presentation

How to Prevent Resize Slide From Erasing Formatting (part 3)

The solution we use at TLC Creative Services is to remove the variant. The simple answer is to save the presentation as a PowerPoint template (.potx) which creates a file with no variants. Here is a quick step-by-step process:

1. Go to File>> Save As >> POTX from drop down list

  • Save to the desktop (this is a temporary file you will delete)
  • Use a file name that is applicable to the template
  • Note 1: The file name will be seen in the file properties
  • Note 2: A .potx is a PowerPoint template and it cannot contain slides, so doing this is going to DELETE all slides (which will be added back in a few steps)

SlideResize-8

2. Open the new .potx file and look at the file properties

  • Creating a .POTX removes the Default Theme ID
  • The TEMPLATE property will now list the .POTX file name
  • Note: When you open a .potx, it automatically creates a .pptx presentation file.

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3. Go to FILE > SAVE AS > POWERPOINT PRESENTATION (.pptx) from the drop down list

  • Opening a .potx automatically creates a .pptx presentation file
  • Open file is most likely named “Presentation1.pptx”
  • Save presentation with a new file name – Best Practice: Name same as original file name + version # (eg. _v2)

4. Go to DESIGN tab > VARIANTS section

  • The presentation now has no VARIANTS

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7. Add slides from original presentation to the new, no variant, presentation and save file

8. Delete the temporary .potx and the original presentation

9. Use the Resize option without losing template formatting!

 

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T09:00:17-07:00August 19th, 2015|Tutorial|

Talk Narration in the Presentation

With audio being so easy to embed into PowerPoint, we are having many clients request we create a version of the presentation with their talk embedded into the slides.

PowerPoint does have audio recording features, but we opt for pre-recorded audio that is recorded distraction free of the slides, higher audio quality and we can edit in an audio editing program. We also develop 1 audio file per slide (if a client provides one audio file for the entire presentation we chop it into multiple files using Adobe Audition, or directly in PowerPoint by trimming the file to each slide needs).

Sofnet_1

For this specific project, we were provided individual audio clips for each slide. We sync’d the animations to the audio narration, which is a great end result, but a tedious process of listening and re-listening to the entire audio file while adjusting the animation timing to get everything perfect (an animation timeline feature I would really like to see the Microsoft PowerPoint team update!). Slide transitions and all animations were set to automatic.

Sofnet_2

We provided 3 deliverables for this project:

1. Editable PowerPoint, with on-click animation and transitions.

2. Editable PowerPoint presentation with audio narration embedded and animations & transitions set to auto.

3. A video version of the presentation (exported direct from PowerPoint).

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T09:06:05-07:00July 6th, 2015|PowerPoint|

Building Project (Bucharest)

This is not about PowerPoint, or a project I have worked on, but it is about presentation. This is a massive video project that is truly amazing (not so much for it story telling, but just technology and scope).

[original video no longer available from source]

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T09:19:39-07:00November 7th, 2014|Resource/Misc|

Animation Sample – It’s A Small World

These are slides from a recent presentation and the video below is the animated version of the 4 slides:

SmallWorld-1

With some creative layout and PowerPoint animation, the presenter used this animated sequence to convey the message of their expanded Social Media presence and how it has a global reach (all animated on clicks):

 

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T09:22:45-07:00October 20th, 2014|Portfolio|

Presentation Animation – 6 (Portfolio)

Here is a collection of slides from a presentation makeover project that highlight some of our “simple” animation that is subtle enough to work in a very corporate environment.

 

Video above is these slides. Note the first animation uses slide transitions for the animation effect and making it easy for the presenter to review the presentation on printouts and “see” the animations.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2021-05-13T09:40:43-07:00December 27th, 2013|Portfolio|

Mac Keynote Sample – Toyota

Does TLC Creative Services use Keynote? That is a question I hear from many new clients. Of course we do! Presentation design, with any of the available presentation software options, has the same design principles to engage the audience. Some of the technology and visual effects change, but the layout, messaging and use of animation “rules” remain the same.

We have recently added a video of a Keynote presentation project to our portfolio section. TLC Creative Services developed the template, did lots of custom Photoshop work to bring the provided script to life using the unique capabilities of the Apple’s Keynote app. See it here.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T10:25:52-07:00August 14th, 2013|Portfolio, Software/Add-Ins|

Online Shopping Infographic

Infographics are something I like to develop. They are the best of presentation design (visual) and print design, and something you can have a lot of fun designing. InternetRetailer.com recently published a story with statistics from the Global Online Shopper Report based on a March survey of 19,000 consumers in 15 countries. The story lists the more interesting statistics; however, they do it in a boring, non-visual, way. Using the article for our source, we created an infographic that pulled out the key data from the article and Global Online Shopper report to create a visual representation of the data. Using icons, bars and charts, the data is now displayed interestingly and informatively.

(original story)

(story converted to infographic)

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T10:27:14-07:00July 24th, 2013|Portfolio|

SlideDog – Out of Beta Review

Original review is here here.

TLC presentation designer, Amber, has done a follow up testing and review of the SlideDog offering. SlideDog has completed its Beta phase and released its first official version of the program. This version has significant improvements over the beta. I should note, this review is a bit overdue as we started it in January and lost track of it until this month.

Supported file types are PowerPoint (.ppt and .pptx), PDFs, Prezi, Movies (multiple formats), Web Pages (URLs), and images (multiple formats), with more expected.

SlideDog has the ability to seamlessly switch between applications, making it appear that they are all 1 file. You create playlists of different file types, run the show, and SlideDog takes care of the rest.

Download and Install is same as before. The setup process searches your system for the applications SlideDog requires to run the different file types. It helpfully provides links to download missing software it needs, which are all free options.

When you’re ready to create a SlideDog presentation, you can either browse for specific files or simply drag and drop into the playlist area (a great use of multi screen computer setups). SlideDog then generates thumbnails of each presentation element to give a preview of the files.

When you run the show, SlideDog preloads all of the files, which makes switching between the applications faster during the show, but you do have a dialog window with a preloading notice during this time. The preloading notice is onscreen depending on the number of files and their size. In our test, it was visible for up to 90 seconds, so this is something to consider when getting ready to present (you do not want the audience waiting and watching this dialog). The end result was a seamless presentation.

SlideDog now offers different licenses: Free, Pro, and Shared License. Pro offers dual screen mode, unbranded presentations with custom backgrounds and free updates for 1 year. Shared License has all of the Pro features, plus you can use SlideDog in an auditorium or meeting room with multiple users on the same computer. The free version allows you to create playlists and run them seamlessly, but with a SlideDog logo. There is also an option to try Pro for 15 minutes.

Note: The file wrapper error that was present in Beta is now fixed and the dual screen mode will close when SlideDog closes.

We did have a conflict with SlideDog not recognizing PowerPoint 2010. This was caused by having a dual installation of both PowerPoint 2010 and 2003. But it did create an opportunity to contact SlideDog’s support, which was top notch. Dag Hendrik worked with us for a few days to figure out the issues, and then sent patches which fixed them. It was very nice to have the issue resolved so quickly, with great customer service.

Our end result was that SlideDog has made a lot of great progress since the Beta release we reviewed, and we recommend testing it if you have presentations that need to use several different files, file types and even presenters (with the Shared License option).

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T10:35:10-07:00June 19th, 2013|Software/Add-Ins|

Web Fonts in Presentations

Web Fonts have been a big topic recently and several companies are offering them. TLC staff designer, Amber, spent some time researching them for us and put together a good overview and example of their use with the Google Web Fonts.

– Troy @ TLC

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Web Fonts are a font format with a specific license that permits web designers to use real typography online without losing the benefits of live text (dynamic, searchable, and accessible content). Until recently, type on the web was very limited. Most sites could only display the small selection of system fonts installed on user’s computers. Designers who wanted to integrate individuality to their pages would need to create jpeg images (which don’t get read for Google search results) or use Flash or JavaScript to render their fonts, even though not all end-users had started using that software.

Now, there is a CSS declaration called @font-face that web designers can use to specify a font. The font file will either be saved on your server like images are, or it can be hosted by a third party.
The issue that is still being debated is achieving an approximate consensus on how the producers of fonts could continue to control and therefore profit from their work.

Click here for a list of commercial font foundries which allow @font-face embedding.

Cick here for a list of fonts available for embedding.

Google offers a library of web fonts with no restrictions here.
Plus, all of the Google Web Fonts are offered under the Open Font License which means you can use them even in commercial projects without having to worry about licensing issues.

You can utilize Google’s Web Fonts in your PowerPoint presentations too. Although I am not using it as a true “web” font, but really adding it to my computer as a custom font, here are the steps for use:

1. In the Google Web Font library, select the font you would like to use in your presentation, and select “Add to Collection.”

2. Once you’re done adding fonts to your collection, click the “Download your Collection” link at the top right of the page.

3. A window will pop up letting you know that you don’t need to download the font to use on the web – however, we do need to download to use in PowerPoint, so click the link to download the font collection as a zip file.

4. Once you’ve downloaded and extracted the font file from the zipped folder, you can install the Web Font on your system and use in your PowerPoint presentation. (Note: If you are planning on sharing your presentation, you will need to also provide the font or risk having the font default to a generic font when PowerPoint can’t find the file installed on others’ computers).

By |2016-08-16T08:55:32-07:00December 5th, 2012|Tutorial|
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