Resource/Misc

New episode of The Presentation Podcast now available!

Episode 247: Unlock the power of PowerPoint in ways you may not have imagined. In this episode, Troy, Sandy, and Nolan are joined by Amanda Dalton, a seasoned graphic designer turned presentation and instructional design expert, to explore how PowerPoint can be a central tool for presentation design, video creation, and instructional storytelling.

In today’s ever-evolving world of digital communication, few tools are as versatile, or as underestimated, as PowerPoint. Amanda shares her professional journey and offers insights into how she leverages PowerPoint alongside other tools to create impactful stories, engaging training content, and dynamic visual experiences.

Plus, CreativePro Week 2026 is just weeks away! Amanda is one of the presenter at this year’s conference, and we are fortunate to have David Blatner, Director of CreativePro, preview what to expect at this year’s Nashville event. Listen on your favorite podcast app, or at The Presentation Podcast site here.

Ever tried to use an Adobe font in PowerPoint, and wondered why it’s not showing up? Or handed off a PowerPoint file to a designer, and the fonts look totally off when they convert it to InDesign? We see this situation often with people who use both Adobe and Microsoft products. Here’s the deal (and a hack to fix!)…

Quick answer: 

• Yes, Adobe CC fonts can be used in PowerPoint and other Microsoft apps (with a simple hack). 

• No, there is no equivalent hack to make Adobe apps recognize all Microsoft-only fonts. However, many Microsoft fonts are already installed on your system and work fine inside Adobe apps. 

Part 1: Using Adobe CC Fonts in PowerPoint (“The Hack”) 

1. Download and install the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app (if you don’t have an Adobe Creative Cloud account, you can create and use the free account version).  

2. In the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app, find and click the Fonts section, either in the top right nav bar or in the “Stock & Marketplace” section under Fonts. 

3. From within the Adobe Creative Cloud app (or by visiting fonts.adobe.com in a browser), search for the font you want to use in PowerPoint. 

4. Select the font and click “Add to Fonts”, and the font will sync to your PC through the Adobe CC app. Upon adding it, you will get a pop-up to manage your fonts in the CC app.  

5. Use these steps to ensure the fonts are set for use across all apps:

• Open the fonts page in the Adobe Creative Cloud app, and you should see the font you just added at the top.
• Click the “Install Family” button to allow the new font to be used in other apps like PowerPoint.
• Once it installs, instead of seeing “in Adobe apps”, it will now say “in Adobe & other local apps”, and the font is good to go! 

6. If PowerPoint was open, be sure to close and restart it since custom fonts (non-MS and non-Google web) only load when the PowerPoint app launches. After starting (or restarting) PowerPoint, use the font selector dropdown, and you should see your Adobe font listed! 

Success!! Newly installed fonts should appear in the dropdown menu in PowerPoint. Adobe CC fonts remain on the computer for 20-30 days from the last time the Adobe CC desktop app was online. As long as Adobe CC “checks in” periodically, the fonts stay active and available to all apps – Adobe and Microsoft.  

Note 1: The Adobe fonts you install are only available on that computer. To use the presentation on any other device, follow the same process to install the same fonts for PowerPoint to use.  

Note 2: Adobe CC fonts cannot be embedded in a PowerPoint file. Plus, TLC Creative does not recommend PowerPoint’s embedded font option because it has too many failure points. 

TLC’s Best Practices

For presentations built in PowerPoint, we default to Microsoft Cloud fonts whenever possible. They are cloud-based, require no installation, and most importantly, avoid font-substitution issues. When a client or brand requires specific Adobe CC fonts, we use the steps above to keep design files and presentations matching.   

In conclusion, getting Adobe CC and Microsoft fonts to play nice is doable. Use the Adobe CC desktop app hack to bring Adobe fonts into PowerPoint. It is a bit of a setup process upfront, but the option is available. 

Wondering if Adobe will recognize Microsoft fonts? We’ll talk about that in our next post.  

Jake @ TLC

I just bought tickets for us to see a sport climbing competition that is over 2 years away. In July 2028 to be more precise! That’s right: for the 2028 LA Olympics. And with the 2028 Olympics being nearby in LA, I was excited to be able to use the “locals” advance purchase option for us to see a few events in person.  

Quick backstory…rock climbing is something Troy and I have a long history with, including during our pre-presentation design years, when we owned and ran one of the original premiere-level rock climbing gyms in America. 

(Troy still rock climbs today, but more casually perhaps)

Now, while I was preparing to buy said Olympic competition tickets (and let me tell you, it is a process…well planned out and communicated…but a process nonetheless), the LA Olympics people suggested I watch a video about the ticket buying process. This is when I stumbled upon another video detailing the LA28 design system…and it’s really cool!  

From a very versatile letter “A” (think MTV logo of old) to the event color scheme (think flower superbloom and LA specific flowers) to the patterns of the 2028 LA Olympics design system…I can’t decide which I like best (okay, the patterns win). 

(Our local 2023 superbloom on a drive to LA)

Everyone who works in design will appreciate the 2028 LA Olympics design system in this less than 3-minute video!  

I love that the video highlighted design systems from past Olympics and from what I see, LA28 is going to represent LA extremely well – I can’t wait to see the colors and patterns play out. Funny enough, I’m not a fan of the LA28 font system. However, I see the strategy and am curious if I’ll change my mind as I see the whole system play out over the next couple of years.  

Enjoy! 

-Lori @ TLC Creative

New episode of The Presentation Podcast now available!

In episode 245 of The Presentation Podcast, Troy and Lori Chollar of TLC Creative Services give us access to their team’s design process by pulling back the curtain of a completed partnership pitch deck project. 

This project got them thinking about how we all approach presentation design. Everything starts before a single slide is designed with understanding and defining the purpose (and type) of presentation it is, which then influences the visual design and on-slide messaging. Our candid conversation is a great listen full of strategies and ideas for crafting visually rich, purpose-driven presentations! 

Listen on your favorite podcast app, or at The Presentation Podcast site here.

New episode of The Presentation Podcast now available!

In Episode 244 of the Presentation Podcast, hosts Troy, Sandy, and Nolan use a real client slide as a case study to discuss when bullet points hurt rather than help a slide. Join the conversation as they explore how unnecessary bullets clutter slides, disrupt narrative flow, and actually reduce audience retention. Get into design alternatives, and if bullet points are needed in numbered lists, icon layouts, diagrams, timelines and visual hierarchies.

Oh, and they also catch up on recent travels and share industry news! That part of the discussion includes Microsoft’s new AI image tool, practical travel tips on Global Entry, a new podcast tracking site… and plant pest control!

Listen on your favorite podcast app, or at The Presentation Podcast site here.

Podcast Episode Available! “100+ Hours for an Eight-Minute Presentation with John Chen”

In episode 243 of The Presentation Podcast, Troy Chollar of TLC Creative Services, has a conversation with certified speaking professional John Chen. They discuss the immense amount of unseen effort behind every presentation. The conversation focuses on John’s eight-minute keynote at a Canadian Association of Professional Speakers event, and the 100+ hours of preparation, collaboration with coaches, technical stagecraft, that preceded the actual presentation delivery.

Listen in to hear about the challenges of crafting concise, impactful presentations, the value of rehearsal, and innovative techniques as both an in-person and remote presenter. In this high energy conversation, John shares many personal stories and expert insights, and we get to feel John’s dedication and artistry for professional presenting.

Listen on your favorite podcast app, or at The Presentation Podcast site here.

Meeting in different cities. Clients in different cities. Staff in different cities. Keeping track of time zones is another mental challenge.

Windows has the ability to add 2 additional clocks time zones to the task bar. But Windows 11 has changed how to set/update the additional clocks (side note: I hope you find this blog post helpful – but really, it is for me to have a reference of where to find these settings when I need to update my computer as I generally update one or both of the additional clocks weekly 😊).

1. Right-click the clock in the task bar.
2. Select ADJUST DATE AND TIME

3. In the DATE & TIME section

4. Locate the LANGUAGE AND REGION section and click the arrow to go to the settings

5. Located the SHOW TIME AND DATE IN THE SYSTEM TRAY section and click the arrow icon to expand

6. Windows 11 enables up to 2 additional clocks to be added. Click the CHANGE button.

7. Select a time zone and give the additional clock a personalized name

8. Done! Mouse over the lower right clock and the popup displays the 1 or 2 additional clocks.

-Troy @ TLC

New episode of The Presentation Podcast now available, listen to here!

This episode of the Presentation Podcast we talk with Lori Chollar, CEO of TLC Creative Services, Inc. We get a behind-the-scenes look at Lori’s experience presenting at CreativePro’s Presentation Design Conference.

Lori shares insights into the process of being asked to present, preparing her session content, and the conference experience. On the presentation side, we talk about the technical and creative challenges, workflow tips, and the evolution of presentation technology as related to creating ultrawide presentations to fill the amazing LED wall configurations at events. Listen in to gain valuable perspectives on both the art and logistics of modern presentation design!

Listen on your favorite podcast app, or at The Presentation Podcast site here.

A lot of our presentation design projects are adapting provided content the event branding; color scheme, fonts, LED wall aspect ratio, accent graphics and more. Today I received the brand style guide for an upcoming event we are supporting, and the color scheme’s color naming made me smile 😊. The internal designer, or agency, obviously paid attention to the small details – look at the color names!

Tennis Ball Neon – Turf Green – Blacktop – Baseline White. I appreciate the small details in design and find it fun when others do to!

-Troy @ TLC