Step 6
Architecture
Decide where you need new slides, or if the presentation needs a thorough reorganization. Maybe, you need to delete parts of the presentation.
If a single slide looks too cluttered, delve into the possibilities of splitting the content into two or more slides.
Check the readability of your text - try playing with the size, strength, colours and shadows - view from close quarters and from various distances. Also, maintain uniform text styles and sizes across slides. Avoid using more than two font styles in the whole slide show - this of course, does not include dingbat fonts!
Step 7
Navigation
Interactivity is expected nowadays - it is specially attractive considering the fact that you can combine it with a linear presentation.
A navigation structure is rarely required for a linear presentation - since all presentation programs have shortcut keys to proceed to the next or previous slides, or to start the entire presentation from the beginning. On the Windows platform, most of these options are available by a right-click of the mouse during a showing. However, adding interactivity takes so little effort that there seems little justification in avoiding it. In real terms, this means that clicking an object or text onscreen will activate a link to another part of the presentation or elsewhere.
I always incorporate a few hidden links for my clients - the logos on each page always hyperlink to the start of the presentation - this usually is slide no 5 or 6 in my case, since I use the earlier slides as a 'multimedia build' to begin the showing.
If you require a whole-lot-more of interactivity, then you are using the 'wrong' software - you need to understand the limitations of presentation software and take a good look at multimedia software like Director, ToolBook, Dazzler, Illuminatus, etc.
This article is part 3 of 4.
Part 1 of 4
Part 2 of 4
Part 4 of 4
Original article by Geetesh Bajaj first published here.
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Geetesh Bajaj is a Microsoft PowerPoint MVP (Most Valuable Professional) and a contributing editor for Presentations magazine. He runs the indezine.com site which contains over 200 pages of PowerPoint tutorials, articles, reviews, etc. He also runs the powerpointed.com site that sells PowerPoint templates and other third-party PowerPoint products. Another site he runs is hillsorient.com a platform for web design, promotion and consultancy.
