Hopefully you have found the first 4 of my favorite PowerPoint hacks useful to help you create top-notch presentations. If you want to see them again here they are here.
The remaining 4 are below:
- Move items between layers. Many PowerPoint users don’t know that the program builds slides based on layers. You can easily move elements between layers by selecting FORMAT > BRING FORWARD or FORMAT > SEND BACKWARD.
- Semitransparent shapes. This is another of my go-to techniques to separate text or graphics from a confusing underlying graphic. You simply place a rectangle or other shape between the top layer and the background. Move the shape between the correct layers by using the FORMAT > BRING FORWARD or FORMAT > SEND BACKWARD described above. The cool effect of this is to make the in-between layer semitransparent. Select the shape and the select FORMAT > SHAPE FILL > MORE FILL COLORS. The pop up allows you to select a color plus there is a transparency slider at the bottom. I generally prefer white or black and I start experimenting at 30%
- Make minor corrections to images without photoshop. If you have imported an image and it needs a little contrast or lightness tweaking use this: FORMAT > CORRECTIONS. You will be able to select from a range of contrast and brightness options without needing to edit the original image.
- Video setup slide. It is not uncommon for presenters to be surprised when they click the next slide and suddenly, they are in the middle of a running video before they have had a chance to verbally set it up. To solve this, I create a still from that video and paste it into a slide just before the video. Then when the speaker gets to the slide with the still they know they should introduce it and they know the next slide will be the video itself. Create the still this way: Run the video and then create a screen grab WINDOWS KEY > PRT SC. Then paste it into another slide ahead of the video slide.
Enjoy.
