The PowerPoint® Blog Archives - Page 211 of 233

Access to PowerPoint

After I have interpretted what the data is saying (relative to content of industry and presentation), the need is to often recreate in a PowerPoint-friendly format. Here is the original provided, an MS Access piece.

To make a clearer, easier to read, symmetrical and more aesthetic graphic here the same data recreated using semi-transparent autoshapes, color coordinated arrows and a layout that was as large as the template permitted.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:42:58-08:00February 25th, 2007|Portfolio|

Knowledge Does Not Equal Design

I had a recent conversation while updating a series of presentations that I found very insightful. The conversation was along these lines:

Client – Thank you for updating all of our presentations, making them look consistent and just ‘better.’

Troy – Thank you for the opportunity to assist.

Client – I can see the ‘graphic designers touch’ over what our engineers do.

Troy – Well, after I actually figure out and interpret what the intended message of the slide is, my biggest goal is to bring focus to it.

Client (and this was the key to the whole conversation) – You know, our people have taken lots of classes on how to use PowerPoint, but there is a big difference between knowing how to add things to a slides, and knowing how to design a good layout.

Over the next few days I will pull some before-and-after examples that focus on redesigning the visual layout of the slide.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:41:49-08:00February 23rd, 2007|Personal, PowerPoint, Resource/Misc|

Desk Space – again

PowerPoint for a corporate event can require a lot of computers. In this case it was a primary and backup for the main screen, another for a logo and countdown when the IMAG screen was not on camera, and one additional for production work. Deskspace becomes an issue when you show up and have only been allocated 4 feet of table…

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:41:26-08:00February 21st, 2007|Personal, Portfolio|

Side-by-Side Comparison of Streaming Movie Formats

This may not appeal to everyone, but with all of the PowerPoint-to-Webcast and streaming video projects this website really got my attention!

Select a movie clip, then select any of the main Flash streaming formats and see a side-by-side comparison of the quality. A really good example is On 2 Flix Flash 7 (first real streaming encoding software I used) with the newer On 2 Flix Flash 8 (which I use extensively and Camtasia Studio uses as its encoding engine).

A bit geeky, but very interesting! Click here to go to the Flash Video FAQ.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:40:59-08:00February 19th, 2007|Software/Add-Ins|

Pictures of Earth, or your house, in Presentations

I have seen a huge increase in the use of aerial photography in presentations. Of course this is from the availability of services such as Google Earth, Microsoft VE and others.

Here is a great website that lets you find a spot on earth and then move between a number of online mapping systems to see how each looks. Check out Flash Earth by clicking here.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:40:08-08:00February 17th, 2007|Software/Add-Ins|

PowerPoint Gets The Blame with Full Screen Videos

PowerPoint seems to cause the problem, but it is really video card settings that make your movie playback at full screen.

(on pre-Vista OS) go to START >> DISPLAYS >> SETTINGS tab >> ADVANCED button >> depending on graphics card find the settings for THEATER MODE (usually buried a few buttons down). If it says play movies full screen, that is what PowerPoint looks at and does… I recomend changing THEATER MODE to ‘standard’ so there are no surprises.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:39:44-08:00February 15th, 2007|Tutorial|

PowerPoint Gets The Blame with Widescreens

There are times when it looks like PowerPoint is to blame, but in reality it is a computer OS setting that is making PowerPoint appear to behave badly. An example of this that comes up often is running a presentation on a widescreen monitor.

Recent Post on the PowerPoint Forum:
I have a widescreen monitor powerpoint distorts graphs. The font becomes much larger and squished together. How do I stop the powerpoint from changing things?

My Response:
(on a pre-Vista OS) Go to START >> CONTROL PANEL >> DISPLAY >> SETTINGS tab >> ADVANCED button >> depending on which video card, find setting for MAINTAIN ASPECT RATIO. Now 4×3 presentations will display with black bars on the left/right so nothing is distorted on a widescreen monitor.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:38:48-08:00February 13th, 2007|Tutorial|

Video Tutorial on PowerPoint Photo Crop Tool

For a recent client I supplied the PowerPoint template and a quick video tutorial on using PowerPoint’s Crop tool to provide some tips on how best to insert a series of photos. Now for your viewing pleasure I have uploaded that tutorial to one of my servers for all to enjoy!

Note: This was unscripted and created in just a few minutes, so it is definitely lacking much of the polished professional touches that go into real projects… Click here to view.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-05-13T15:19:43-07:00February 11th, 2007|Portfolio, Tutorial|

The Online Presentations Are Coming!

There is a growing demand for online presentations. I have been very busy over the past year converting PowerPoint presentations to Flash and streaming movie formats for online use. This is great stuff, but definitely not the solution for the average user. Well here is a hint that the average user may be getting some tools to make their own online presentations in the near future. Click here to read about it.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:38:06-08:00February 9th, 2007|Software/Add-Ins|

Do You Use PPTs Native Org Chart Tools?

I know a lot of presentations need organization charts. I know a lot of people design their org charts with PowerPoints native org charting tools. I also know a lot of people that are very frustrated while editing these org charts!

Thanks to “Mary” who replied to a post on the MS PowerPoint Forum and provided a link to a great tutorial on ways to modify PPT developed org charts. Click here to open the “Add a second top-level box to an org chart in PowerPoint” tutorial on the Microsoft website.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:37:41-08:00February 7th, 2007|Software/Add-Ins|