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

NXPowerlite 2.1

NXPowerLite has released version 2.1 of their PowerPoint optimizing program. I have spoken with the guys at NXPowerLite for the past few years and earlier this year I tested version 2.0. On that version I noted that almost my entire wishlist had been incorporated! Most notable is support for .png with transparency images. Now v2.1 overcomes CMYK problems and a few other fixes.

I highly recomend it as a solution for oversized presentation files. Get it here.

Troy @ TLC

By |2016-09-16T11:15:18-07:00January 8th, 2006|Software/Add-Ins|

From Good to WOW with OfficeFX

I just finished adding a new project overview to the TLC Creative website. It includes a movie of a walk-in looping presentation I developed for an event, which highlighted the event sponsors. Online is a write-up and movie that shows how it was transformed from good to WOW!

Basically, after developing a custom PowerPoint presentation, I used OfficeFX‘s ability to render realtime 3D moving backgrounds and transitions to add that extra something special! To see the write-up and movie click here.

Troy @ TLC

By |2016-09-16T11:15:01-07:00January 7th, 2006|Portfolio, Software/Add-Ins|

Good Company, Bad Idea

Mac’s are great. When we started our design firm years ago, we invested nearly everything we billed out on new Mac systems and design software (it is almost unfair how economical things are today for new designers!). But we have had to move with Corporate America to a Windows OS world, so there are just a few Mac’s around the office these days.

But even good companies do some bad/stupid things. Today I get a message that I have an old version of Quicktime and it requires me to download and install the new version. No problem, I comply. But a mandatory install of an unwanted iTunes to use Quicktime! The must-install-additional-software-and-tolerate-the-running-advertisements as it installs just irks me.

Oh, and after all is installed, you can go into add/remove programs and uninstall iTunes. 🙂

Troy @ TLC

By |2016-09-16T11:14:42-07:00January 6th, 2006|Personal|

Camtasia 3.1

Just received word that Camtasia Studio 3.1 will be released on January 18! I have been beta testing this new version for the past month and it has some fantastic options and results (many can be seen on the movie samples found throughout the TLC Creative website).

Here are a few of the options that I think make this a standout upgrade:
1. Ability to output Flash 8/.flv movie format
2. Ability to create left column containing video of speaker with interactive table of contents and PowerPoint presentation unhindered on right side
3. Incredible captioning tools

Click here to see a side-by-side presentation (speaker is Dave Ulrich, used with permission)

Troy @ TLC

— And TechSmith sent out wonderful Christmas cards with a fantastic poster of “2006 Reasons To Be Thankful.” Amazingly I made the list (lower right brown section)! Get it here.

By |2016-09-16T11:14:20-07:00January 5th, 2006|Software/Add-Ins|

PowerPoint for the Mime

The requests for presentations always prove to be interesting. But this one initially was out of the ordinary even for me. A professional mime was the opening act of a corporate event and they needed a presentation to correspond with the mime’s acting. A speaker support presentation – but with no speaking 🙂

Click here to see the project write-up, online movie of the presentation AND download of the full editable presentation.

Troy @ TLC

By |2016-09-16T11:13:07-07:00January 3rd, 2006|Portfolio|

iStockPhoto

Looking for a great royalty free photos for your presentation? I do, practically on a daily basis. I do have a large library of royalty free images and subscriptions to several online services. But I still cannot find the perfect image for some projects. This just happened and in searching I found a super new resource that only has a great selection and quality, but is an incredible value!

Check out iStockPhoto. Images cost 1-3 credits, with a credit basically equal to $1.00 each.

Troy @ TLC

Here is the design proof of the ad that used three iStock Photo images in its collage:
(more…)

By |2016-09-16T11:12:45-07:00January 2nd, 2006|Software/Add-Ins|

The Begining Starts Here

Happy New Year! So with the new year comes new resolutions. I figure I have thought about adding an informative and engaging blog for quite a while, so now must be the perfect time to start!

Why a PowerPoint blog? Well, I think there is a need for a good resource that focuses on the development/creation side of presentations. And because that is what I do every day I should be able to offer up a steady stream of good (if not entertaining) information. Enjoy!

Troy and Daughter @ Disneyland Christmas '05

Troy @ TLC

By |2016-09-16T11:12:25-07:00January 1st, 2006|Personal|
Copyright TLC Creative Services, Inc | All Rights Reserved
Go to Top