If you are using PowerPoint 2007, you can apply bevels to the puzzle pieces to make them look more realistic. Here’s an easy bevel format for you to use:

1. Click on the puzzle pieces and make them all active
2. From the “Format” menu, select “Shape Effects,” presets” and the second-from-the-left preset on the top row. See below.
   
   Notice how the bevel above is too sloped to be a convincing puzzle piece? Add the following formatting and that problem will be solved.
3. With all of the puzzle pieces still active, right click and select “Format Object…” and then from the “Format Shape” menu, select “3-D Format.” See below.
   
4. From the “3-D Format” menu, change the top number (Width: ) to 4.5. See below

   

That’s all you have to do to make a realistic-looking puzzle.

The processes are simple for both PowerPoint 2003 and 2007.

PowerPoint 2003

Type the text in a regular text field that you’d like to apply to WordArt – see below. Not all of the symbols translate to WordArt, so you may need to use a character like what is shown below to separate your words or phrases.

• After you’ve typed you your text, triple click on the text so that it is all highlighted
• Click on the WordArt menu button and select the circular text – it’s the text that arcs
• Click OK
• Your text will appear in the WordArt screen
• Select the font you wish to use, and don’t worry about the setting the size of the font
• Click OK

• The WordArt will come in to your document as an elongated oval, but you want it to be perfectly round
• Click on the WordArt and then right click
• Select “Format WordArt”
• Click on the “Size” menu tab
• Make the height and width the same: make them both 3”, for example
• Click OK
• Move the yellow text marker around the circle until the beginning of the text and end of the text meet
• Easy formatting for perfectly round WordArt

PowerPoint 2007

• Type the text in a regular text field that you’d like to apply to WordArt – see below. You can insert any symbols you need, they will all translate

• After you’ve typed you your text, triple click on the text so that it is all highlighted
• Click on the Text Effects in the WordArt Styles menu under Drawing Tools/Format
• Select Transform
• Select Circle text

• The WordArt will come in to your document as an elongated oval, but you want it to be perfectly round
• Select the WordArt field, not “edit text” mode
• Right click and select Size and Position
• Click on the “Size” menu tab
• Make the height and width the same: make them both 3”, for example
• Click Close
• Easy formatting for perfectly round WordArt!

This slide is a great layout for displaying a significant amount of comparative data for a geographic region, which is not always that easy to do. This slide, however, does it well, cleanly and clearly presenting the information in a visual format. Here is an inventory of what this chart presents:

• Geographical display of regions and office locations
• Comparative representation of the number of accounts serviced by each office (size of pie)
• Comparative representation of the accounts for each region (composition of the pies for each location). The exact location of the account within the region is not necessary information for this message, so it is not included.
• Color coded regions synchronized with pie slices enable quick office/region alignment assessment.

This chart requires a few steps to:

• Develop the map with regions and office locations
• Develop the pie sizing:
  • Draw 1 circle and make it 1″ wide/1″ high
  • Duplicate this 1″ circle until you have one for each office location on the map
  • Size each circle according to the total number represented by the pie: format size dimensions as a decimal. For example, if the largest pie in this example represents a total of 20 accounts and the smallest represents a total of 1 account, format the size of these circles as 0.20 and 0.01 respectively
  • Group all of the size-formatted circles
  • Enlarge/scale the group by holding the shift key down and dragging a corner handle on the group. The correct size of the scaled circles depends on how well they fit around the map in the available space on the slide
  • Ungroup the circles and distribute them around the perimeter of the map according to the location they represent
  • Create pie charts for each location (use dd012_v13 or dd012_v15 pies in data-driven pie series as a starting point)
  • Size the pie to the correctly sized circle and replace the circle with the pie chart
  • Create the leader fields with the polygon tool, color light gray or white, and make semitransparent
  • Create the legend field.

The process above works well for building the slide in both PowerPoint 2007 and previous versions of PowerPoint.

This is not a push-button operation, but it is not tremendously time consuming either; and the result is a visual depiction of the information rather than a text table or text-intensive slide.

Click here to download a pdf version (198kb) of this article.

Click here to download (116kb) zip file containing powerpoint files and instructions for an example of hyperlinked loops and presentation.

Establishing and managing audience expectations. Setting and maintaining tone. Reinforcing takeaway thought(s). These worthy objectives should always be among the underpinnings of any presentation-development effort. Presenters often miss opportunities to help meet these objectives by failing to consider the use of pre- and postpresentation animated loops.

What is an animated loop?

An animated loop is a set of slides that is formatted to transition without prompting, automatically restart at the first slide, and cycle continuously until manually stopped. When thoughtfully developed to complement a presentation, these loops can provide an opportunity for presenters begin communicating before the actual presentation and continue communicating after the presentation. Animated loops can be easily hyperlinked so the audience does not experience any visual disruptions from prepresentation loop to presentation to postpresentation loop – very elegant transitions from one to the next.

What information should I put into a loop?

The slide contents for loops depend on when the loop is played: before a presentation or after. The loops should complement the presentation: visually consistent, harmonizing tones, cohesive message. The following ideas are thought starters, but you can add your own content messages as appropriate.

Prepresentation Loops

Loops can help establish and manage audience expectations, establish the presenter’s or company’s credibility, set a light tone by supplying a cartoon or quip, set a serious tone by providing alarming statistical facts, inform the audience that there will be a Q&A period following the presentation, premier the talking points in the presentation, and so on. These slides should be developed so that no matter when a member of the audience looks at them, they understand the message. Messages should not be developed over several slides. Each message should be on its own slide.

Postpresentation Loops

These loops can reiterate the main point of the presentation, provide contact information, provide additional resources for further information, inform the audience about an informal discussion opportunity, promote a product associated with the presentation, and so on. Like the prepresentation loops, these slides should be developed so that no matter when a member of the audience looks at them, they understand the message. Messages should not be developed over several slides. Each message should be on its own slide.

What circumstances lend themselves best to loops?

Presenters that do not follow or precede other presenters are most able to incorporate loops into their presentations. The loops can easily be set in motion in advance of the presentation and after the presentation, playing while audiences are assembling and disbanding.

Loops can also be played as a background during a questions and answers period.

How can I create a loop?

Loops are created as separate documents that are hyperlinked to the main presentation. The hyperlinks prevent the audience from seeing a working screen when the prepresentation loop has ended and the presentation started or when the presentation has ended and the postpresentation loop is started. This is an important functionality and does much to promote a presenter’s professionalism.

Create a Loop

1. Create the slides to be used as a loop just as you would any presentation. You can even add animated reveals on the slides if you format them to begin automatically.
2. In slide sorter mode, choose a slide transition design. There are many ways you can format the slides to advance. But just because there are many choices doesn’t mean you should use many. Choose one style you like – one that is not jolting or jarring when viewed – and apply it to all of the slides in the loop.
3. Select a transition speed. This is the speed that slides transition from one to the next, not the amount of time they appear on the screen. The choices are slow, medium, or fast (no need to get fancy here by formatting customized transition speeds). Usually medium speed is a good choice: it’s easy to view and doesn’t waste a lot of time.
4. Format to advance the slide “Automatically after” xx seconds. The number of seconds you choose needs to allow the content to be read unhurriedly. Each slide should receive its own number of seconds based on the amount of content on the slide.
5. In the Slide Show drop-down menu, choose “Set Up Show” and click on “Loop continuously until ‘Esc’.”

Create Hyperlinks

1. On the first slide of the prepresentation loop, place an unobtrusive object: a semitransparent arrow in the bottom-right corner of the slide is a good choice. Make sure that the arrow is not terribly visible to the audience so they do not look for its significance or wonder what it is. Format the arrow so that it is hyperlinked to the presentation. This is done easily by right clicking on the arrow and selecting “Hyperlink” and selecting the presentation from the menu. If the loop you are working on is in the same folder as the presentation, the presentation choice will come up in the window automatically as a choice. Otherwise you will need to navigate to where the presentation resides in order to link it.
2. Copy this newly hyperlink-formatted semitransparent arrow to each page within the prepresentation loop. You need to be able to start the presentation from any page in this loop. When one of these arrows is clicked, the presentation comes up immediately onto the screen in slide show mode and the presentation begins.
3. Save the changes to the prepresentation loop and then save it again as a PowerPoint Show (either a pps or ppsx document). As a PowerPoint Show it will launch in slide show mode.
4. When the presentation has concluded, you’ll want to begin the postpresentation loop. On the last page of the presentation, place another unobtrusive object on the slide (another semitransparent arrow perhaps) and hyperlink it to the postpresentation loop, which has also been saved as a PowerPoint Show (a pps or ppsx document). This is important: be sure you hyperlink the presentation to the PowerPoint Show postpresentation loop, or it will have to be manually clicked into slide show mode.
5. You’ll also want to remember to format it to “Loop continuously until ‘Esc’.” The postpresentation loop will play until you stop it. The postpresentation loop does not need to have the hyperlinks in the lower-right corner of each page. When you want to end the show, just right click anywhere on the slide and select “End Show.”

Traveling with your loops

If you are going to be presenting on a computer that is not your own, you will need to format your hyperlinks so that they travel easily. Make sure all of your documents are in the same folder. Then before you begin to format each hyperlink, click on the File tab, select Properties, and click on Summary tab. Make sure that the Hyperlink base is empty. If it is not empty, remove what is there. Click OK.

Create your hyperlinks as usual, but be sure that there is no address string in the Address window on the Insert Hyperlink menu, just the name of the document you wish to hyperlink. Now the hyperlink will look for the document within the existing folder, and you will be able to run your loops easily anywhere you place them. This is important:be sure to test the hyperlinks by moving the file containing the hyperlinked documents into different areas on your computer and running the loops. If they work in every location, you’ve been successful at creating hyperlinks that will travel well.

* * *

The next time you have an opportunity to present in a situation that would allow for prepresentation and postpresentation loops, make some room in your presentation-production schedule to develop a thoughtful prequel and sequel to your presentation. hey are easy to develop, format, and use in front of audiences.

How can I learn more?

Each month we provide presentation-development best practices and guidelines in our feature article. You can also check out the tutorials for each PowerFramework. There are tips and tricks and usage recommendations in each one. If you do not find what you need, check Best Practices or FAQs. If you still don’t see what you need, contact us with your non-time-sensitive questions, and we’ll respond as quickly as we can.

Click here to download a 217kb ppt file for this article.

Gaps, disruptions, disconnects, interruptions … all commonplace concepts, but difficult to display visually. The techniques discussed in this article will help you solve that problem and make it easy to illustrate these concepts. The frameworks in series FR049 provide even more options for developing this concept.

Whether you are using PowerPoint 2003 or 2007, you’ll be able to create these slides. Let’s look at each step:

1. Begin by creating a background, which in this case is a gray rectangle that extends beyond the slide’s left and right borders (see below). The use WordArt to create your text (we’ve used “Day-to-day business”). Size the WordArt phrase and then duplicate the phrase field several times. Create an evenly spaced row of these phrases and place at the top of the background rectangle. Duplicate the row and offset it below the first row. Duplicate again and offset the third row. Continue to duplicate and offset the rows until you have a pattern that occupies the the full height of the background rectangle. You should, of course, apply colors to the background and WordArt from your template’s color palette.

   Notice in the graphic below how the gray background and the rows of WordArt extend beyond the left and right borders of the slide (see FAQ entitled, “How do I create my own background as a picture?” for additional information about creating these save-as-picture graphics).

   

2. Select the background and the rows of WordArt and save as picture. We chose to save the example background and rows of WordArt as a jpg. Remember to save it to a place you’ll be able to find it on your computer.

   

3. Bring the saved-as-picture graphic onto your slide. See below to see what the saved-as-picture graphic looks like when brought into your slide. The right side of the graphic has been cropped so that it fits perfectly on the slide. The left side hasn’t been cropped yet, but should be before going to the next step.

   

4. There are two options for interrupting the graphic.
   1. The first option uses a parallelogram (in “Basic Shapes” menu) over the cropped saved-as-picture graphic to create the interruption. This is the quickest and easiest way to create the interruption. The first picture below shows the active white parallelogram over the saved-as-picture graphic.

      

      Then you can simply insert a graphic or photograph over the parallelogram. This option works best when the photograph has a white background and/or the graphic you
      use to illustrate the interruption has no background.

      

   2. The second option is still easy, but has a few more steps. Import a photograph into the parallelogram using the steps in this FAQ. Then place the parallelogram containing the photograph over the save-as-picture photograph. You can see that the parallelogram is active because the handles are visible.
      

You don’t need any special frameworks to develop these two types of flow interruptions. The technique for bringing the save-as-picture graphic into the parallelogram is described in this FAQ. Instructions for both PowerPoint 2003 and 2007 are included.

There is another technique you can use to create these slides. This technique involves using the graphics supplied in FR049. See the tutorial for this series for a complete description of how to develop these slides.

These types of slides work perfectly well as a static page, but work even better when animated. View the flash below to see two animated examples.

Don’t judge this chart by the picture alone!  This is a wonderful blend of several PowerFrameworks series and some cool animation.  The funnels are in FR001, the screens are in FR006, and the cogs are in FR009. There are so many ways to convey a process (flows, issue tree variations, etc.), but this one is very unusual – a real storyteller.  Add your own spin to the concept:  sifting, sorting, categorizing, screening, crunching, raw to refined data.  We particularly like the cog action: “crunching data” is a common phrase and the cogs illustrate it perfectly.

There is a flash of the animation that you can view on screen now, and there is a PowerPoint download so you can study how it was put together and animated.

Click here to download an 112kb animated PPT example.

This “line” chart is superior to other line charts when showing this type of comparison. The stair steps give a clearer accounting of levels that are maintained over periods of time and change abruptly due to an event. Other line charts show slanted trend lines, which is an inaccurate depiction of events.

These line charts are actually developed on scatter chart templates. The sprites are eliminated and lines are added. There is a very specific way that data needs to be inserted into the worksheet.

Below are the PowerPoint 2003 and PowerPoint 2007 worksheets. The PowerPoint 2003 worksheet is scrolled down and does not show lines 1 and 2, but they are the same as what is shown in PowerPoint 2007 worksheet.

As you can see, the data is entered into the worksheets in exactly the same way for PowerPoint 2003 (Microsoft Graph) and PowerPoint 2007 (Excel). Both only need to have the X axis values entered once – the columns labeled Y axis in the worksheets and all subsequent columns contain the data for each line.

You may need to adjust the scale on the axes to achieve the spans you need. But this is handled in the same manner as data-driven charts (no special instructions).

Please note that the X and Y axes can be any units you choose. You are not limited to the units shown in this example. Any plottable values can be used as units for the axes.

Clocks can be used to liven up onscreen agenda slide. Replace the typically used, hard-to-read table of times and topics and replace with a clock with moving hands and large-font topics that fade in and out. These slides are for on-screen presentations only and they are unique.

In addition to agenda slides, they can be used to convey the passing of time, a deadline, an awaited event, or other time-related concept. Don’t be afraid to attempt to create these slides in your presentations. The animated download has all the animated clocks in 5-minute increments and the following tutorial will teach you how to calculate the spin animation for both hands.

Animating the clock from one time to the next time and so on (as in the animated example): create the first spin animation to the desired time. To add another half-hour, for example, simply create another animation scheme to begin on a click using the formulas above: small hand spins 15% and large hand spins 180%. Simply animate using the basic formulas. You don’t have to perform any calculations based on where the hands are on the face of the clock, just add the new spins as a second, third, fourth, and so on (see the downloadable animated example to see this in action).

Is it possible to conduct a highly interactive, slide-supported presentation and still maintain a fluid and structured flow? It’s a tall order: the two presentation styles appear to be contradictory. It is definitely easier to conduct either an interactive presentation or a structured presentation, but it is possible to be successful at blending both if the subject material is well thought out and the supporting slides developed in a specific manner.

WHY WOULD I WANT TO DO THIS?

Highly interactive presentations are usually conducted when much is at stake. Higher-level decisions and commitments are typically made as a result of these types of meetings. Fluid, yet structured, presentations do much to underscore the presenter’s credibility and authority on a subject. These are two very specific and worthwhile goals for a presenter, so it stands to reason that the presentation materials should support these goals.

HOW DO I DO THIS?

This type of presentation needs to be developed in two sections: a primary presentation and a backup section. Both are equally important, however. Once both sections are finalized, the primary and backup sections need to be interactive.

• The primary presentation is the shorter of the two sections and needs to be developed in a meticulous and precise manner.

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”
– Mark Twain

It takes time to refine a storyline to be concise in tone and meaning – rather like boiling it down to its essence. If successful, however, the resulting presentation will have greater impact and take less time to present than the time allotted. It is very important to allow time for discussion and questions and answers in highly interactive presentations.

• The backup section should contain all the slides that explain and support the statements and data presented in the primary presentation. This section will also take considerable time to develop: identifying possible questions that may arise during the primary presentation and creating the slides to answer those questions. Not all of these slides are likely to be used during the presentation, but being prepared to use them if needed is extremely important.
• Animate the primary presentation after it is completely written. The animated reveals will help focus the audience’s attention on the presenter rather than the screen.
• Hyperlink the questions that may arise from slides (or areas on slides) in the primary presentation with the answers on slides in the backup section. Then hyperlink the backup slides to return to the primary presentation. The hyperlinks do not disrupt the animation. If a hyperlink is clicked during an animation click sequence, the animation sequence will resume upon returning to and clicking on the slide.

HOW DO I HYPERLINK THE TWO SECTIONS?

Hyperlinking points within a document is extremely easy. It just sounds scary. The steps below will help you navigate through steps.

Below is your next set of choices.

The hyperlink to the explanation slide has been created – easy. After presenting the material on the explanation slide, you’ll need to return to the point in the presentation where you left off. Therefore, you’ll need to enter another hyperlink.

Some presenters like to attach the hyperlink to a graphic, as was shown above. Other presenters like to put a semitransparent arrow on each slide: forward arrow to to the explanation slide and a backward arrow to the primary presentation. You can choose whichever method makes the most sense to you. This choice becomes a matter of remembering where you need to click during the presentation. If you do not format the hyperlinks yourself, you may not know exactly which part of the slide contains the hyperlink. You don’t want to be clicking all over the slide with no results. In that case, you should probably use the arrows. If you are comfortable with the presentation contents and formatting, the hyperlinking graphics makes sense.

Don’t be thrown if you need to navigate backward to answer a badly timed question. Use the backward navigation to confirm the origin of the question. Your audience will think this maneuver reasonable.

Interactive and structured presentations are elegant. The explanations are given as needed: no overkill or wasted time. It is impressive to watch a presenter go to specific information in the presentation on demand. These presentations take extra time to develop, but they also provide extra benefits.

HOW CAN I LEARN MORE?

Each month we provide presentation-development best practices and guidelines in the feature article. You can also check out the tutorials for each PowerFramework. There are tips and tricks and usage recommendations in each one. If you do not find what you need, check Best Practices or FAQs. If you still don’t see what you need, contact us with your non-time-sensitive questions, and we’ll respond as quickly as we can.

This is the downloadable version of PowerFrameworks Feature Article for June 2007. Visit us at http://www.powerframeworks.com to learn more about PowerFrameworks.

Do you develop presentations by building a message from a storyline or by a process of elimination? Both methods are capable of producing a great presentation. Storylines are a blueprint of a message to be developed. A process of elimination starts with developing or pulling from past work ideas and information that are placed in a presentation, rearranged, and whittled down into a storyline.

If time is a critical concern, start with a storyline … and there are other benefits from beginning with a storyline.

Each presentation should be developed so that it speaks to a specific audience and works within the timeframe allowed.

Know your audience

What is the audience expecting to learn? What are their experiences with your subject material? These are all important questions to ask yourself – and perhaps research – before beginning to develop your presentation.

Know the context of your presentation

Why is the audience assembled? What else is being presented? If you are among many presenters, try to understand where in the schedule your presentation will occur. Try to learn or anticipate what the other presentations will cover. This will provide a “game plan” for your message development.

Know how much time you have

A critical task is to identify and prioritize the messages you want the audience to hear and retain from your presentation. How much time you have to present bears heavily on these decisions. Choose messages that can be fully explained, supported, and reinforced within the time allowed. Striking a balance between too much and too little will be a determining factor of whether your presentation is a success.

DEVELOPING YOUR MESSAGE

Once you have identified the goals for your presentation, selecting and developing the material should be easier. Because you understand how deeply you should dive into the subject(s), the amount of presentation development time will be reduced; and you can focus your (team’s) efforts more effectively.

You’re ready to develop your storyline. You need to decide how to spend the time you have in front of the audience. The next set of questions to ask yourself includes:

• Do I need to establish my credibility or will that be accomplished by others? Will I be introduced as an expert? Will my very presence at the event establish my authority?
• Do I need to spend time explaining the current state of the industry/market/economics/etc.?  Is this being done by others or is it inherently known by the participants? How much time do I need to spend convincing the audience I know about and understand the issues at hand?
• Is it appropriate to weave a “commercial” aspect into the presentation? Am I there to promote products and services or simply provide information?

There are other questions that you can factor into your decision making as you begin to develop your message. The point is to be clear on what, specifically, you are bringing to your audience and how you wish it to be received.

* * *

At this point you should be able to develop a solid outline for your presentation, and then the process of developing each point can begin. Whether you write new slides or leverage slides from previous presentations, be sure that their content supports the message you have decided is appropriate for the event and their tones harmonize.