Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Powerpoint

Let me not be the Weakest Link. Goodbye.

lodev — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:02:56 -0800

Mac: How can I share a screen, including video, without lag? Help me be a game host on a budget. My friends and I are playing a quiz this weekend. We want a setup like you'd see on a TV game show: two teams facing each other, each looking at a screen that shows questions and video clips.

I'm looking for a solution to show the same content on the two screens. Because it's for a game, there can be no delay between the two screens.

I've got two 23" Apple Cinema Displays, and two MacBooks. I do not have a screen splitter (if such a thing even exists for DVI?), so I'm looking for a software solution.

The easiest would be to use one laptop as a primary machine, and share the screen via a network connection to the other. They can be directly connected, so bandwidth shouldn't be a problem. The problem is that every screen sharing solution I've tried introduces a lag, which I want to avoid.

I've tried Apple Screen Sharing / VNC, Vine server, VLC streaming (via screen://) and iChat over Bonjour. Is there any solution I've forgotten? If I can't get it to work I'll just run the Keynote presentation on the two laptops simultaneously, but I'm afraid there might be some hiccups with embedded video, leading to an unfair advantage for one of the two teams. Is this achievable? How do I do this?

Converting PowerPoint to video or flash (again)

The Dutchman — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:04:04 -0800

Converting PowerPoint to video or flash (again) I know this question was just asked, and two years ago but none of the answers suit my needs. I have a PowerPoint presentation with animation that I need to convert into really good, smooth video or flash with all animation in-tact. Camtasia was choppy. Camstudio went kinda crazy when anything moved. Slideshare kills all the animation and blacks out some images. iSpring keeps the animation but seems to briefly show through layered graphics, which ruins the more complex effects I've created, plus it distorts graphs and some bullets. SlideBoom has the same layered graphics problem as iSpring.

To give you an idea of the quality I need, this is a portfolio of my PowerPoint design work that I want to embed on my website and/or send to potential clients in hopes that it will make them want to hire me.

Any ideas?

How do I link my talking head with powerpoint to stream it?

iiniisfree — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:21:59 -0800

I gave a presentation which was recorded (in digital and video formats), but my (powerpoint) slides were not in the frame. How do I best make the full presentation experience available in internet streaming form? I have a powerpoint with a lot of cues, so one suggestion was to make another video of the slides changing as I cover the topics, and then splice them together. (this is to say, its not sufficient to say 'next slide')

Another possibility was I could splice the visual of the slide over the speaker video- both seem time consuming and I'm pretty sure I'm not the best person to do this. While one alternative is to offer a link to the powerpoint, I'm not comfortable offering the powerpoint for complete download.

Best case, I would like to stream the presentation (30 minutes) and give the viewer the choice to watch either the speaker or the slides as they cycle through. What tools might I use to do this, or are there programs which will easily help me splice the material? What are the best places for posting something of this length? Are there tools which will help me keep track of the number of times it has been viewed?

Help needed with powerpoint upload to youtube

TheBones — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:23:45 -0800

Question on changing a powerpoint to a movie and uploading it to Youtube. I have created a powerpoint presentation and saved it in the .mov format and tried to upload it to youtube- no go. Imported it into quicktime pro and saved it in avi format, uploaded it to youtube, but youtube didn't keep the timing of slides so all slides went through at 1 slide per second instead of the 1st at 5 seconds, the 2nd at 10, the 3rd at 15 seconds, etc.

I have a mac and don't, currently, have access to quicktime pro, just the regular quicktime.

Any thoughts?

Best video codec for embedding into PowerPoint?

limon — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:51:55 -0800

I'd like to embed video clips in a PowerPoint presentation. It would need to play correctly on both Windows and OS X. What codec is ideal? My first attempt won't play on Macs.

Looking to up my presentation skills in NYC

kenzi23 — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:04:30 -0800

I'm looking for a job doing presentation graphics (in law firms, possibly financial firms); this is about 30% of my current job at a law firm. I'm one of very few "experts" at my firm which isn't very technologically advanced in this area, so I'm afraid that my skills won't cut it in the outside world. I need advice on how to upgrade my skills. I want to upgrade my skills so that I can show a better portfolio and talk about those skills with more confidence.

I'm pretty strong in all the Microsoft Office products and how they integrate, especially in Powerpoint and Visio. I also am quite skilled and experienced in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

Since we don't really use Powerpoint to its full potential at my current job, I want to learn more advanced skills, and I feel like I need to improve my Excel skills to integrate better with Powerpoint. From the job listings I have seen, I think I should learn Flash, but what else is essential for a presentations job?

I'm in NYC so if you have any recommendations for places to get the kind of training I need, I would love to hear them.

gif me a chance to do this right

acrasis — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:29:33 -0800

I used to be able to insert animated gifs into Powerpoint and have them run when I clicked on them. Now the only way I can get them to work (following Powerpoint's own instructions) is to insert them as objects that when clicked, open in Window's "Picture and Fax viewer". Surely there's a better way? I want to make an entertaining presentation for undergraduates, not look like an old fogy who can't use new technology.

Help me optimize power point slides for printing.

oceano — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:49:45 -0800

What is the best way to print power point slides? I know about the handout option. However, I don't know the easiest way to get rid of backgrounds, retain images, and change all text to black. Also, is there any way to get the notes to show up on the slides themselves? This is a power point in general question, and is not tied to any particular version or operating system.

I'm the Keynote!

SpecialK — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:59:08 -0800

Apple Keynote '09 Lazyweb: I want to hide slides but be able to refer to them. What's the easiest way to do this? I have a presentation to give on Friday. I'm planning to have my Apple Macbook Pro with Keynote '09, and I'll also have my iPhone handy to act as a remote control. It will either be a 2 hour discussion / presentation, or it will be a 10 hour discussion / presentation depending on how many questions I need to answer and the information I need to answer each.

In Keynote, I can have hidden slides with the depth I need in them that won't show by default during the presentation, but I can't seem to access these at all to show them conditionally during the presentation. That means that I'd have to dig into some exceptionally deep material without visual aids, which ... ain't gonna happen.

Even though I have a business degree, it's been years since I've had to give a presentation. I know all the basics and I'm loving the "presenter's notes" features that will allow me to walk around the room and still be able to see my notes (on the iPhone) without having to put EVERYTHING on the slides. That's one of my major pet peeves about presentations dead on the doorstep. Bang!

The presentation isn't going to be that broad, but it could get exceptionally deep if the audience requires it. (The target's got a PhD in Computer Science, but I don't know how many white papers on storage redundancy in medical research regulatory environments he's read recently.) I have to show up prepared to answer tough questions, and I'll need visual aids to do that.

Any tips or techniques from the professional presentors in the audience?

It's a vast Microsoft-Government-alien conspiracy, clearly

radioamy — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:35:20 -0800

PowerPoint 2003 confusion...why are the slide titles images instead of text boxes? Halp! I was trying to help a colleague out with a PowerPoint 2003 presentation, and I ran into something weird.

She had asked me to help her change one slide background (which was mysteriously a different color than all the others) to match the other slides. I got the background right but it slide title text was the wrong color. I clicked on it to change it, but instead of being a text box it appears to be an image!?! And I can't seem to get the font/color/effects just right to match the other titles.

I wasn't there for the creation of the file so who knows how she got it this way. I tried to "insert new slide" and it gave me what I would expect - a text box for the title and a text box for the body.

I thought I knew my way around PowerPoint pretty well but I am totally stumped. Any ideas?

Tagging slides

MrMerlot — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:37:01 -0800

Can anyone recommend a tag-based system for archiving slides? My job requires me to keep a lot of slides (for powerpoint, lectures, handouts etc...) Can anyone recommend a way of tagging them, rather than keeping them in folders ... a bit like Delicious, but for offline material?

how can I learn to create multimedia?

Wolfster — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 07:28:24 -0800

How can I best learn multimedia? Recommended programs or ways to learn? Best examples of multimedia that you have seen on the web? I am currently a medical writer, but have been enamored by the idea of being able to create my own graphic animations to demonstrate how a drug works on a molecular level, etc (I know the material could be even more accessible and interesting i.f such animations were used). From time to time, a potential client reaches out to me and inquires as to whether I could offer both medical writing and multimedia services.

I’ve also thought it would/could be fun to try science writing on the side, with games, animations…either looking for potential markets (eg, education for university students, book supplemental, CDs) or writing on my own and seeing if it goes anywhere.

Because this interests me, I thought I would query the hive mind as to ideas as to how best learn multimedia, and suggestions for best programs/practices, etc.

My questions include:

1. Best program or programs? What tends to be used for webpages, ppt, or CDs? The best “wow”/CD animations that can be created, either for a webpage, ppt, or CD.

I am going to be honest and say that I don’t have much of a background in programming. I’d be willing to invest time, but not thousands of hours of time. I’m not sure what skills I even need to learn or if I learn how to use program X, could that be used to create a webpage and/or CD, too.

2. Best examples of multimedia that you have seen on the web (to tell a story, to teach a concept – it is related to #1, that would be great).

3. Would anyone know the market rate for something like this? There are tasks I am motivated to learn just for myself, but if this is only going to pay $50/hour or less for medical writing plus multimedia… it isn’t worth my time as a business investment (maybe as a fun/side project, but I won't want to invest 300 hours time plus a $1000 program). So if anyone knows rates and is willing to share ...(feel free to memail me if you don’t want to share that info in a public forum).

4. Would it be better to collaborate with multimedia people vs trying to acquire this skill on my own? Or do a hybrid of this? Perhaps by learning to create a basic animation and letting someone with more art skills enhance it.

5. Because I don't really understand the skill sets I am trying to acquire - is this the same skill or several skills? For example, if I wanted to create a phenomal webpage or a great animation for a PowerPoint - one program or several programs?

Blaze this powerpoint!

fantasticninety — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:08:38 -0800

What video format is most compatible within Powerpoint? I'm downloading some simple video clips and would like to know what to convert them into for Powerpoint. There are many choices including, WMV, MP2, MP4, FLV, AVI.

It's Powerpoint 2003, and I'm basically hoping for whatever plays the videos within Powerpoint the simplest (ie – load up time between slides is slowest, crashes happen infrequently, etc.).

Thanks!

My eyes are opened I need illustrations

digividal — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:59:38 -0800

I just read Slideology which has really helped me improve my presentations, but I need some help in creating rich illustrations on my own. I just read slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations which has really helped me improve my presentations.
I love all the rich illustrations she uses in her book. Not being a graphical artist or designer, and not usually having the budget to hire one to help with presentations, I need some help creating nice illustrations.
For some diagrams Visio is great. (Even though I must run it in Fusion on my Mac). If Visio provided more stencils of objects for the type of diagrams the book decpicts I would be happy with it. I have tried Omni Graffle for the Mac, and I like it, again I just wish it had more pre built objects.
I guess if I could find a vector based clip art library with objects that aligns with the different diagram types in the book that would be great. With the popularity of the book I was wondering if someone knew of a source for such clip art or just a better software to create the diagram with.
Illustrator seems to be the preferred choice for professionals who know what they are doing, and would allow me to build all the objects I need, but I am not having a lot of luck creating the shapes from scratch on my own.

Ultimate Powerpoint Lesson Plans!

fantasticninety — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:15:38 -0800

Lesson Planning with Powerpoint I'd like to give my lesson plans another level of zip. I've been using Powerpoint but am tired of the blinds entrance for everything.

Are the following things possible within Powerpoint or some other program? I gave Prezi some serious attention, but it looks like you're paying every year to have it, and it may be more work than it's worth (but if someone here swears by it, please convince me!).

Here's what I'm looking for:

– moveable type, along with different options and effects (like at the beginning of game shows, where the words spin around, or get slightly larger or smaller, or go slightly in and out of focus)
– sound effects that don't stop when slide changes (and the ability to layer more than one or two sounds at a time)
– video within the presentation itself (preferably FLV, but I'll take whatever I can get)
– all self–contained, and not saved online
– solid templates that exist already that I can use

Again, perhaps all of this is more or less available within Powerpoint and I just need to commit a little more to the program, but I'm hesitant to do all the work to set up these lesson plans if there's something else out there which will just rock even more.

The biggest advantage of Powerpoint is that all of the students will be available to view the presentations at their house so that would be something to keep in mind when considering the competition.

Here's a sample lesson plan that I'm thinking about.

– Kids walk into class with theme music already playing
– On the projector is the subject title spinning around on screen (Science.......SCIENCE......etc..)
– Next slide, music changes to something softer to get them in the mood for the lesson itself
– As I click through the lesson points, there are mild sound effects like "WHOOOOOOOOSH", etc.
– Click to one slide where there's a ten second clip to illustrate something
– Rinse and repeat
– I click through everything with a remote that clicks through them

Creating simple movies with animation

parkerjackson — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:54:09 -0800

Which free/cheap programs will make the simple movies I need? I have to make short videos (to play on DVDs) for a classroom application. They have an audio track, background art, and really basic animations (e.g., a square moves from point A to point B, then a circle appears) that go with the audio.

I’ve been using powerpoint to make these videos in the past, but now I have a series of 20 or so animations on a page, and it’s just impossible to get everything synced up with the audio using the very limited preview and timing options. I also never had to put the videos on DVD before, so I think I need to switch programs anyway.

Is there a small program (that’s free/cheap AND for PCs) that I can use to make these movies? I’ve tried Adobe Flash, but it’s not cheap and it’s more powerful (and complicated) than what I need. The only requirements are (a) it can convert what I do to a DVD format, (b) I can make simple animations IN the program, and (c) there’s an easy-to-use timeline for syncing.

Thanks in advance.

How do i set up a standard business plan?

freddymetz — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:09:02 -0800

How do i set up a standard business plan? Do you know of any templates or examples of business plans (maybe in form of powerpoint presentations)?
Also what elements should i include in it? Is it important to cut the crap or to be very precise?

Also what are good mediums to find out what product is in demand in a certain area/group of people? I could interview people in my town, but when other people do this i perceive of it as being annoying. So are there any non-annoying ways to do this?

Thank you

Seeking image which illustrates the point, you need the full picture before deciding.

therubettes — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 07:16:35 -0800

Can you help me to find an image or series of images which when revealed section by section or one by one suggest different things about a single situation? Like the old UK show Catchphrase I need an image which is initially covered and split into say 4 or 6 pieces. Each section is revealed bit by bit. Each reveal throws some new light on the situtation. It is not until the final section is revealed that the whole thing makes sense. I hope the question has made sense. It is for a powerpoint presentation. I just need a single image, nothing offensive, or too grave either thanks. Perhaps it will be a series of images of the same thing each giving more information that the last.

Basically the point I am trying to illustrate is you need to have the full picture before making a decision. Part of the picture is no use!

Thanks in advance. Not sure about the category put it into computers and internet!

PowerPoint via iChat?

fourcheesemac — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:27:30 -0800

What's the best way to webcast a PowerPoint presentation over iChatAV? I have to give a talk via webcam to a conference in Asia (from NYC). The options available on their end are iChatAV (or WebEx conferencing, which I'd rather not deal with).

I need to show a PowerPoint presentation that has embedded video and audio files, and because of the nature of the material, I am not willing to send them a copy of the PowerPoint of the AV files to store on their local computer. (My presentation specifically concerns the protection of indigenous cultural property in the digital domain, and my best practices mandate includes not sending digital copies of AV materials that wind up on other peoples' hard drives in pristine condition; yes, someone could record my talk, but a certain lowering of video and audio quality provides the level of protection I need.)

iChat works, over a relatively fast connection, if I share my screen with the other party. I can speak and be heard, while they can see my Powerpoint full screen. But even on a fast connection, it takes 5-10 seconds for each slide to fully resolve, and there's no way that I can figure out to directly route the audio from my PowerPoint into iChat's audio feed, meaning I have to play the audio loud over speakers on my end so that it gets picked up through the microphone, which seems lame-assed.

Is there a piece of software -- for which I am willing to pay -- that allows you to "stream" a PowerPoint, AV media files included, while connected over iCHat, AIM, GoogleChat video, or Yahoo Messenger video?

Webex works much better for sharing the video and slides, but has *no* audio capabilities; one is teleconferenced in over a phone connection. I could hardwire my audio output into the phone, but that seems stupid.

If I convert the PowerPoint to Keynote, does that change any possibilities?

Sorry to get complicated. Webcasting is sort of new to me. I sort of thought it would be more advanced than it is, with bandwidth the major problem even when we're both on high speed university connections.

How can we PPT that satisfies us and the students as well?

k8t — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:40:41 -0800

Undergrad teaching and PowerPoints. What to do? Instructors, please give some feedback. The undergrads DEMAND copies of the PowerPoint slides to be posted on the course management site before class. (We've collected data on this. It is the Number 1 request.)

- We have tried to offer slightly modified ones as to encourage attendance. This usually means 2 layers deep of a 3 layered/bulleted slide. Students, on course evals, ask for the entire slide.

- We have tried giving the entire slide set but then testing on concepts discussed outside of what the slide said. Then a lot of people do poorly on the exam.

- I've seen other professors give out the PPTs after the lecture, but that makes it harder for note taking, I'd guess.

- PPTs that basically outline the readings? This seems popular but still students want more.

- IMHO the most bare bones PPT and lots of discussion would be good, but the students want more.

- Everyone in our department does something different including not giving out the PPTs at all and not using PPT. I'm not sure where this student expectation came from.

So, my question is - what do you do? What works best for you? I'm more interested in instructors' POVs than students. I know the student POV quite well.

Help me create a great online presentation.

Roach — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:12:46 -0800

I am looking for recommendations for methodologies for the creation of simple, clean, somewhat multimedia online presentations as an alternative to PowerPoint. I am in a hybrid resident/online masters program. This semester, I am in an online course (Organizational Theory) with geographically dispersed students. In this course, a group project is required.

My group is made up of 4 people in various parts of the country. Our assignment is to prepare a presentation, combining written and multimedia elements, on the Walt Disney company from the standpoint of corporate culture and by viewing the company through various metaphors (brain, political system, etc.)

We have a great deal of latitude in the text/multimedia mix, and can use PowerPoint if we'd like. However, we are encouraged to use other tools instead of PP if we're able, such as HTML/CSS.

I'm a pretty good hand-coder of flat HTML/CSS, and think that going this route offers a much more elegant set of tools than PP, especially with the multimedia integration. However, I really don't want to spend hours messing with designs or searching for the right template. A simple, clean, "PP Replacement" type solution is what I'm looking for.

My hope is that there are folks here who can point me in the direction of a solid template for something like this, or who who can point to existing presentations along these lines that are available online. Such a sample presentation would also be an effective tool in showing my other group members what direction we should be heading.

Any ideas?

[Click to add Headline/Title]

Jonathan Harford — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:48:48 -0800

How do I keep PowerPoint (2007) from inserting a "Click to add title" textbox when I delete a slide's title?

Fixing a WMV glitch with PowerPoint 2007 in Windows

kingfisher, his musclebound cat — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:49:07 -0800

I am embedding WMVs in a PowerPoint. They play well from slide-to-slide on a Mac, but when played back on PC, each video begins with a glitch. The files aren't too long, but there isn't much there other than WMV files. PowerPoint is used to sequence and control playback. It's the tool of choice so others can make changes to the file if they need to. So, sticking with PowerPoint: what can I try to eliminate the glitch with WMV playback on PCs.
(This is PowerPoint 2007 on XP, but the problem also occurs in Windows 7. The WMV files are in the same folder as the PPT.)

Manipulate Charts in Excel?

limon — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:43:15 -0800

I have Excel charts and I need to create a Powerpoint presentation in which different aspects of the chart are highlighted. Is there a way to do this without having multiple copies of the chart? I.e. can the charts be manipulated from within Powerpoint?

Laptop and projector need to play together nicely.

wile e — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:02:33 -0800

Managing a projector with a laptop at a different resolution. The short: classroom training sessions with a Dell laptop hooked up to a projector is giving me some issues, looking for advice on how to rectify the situation. Windows Vista Ultimate
Dell Vostro 1400 w/ embedded Intel video card (temporary, my Nvidia motherboard blew up, long story)
2gig Ram
2.0ghz Core 2 duo
VGA output

Half of my time is spent in a classroom training on how to use a particular software. The classroom changes weekly, so cannot give specs on the projector, but all are generic classroom projectors that take a VGA input on them.

When I hook up my laptop to the projector, it takes me out of my 1440x900 default resolution, and kicks me back to 800x600. If I try to change it back to 1440x900 it refuses as the projector cannot handle the resolution, even if I have it set up to not share my desktop. I can get it to work with 1280x768, but since this is not my default resolution, it annoys me to screw up all my settings on my laptop during the session.

So my question is this: Is there a way to better manage all of this, since I spend most of my time dealing with this? Are there programs to aid in this? I have briefly looked into Displayfusion and Ultramon, but they seem to be more aimed at permanent multi monitor setups. Whereas my situation tends to only be during 9-5 every other week or so.

It just seems the management utility that is in my laptop now cannot be the best thing. I would like to have some real control over what happens, not just resolution if possible. Like I would like to share certain windows on my screen with the projector, but not all.

Well anyway, if anybody has some insight into this, I would appreciate the help.

I will be checking this throughout the day, so any info I left out, feel free to ask and I will supply the answer if I have it.