Use these tips to give yourself a break from the stress of presenting
Published: April 11, 2006
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Use these tips to give yourself a break from the stress of presenting
Published: April 11, 2006
Related Links
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Microsoft Office PowerPoint is a terrific medium because it allows you to reinforce your message with visual prompts. But too often, the power of PowerPoint is lost because the speaker doesn’t use it to help viewers focus on the message. Instead, PowerPoint itself becomes the focus.
If you want to feel more relaxed and confident the next time you’re using PowerPoint to present, try these three tips to maintain the focus on your topic—not the medium.
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1. Be consistent on all pages by using the Master View |
1. Be consistent on all pages by using the Master View
If you’re tired of typing the date, presentation title, or page number on every page in your presentation—or changing bullet styles and indentations—listen up. PowerPoint will do this for you! The Master View feature allows you to enter information once on either the title page or an interior slide page. Once entered, the information is used consistently throughout the presentation, and remains until you change it.
I use this feature on every presentation I create. It makes my life a little easier to know that each page will be consistent without much effort on my part. Let’s take a look specifically at how PowerPoint can automatically take care of the date, footer, and page numbers for you.
From anywhere within your presentation, go to the View menu, click Master, and then click Slide Master. You will now be in the Master View mode, as shown here.
Note four key areas in this view, which shows you the presentation’s title page.
| 1. | On the slide itself are two large boxes that allow you to edit the Master title and subtitle styles.
Less obvious are three remaining areas, which I’ve circled in red: |
To include the date from the Master title page:
| 1. | In the Date Area box, highlight <date/time> and enter the date you wish to use. |
You should now see the date automatically noted on your title page, as shown below.
To make similar changes on slide pages that follow the title page, simply select the slide page thumbnail on the left within the Master View. You can then make changes to the bullet styles and indentations PowerPoint automatically sets up for you. Don’t like a bullet color? Select the interior slide Master View and just change it to the color you want. The example below shows some of the items you can change on the Master slide.
Tip Page numbers are added by default. However, if you want to remove page numbers from your presentation, remove <#> from the Number Area.
Note If you want a date to appear on both your title and interior slide pages, you must edit each page type from within the Master View.
2. Reinforce your message with automated charts and graphs
You’ve probably seen presenters who have very cool graphs and charts within their presentation. You can import these from other programs such as Microsoft Office Excel but did you know you can perk up your slides without importing from those programs?
People retain information in different ways-by reading text, by seeing graphical representations, and by listening to what you say. So, if you want your audience to really remember your message, it’s important to learn to create at least simple charts or graphs in PowerPoint. With the automated formats it provides, you have literally dozens of ways to build a unique presentation and make your message memorable.
To insert a chart or graph in your presentation:
| 1. | Go to the Insert menu, and click Chart. PowerPoint will drop in a preformatted basic chart for you. If you like the format it chose, simply type in the text you need in the datasheet box provided for vertical and horizontal axis. Click anywhere on the slide and your chart will appear on the slide with your information. That’s it!
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3. Jump easily between pages
If you didn’t know how to use a hyperlink, you wouldn’t be reading this online article. You may already use hyperlinks for quick and easy access to the Web if you are connected to the Internet while making your presentation. Too often, however, a cool way to use hyperlinks within a presentation is overlooked. It happens when presenters include additional information at the back of a presentation as “back up” slides and then never refer to them because it’s too difficult to navigate to the end and return to the main portion of the presentation. But if the information is important enough to reference in back up, why ignore it?
With PowerPoint hyperlinks, you don’t have to because it’s easy to jump between slides.
To insert hyperlinks between slides in your presentation:
| 1. | Locate the first slide you will be on when you want to jump to another slide briefly. On this slide, highlight the word or phrase that is the most obvious descriptor of the second slide. On the Insert menu, click Hyperlink.
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S.E. Slack S. E. Slack specializes in simplifying complex topics so the masses can both understand and apply difficult concepts. She is a co-author of Breakthrough Windows Vista: Find Your Favorite Features and Discover the Possibilities. She is currently writing CNET Do-It-Yourself Digital Home Office Projects. She has written five other books. |
