter notes, and co-presenting controls.
  • Slides can have several interactive element options, including live polls, alignment scales, and voting features designed to capture live feedback and facilitate decision-making.
  • Figma expands beyond its app with a range of plugins that enhance workflows, such as a seamless Unsplash image integration, and the Figma integration with Slack.
  • The Figma Slides app has integrated Figma AI within it, and focuses on the slide copy (aka text) with a unique way to modify copy using a “tone” slider to rewrite it.

Using these features, slide decks can be created from scratch or from the many templates, which can be customized. Each template is a set of layouts with preset text, image, diagram and chart placeholders.

PRESENTING

To present a Figma Slides presentation, simply click the play button in the upper right corner of the interface:

The option to present your slideshow with or without presenter notes is available. Similar to Google Slides, if presenting with notes, 2 browser tabs open; one for slides (that automatically opens full screen with no interface) and one of the presenter notes and slide navigation.

Advancing through slides can be using keyboard (eg. arrow keys), a standard presentation remote, or the onscreen interface.

You’ll see that the presenter view will open with the presenter notes, and the full screen presentation on the right.

WHO

Figma has designed its online platform to focus on graphic designers and work teams. Figma slides is going to appeal to those already using Figma for design projects that need to present content from those design projects, as everything in a Figma project is seamlessly available in Figma Slides.

FIGMA VS POWERPOINT

It’s difficult to imagine Figma Slides disrupting the position PowerPoint and Microsoft Office have in the industry. PowerPoint’s extensive feature set and integration with the other Office apps, and its 30 years of use in the business world.

PowerPoint is the king of presentation software from user base and features. PowerPoint Online, a standalone online app, has continuously improved and allows collaboration via sharing a link with permissions. You can save projects in real time to OneDrive and its UI is a little bit more streamlined than its desktop counterpart, which could be good for those newer to the platform or does not need as many robust features. However, the TLC Creative design team still prefers the desktop version for presentation design.

What’s The Price?

Figma slides, at the time of this review, is in beta and free to all Professional and above packages through the end of the year. It does not clarify if Figma Slides will continue to be included in the packages or become an add-on. For reference, Figma is available in 4 tiers:

  1. Free: Access to the Figma editor, 3 collaborative design files, unlimited drafts (Free)
  2. Professional Team: Unlimited files, team libraries, advanced prototyping etc. ($15/mo)
  3. Organization: Organization wide libraries, design system analytics, branching and merging etc. ($45/mo)
  4. Enterprise: Advanced design system theming, default libraries by workspace, etc. ($75/mo)

Conclusion

Figma Slides, like other web-based presentation apps, require a stable internet connection to function. The Figma Slides collaborative approach is robust and great to work with. Its fresh, modern appearance of the user interface makes Figma Slides a welcome addition to a Presentation Designer’s toolbox.

~Thanks Jake, on the TLC Creative presentation design team, for researching and assisting with this blog post

By |2024-09-24T06:38:20-07:00September 24th, 2024|Software/Add-Ins|
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