anyone kick-ass using PowerPoint? **UPDATE**

[UNABASHED]

I've got myself an interview for a new job and part of my interview process is to give a presentation next Friday using PowerPoint. Now obviously my CV states are am perfectly fluent in PowerPoint and use it everyday, unfortunatley the reality is that I used it maybe twice in college!

 

Got myself a copy and having a play around with it but I feel I may not be using it to the best of it's ability!

 

Does anyone have any tips or tricks for making things look pretty etc?

 

Failing that anyone fancy setting the whole thing up while I go chill out and surf the forum all day?

[nixy]

You're a cheeky sod! What version are you using? I'm just getting to grips with the office 7 version at work. It's not that difficult when you know how........I'd love to have the time to do it for you but shout if you get stuck on anything in particular. One tip - if you're putting any sort of logo etc on ALL of the slides - use the slide master which does it for the whole lot in one go.

[UNABASHED]

I'm using 2007 version, had a quick look around last night and the basics seem perfectly simple, just looking for something to jazz it up a little and make it stabnd out (without being one of those rpesentations where the wors whooosh in from every direction every few seconds - I hate them!)

 

You're a cheeky sod! What version are you using? I'm just getting to grips with the office 7 version at work. It's not that difficult when you know how........I'd love to have the time to do it for you but shout if you get stuck on anything in particular. One tip - if you're putting any sort of logo etc on ALL of the slides - use the slide master which does it for the whole lot in one go.

 

I'll send all the info over to you Nix, I'd appreciate it if you could have it done before 7pm tonight so I can browse through it before I pop down pub?

[c-macd]

I used to run a multi media pub quiz using powerpoint, best advice I could give you is just to play around with it until you find what works best for your requirements. I incorporated animations, video and audio into my quizzes but for an interview you're more likely to be about charts and graphs I would think. Use google and youtube for tutorials and as nixy says if there's anything in particular you're stuck with post it up here and we'll do our best to help.

[Husky]

the two foundations of any engineering bussiness. excel & powerpoint

 

its not a difficult program to use tbh, just have a play about in it.

 

transitions:

For transitions avoid using a variety, it makes it look like you hit the random transition button. keep the presentation simple and clean so using the fade transition is best tbh. making a flying text powerpoint just makes you look like a nob.

 

Custom animation

Staging when text or any object appears in a slide can be done by creating a custom animation. this works well if you know what you are saying and the text comes up on the slide in sync with your rehearsed words. playing with the timing works well for this and gives a very professional appearance. right click the text or object, it should be under that.

 

design

If you are making something "pretty" remember that you can kind of layer objects using the "send backward" etc commands on the right click.

 

When inserting images with a solid colour background there is a button on the picture toolbar for making one colour transparent, makes a nice finish on the object as it doesnt look like a white square.

 

background & fill effect

instead of filling with a single colour you can create a fade from one to the other, a nice clean use of this is fading from a light colour to white in the background, you can choose which way this fades matching it to the layout of your presentation. you'll find this option usually under the colour option for the fill of a shape or background.

 

Standard templates

i suppose this is personal opinion but when i see someone's used one of these i let out a sigh, most of them look shart and just look like you haven't tried.

 

 

 

thats some stuff off the top of my head

[nixy]

and as nixy says if there's anything in particular you're stuck with post it up here and we'll do our best to help.

 

Or to **** it up depending on what mood we're in........... do feel free to email me it when you've done it so I can give it the once over if you like.

[Willy P]

Whatever you do, make sure it is readable when you put it up on the projector/smart board or whatever it is. Therefore, make sure the contrast between the background and the writing is clear enough. There was a woman who came to my work after her Ph.D to apply for a position doing a postdoc and her slides had a lime green background with yellowtext. Couln't read a thing. She didn't get the job.

 

I guess you can go too far making it stand out and end up shooting yourself in the foot

[Willy P]

Whatever you do, make sure it is readable when you put it up on the projector/smart board or whatever it is. Therefore, make sure the contrast between the background and the writing is clear enough. There was a woman who came to my work after her Ph.D to apply for a position doing a postdoc and her slides had a lime green background with yellow text. Couln't read a thing. She didn't get the job.

 

I guess you can go too far making it stand out and end up shooting yourself in the foot

 

 

That's better

[Husky]

Whatever you do, make sure it is readable when you put it up on the projector/smart board or whatever it is. Therefore, make sure the contrast between the background and the writing is clear enough. There was a woman who came to my work after her Ph.D to apply for a position doing a postdoc and her slides had a lime green background with yellowtext. Couln't read a thing. She didn't get the job.

 

I guess you can go too far making it stand out and end up shooting yourself in the foot

thats brilliant, did she fill out the app in a pink pen? you cant read those things either

[maz0]

Yeah do yourself a favour and don't whore the transitions, there's nothng more irratating than someone whos just learned to use PP and think's their amazing, as their actually irratating as ****.

 

A nice simple mellow background colour which does not detract from the text or message your putting across, and I would normaly only put bullet points in PP and use them to remind me of what I want to say, as what your saying is the presentation, PP is just a visual aid.

 

As for actualy using PP...it's a peice of p**s! just google PP tutorial. simple!

[UNABASHED]

some good advice guys, thanks for that

 

anymore advice always welcome

[Husky]

use the typewriter text transition and i will personally **** you one

 

just use Arial as the font, fancy fonts are hard to read and arial is usually an industry standard.

 

as mentioned the less text on a page the better! pictures speak a thousand words etc. i like to think people are studying whatever picture there is on the screen rather than looking at my ugly mug, makes it easier. tbh when someone is giving a presentation i end up staring at the screen rather than them anyway, may aswell be something good to look at.

 

what kind of job is it for? being nosey

[gangzoom]

Yeah do yourself a favour and don't whore the transitions, there's nothng more irratating than someone whos just learned to use PP and think's their amazing, as their actually irratating as ****.

 

A nice simple mellow background colour which does not detract from the text or message your putting across, and I would normaly only put bullet points in PP and use them to remind me of what I want to say, as what your saying is the presentation, PP is just a visual aid.

Completly agree

 

I tend to do the following;

 

No more than 8 lines text per slide (actually i rarely use more than 4).

 

When your presenting, dont just read what's on the slide, the information on the slide should only complement what your trying to say.

 

Memorise that your going to say, not having to look at notes or the slide means you can keep eye contact with the audiance more, which is nearly always a good thing.

 

Try to get the audiance involved if possible...and it at all possible put some "humour" into the slide, possibly some thing topical...but this can go totally worng

 

Actually the best presentation i went to was froma a Proffesor from one of the big London hospitals, he turned up to teach us some complicated stuff on kids kidenys, than he realised he had forgotten his memory stick, than proceeded to give a 1hr talk totally off the top of his head which was absoutly fantastic

[UNABASHED]

it's for an Installation and Training Executive for a IT for Healthcare supplier (naiming no names of course )

 

Basically to install systems in GP practices and then train all staff how to use it, as well as doing industry roadshows previewing new systems.

[UNABASHED]

I hope they don't make me prove everything I said I can do on my CV, I can't tap dance and don't have a glider licence either!

[Husky]

so pp is probably quite essential your going to get plenty of practice then.

 

best presentation i ever sat through was a materials analysis from various people. One guy had wood, and so you can guess the rest of the presentation, worked out just like a comedy sketch, work of art

[Vik54]

Take maz's advice - don't whore the transitions - and for gods sake make sure the sound is off on the transitions...I once went in to give presentation on sexual health & condom distribution to Exec management team and had car 'whooshing' noises on the transitions....I didn't realise sound was on there because didn't have the sound on on the laptop I'd used to create the PP let me tell you - you only make a mistake like that once ...cue jokes about climaxes and roaring engines

[shad0wca7]

To simplify things:

 

- Never use animations, they make you look like an asshole and they never happen quite on time.

- Don't bother with transitions - see above

[Husky]

so much asshole and nob potential with powerpoint

[shad0wca7]

Oops, another one.. Don't use clipart... You'll look like you just discovered computers!

[maz0]

so much asshole and nob potential with powerpoint

 

He will probably ignore us all and have it full on sliding onto the screen and dissolving away effects with a massive pink snake following his cursour around in a big trail.

[Husky]

so much asshole and nob potential with powerpoint

 

He will probably ignore us all and have it full on sliding onto the screen and dissolving away effects with a massive pink snake following his cursour around in a big trail.

 

Oops, another one.. Don't use clipart... You'll look like you just discovered computers!

brilliant!! haha

 

 

 

 

but also dont make one of those white background, bullet point, zero movement, click to advance, no pictures, joyless, boring, piles of w**k

 

is this making things easier or harder now?

[UNABASHED]

so basically I need lots of clipart pictures to go along with my randomly firing across the screen phrases, and accompany the whole thing with race car sounds for added effect - got it!

[shad0wca7]

so basically I need lots of clipart pictures to go along with my randomly firing across the screen phrases, and accompany the whole thing with race car sounds for added effect - got it!

 

Don't forget to just have paragraph after paragraph of text (size 9) to fill all the white space and just read exactly what it says on the presentation!

[Husky]

so basically I need lots of clipart pictures to go along with my randomly firing across the screen phrases, and accompany the whole thing with race car sounds for added effect - got it!

 

Don't forget to just have paragraph after paragraph of text (size 9) to fill all the white space and just read exactly what it says on the presentation!

do it

save it

show it

the jobs yours