MasterView

Creating and Managing Effective PowerPoint
Presentations for International Audiences
___________________________________________

MasterView by IKONOS New Media

September 17th, 2001    Issue #4

Executive Editor: Simone Luchini
Editor-in-Chief: Luigi Canali de Rossi
*******************************************

This issue's theme:
    
"Running Yours Presentation Like A Pro"

===========================================

MasterView readers, welcome back. You saw in the past issue how 
to create a template and how to deal with the look of your 
presentation; you are now going to explore what you should do 
once your presentation is ready and you want to run it in a
professional way.

We will see first how you can set the timing in your 
presentation so it can safely run unattended or in an
endless loop.

You will learn what is important to know about keyboard 
controls and you will discover useful tricks that can help you 
run the show smoothly.

You will also discover how PowerPoint will let you hide 
specific slides while creating a custom show.

Step-by-step, I will demonstrate to you how to use hyperlinks 
and action settings in PowerPoint to be able to better manage 
your slide show navigation. You will see the importance of a 
"Web-style" presentation, where you can jump from one slide to 
any other without worrying about the order of the slides.

Finally, we are sharing with you some unique power tips about 
opening and closing your PowerPoint presentation. Through 
these, you will be able to effectively choreograph two of the 
most memorable parts of an effective presentation:
1) the opening
2) the grand finale

It looks like a very rich issue, with a lot of power tips and 
valuable techniques. Follow me from the very beginning and you 
will be able to run and manage your presentation like a
real "pro".


Simone Luchini
Presentation Specialist, Trainer
MasterView Executive Editor
IKONOS New Media
  

===========================================
    
1) * Learn how to run your presentation unattended by recording  
     all of your slide show settings and timing *

===========================================
    
Let's see now what you can do to make your presentation run 
automatically and unattended.
    
Before trying out new things or applying new features, I 
recommend that you save your existing presentation under a 
different name. In case something goes wrong, you can easily go 
back to your original version. To do this, open your 
presentation file, go to File >> Save As... and just add a 
progressive number in front of the name of your presentation 
(e.g. 02-MyPresentation.ppt). Be sure to save it in the same 
folder as the original one and click "Save".

To apply an automatic transition to your slides, so that you 
will not need to click to proceed to the following one, move 
into the Slide Sorter view, where you can see all the 
miniatures of all your slides. Than do the following:

1) Select any slide by clicking on it

2) Click on the small icon on the top left of the Slide Sorter 
toolbar (the one that says: "Slide Transition"). In case you 
cannot find that icon, you can obtain the same result by right-
clicking on a slide (in Slide Sorter View) and choosing "Slide 
Transition...", or also from the menu "Slide Show" >> "Slide 
Transition..."

3) In the "Advance" box put a tick mark where it says: 
"Automatically after" and set the time you think it's necessary
before PowerPoint advances to the following slide

4) Now, if you know that all the slides need the same timing, 
the easiest way is to define a timing and then click "Apply to 
all", so all of your slides will automatically proceed after 
that time. In case you need a different timing for different 
slides, just select, one by one, the single slides and set
their timing individually.

If you now rehearse your presentation in Slide Show view, you 
will see that you don't need to click to advance through the 
slides because PowerPoint will do that for you.

So far, so good. Now that you know how to run your presentation 
unattended, what other things can you do? Well, you can tell 
PowerPoint to run the presentation continuously in a loop until 
you decide to manually end the show.

To do this, go to "Slide Show" in the Menu Bar (in any View 
mode you are in) and then select "Set Up Show..."

In this dialog box, just put a tick mark where it says: "Loop 
continuously until 'Esc'" and be sure that, on the right side 
of the dialog box, you have selected the option to advance 
slides "Using timings, if present".

If the presentation has to be run in a conference or at a fair 
you can even take the keyboard away so that nobody can stop it 
accidentally by hitting the "Esc" key.


Click OK and you are done.

Now PowerPoint will play back all of your presentation slides 
according to the timing you have previously set. It will also 
restart your presentation as soon as it finishes; you will be 
able to end the show by pressing the "Esc" key on the keyboard.

Do you know exactly how many seconds or minutes you need 
between one slide and the following to have the right time to 
explain and discuss the topic displayed on the slide? How can 
you set an exact timing for the slide where you have for 
example a chart that you want to discuss in detail and, on the 
other hand, how can you decide the right timing for a
title slide?

An additional feature in PowerPoint is a sort of "recorder" 
that will help you find out the exact amount of time you need 
for each slide. You can actually rehearse your show as if you 
were running the presentation in front of your audience, trying 
to really expose your comments to the slides, and have 
PowerPoint record all this and save it for when you will run 
the real show.

What you have to do is:

1. Go to "Slide Show" in the Menu bar and then click on 
"Rehearse Timing".

2. As soon as you do this, your presentation will be displayed 
full screen, and you will see a little "recorder- like" window. 
You will see displayed the seconds passing and a right arrow, 
which you will use to advance to the following slide.

3. As soon as you see the first slide full screen, start 
discussing the topic and try to imagine yourself in front of 
your audience. As soon as you have finished and you want to 
move to the second slide, click on the little right arrow and 
you will see displayed the second slide. Proceed with your 
voice-over throughout all of the slides, until you reach the 
end of the presentation.

4. PowerPoint will now show a message telling you the total 
time needed for the show, and will also ask you if you want to 
save those "timing" instructions in order to re-use them during 
your next show. If you are not satisfied since you think you 
might have made some mistakes, click "NO" to this message and 
record again, otherwise click "YES" and the timings you have 
just recorded will be associated to all your slides.

For this feature, you don't need a microphone, since you are 
not recording any voice or sound. You are just recording and 
setting the timing necessary to move from one slide to
the following.

You can check the single timings just by having a look at the 
Slide Sorter view. On the left bottom corner, each slide will 
indicate the seconds and minutes it will take to proceed to the 
following slide.

You can change this timing at any time, either by recording 
again the whole slide show or changing a single timing by 
clicking on the icon we saw at the beginning of this tutorial, 
the "Slide Transition" icon (located on the left top corner of 
the Slide Sorter view).

In case you change your mind and decide not to set any timing 
and want to remove some or all of them, use the "Slide 
Transition" dialog box (Slide Show >> Slide Transition) and 
uncheck the box that says: "Automatically after...", and just 
leave selected the option to advance "On mouse click".

* A slide navigation tip, to avoid panic if you have an 
automatic running show, is the following: if you need to spend 
more time on a slide than the preset one, just press the "S" 
key in the keyboard and the automatic show will pause. You can 
restart it anytime simply by pressing the "S" key again.



===========================================
2) * Find out the secret advanced keyboard commands that allow
     you to do near-magical tasks while running your show *

===========================================

How many keyboard shortcuts do you use when running your 
presentation? Maybe just a few, the most common ones, like the
space bar or the "Enter" key to advance to the following slide 
or the "Esc" key to end the show.
These keys can automate some needed actions during a show, or 
save your presentation in those unaccounted for situations. 
Having more facilities and control commands at hand, will also 
boost your confidence and trust in running a successful show.

   
To start out, let's take a look at the keys you can use to 
advance to the next slide:
   
   > Enter key
   > Space bar
   > Right arrow
   > Down arrow
   > Page Down
   > "N" key (for "Next")
   
When you want to go back to the previous slide:
   
   > Backspace
   > Left arrow
   > Up arrow
   > Page Up
   > "P" (for "Previous")
   
* If you have a non-English version of PowerPoint, some keys 
might be different, so check them out before relying on them! 
Just test them, and if they don't work, have a look at the tip 
at the end of this article...


And what do you do if you want to jump to a slide that is not 
simply the next one?

Key in the slide number in the numeric keypad and then press 
"Enter". For instance, if you want to jump from slide 3, that 
is displayed on the screen, to slide 9, just press number 9 and 
then "Enter". If you want to reach slide 15, press 1 and 5, 
then press "Enter".

In case you need to stop an automatic show, as we said in the 
previous article (#1), press the "S" key to stop and then "S" 
key again to re-start the automatic show. This way you can have
maximum control over your show pauses.

How can we end our show?

   > "Esc" key
   > Ctrl+Break
   > "-" (dash/hyphen symbol)

Pressing any of these keys will end your slide show, that means 
that you will no longer have your slides displayed in full 
screen mode, but in a normal PowerPoint editing mode (Slide 
View, Slide Sorter View, and so on).


What if you suddenly realize that the slide you are showing is 
not the one you wanted, and you desperately need to hide it? Or 
what if you want to take a 5-minute break and want to display 
a black slide?

Well, in this case, press the "B" key for "Black". Press it 
again to go back to the show. In the case you use the "B" to 
black out an incorrect slide, you can directly press the number 
of the desired slide and press "Enter".

And what if in the dark room, during your presentation, a 
person has lost an earring and you need to have more light in 
the room, so that s/he can find it right away?

You can press "W" for "White" and you will get a white slide 
that will light the presentation room instantly. Press it again 
to go back to your show.


I would like to take some time now to discuss the use of the 
mouse. You all know that with the left-click of the mouse you 
can advance to the following slide. Have you ever pressed the 
right button when you run the show? You get, by default, a 
"Popup menu" that helps you navigate through the presentation.

Though you might find this useful, it doesn't look very 
professional since it covers part of your slide. It appears 
exactly where you right-click and not always on the same spot. 
In case you decide to use it, you need to right-click on an 
empty spot where it doesn't cover any graphic or text.

However, to avoid this option, you can customize PowerPoint so 
that any time you right-click you go to the previous slide, 
instead of getting this little Popup menu.

1) Go to Tools >> Options and select the "View" tab

2) Where it says "Slide Show", remove the tick mark from the 
first option "Popup menu on right mouse click" and click OK.

From now on, any time you use your right mouse click while 
running the show (full screen mode) you will be brought back to 
the previous slide.

While there, you can choose to uncheck also the second option 
on the "View" tab of the Tools >> Options menu: "Show Popup 
menu button". By doing this, you will remove the icon that 
appears on the bottom left of the screen, allowing you to 
access the same Popup menu you get with the right-click action.

*IMPORTANT* Changing this option about the Popup menu is an 
action that you need to perform on the machine where you run 
the show. This feature is stored inside PowerPoint, not inside 
your presentation file. So if you like it and change it in your 
office computer, you will also need to change it in the 
computer where you will run the show.    
   
There's another secret key you can use when running the show, 
and that's the letter "H" for "Hidden". In the following 
article we will see how we can use this key and learn its 
purpose.

* TIP *
And now that I have shown you some of the most useful keyboard 
combinations, let me reveal to you a little secret. Learn where 
you can find all the information about keyboard keys:

1) Go to Slide Show View (Full Screen)

2) Press F1

What can you see?

Pretty handy, isn't it? In case you have a non-English version 
of the PowerPoint software, here is where you have to look to 
obtain the right key combinations for your version.

 

===========================================

3) * Discover the PowerPoint "Hidden Slide" functionality which
     can help you take out your magic slide, just when you need
     it *

===========================================

What is a hidden slide? It's a regular slide that is present in 
your presentation file, that will not be displayed during the 
slide show. What is the purpose of having such a slide?
Well, for example you may not be sure about the time allocated 
to your presentation, so you may decide not to show all your 
slides, only the most important ones. In case there's time 
left, you can still opt to show one or more of the
hidden slides.
Or otherwise you might want to have some slides ready in case 
someone asks you something specific. You can demonstrate that 
by having a specific slide explain that topic. You can also 
have detailed slides about some topics that you decide to show 
only if the audience seems to be interested in them. Otherwise 
you can just go ahead with your partial show.
  
You have two options in PowerPoint to have this sort of
custom show:
1) you can simply hide some slides, and show them only when 
needed, or
2) you can create a custom show where you can hide some slides
and even rearrange the order of the slides without modifying
the original presentation file.

To hide one or more slides, do the following:

1) Go to the Slide Sorter view

2) Select the slide(s) you want to hide

3) Click on the icon in the Slide Sorter toolbar that says 
"Hide Slide" or alternatively go to "Slide Show" in the Menu 
bar and choose "Hide Slide".

The hidden slides will show now their number crossed by a 
diagonal line. It means that when you run the final show, those 
slides will not be displayed unless you press the "H" key in 
the keyboard.

In case you decide to unhide these slides, just select them and 
turn off (by pressing it) the icon that you pressed before to
hide them.

If you want also to change the order of your slides just for 
one specific audience while keeping your original presentation 
intact, you can create a "Custom Show" and save it. Afterwards 
you can use that in lieu of the standard presentation.

Let's see how you can do this process:

1) Open the presentation for which you want to create a
custom show

2) Go to "Slide Show" in the Menu toolbar

3) Select "Custom Shows..."

4) Click "New"

5) Assign a name to this "Custom Show" to more easily identify 
it in the future

6) Select one by one the slides on the left side of the "Custom
Show" window in the order you want them to be displayed and 
click "Add"

7) Once you have created the new Custom Show (you are not 
required to insert all of your slides, just the ones you want 
to show), click "OK".

Now you have recorded the new custom show sequence in your 
presentation file, and you can run it at any time by selecting 
"Slide Show" in the Menu toolbar and choosing "Custom 
Shows...". From there just click on the one you want to display 
and then select "Show".

From the same presentation you can create various shows for 
different target audiences, without modifying the entire 
presentation file.



===========================================

4) * Master how you can link any web page, word document or 
     other application file to any slide in your presentation *
       
===========================================

A very important and innovative feature of PowerPoint is the 
ability to create a presentation that is not run in a linear 
way, but in a Web-style way. Usually, when running a show, the 
presenter just moves from one slide to the other by pressing 
some keys on the keyboard as we saw in the previous article 
(#3). That way you don't have too much control of your show in 
case, for example, you don't remember exactly the number of the 
slides you want to jump into.

Instead, when you browse professionally done Web sites or CD-
ROM's, you can go back at any time to the home page or main 
menu. A navigation bar with a table of contents that will take 
you to each different page will always be displayed. This way 
of moving through a document is called "Web-style" navigation 
and the document is called "hyper textual": you can recognize 
it from the pointer of the mouse, that changes shape to a white 
hand any time something can be clicked to take you to
another page.

Thus a very handy way of building your presentation is to 
design it as a Web site: you will have a navigation bar on all 
the slides and you will link the navigation buttons to the 
specific slides within your presentation.

In addition, we can eventually insert links to any other file 
we would like to display: a Web page on line, a Word document, 
an Excel graph, a movie clip and so on.

We only need to be familiar with how we can insert hyperlinks 
and assign actions to our objects (buttons, text, Clip Art) in 
the slide and then we are ready to start.

Let's see how we can link a slide to another file.

First, imagine you have created a presentation, and you want to
insert an image on a slide, that if clicked on, shows a
specific Word document or another PowerPoint presentation.

1) Save your presentation (you will not be able to use the
   "Action Settings" otherwise)

2) Click on the object (geometrical shape, text box, picture, 
   logo, Clip Art...) to select it

3) Right-click on it

4) Choose "Action Settings"

5) Select "Hyperlink to"

6) Choose what you would like that slide to be linked to by 
   selecting within the drop-down list:

- Next Slide 
- Previous Slide
- First Slide
- Last Slide
- Last Slide Viewed
- End Show
- Slide... (selecting this option will let you select any of
  the existing slides on your current presentation)
- URL... (with this option you will create a hyperlink that 
  will open up any Web page)
- Other PowerPoint Presentation... (you can actually choose to
  open another presentation or just one slide that belongs to 
  that presentation)
- Other File... (you can use this option to link to another
  file such as Word or Excel or anything else)

7) Press "OK" to close the A"ction Settings" dialog box. The
   hyperlink is now active.

* What you need to know *

A few tips to help you not to get lost among all these options:

- Once you assign a hyperlink, you should test it right away. 
You can ONLY do that by running the show, that is, using the 
Slide Show view, full screen. You will see the mouse pointer 
becoming a little white hand (like the one you have on Web 
pages), as soon as you move over your link. When you click, the 
file or slide you have selected will be displayed.

- If you link a slide to another slide, remember always to
create a "return" link on the second slide. For instance, if I
link my slide number 1 (e.g. Table of Contents) to slide
number 5, I need also a link on slide number 5 that will
eventually lead me back to slide 1, where I have my table
of contents).

- If you create a link to a Web page, ensure you have a browser 
installed and a working Internet connection on the machine 
where you will run your show.

- If you create a link to another file, be sure to bring that 
file with you and save it on the hard disk of the machine where 
you will run the show.

- Additional features can be found on the "Action Settings" 
dialog box: you can have your object highlighted, once you 
click on it, and you can even associate a sound to that action. 

- If you assign a link to a text box or to a specific word or 
phrase within a text box, your font color will change and the 
text will be underlined, like in a Web page. To eventually 
change this color (since it may not be contrasting enough with 
the background) do the following:

  - Go to Format >> Slide Color Scheme
  - Click on the second tab "Custom"
  - Click on the colored box that says: Accent and hyperlink
  - Click "Change color" and assign a new color to
    the hyperlink
  - Click "Apply" and it's done
  
Another way to work around this limitation (in case for 
instance you don't want your hyperlinks to be underlined) is to 
use a normal rectangle instead of a text box.
Draw a rectangle 
as big as the text you want to type, select it and start typing 
on it.
Then format your text, and remove the fill color and the 
line color so that the rectangle will become completely 
transparent. Then assign the hyperlink by right-clicking the 
rectangle and choosing "Action Settings".
  
- When you choose to link one slide to another within the same 
presentation, you will be able to select from a list containing 
numbers and titles of the slides that are part of that 
presentation. Keep in mind that PowerPoint will let you 
maintain the link to a slide even if later on you change its 
position (e.g. you move slide #3 to position #5): the slide to 
be linked will be the slide itself, not its position.


Another powerful technique is the use of the Master Slide
associated with the Action Settings.
Do you remember what the Master Slide is? It is an invisible
slide where you can set the rules for all the other slides. If
you insert a logo on the Master Slide, it will appear on all
the other slides.

How can you use the above information to improve the use of 
Action Settings and hyperlinks?

Well, the answer is as follows:

- Display the Master Slide (View >> Master >> Slide Master).
- Create a navigation bar composed of some buttons.
- Link these buttons to the slides in the presentation.

You now have a navigation bar that is automatically displayed 
on all your slides.


To summarize:


1) By combining the use of hyperlinks (Action Settings) and the 
Slide Master you can create a general navigation system for any 
presentation.

2) You can create hyperlinks to Web sites or other application 
documents you want to show to your audience. In this way you 
don't have to create screenshots or graphic files of the 
screens you want to display.

   

===========================================
    
5) * Learn how to link presentations that have different
     layouts (vertical and horizontal), by doing what the
     professionals do *
    
===========================================
    

PowerPoint lets you change the slide layout of your 
presentation. Instead of displaying your show with the default 
"landscape" orientation, you can switch to "portrait" 
orientation.

To do this, you go to "File" >> "Page Setup..." and click on 
"Portrait" where it says: "Slide orientation". All the slides 
of this presentation, from now on, will have this new layout.

This option may be useful according to the content of your 
presentation, especially the graphics that you would like
to include.

For example, if you have to insert some pictures, which have a 
portrait layout, it is a good idea to use the portrait
slide orientation.
In addition, you may need a portrait orientation in case you 
want to show documents and publication images or scans. 
Moreover, the portrait layout may be useful when you have a set 
of slides particularly rich in lists of items. Not to mention 
the fact that you can always preserve the original look of any 
image or document.


One of my friends, Derek, who happens to utilize PowerPoint 
often for his daily tasks, threw me this question: "I would 
like to be able to have a normal presentation with a 
landscape portrait, but I also would like to insert a few 
slides with the portrait orientation. Is it possible, in 
PowerPoint, to have, in the same presentation, both the two 
slide layouts?"

"Dear Derek", I emailed him, "as far as I am concerned, there's 
no such feature in PowerPoint. However, what you can do is use 
the hyperlinks facilities of PowerPoint to link two different 
presentations".

In order to have different page layouts on the same 
presentation, I suggested Derek to do the following:
 
1) Create your normal presentation with landscape orientation 
(default option)

2) Open a new file (new presentation)

3) Go to File >> Page Setup

4) Select "Portrait" orientation for your slides
 
4) Create the slides you need with the portrait orientation

6) Save this new file

Now you have two presentations, one with a standard landscape 
slide orientation, the other with a portrait orientation. You 
only need to link them and the result will be what you are 
looking for.

Imagine you need to insert slide 1(portrait) between slide 5 
and 6 (both landscape).

Here's what to do:

1) Display slide 5-landscape in Slide View mode.

2) Draw a big rectangle to fill the entire slide.

3) Select "No Fill" as a color of the rectangle.

4) Select "No Line" for its frame.

5) Right-click this transparent and invisible rectangle and
choose "Action Settings"

6) Choose "Hyperlink to" and select "Other PowerPoint
Presentation..."

7) Browse your folders and choose your second presentation, the
one with "portrait" layout, and click "OK".

8) Select the specific slide you need to display (e.g. slide 1-
portrait) and click "OK".

What you have just created now is a hyperlink from your main
presentation (with landscape slide orientation) to a single
slide of another presentation (with portrait orientation). As
soon as you display slide 5-landscape, you can click anywhere
on that slide and you will jump to slide 1-portrait without
even noticing it.

And how can you go back to your main presentation once you are
on the linked slide?

Well, using the same trick: draw an empty and invisible 
rectangle on the portrait slide and link it to slide 6 on the 
main presentation.

This way you will obtain the desired result (a presentation 
showing slides with different orientation) just by creating two 
hyperlinks.

And since you have just discovered the secrets of the "empty
and invisible rectangle", I want to give you an additional tip
about its use.

* TIP *

In the second article of this issue ("Find out the secret 
advanced keyboard commands that allow you to do near-magical 
tasks while running your show") we have seen that we can 
eventually use the right-click of the mouse to go to the 
previous slide. But that is an option that needs to be changed 
on the program itself, not in the file.

Instead, using our imagination and being aware of the utility
of the invisible rectangles, you can do the following:

1) Display the Slide Master of our presentation (View >> Master 
>> Slide Master)

2) Draw an invisible rectangle (no fill and no line) that 
covers completely the right half part of the slide

3) Make a copy of this object (select it and press Ctrl+D)

4) Position the second rectangle on the left half part
of the slide

5) Right-click on the rectangle on the right, and choose
"Action Settings"

6) Choose "Hyperlink to" and select "Next Slide"

7) Click "OK"

8) Do the same for the other rectangle, the one on the left, 
but select "Previous Slide" as the "Action Settings" box.

9) Click "OK" and test your presentation right away, sending it 
full screen (View >> Slide Show, or "F5" with PowerPoint 2000)

You will see that any time you click on the right half of the
screen, you advance one slide, when you click on the left side, 
you go back one slide.

This is a useful and handy navigation system that any 
PowerPoint presenter can use to be able to more easily control 
the playback of the presentation.

For instance, imagine a situation where you have a wireless 
mouse (quite common situation) and not a wireless keyboard. You 
would like to move around the projection room while speaking 
and presenting the slides, but you can't since you need to use 
the keyboard in case you need to go back to a certain slide. If 
you set up your presentation file this way, you can control 
your slide show from far just by using the mouse.

    

===========================================

6) * Discover the experts approach to open and close your
     presentations in a memorable way. Learn from films and
     theatre how this has been culturally developed and why
     therefore some visual solutions are better than others *
       
===========================================

The opening and closing of any visual presentation can be seen 
as analogous to the opening titles or to the final scene and 
credits of a film or television program. They are not just 
decorations or formal appendixes to wear for such occasions. 
They are much more than that. The opening and closing parts of 
a presentation carry out some critical and important tasks. Let 
me show which one they are and why they are so important.

In a presentation the "opening" can serve the
following purposes:

a)	Inform on presentation topic
b)	Inform on presenter's name, qualification, organization
c)	Set institutional identity look and feel
d)	Set the mood and setting for the presentation to start
e)	Provide complimentary information on subject topic
f)	Display credits for important contributors
g)	Visualize sponsors logotypes and brand names
h)	Announce where the presentation may be found, accessed, 
downloaded, or collected


The "closing" of a presentation serves instead the
following functions:

a)	Signal the end of the presentation
b)	Provide reference information about the topic presented
c)	Provide credits to contributors and resources
d)	Re-state the key solution, theme or concept showcased
e)	Reinforce institutional identity
f)	Credit the presenter


Besides these important and well known functions the "opening" 
of a presentation serves some tacit, critical functions that 
can significantly influence the positive 'reception' and 
'attitude' of your audience.


The opening serves also to:

i)	Focus audience attention
j)	Impress the audience in order to boost credibility
   of the presenter

To focus audience attention it is important to have:

a)	A visually impacting opening
b)	A not too fast transition into actual content
c)	Enough visual cues to set the audience automatic 
   "interpreter" for your show
d)	Enough information to anticipate the topic, style and 
   approach of your presentation


To impress the audience in order to boost credibility of the 
presenter it is vital for any presenter to recognize and 
acknowledge the importance of creating immediate interest and 
credibility for what s/he is about to present. In this 
direction the most effective best practice I have learned from 
my colleagues and mentors is:

Give them your best shot right at the beginning. 

Give them the scoop, the visual masterpiece, the key idea or 
benefit they are about to learn about at the very beginning. Do 
not go for a strategy of gradually giving your audience more 
and deeper info to finally uncover your solution/report/idea. 
Unveil the meat up front while not keeping the serving plates 
on your side. That is, give them the key but not the details 
and the why and how-to of it. That will be the actual "meat" of 
your presentation. 

So grab their attention by giving your key, most powerful 
message at the beginning possibly supporting it with strong 
visuals and an appropriate transition or visual effect. Boost 
your credibility by immediately telling them the importance and 
relevance of what you are about to show right away.


The best visual solution for the "opening" and "closing" 
effects of an effective presentation can be obtained by 
following the great cultural tradition of theater, film, 
cartoons and television. Almost all world cultures share this 
imagery and cultural connotation system developed by at least 
one of these visual media. 

Most literate people around the world, from East to West, have 
seen at least one of the following:
a)	A silent black and white movie, 
b)	a Walt Disney or Hanna-Barbera/Warner Bros cartoon, or 
c)	a theater play. 

This is where we need to draw the language of "opening" and 
"closing", especially if we want to be effective across many 
cultures regardless of language.

So what I have seen works really well is the use of those 
"transitions" or "visual effects" that 'emulate' the opening as 
we have 'learnt' to 'see' it.

For example, most people would find obvious to note that a 
theater play starts with the curtains opening up the stage in 
the dark, while revealing the lit stage with the actors. Well, 
you can just do the same with your computer presentation.

1) Set up the first slide to be an empty slide.
2)	Set its background to black.
3)	Set a transition between the black slide and your first 
slide by using the PowerPoint transition called "Split Vertical 
Out" or the equivalent in your presentation software.
4)	Set its speed to "Slow".

There you have two electronic curtains opening on your first 
slide. Just like people have seen and recorded many times in 
their visual memory. This is effective, appropriate, 
unambiguous.

Why have words fly from the corner, images pop up, and graphic 
tumble on the screen, just to awaken your audience? By 
exploiting these "cheap" effects with no communication purpose, 
you only exhaust the attention thresholds of your audience in 
the first two-three slides of your show. Your future calls for 
attention will go unnoticed, as people cannot sustain for many 
attention alerts that are not supported by equivalent delivery 
of powerful content.

The PowerPoint "transitions" or visual effects that work best 
for opening a presentation by following what the visual arts 
have culturally "taught" us are:

* Box out
* Split vertical out
* Split horizontal out
* Uncover up
* Cover up
* Wipe up
* Fade through black


For closing a presentation the same reasoning applies, and you 
can simply select the opposite effect to the one utilized in 
the opening. It is important that the metaphor or visual 
analogy utilized to open is utilized consistently in the 
closing transition. 

The ideal PowerPoint closing effects following the visual arts 
traditions are:

* Box in
* Split vertical in
* Split horizontal in
* Uncover down
* Cover down
* Wipe down
* Fade through black

There are obviously many more creative solutions one can adopt, 
by developing further this basic reference scheme and pushing 
it further with other effects and visual solutions.
A simple but effective one is the one of gradually building the 
first slide by turning on, one at a time, in successive steps, 
all of the page elements in the final design.

I am sure you can come up with many more interesting and 
relevant ways to open and close an effective presentation. 
Please share your best practices and experiences with us at: 
Luigi.Canali#ikonosnewmedia.com


Contributed by Luigi Canali De Rossi
MasterView Editor-in-Chief  
===========================================
 
Next Issue Theme: 
  
"Sharing your presentation with colleagues for review and
feedback"


*Problems*

1. How can I keep track of the changes I make in PowerPoint?

2. How can I show my presentation to my colleagues without 
asking them to leave their office?

3. How can I print only the outline? And how can I print three 
slides per page having also some empty space for hand notes?

4. If I send a PowerPoint presentation to my colleagues, is it 
possible to prevent them from discovering all my little secrets 
and modifying or copying my presentation?

5. Can I use the email program to send just a slide and not the 
whole presentation?

6. How can I send my presentation to other colleagues if the 
file is too big for my e-mail server?


*Solutions*

1.A Learn how to use the Reviewing toolbar

1.B See how you can use Word to track your changes in the 
PowerPoint outline

1.C Become familiar with saving your files using progressive 
numbering

2. Take advantage of the "Online Broadcasting" feature in 
PowerPoint

3. Discover all the different printer options for the outline, 
the slides, the notes, the handouts and so on

4.A Be familiar with the option to save a file as a .pps 
(PowerPoint Show)

4.B Save the slides as .wmf or .jpg and send those instead

5. See how you can send a slide in the body of an email without 
sending the entire presentation

6. Take advantage of Yahoogroups and other Web services 

__________________________________________
    
To read MasterView past issues, go to 
http://masterview.ikonosnewmedia.com
__________________________________________
    
    
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Send your presentation questions in:
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MasterView is a free monthly newsletter focusing on designing
and managing effective PowerPoint presentations for
international audiences. Directed to communicators, managers,
trainers, presenters and lecturers, it provides selected
solutions, how-to techniques and resources on effective
presentation-making.

    
MasterView is an open discussion forum for many of you having
specific questions about making presentations. These can be
addressed to: ask-masterview#yahoogroups.com.
I and everybody at IKONOS New Media will be happy to provide
you with best advice, tools and resources.

Who am I?

I am the Executive Editor of this electronic publication, my
name is Simone Luchini and I am a presentation specialist and
trainer for IKONOS New Media (http://www.ikonosnewmedia.com)

We specialize in empowering international organizations, grow
and prosper online through the effective use of new media and
ICT (Information & Communication Technologies).

Founded in 1988, IKONOS New Media is an electronic publishing
and distance learning company serving education, research and
development organizations.

If you would like to know something more about me, come and
check out my page at: 
http://www.ikonosnewmedia.com/people/simone.htm


Sincerely,

Simone Luchini - Executive Editor
Presentation Specialist, Trainer


IKONOS New Media
Rome | Washington
(Simone.Luchini#ikonosnewmedia.com)


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IKONOS New Media
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.........................................

MasterView Editorial Staff

Luigi Canali De Rossi - Editor-in-Chief
luigi.canali#ikonosnewmedia.com

Simone Luchini - Executive Editor
simone.luchini#ikonosnewmedia.com

Jamie Kim - Online Editor
jamie.kim#ikonosnewmedia.com

Mihai Alexandru Bocsaru - MasterView Webmaster
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