MasterView International Creating and Managing Effective PowerPoint Presentations for International Audiences ______________________________________________________________ MasterView International by IKONOS New Media February 22nd, 2002 Issue #9 Executive Editor: Simone Luchini Editor-in-Chief: Luigi Canali De Rossi _______________________________________________________________ This issue's theme: REVIEWS OF BEST POWERPOINT PRESENTATION RESOURCES ONLINE Table of Contents 1) Ellen Finkelstein's Web Site 2) R D P 3) PowerPoint Answers 4) Awesome PowerPoint Backgrounds 5) Indezine 6) Microsoft PowerPoint Newsgroup ============================================================== Dear MasterView readers, here we are again to learn something more about the art of making effective PowerPoint presentations for international audiences. I wanted to dedicate a complete issue of MasterView to a set of uniquely useful resources on PowerPoint presentations available on the Internet. The number of Web sites and resources available on this topic is incredible. Thus, it is impossible to include an exhaustive list of all the available sources. Nonetheless, the few links I introduce here will give you the possibility to start your exploration with a good pre-selected set of reliable sources. On this note, I would like to invite you to feel free and report any discoveries, pointers or other presentation-related resources that have been useful to you. Let's now begin with our review. Simone Luchini MasterView Executive Editor ============================================================== 1) *Ellen Finkelstein's Web Site* ============================================================== http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/ Ellen Finkelstein is the author of several books on AutoCAD, Flash and PowerPoint. You can find her books at http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/index.html#bookstore This is a section where you can buy her books online just by being redirected to the Amazon.com Web site in one click. Ellen runs a very complete Web site where you can find various information. The site has three main sections, one dedicated to AutoCAD, the other to PowerPoint and the last one to Flash. In the PowerPoint section you find 20 tips that range from the ones on designs and readability to tips that deal with animation and integration with Flash technology. The Web pages are printer friendly and easy to navigate. Although I could not find a search function to browse the content of the articles, you can easily find the topic you need just by checking the page header with the articles' titles. In this section, even though all the tips are useful, I like the one on the most readable fonts (very interesting the explanation about the "x-height" of the fonts). See http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/powerpoint_tip.html#font There are more tips about design, backgrounds, color theories, text and presentation content. There is also a good section where she explains in detail how to create a grid for a perfect layout (http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/powerpoint_tip.html#grid) If you liked to transform your PowerPoint presentation into a Flash movie, she will show you how to do it (she is also an expert in the Macromedia Flash technology). She also has a page that links to other available resources on the Web: http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/favorite_links.html This links section is divided into the three main categories of AutoCAD, PowerPoint and Flash. A nice online presentation in Web format can be found at http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/Education.htm This presentation explains how PowerPoint is being used in classroom and for distance education. The title is "PowerPoint and the Future of Education" In the Web site, there are no templates, photos, Clip Art or animated gif to download, but it's a very professionally run Web site. ============================================================== 2) *R D P* ============================================================== http://www.rdpslides.com This is a Web site where you can either download for free or purchase some specific software. You can also find many useful free tips and PowerPoint tutorials. The free software you can download is called "the Starter Kit". You can find it at http://www.rdpslides.com/ftp/PPTOOLS2.EXE (approx. 735 Kb). In this free set of tools you basically find some additional floating toolbars that will help you save time when working in PowerPoint. The more advanced tools available on this Web site need to be purchased. One is called "ShapeStyles PPTool": it will let you create and name your own styles when using Textboxes and AutoShapes. These styles can then easily be memorized and re- applied to any shape, saving you time. Another one is called "PPT2HTML Converter": it lets you have more control when you save a presentation as a Web page. You can modify some of the default options that you normally have to accept when using the PowerPoint built-in HTML converter. Then you find the "Image Exporter": it can be used to better control the way you export some slides or an entire presentation into images. You can now choose the range of the slides to be exported and the precise size of the image. The "Palette Toolbar" gives you the possibility to modify and enhance the PowerPoint Color Schemes by using personalized color palettes. The "Presentation Optimizer" is a tool that needs some special attention. We have previously discussed the frustration of creating a large presentation file which cannot be fit on a floppy disk, nor sent by e-mail and may run very slowly on an old computer. This tool makes some changes to your presentation so that the file size is notably reduced. It converts the graphic file format to a more compressed one. It may ungroup chart and graph objects, and cleans up your presentation file from all those unnecessary material that PowerPoint usually adds to your file. To test a demo version, download it at: http://www.rdpslides.com/ftp/OPTIMIZER_DEMO.EXE In addition to the software to improve the use of PowerPoint, this Web site also provides you with some tips about PowerPoint, presentations and graphics. On this page, (http://www.rdpslides.com/slideres.htm) you can find detailed information about preparing images for 35mm slides. In my opinion, one of the great features of this site are the number of articles, tips and tutorials on PowerPoint. The URL is http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/ and the section is called "PowerPoint FAQs". You can easily search your topic using the search engine provided or you can browse by topic. I repeat that this section has a notable amount of information and covers in detail many of the topics you may need to know: from charts to templates, from animations to add-ins, from programming to links to how-tos. In case you want to print all the FAQs and then have a look at them (approx. 153 pages) you can find all of them together in one unique Web page (http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FULLFAQ.htm). This section is really well done and worth a visit. ============================================================== 3) *PowerPoint Answers* ============================================================== http://www.powerpointanswers.com/ This is a vast site that contains PowerPoint information and articles, PowerPoint backgrounds and templates and online resources (links). The search feature of this Web site is called "PowerPoint Association Search". A few Web sites have decided to group together and join their resources to offer a wider search through their pages. Anytime you search something on one of these Web sites, you can have better results since you will be able to search among different sources. The main sections of this Web site are: A "tips" section with more than 25 technical tips at http://www.powerpointanswers.com/articles.html This section offers tutorials and articles about various topics in PowerPoint. If you have discovered some tips while using PowerPoint, you can ask them to be published. The Web site is looking for "PowerPoint Topic Writers". Guest authors of essays between 250 and 1000 words will have the chance to be published. Those selected for publication will receive a CD with photographs, backgrounds, templates to be used in PowerPoint presentations along with targeted consulting on improving one of your presentations. Check it at http://www.powerpointanswers.com/article1005.html Another important section in their Web site is the online resources section where you can find a list of many useful links to other Web sites. There is one Link section just to specific sites where you can find free PowerPoint templates. Another one is called "PowerPoint Picks". There you will find the review of some books that may be helpful for the use of PowerPoint and presentation making. ============================================================== 4) *Awesome PowerPoint Backgrounds* ============================================================== http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com/index.htm "Awesome PowerPoint Backgrounds" is a commercial site selling presentation backgrounds and templates. In addition, this site provides some interesting articles, tutorials and resources. They ensure that these background images and templates are compatible with many different presentation applications, not only PowerPoint. You can use them with Lotus Freelance, Corel Presentations, Scala, Director, PaintShop Pro, Photoshop and many others. You can directly download these files after paying the relative fee (that varies from $15 for a set of backgrounds to $59 for 8 sets), or alternatively you can order up to 4 CD-ROMs that contain the same backrounds files. This options has a higher cost that ranges from $69 for 1 CD-ROM with 100 backgrounds to $210 for 4 CD-ROMs with 400 backgrounds) The images available can be used for several purposes, not only for presentations. In fact you can use them for color handouts/printouts, 35mm slides, overhead transparencies, video graphics, Web pages, wallpaper, brochures, invites. What I personally like about this site is the section dedicated to PowerPoint hints and tips. The direct URL for that page is http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com/powerpointtips.htm There are different sub-sections as follows: In the main page you can find some tips on PowerPoint. Another section offers 5 different tutorials about PowerPoint- related topics. You can find them at: http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com/powerpointtutorials.htm In the tips page is another useful subsection (http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com/powerpointlinks.htm). Here you will find a complete list of helpful resources you can use when searching for templates, images, tips and tutorials. There are also links to commercial sites which sell projectors or hardware, links to books to help you make outstanding presentations, links to sites where you get advice on how to present in public and on the art of public speech. Another interesting section (http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com/powerpointtutorials- others.htm) links to a number of tutorials and resources on the Web. ============================================================== 5) *INDEZINE* ============================================================== http://www.indezine.com/index.html Indezine is a great source of tools and information that covers dozens of different topics, which are all design-related. The site is incredibly vast and may appear to be difficult to navigate at first glance. However, its content is amazing. From the main page, you can see some commercial ads for the sale of backgrounds, software, operating systems and so on. Two products on sale that you may want to check out if you are seeking backgrounds, images or templates are: "PowerPointed", a set of backgrounds and templates, and "The Big Box of Art", a huge collection of 350,000 images including Clip Art, illustrations, B/W photos, animations, Web graphics and more. 23 CDs in total, for either Windows or Macintosh. If you scroll down, you will find the complete index of the site. Here is a list of the sections I suggest you visit: The "PowerPoint" page (http://www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/index.html), which is a table of contents for all the other pages related to PowerPoint. From this starting page you will be able to refine your search within PowerPoint. There is a very useful set of links. The "PowerPoint links" page (http://www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/links.html) is divided into 6 categories for an easier search. I like the section for the Techniques & Tutorials. Still about PowerPoint, there's a Web page: http://www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/ppezine/index.html dedicated to the Web version of a newsletter you can receive for free after subscribing. You can read the current issue or browse the past issues. A cool feature we can find in this Web site is the link it has to other similar sites like the ones I have mentioned above: a few very good Web sites decided to group themselves together in a group called "PowerPoint Search Association". This way, when someone searches in one of the member sites, the search engine will return information taken from all the Web sites that are part of the association. This results in providing the user with more detailed and complete information . From the main page of the Indezine's site, you will be able to access other resources, which are not strictly related to PowerPoint but are more design-oriented: The "Color combination" page (http://www.indezine.com/ideas/colourcombindex.html) is where you can find links to many resources with color history, theory and principles. The "Font resources" page (http://www.indezine.com/products/resources/fonts.html), with dozens of links to specific web pages which will provide you with information about fonts, typography and design. Another section that you can find useful is the one on "Presentations" (http://www.indezine.com/products/presentations.html). This section is divided into sub-sections: Presentation links (external), Indezine links (internal), Presentation Programs, Presentation Services and Presentation Hardware. In the Indezine links section, I personally like the "11 steps to presentation" (http://www.indezine.com/ideas/11step1.html) by the author Geetesh Bajaj (see at the and of this article for more info). Now, the page that I like the most is the "Indezine Background Archive": http://www.indezine.com/back/index.html It offers you hundreds of professionally done backgrounds you can easily download for free and use for your presentations. They have been divided by color groups: 16 groups from Beige to Yellow (in alphabetical order). By clicking on the color you like, you will open up another page. In this specific page, on the left hand column, you will see a collection of miniatures which you can click and enlarge. These free background files are all in the true color JPEG format. They can be used for many different purposes such as a background for Web pages, a background for a PowerPoint presentation, and as wallpaper for your computer. You can save the ones you like by: 1) clicking on the miniature to enlarge it 2) right-clicking on the larger image 3) selecting "Save Background As..." and choosing a destination folder where to save it Once you have saved all the background files you like (there are plenty of them, all very well made), you can use them for PowerPoint by doing the following: 1) Open PowerPoint (with a blank presentation or an existing one) 2) Select the slide where you want to insert the background or, in case you want it for all your slides, go to display the Slide Master ("View >> "Master" >> "Slide Master") 3) Click on "Format" >> "Background..." 4) Click on the small black arrow of the drop down list 5) Select "Fill Effects..." 6) Click on the "Picture" tab 7) Click on "Select Picture..." and locate your background file 8) Click on "Insert" 9) Click on "OK" and then "Apply" and its done. Remember to check also MasterView issue #3 (MasterView Issue #3, art. 3). Here, I explain what you can do with pictures and images when you want to use them as a background of your slides. The download of these backgrounds is free of charge. The images can be used for personal or commercial use as long as you use them for yourself and not sell or distribute them to any third party. The author of these images and the whole site, Geetesh Bajaj, is a creative designer who also owns other Web sites about graphics and design. You can find more info at http://www.geetesh.com/ ============================================================== 6) *Microsoft PowerPoint Newsgroup* ============================================================== news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.powerpoint I would like to spend a few words in this issue to introduce you the existence of a very interesting newsgroup about PowerPoint. What is a newsgroup? A newsgroup is basically a public forum of discussion, free of charge, where anybody looking for an answer to a specific problem may ask for help to other users who may happen to know the answer. You can find newsgroups on almost any possible topic, For our purposes, we will focus on the one organized by Microsoft about PowerPoint. The way of using a newsgroup is easy: once you have set your Outlook Express (or another email program) to access the selected newsgroup, you can read other people's questions and answers, and you can easily post your own questions. Now I will show you in detail how to set your mail program. I will also show you some basic rules about the etiquette that should be followed when participating in these newsgroups. One of the main features of a newsgroup is that your message will be read by tens of thousands of people. Among these readers, there are many who may know the answers to your questions and will be willing to help you for free. In addition, I know that in the Microsoft PowerPoint newsgroup, there are many MVPs (Microsoft Valued Professional: highly recognized experts in that specific field, in our case, PowerPoint) who will do their best to provide you with an answer. Moreover, all messages are publicly posted. Therefore, information is openly shared and beneficial to all. The newsgroups also work in the reverse order. If you read the message of someone looking for help and you happen to know the answer, you can post a public message that includes your solution and advice. Now let's see how to set up an account for your newsgroups using Microsoft Outlook Express: 1) Open up the program 2) Click on "Tools" >> "Accounts" 3) Click on "Add" >> "News..." 4) Type your name where it says: "Display name" and click "Next" 5) Type your e-mail address where it says: "E-mail address" and press "Next" 6) Type the News (NNTP) Server name that is: msnews.microsoft.com and press "Next" 7) Click on "Finish" and it is done. Now, on your left side of the screen you will see listed a new folder called "msnews.microsoft.com" If you double-click on it, Outlook Express will ask you if you want to visualize all the newsgroups available. Click "Yes" and wait. When the downloading process is finished (consider more than a thousand newsgroups on different topics!), you will see a list of newsgroups sorted by alphabetical order. In the search box, type "public.powerpoint" without quotes. As soon as you see the right group (there is only one called exactly "microsoft.public.powerpoint", click on it to select it and hit the "Subscribe" button. From now on, your newsgroup will be listed just below the main category of all the Microsoft newgroups. In the meanwhile, Outlook will start downloading all the messages' headers exchanged in the last few days. Now you can read all the communications regarding a topic you are interested in. As well, you are now able to post your question or provide a solution to another person's problem. Please remember that some Outlook Express settings (like the number of messages displayed, the news format and so on) can be modified from the "Tools" >> "Options" menu. Click on the "Read" tab (here you can decide how many messages to display) and also on the "Send" tab (here you can change the news format to Plain Text). Now that we know how to set up an account to participate to these newsgroups, I would like to spend a few words about the policies you should follow. They are all based on general email etiquette. First rule: the newsgroups are for free. Nobody earns anything from them. If someone spends time to post a reply to your problem, you should respect and appreciate the fact that he/she is doing it for free. Second rule: always use the Plain Text format when sending messages to the news. HTML format, fancy backgrounds, colored fonts and animated gifs may disappoint most of the other users (also for a question of download time), so please set your Outlook Express to send the news in Plain Text format. Third rule: never send any attachments unless required by someone who is trying to help you. Many readers (especially the European ones) have to pay for the Internet connection, so they wouldn't like to be obliged to be connected for hours to download your attachments. Fourth rule: provide as much detailed information about your problem including: version of Windows used, version of PowerPoint, info about the hardware (Processor speed, RAM, and so on). Fifth rule: do not post messages over and over again if you do not immediately get a response to one of your inquiries. Most readers will be annoyed by your persistence, and this will not help you get your answer any faster. Sixth rule: before posting a new message, have a look at the old ones already posted . Perhaps your problem may have been answered before: there's no need to overcrowd the newsgroup with duplicate questions. The users of the PowerPoint newsgroup are kind and willing to help each other. You will be appreciative of being part of such a community. -------------------------------------------------------------- Send your presentation questions in: ask-masterview#yahoogroups.com -------------------------------------------------------------- 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) _______________________________________________________________ In the last 5 issues we have looked at: Issue 4 - Sep. 2001 "RUNNING YOUR PRESENTATION LIKE A PRO" 1) Learn how to run your presentation unattended by recording all of your slide show settings and timing 2) Find out the secret advanced keyboard commands that allow you to do near-magical tasks while running your show 3) Discover the PowerPoint "hidden slide" functionality which can help you take out your magic slide, just when you need it 4) Master how you can link any Web page, Word document or other application file to any slide in your presentation 5) Learn how to link presentations that have different layouts (vertical and horizontal), by doing what the professionals do 6) Discover the experts' approach to open and close 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 http://masterview.ikonosnewmedia.com/masterview4.htm Issue 5 - Oct. 2001 "SHARING YOUR PRESENTATION WITH COLLEAGUES FOR REVIEW AND FEEDBACK" 1) Learn how to use the PowerPoint Reviewing toolbar See how you can use Microsoft Word to track your changes in the PowerPoint Outline Become familiar with saving your files using progressive numbering 2) Take advantage of "Online Broadcasting" 3) Learn all of the different print options available for producing handouts and print materials 4) Discover what saving a presentation as a .pps file (PowerPoint Show) can do for you Learn how to set the presentation file properties as "Read-only" Save individual slides as .gif or .jpg files and re-assemble a new presentation Save the presentation as a Web page (HTML) 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 online collaboration and exchange services http://masterview.ikonosnewmedia.com/masterview5.htm Issue 6 - Nov. 2001 "WHAT IS INFORMATION DESIGN - Part I" 1) Learn what Information Design really is and why it is useful when creating charts and diagrams 2) Learn five basic principles that can help you design more effective and readable tables 3) Understand the meaning and purpose of the most common chart types 4) Use the "Custom animation" feature to enhance the visual aspect of how you will display your charts 5) Learn the effectiveness and appropriateness of 2-D and 3-D charts 6) Discover the "Paste Special" option to keep your statistical charts linked to their original data http://masterview.ikonosnewmedia.com/masterview6.htm Issue 7 - Dec. 2001 "WHAT IS INFORMATION DESIGN - Part II" 1) Learn one of the basic principles of Information Design 2) See how to integrate legends into your statistical graphs 3) Discover how to move, format and position 3-D graphs 4) Learn how to save a custom chart template and reuse it 5) Step-by-step guide on how to add images to charts 6) Tips on the TAB key and chart color scheme http://masterview.ikonosnewmedia.com/masterview7.htm Issue 8 - Jan. 2001 "DESIGN AND READABILITY" 1) Learn what differences there are between these two classes of typefaces 2) See how to properly use the shadow effect to improve readability 3) Discover how to take control of the bullet symbols 4) Step-by-step guide on how to change fonts in a presentation 5) Tips to improve text readability and effectiveness 6) The effective use of colors in presentations http://masterview.ikonosnewmedia.com/masterview8.htm ______________________________________________________________ To read MasterView past issues, go to http://masterview.ikonosnewmedia.com ______________________________________________________________ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Feedback Direct feedback: simone.luchini#ikonosnewmedia.com IKONOS New Media Via P. Giannone 10 - 00195 Rome, Italy .............................................................. MasterView Editorial Staff Luigi Canali De Rossi - Editor-in-Chief luigi.canali#ikonosnewmedia.com Simone Luchini - Executive Editor simone.luchini#ikonosnewmedia.com Mihai Alexandru Bocsaru - MasterView Webmaster mihai.bocsaru#ikonosnewmedia.com Jamie Kim - Online Editor jamie.kim#ikonosnewmedia.com .............................................................. Subscription Information To subscribe to request your free copy, simply go to the following URL: http://masterview.ikonosnewmedia.com, type your email in the box and click the "Subscribe" button .............................................................. (c) 2001-2002, Simone Luchini IKONOS New Media http://www.ikonosnewmedia.com Sponsored by: MasterMind Explorer Newsletter ______________________________________________________________ A new Robin Hood of new media technologies brings a free, 30- page plus monthly report to support communicators and trainers worldwide. He wants the common people like you to successfully leverage technology without succumbing to it. Find out first every month the alternative routes, tools and technologies that can help you collaborate, share and better communicate with new technologies. Read and subscribe to MasterMind Explorer - for communicators http://www.masternewmedia.org
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