Mira Zaslove

I’ve given many presentations and some have been more successful than others. Even when it’s the same material. And very similar audiences. Something that I’ve learned: it’s easy to overlook one of the most crucial elements of giving presentations– make sure that your audience can easily focus on you and your slides. 

Don’t be in competition with your powerpoint for attention. When giving a presentation, audience engagement is critical. When you are talking, you want the attention on your message and not on the mechanics of the presentation.

10 things to keep in mind to give a good (PowerPoint) presentation:

1. Arrive early
Don’t even think about arriving late or cutting it close. Audiences will lose patience quickly if you waste valuable time at the beginning of the presentation fiddling around. If you are delivering the presentation in a new environment for your audience, arrive even earlier. Get comfortable and familiar with the space. It will help minimize distractions if you can easily answer commonly asked questions, like where the bathrooms and power outlets are. 

2. Check the set up
Make sure the room is set up so everyone in your audience can easily see you and the screen. If some chairs or tables need to be moved to make it easier for everyone to participate, do it. If anything is blocking access for people to see you, move it. When people are uncomfortable trying to see, it will negatively impact your presentation. I’ve seen key decision makers come late to meetings, and sit in the last seats open. It is awkward and disruptive if they ask other people in the front to switch with them, and negative for your message if they get frustrated and leave because they can’t hear or see whats going on. 

3. Test all technology before going live 
Make sure your computer is plugged in or fully charged. If you don’t need wifi during the presentation, shut it off. If wifi is necessary, connect to the network beforehand. Turn off all notifications, shutdown Skype and all IM services, and close any extraneous webpages. If you will be sharing your screen or desktop, make it clutter free. If using fancy technology, make sure you are comfortable with it, and it doesn’t take over. Don’t overuse the laser pointer. Simply put: eliminate any distractions that could interrupt or distract from your presentation. 

4. Mix it up
If your presentation is long and goes all day, or for a few days, consider breaking up the powerpoint to include video, a product demo, or a breakout session where people can talk. Play music before the presentation and during breaks to keep the energy level high. People generally have short attention spans, so jazz it up. I’ve noticed that most people’s attention begins to tap out around an hour of straight powerpoint. 

5. If another person is going to “drive” the slide-show, or if you will be using a remote, make sure to practice
It is distracting and hard to focus when the presenter and the slideshow are out of synch. It also breaks the flow of the presentation if the attention shifts from the audience to the driver / computer / remote to move the slideshow forward. I generally prefer using a remote. Just make sure you are comfortable with the controls and don’t accidentally go to the beginning or end of the presentation when you just want to move one slide forward. 

6. Maintain eye contact as much as possible
Try not to spend too much time looking at your computer, or the presentation screen. Look at your audience. As Mark Suster writes in a great blog post onQuick Practical, Tactical Tips for Presentations: “Your goal is to work the room, look people in the eyes, judge people’s responses to your presentation and engage.” It’s difficult to effectively communicate your message if you aren’t engaging with your audience. 

7. When standing: If you’re in a culture that reads left to right, stand to the left of the projection screen
The audience’s attention and eyes will instinctually go to the left and follow you. If you stand to the right, many people will be following the left side of the screen, and it will be harder for them to follow you. If you’re presenting in a culture that reads right to left, stand on the right side of the screen. When traveling, bring a remote so you can easily move around if the podium or docking station is in the wrong place.

8. When sitting: Don’t sit at the opposite end of the table from the presentation! Sit close to the screen
If you sit across the room from your screen, your audience will need to choose between looking at you and looking at the screen. They will spend a lot of unnecessary time whipping their head back and forth, and you won’t be able to naturally engage with them. 

9. When presenting with just your computer or deck: sit where it will be most natural for them to look
If your audience is right handed, it will be easier for them to follow your presentation if you sit to their right. Similarly, when giving the presentation to a left handed person, sit on their left. Left handed people will  naturally gravitate towards looking towards looking to their left.

10. Plan to end 5 minutes early
People are busy. Respect your audience’s time. Start the presentation promptly, and plan to end a bit early. Watch your pacing throughout the presentation and make sure you aren’t spending too much time on any one point. By giving yourself a buffer, you’ll avoid rushing towards the end. If you have a few minutes left, let the audience know you will stick around if they have any follow up questions or comments. Don’t run late. Even finishing 5 minutes late can inconvenience your audience and leave people feeling rushed and anxious — not the feelings you want the audience to feel leaving your presentation. Always end on a high note.

A slideshow has become the standard component of the majority of presentations around the world. Whether you’re in a business meeting or in a classroom, you probably have seen a slideshow presentation or you have made one or two yourself. When making those presentations you have probably used Microsoft’s PowerPoint. The popular slideshow presenter can be downloaded for free with Microsoft’s 365 trial offer for Windows or Macs. I will go over the necessary steps to access and download PowerPoint free trial.

Here is something unique you will learn by reading this article:

• You will find out that you can no longer download old versions of the application online.
• PowerPoint can NOT be downloaded as a single application.
• You will also learn a method to avoid adding/using your credit card when signing up for the trial promotion.

What is PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint is considered one of the most well-known programs that creates slideshow presentations. PowerPoint creates slides with written content, images, videos and graphics. The application is a visual aid tool that can be used to exhibit information in a visually pleasing way.

The definition above is a technical way of defining the software but most of us know it as the tool we use during class and work presentations. PowerPoint is an application from a suite of apps from what is now called Microsoft 365. You’re more likely going to remember the bundled applications called Microsoft Office which included Word, Excel, Outlook and of course, PowerPoint.

The well-known slide presentation program was created in the early 90’s by Dennis Austin and Thomas Rudkin. Initially, PowerPoint was first called “Presenter” and was originally designed for Macintosh computers. The name was later changed due to copyright issues and the software was bought out by Microsoft for $14 million dollars in 1987. A few years later, the presentation software was launched to the public at the same time Windows 3.0 was released.

Fast forward to 2015 and PowerPoint is still the top searched presenter program online. On top of that, according to Wikipedia the program is also installed on over a billion computers worldwide. That’s a lot of slides.

Why use it?

Users rely on PowerPoint to create a professional presentation. The easy-to-use tools and functions can be used to create visually appealing slides. Each slide can have different attachments of graphics, animations, and multimedia. There are multiple ways you can present your slides to a group of people. Traditionally, a PowerPoint presentation is shown on a video projector but now, it is common to be seen during webinars.

Besides the visual aid add-ons you can start off your presentation with unique templates making the slides stand out. There is no need to make a boring presentation for business meetings or class assignments. There a plenty of free templates you can download directly from Microsoft or from dedicated PowerPoint enthusiast websites like this one.

How much does it cost?

The PowerPoint application doesn’t come on its own but is part of the Office 365 suite. This suite from Microsoft comes at different price points based on various plans. You can no longer purchase the Office software without paying a yearly or monthly fee, unlike previous versions (2010, 2011, 2012). However, if you want to buy old versions of PowerPoint you can browse on Amazon or eBay. Many sellers list official product keys that can be purchased and redeemed online to download older versions of the suite.

There are different versions of MS Office catered towards personal use, school or business. Office 365 is also available on Macs, iPhones and iPads. This is also true for Android devices as well. So not only are they offered for all realms of work/school life but they also have mobile apps which sync up with other devices like your desktop.

The breakdown of each plan and key features can be reviewed in more detail at the Microsoft Store. Or, if you want to review Office for Mac you can find more information here: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/buy.

Trial Offer Details

The free PowerPoint trial offer is for a 30 day period. Once the trial ends you will be charged a fee based the plan you chose. If you are unsatisfied with the PowerPoint or anything you can cancel your subscription at any time. Make sure to cancel your subscription before the 30 day trial ends if you don’t want to be charged the monthly fee.

How to download PowerPoint free trial

PowerPoint is available online to download for free with their trial offer. To download the program you must sign up for Office 365 Home or Business trial. The offer will last for one month in which you will not only have full access to PowerPoint but also the full set of applications that come with it, such as: Microsoft Office, Skype and online versions of the suite.

The steps are the same regardless if you want to download PowerPoint for Windows or for Macs. Just make sure to select which operating system you want the free trial on.

Here are the necessary steps to take to download the program for free.

Requirements: Microsoft account (email) and a Credit Card or PayPal account.

1. Head over to the official Office 365 website. The page has a large amount of information on their applications. You can read in more detail about their services, applications and help section but if you want to jump into the trial offer then click on either the “Home” or “Business” button. In this case I will go through the process of downloading and installing the Home version.
2. Once you have clicked on Home you will land on the “Choose your office” page. Here you will see a breakdown of the different plans that are offered. You will have to select Home, Personal or Online. Both Home and Personal plans come with a monthly cost and a free trial offer. Select either the “Home” or “Personal” plan by clicking the button that reads “try it free”.
3. From this point you will be directed to the sign in page for your Microsoft account. Go ahead and login with your existing account or create one. This is a mandatory step and cannot be skipped.
4. Once you have logged in you will have to enter in your billing information. To continue with the process of downloading PowerPoint free trial you will have to enter in your credit card information. If you don’t have a credit card on hand you can also use PayPal to continue with the billing process. It’s also important to remember that your credit card or PayPal account will NOT be charged during the 30 day trial period.
5. Now that you have added your billing information you can continue to the installation page. Here you will download Microsoft Office 365.

Installing the software is straightforward and not much of a guidance is needed.

After you have downloaded and installed Office 365 you will have access to all the applications in the suite, including PowerPoint. You can now use the latest PowerPoint (2015) for a full month. If you are satisfied with the suite I would highly recommend that you continue the subscription.

Alternate programs

If you have read the guide above and thought it was too much of a tedious task to complete then you should know that there are other alternatives that are just as good. One of them is Google Docs. With Google Docs you can create the same documents such as spreadsheets, presentations, and written documents, all for free.

With Google Docs you won’t need to download any software or application because the applications are web-based. Simply log into your Google account and start creating. You can also access, edit and share your documents anywhere from both Macs and Windows.

Did I mention that you can also collaborate on documents in real-time? This is certainly a neat feature but the cherry on top is that they give out perks, like extra storage space when you purchase a Google product. The drawback is that the Presenter does not have the premium features that PowerPoint does and lacks in creative tools.

If you are looking for something that outshines PowerPoint then I would suggest you look into Prezi. More than 50 million people use it including 50% of big-brand companies. They claim it to be “the successor to the throne” when compared to PowerPoint. I haven’t done a thorough review on them but it’s worth to mention.

Want to just view a PowerPoint presentation?

If you are looking for a way to just view a PTT file then you won’t need to download a full version of PowerPoint. Your best option is to download a program called PowerPoint Viewer from Microsoft. This free program allows you to view PTT files, however, it is limited to just viewing. You will not be able to edit or make any changes to the presentation.

Any Questions?

If you have any trouble downloading PowerPoint on your Windows or Mac computer or if you have any inquires regarding the free trial please leave a comment below and I’ll try to help.

by Joanna Miller

It’s easier than you can think.
First of all if you are not perfect in PowerPoint presentations DO NOT EVEN TRY to present yourself by PowerPoint. :) 
If not, go to any PowerPoint templates sites to find an appropriate template which is perfect to describe your CV. 

For example, if you wanna be the snowplow operator find something like thisSnow Shovel PowerPoint Template

But not like this Curriculum Vitae PowerPoint Template or this Job Interview PowerPoint Template 
Try be as specific as possible.

Show all your achievements using multimedia options of PowerPoint: does your potential  employer is  interested in your song? Just insert media file with your perfect aria in a shower.

Does he need to get perfect decorator? Just show him a video with you in your inspirational pose.


Use all 100% of your potential and fantasy to represent the most valuable person on Earth: you! 

Have a nice day

by Srininvasan R

You never get a second chance, to make a first impression! The same rings true for presentations. As a leader, you have to deliver your messages with laser guided precision. So how do you ensure that you

You never get a second chance, to make a first impression! The same rings true for presentations. As a leader, you have to deliver your messages with laser guided precision. So how do you ensure that you ace that presentation? Well, for starters, you leave nothing to chance. But, that’s perhaps, easier said than done. Here are a few key pointers that could help you make that brilliant presentation.

Open with something completely unexpected

The first 30 seconds to one minute, are crucial in a presentation. That’s when your audience is sizing you up and you set expectations. If you are unable to capture the attention of the audience during that critical time, you have an uphill task of redeeming your presentation.

Here is how Steve Jobs, started at the 2005 Commencement Address at Stanford University:

“Truth be told, I never graduated from college, and this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today, I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it, no big deal—just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another eighteen months or so before I really quit. So why’d I drop out? It started before I was born.”

Please see link to the video of the speech- http://vimeo.com/7976699

Create a strong story line and use pictures to tell your story

A picture is worth a thousand words.

The human brain has remarkable abilities to craft stories out of personal experiences and relate it to visual cues.

That’s why when you have a story to share, audiences can relate to it, instantly.

The picture here says it all. You don’t have to describe ‘Loyalty‘; the image does it for you.

Less is More

There is a term in the corporate world called- ‘Death by Slides’. It refers to a surfeit of slides that were unnecessary in the first place.

Nothing dampens a presentation, as much as unending slides.

When in doubt, keep your presentation shorter than you would, otherwise.

De-clutter your slides

Nothing kills a slide, as much as clutter. If you try and cram all that you can fit into it, you will lose the audience instantly. People use fonts as small as 10 or 11 on their slides.

Try projecting it. You will need to walk up to the screen and then use a magnifying glass to see what’s on the screen. Remember, you are not there to antagonize the audience! A font size of over 20 usually works, depending on the size of the room.

Engage your audience

Sharing information alone is not enough. You need to engage the audience. If you have people asking you questions, responding to what you say, your impact would be significantly higher than if they were sitting with deadpan expressions and not saying anything.

Ask questions, show pictures, engage the audience, in your own way.

Your objective is not to say your piece and exit. It is to achieve the purpose of making the presentation, in the first place.

Appeal to emotions

Emotions get our attention and audiences tend to retain emotionally charged content long after the presentation. Audiences seldom identify with a presentation devoid of emotional appeal. Find the right emotion to appeal to and make your pitch accordingly.

Don’t let the means become the end

No matter how slick your presentation slides are and how attractive you have made them, sometimes participants just won’t buy in.

So what do you do then? Change what you have to say on the spot to quickly address what key participants are looking for and minimize reliance on the slides.

Maintain eye contact

A great presentation is like a one on one conversation where each participant feels that the speaker is directly talking to him. And, the only way this can happen, is with continuous eye contact.

A good presentation is all about preparation and inspiration

As Thomas Edison once said, ‘Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration‘. In a presentation, inspiration gives you the perspective while preparation gives you the edge. But, no matter how good you are at presentations, there is no substitute for rigorous preparation and multiple rehearsals.

———————–

Many of you would have made some brilliant presentations yourself. It would be interesting to know your experiences and what worked for you. Please feel free to share your thoughts.

Picture courtesy: Stanford University; Walter Isaacson

———————–

Jill Robbins

Editor’s note: When teaching public speaking, Professor Charles Lebeau divides presentation into three aspects. The three aspects of a presentation are: the physical message, the visual message, and the story message. In this article, we will look at the visual and story messages.

English is the language of many international conferences.  Sometimes a speaker might use a kind of “World English” that audience members do not understand. This can be true even for listeners who are native speakers of English.

For this reason, Professor Charles Lebeau says the visual message is important. The visual message includes pictures, charts and other aids a speaker presents during the talk. A non-native speaker ofEnglish can understand a picture. It can help  carry the message when the presenter’s words are hard to understand.

“The visual message becomes a central part of the communication process because everyone can understand a graph; everyone can understand a flowchart; everyone can see the words on the slide.”

When you prepare a presentation, you might want to show how much you know about a subject. But does the audience care how much you know?

Listeners more likely want to understand the main point of your presentation.So, how do you organize your talk to get that point across? Professor LeBeausays this can depend on the culture of your audience.

American language expert Robert Kaplan studied different cultural thoughtpatterns in the mid 1960s. He helped English language teachers understand the differences between English rhetoric and that of Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and Russian.

English speakers prefer a ‘linear’ style, which has one main idea. The speaker supports that idea with details or arguments, and then closes the talk by restating the idea. In other cultures, however, speakers may bring in other ideas before returning to the main point.

Charles LeBeau says some of his students prepare a speech without thinking of the main idea.

“Sometimes the bigger problem is the point that they want to make is not clear. They are not thinking clearly about “What is the key point in my presentation? And how do I want to say that, where do I want to say it?”

For presentations in English, the best time to make that point is at the beginning. Speakers should make a plan to present their ideas in the order that is common in English rhetoric. When we write our ideas down without such a plan, they are not clear and our presentation will not be well organized.

“I think they prepare the presentation kind of as a stream of consciousness activity, then finally at the end of this process they figure out, oh, what do Iwant to say, what is the key point in this? And it ends up being at the end of the presentation.”

Professor LeBeau says he often sees the engineers he works with give a lot of technical information in their speeches. They want to tell everything they know. But, the audience may have trouble understanding which information isrelated to the speaker’s main point. We can tell the story with facts and numbers, if they help, and then repeat the point.

“In an English language presentation, what we try and do is make it more linear. And by that, I mean, it’s more of a story - we use data, and we use evidence, we use numbers, but only to help us tell the story more clearly.”

Preparing the story message helps speakers give a successful presentation.Professor LeBeau gives these five tips for academic presentations, such asthose given at professional conferences.

1. Understand the difference between a title and a topic. A topic is general, but a title is more specific. Make sure the title explains the benefit of your subject.

2. Provide an image for those who are not experts in your subject. Explain how your research relates to other fields.

3. Work on transitions (linking words or phrases) as you go from image toimage. These should make the connections between your ideas clear.Professor LeBeau says transitions serve as bridges to each new image.

4. Look at each image from the audience’s point of view. What questions might they have about each image? Prepare an extra image that would help explain the most difficult question you expect.

5. Rehearse your presentation with a timing device. At most conferences,there is a time limit. It is disrespectful to take more than your share of the time.Cut your presentation to fit the time you are permitted.

Professor LeBeau understands the difficulty many students of public speakingface.

“Learning a new culture for presentation is really really tough for many people, as it is with all language learning. Presentation, or course, is a part oflanguage learning. There’s culture in everything we do in English, as well as inpresentation.”

Using these tips for improving your presentations in English should help make the process easier. 

I’m Jill Robbins.

SlideJenius

You finally finished your PowerPoint deck! Following all the best PowerPoint practices, you were able to incorporate interesting visuals and make use of minimal but creative animations. You’re confident that it looks great, and you’re sure that your slides will definitely enhance the message you want to deliver. After some final adjustments, you’re ready to share your PowerPoint file online, transfer it to another device, or run a test drive.

And then your laptop starts to lag. The program starts to crash. If you’re sharing the presentation online, you’re met with an upload that’s expected to run for hours. The culprit? A PowerPoint file that is too large. If you want a seamless presentation experience, you need to learn how to shrink your PowerPoint file to a manageable size.

Lucky for you, there are 4 simple ways you can fix PowerPoint file size issues. Take note of the following tips and find the most applicable solution to your dilemma:

Convert PowerPoint file to PDF
You can convert your PowerPoint file to a PDF if you’re planning to share your slides via SlideShare or email when the actual presentation is over. This will strip your presentation of any animation and transition effects, so make necessary tweaks to your PowerPoint first. After that, all you have to do is head to the ‘File‘ tab and click ‘Save As‘. From there, just choose ‘PDF‘ under ‘Save as type‘.

Skip ‘Compatibility Mode’
For the presentation itself—if you’re planning to simply hook up your laptop to the projector in the venue, you don’t need to save your PowerPoint file in compatibility mode. Keep your filed saved in the latest version of PowerPoint by making sure the file extension is .pptx. Head to the folder where your PowerPoint file is stored, right-click, and then choose ‘Properties‘.

Compress high-resolution pictures

Using pictures with incredibly high resolutions will definitely have an effect on the size of your PowerPoint file. You’ll definitely want to use clear and crisp images, but you don’t have to opt for anything that’s too large. Try to edit and re-size the pictures that have resolutions that might be way too large.

If you don’t want to sacrifice your PowerPoint design, you can also compress all the images in your deck. Simply select any image in your PowerPoint file and head to the Pictures Tools Format tab. Click on ‘Compress Pictures‘ under the ‘Adjust‘ group. When the dialogue box appears, choose from the different target output options.

Avoid embedding fonts if you can
As we’ve discussed before, customized and unique fonts can help enhance your PowerPoint designs. However, they can also be a contributing factor to why your PowerPoint file size is too large. Try to minimize your use of unique fonts as much as you can. To avoid embedding too much data into your PowerPoint file, you can limit your use of unique fonts for headers or section breaks.

Head to the File tab and click on ‘Options‘. Go to ‘Save‘ and check to see the options enabled under ‘Preserve fidelity when sharing this presentation‘. When you embed fonts to your PowerPoint file, make sure you always choose the first option.

You don’t have to sacrifice great presentation design to make sure your PowerPoint file is kept at a manageable size. Ease the presentation process and use these methods to make sure your PowerPoint file isn’t unnecessarily too large. For more PowerPoint design insights, click here and browse through our blog!

By Robert Frost

It’s total nonsense.  Tufte has a bug up his butt about PowerPoint and can’t see straight where it is involved.  I found his negativity about the application to taint his seminar.

There used to be a video game called Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat.  In that game, audio recordings of Yeager were used to provide mission feedback.  A line he often said was “Remember, it’s the man, not the machine.”

I use that line, with my best Yeager impression, every time I teach lessons on effective presentations, because it is such an important point.  PowerPoint is not a poor tool.  People use PowerPoint poorly.  And it is an easy thing to fix.  PowerPoint is quite powerful and PowerPoint is easy to use to create effective visuals.

Tufte is old enough to remember the pre-PowerPoint days, when presenters often provided no visuals or if they did, they used horrible text-filled acetate overheads.  PowerPoint didn’t create bad presentations.  It did make them easier to produce, just as word processors have made it easier to write terrible books.

With each revision, Microsoft has improved their application.  SmartArt allows, with just a few clicks, a user to take a flat, contextless, near useless list of bullets and convert them to a graphic that has context, is more engaging, and easier to remember.

PowerPoint’s built in animations can be used to create elaborate visual narratives.

PowerPoint’s charts and graphs make it easier to represent numerical data in visuals ways so that relationships and patterns become evident to the audience.

PowerPoint’s drawing tools make it easy to depict information pictorially.

PowerPoint’s action buttons make it easy to create interactive slides that allow the path of a presentation or lesson to change, at the audience’s whim.

Tufte is a knowledgeable and talented man.  If he were to ditch the negativity and focus on helping people use the tools that already exist on most work computers, he could make a much greater contribution.

by Brad Phillips

When we conduct our presentation training sessions, almost every speaker begins their presentation with a PowerPoint remote in their hand. By doing so, they send a signal to their audience right from the start: Boring PowerPoint show about to begin! The vast majority of presentations shouldn’t open with a slide. The opening moments are a critical opportunity to forge a connection with your audience, which is best accomplished by speaking directly to your audience, not by clicking to a boring agenda slide. That being the case, there’s no need to keep the remote in your hand at the beginning of a presentation. If you’re using PowerPoint, you can pick up the remote when you’re about to click to your first slide, which may not occur until several minutes into your talk. And if there are long gaps between slides, you should put the clicker down during those gaps as well.

This may seem like a small point, but it’s not.
Before our clients deliver their second practice speech, I ask them to put the clicker down. That small act often changes everything about their performance. They often move closer to the audience (they’re not tied to the screen), gesture more (they don’t have an object in their hand), and use the pronoun “you” more (they’re suddenly having a conversation with the audience, not presenting a slide). Simply putting the clicker down is a small move that offers almost magical powers.

My favorite clicker
Please don’t interpret this post as being anti-clicker. Remote controls allow speakers to move away from their computers and advance slides more subtly. I carry one in my backpack every day just so I always have one handy whenever I speak.

My only suggestion is that you don’t begin or end your presentation with one in your hand or hold it in your hand during long gaps without a new slide. Just place the clicker on a table or slide it into your pocket.

If you don’t already use one, I really like the Targus Laser Presentation Remote, pictured above. All you do is plug a small connector into your laptop’s USB port, and the remote instantly works. And since it’s less than $25, you won’t be too upset if you accidentally leave it behind.

by Troy Chollar

PowerPoint 2010 introduced the very great ‘Merge Shape’ tools (see this post for details). With this toolset editable, vector, shapes can be can be created direct in PowerPoint – something I refer to as “Illustrator 2.0″. With PowerPoint 2013 it includes the ability to convert text to vector, which is what we will use to create the stylized quote marks for a complete PowerPoint workflow.

1. Add text in PowerPoint

2. Add PPT shape, and send to back behind text

3. Select text and shape. On FORMAT ribbon >> MERGE SHAPES >> INTERSECT

4. The text is no longer editable, as it is now shapes. Right click and select EDIT POINTS just like any shape in PPT.

5. Stylize with no fill, light grey outline, drop shadow effect

When someone mentions “presentation” invariably Microsoft’s PowerPoint comes to mind. PowerPoint slides, and even entire presentations, can be easily incorporated into story map map tours, and can provide some extra context for your tour. In this post we’ll cover adding static “slides” as well as using Slideshare and Box for hosting the presentation used in your tour.

Adding PowerPoint slides

The example below from the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito & Vector Control District uses images from PowerPoint to enhance the tour, using a PowerPoint-based introductory slide, thumbnails, and other slides along the tour to provide more details.

You can capture the PowerPoint slides from your screen, or use Save As to save one or more slides as images directly from PowerPoint. Resize as necessary, and add these to your map tour just like any other image.

Adding PowerPoint presentations

Actual PowerPoint presentations can also be included in map tours. Here’s how using two common slide sharing solutions. For these examples we’ll use an existing map tour, a tour of the Esri Redlands campus, and add a PowerPoint presentation as a new tour stop. The same general methods apply if creating a map tour from scratch.

Using Slideshare

Slideshare is a popular document hosting service. Visit the Slideshare website or view the Slideshare support topics for more information.

Step 1: Upload your PowerPoint
Upload your PowerPoint, and ensure it is publicly available. This can be set in the Privacy setting described in Step 2 below.

Step 2: Enable access and copy the URL
From My Uploads, go to the presentation you want to use and click Edit, then choose Privacy settings:

In the Embed Settings section, ensure that embeds are allowed anywhere, and copy the embed code:

Step 3: Add a new tour stop
Open your map tour in builder mode, and click Add to add a new tour stop:

Step 4: Add the PowerPoint location to your tour
On the Media tab of Add a new tour point, choose Video, and Other. Paste the URL from Step 3 into the Other input, and add a thumbnail of your choosing.

Step 5: Make any additional changes and save your tour
Add information about the new stop, set the location, and make other changes as desired. When finished save your map tour.

Step 6: View your map tour
You’ve now successfully added a PowerPoint presentation to your map tour from Slideshare. You can view the presentation in fullscreen mode by clicking the arrows that appear when you hover over the top right corner.

Using Box

Box is a popular online file sharing and cloud content management service for businesses. Visit the Box website for more information.

Step 1: Upload your PowerPoint to Box
Login to your Box account, and upload your PowerPoint presentation.

Step 2: Make your presentation publicly available
From your uploads, click Share, then Access. Ensure that your presentation has Open access, enabling anyone with the link to view it.

Step 3: Copy the link
Copy the link to the the presentation:

Step 4: Add a new tour stop
Open your map tour in builder mode, and click Add to add a new tour stop:

Step 5: Add the PowerPoint location to your tour
On the Media tab of Add a new tour point, choose Video, and Other. Paste the URL from Step 3 into the Other input, and add a thumbnail of your choosing.

Step 5: Make any additional changes and save your tour
Add information about the new stop, set the location, and make other changes as desired. When finished save your map tour.

Step 6: View your map tour
You’ve now successfully added a PowerPoint presentation to your map tour from Box. You can view the presentation in fullscreen mode by clicking the arrows that appear when you hover over the top right corner.

Tips

Many other sharing and hosting solutions can be used, including OneDrive which is built-in to the Microsoft PowerPoint save options.

Presentations are best when used sparingly. Like adding spice to food, too much can ruin your efforts, but a pinch here and there can bring out the story’s flavor.

Keep your presentations short and to the point.