After activating Extended Desktop (Oct. 1 post) and setting up PowerPoint to display the presentation on the secondary monitor (Oct. 3 post), you have the option of displaying the Presenter View on your local monitor.
In PowerPoint go to: SLIDE SHOW >> SET UP SHOW. In the Multiple Monitors section check “Show Presenter View.”
When you go into show mode your computer will display this view:
– Troy @ TLC
I have been doing a lot of webcast projects lately. Most involve syncing a PowerPoint presentation with video of the presenter. One client’s IT department needed more information to determine which format fit their needs best so I provided this quick run down on the pro’s and con’s of the formats we were discussing:
Flash Legacy (.swf)
Pro: This format is virtually guaranteed to work on all computers, through firewall settings and has an install rating of over 98% of all computers worldwide.
Con: It is not optimized for live video, so it produces larger files and does not stream as well as an .flv
Flash Video/Flash 8 (.flv)
Pro: This format is optimized specifically for video. It produces good size files and streams extremely well (even if file is larger than a .swf it streams much smoother and faster).
Con: Still requires many computers to do the free upgrade, which is permitted through most corporate firewall systems (although it can be problematic in a tightly controlled corporate IT setting).
Windows Media Video (.wmv)
Pro: Optimized to playback on Windows PCs and now works on all Macs that have the Flip4Mac QuickTime add-in (included in a free auto update, so installed on majority of Mac systems). Can be embedded in webpage or forced to launch player application on computer.
Con: Larger file sizes than .flv (similar to .swf), fewer pre-load options (eg: a status bar before playing).
All of this is very simplified information, but it provides a quick overview of some common formats. Stay tuned for a very detailed set of posts on Streaming Media formats I have been working on.
– Troy @ TLC
I like to setup PowerPoint so I can get edit accomplished in the fewest clicks. If you find a need to use the RECOLOR function (see Saturday’s post), you can add the RECOLOR button to your PICTURE toolbar.
Click the far right edge of the picture toolbar, choose ADD OR REMOVE BUTTONS >> PICTURE >> RECOLOR PICTURE. Now select the Excel table (that does not have data with it), click the recolor button, adjust colors, done.
– Troy @ TLC
So you have a slide like this with an imported Excel table:
And you need to adjust the colors of the excel chart to coordinate with the presentation template. You double-click the table and get the image format box, not the Excel data:
But all is not lost! Some information is still there. On the PICTURE tab, click the RECOLOR button to access this “secret” data.
In the RECOLOR PICTURE dialog you can see the original colors formatted in Excel and have the ability to change to any other color in a few easy clicks.
This is an invaluable tool within PowerPoint to know of and use when faced with pasted in Excel tables.
-Troy @ TLC
Often you have a nice, well designed slide such as this title slide. It does not really need any images or animation, but it would be nice to give it a bit of depth.
Adding a soft, PhotoShop, drop shadow to the title text helps the slide differentiate itself from the “standard” PowerPoint content and add some depth and appeal.
This effect was created in less than 4 seconds using PPTXtreme‘s SoftShadow add-in. I selected the text box and clicked on the QuickShadow button.
Looking closer you can see the smooth feathered black shadow that was applied to each letter. Something that helps the text float above the background artwork.
– Troy @ TLC
Turning PowerPoint presentations into webcasts has become a fairly routine request. One of the more difficult aspects of recreating a presentation is knowing when the presenter advances the slide. This is critical in syncing video of the presenter with the slides. Here is one method I have used – and best of all it is built into PowerPoint!
A few points about this process:
1 – This is at larger conferences where I am backstage running the presentations.
2 – I am running a backup computer and I run this timer on it.
3 – I use a remote system so both computers advance simulataneously.
(1) With the presentation open go to SLIDESHOW >> REHEARSE TIMINGS
(2) The slide show begins and a pop-up timer is visible.
TIP 1: As soon as the Timer window is visible click the PAUSE button. When the meeting begins click the PLAY button (the last thing I want is to have to many things distract me at the beginning of a meeting!).
TIP 2: Even though the timer is running on the backup computer, drag the timer to the very bottom so it is virtually invisible – just in case you have to switch to it!
(3) When the presentation is done click YES to the save the timings.
(4) Each slides time onscreen is seen next to the slide thumbnail. Be sure to do a SAVE AS to keep these timings for reference when building the webcast.
– Troy @ TLC
For reference you add a URL to a slide. But the text changes color, an underline is added, and in general is ugly!
You have options to bring back the aesthetics of your slide – here is the easiest. Select the text box and right click on the hyperlink and choose REMOVE HYPERLINK.
This strips out the active link programming and changes the URL into plain text. It will not be able to be clicked as an active link after this. The result is happy, beautiful, text once again!
– Troy @ TLC
My preference when it comes to a browser Home Page is to have the browser open with nothing (zip, nada, white space). It takes time to load a page, which is usually not the one I want to see. Here is how to setup Internet Explorer:
(1) Go to TOOLS >> INTERNET OPTIONS
(2) On the General tab, click USE BLANK button.
-Troy @ TLC
Thanks to Brad Hagen, owner of Video Resources, for showing me this nifty shortcut! On a recent project I was responsible for setting up an event’s internet cafe. Set up a wireless network, configure the dozen computers and set up with custom wallpaper, set the browser homepage, etc.
Here is how to set the browser homepage in three easy steps:
(1) Browse to URL you want to be the home page
(2) Click-and-drag the webpage icon in the address bar
and drag on top of the “Home” icon
(3) Click “Yes” to the dialog. Done!
-Troy @ TLC
Microsoft’s Jensen Harris recently posted this movie showing how the new Ribbon can be minimized and still used. While not a big fan when I first viewed the ribbon in the pre-beta, there has been A LOT of good work going on at Microsoft and my expectations are looking better! Check this 38 second movie here (or high-bandwidth version here).
-Troy @ TLC