Typo on the slide
The TLC Creative Services design team receives presentation slides continuously as part of design projects, presentation makeover projects, and to run for live corporate event projects. This is a nice graphic that was core to a recent event (eg. I received the presentation at an event and had nothing to do with the presentation design).
THE ASK, THE PROBLEM
– First was an ask to animate the graphic, which was not possible as it was inserted into the presentation as a flat raster image (e.g. a JPG image). Inserting as a vector .svg would have been great!
– Second, and only because I was asked to work with the graphic did I take a closer look, and then discovered (and called out) the problem… do you see it?
Note: by the time I was working with this graphic, it had already been used in presentations, other attendee collateral, and a website… I am certain it was reviewed and vetted by multiple people, all of whom were asked to approve the graphic.
There is an important, real-world lesson here. Even with multiple layers of reviewing and proofing, typos happen!
Time’s up! Did you spot the typo? “DRVIEN”
I am guessing the typo would’ve been caught had it been the only graphic on the slide. However, in this case, the word “DRIVEN” is just one element in a busy graphic – and I was looking at it on a busy slide with several other text boxes. And all that ‘other’ text pulled attention away from this circle graphic.
THE EMERGENCY FIX
Having this graphic as an .SVG on the slide would have solved many problems. It could have been ungrouped and animated, which was the original request. It also could have been ungrouped and then modified to fix the typo.
Since the source art was not going to be available in time for that day’s meeting, I did some Photoshop work and produced a “fixed” version of the graphic – at least the graphic used in the presentation I was running was fixed!
-Troy @ TLC Creative
New Podcast Episode Available! “Inside the Creative Process: Designing a Partnership Pitch Deck”
New episode of The Presentation Podcast now available!
In episode 245 of The Presentation Podcast, Troy and Lori Chollar of TLC Creative Services give us access to their team’s design process by pulling back the curtain of a completed partnership pitch deck project.
This project got them thinking about how we all approach presentation design. Everything starts before a single slide is designed with understanding and defining the purpose (and type) of presentation it is, which then influences the visual design and on-slide messaging. Our candid conversation is a great listen full of strategies and ideas for crafting visually rich, purpose-driven presentations!
Listen on your favorite podcast app, or at The Presentation Podcast site here.
ToolsToo Remove Masters Part 2: PowerPoint QAT
Sometimes, reducing a formatting process from 6+ clicks to 3 clicks is just not enough. In this case, my previous blog post showcased the ToolsToo Remove Unused Masters feature, which reduces the 6+ click process of opening the PowerPoint presentation master, finding an unused slide master, deleting it, and closing the master slide view.
But I do this process often enough that I have moved it to my QAT, and it’s now a 2-click process!
All you have to do is click the QAT button, then click “Yes”, and you’re done!
Troy @ TLC Creative
ToolsToo Remove Unused Masters
The ToolsToo add-in has a lot of tools! One of my favorite “hidden” features is the Remove Masters option. I use this on every event where I have a master show file of 2-3-9, or more individual presentations that have been combined into a single presentation to run during that event. At the end of the event I need to break apart the master show file into those original individual presentations again for the archive. But if I only delete the unneeded slides and do a save as – that is a sloppy and unprofessional file. There are lots of steps in finalizing a presentation for the archives or to provide back to the client; remove PowerPoint sections, clear the file properties, optimize, and remove master slides from the other presentations.
ToolsToo makes the step of removing unused master slides, and unused master layouts, a 2-click process!
Troy @ TLC
When Bullet Points Are Bad
This is directly from The Presentation Podcast episode 244 conversation (listen here) where the podcast hosts, Troy – Nolan – Sandy, talked about bullet points, specifically when they are not needed on a slide. The conversation was envisioned after Troy received this slide from a client recently:
- Note: client content has been stripped from the slide, and master.
- The conversation focused not only about the bullet list text boxes not being aligned (which was very obvious when the slide was on a 30′ wide screen!), but also that the icon + bullet + key word does not make an effective slide.
- Listen to the podcast for a full conversation about this slide’s bullets and many other bullet point talking points. 😂 (The Presentation Podcast, episode 244)
In preparing for the podcast I sent the example slide to Nolan and Sandy, and some of the TLC Creative design team. Today I get to share the slide makeovers!
(Troy)
(Sandy)
(Nolan)
(this version from Nolan was set up as a multi-slide animation)
(Lori – and this slide was a full animation sequence! Static 1st frame shown here)
(Amber)
New Podcast Episode Available! “When Bullet Points Go So Bad They Are Not Needed”
New episode of The Presentation Podcast now available!
In Episode 244 of the Presentation Podcast, hosts Troy, Sandy, and Nolan use a real client slide as a case study to discuss when bullet points hurt rather than help a slide. Join the conversation as they explore how unnecessary bullets clutter slides, disrupt narrative flow, and actually reduce audience retention. Get into design alternatives, and if bullet points are needed in numbered lists, icon layouts, diagrams, timelines and visual hierarchies.
Oh, and they also catch up on recent travels and share industry news! That part of the discussion includes Microsoft’s new AI image tool, practical travel tips on Global Entry, a new podcast tracking site… and plant pest control!
Listen on your favorite podcast app, or at The Presentation Podcast site here.
ToolsToo Modes
The ToolsToo add-in is an amazing productivity suite of tools for PowerPoint (in my opinion). One of the unique options in the suite of tools is the “UI Mode” settings.
This is something I have said for 20-ish years — PowerPoint should have multiple interface layouts to cater to the different uses and user levels. And I can trace this conversation back many years, with Austin Myers, a former Microsoft MVP for PowerPoint, who was the first person I heard talk about this idea for PowerPoint – and that was in the pre-.pptx era of PowerPoint! The idea of PowerPoint has different Ribbon layouts, or interfaces, that would allow the user to choose which configuration works for them.
What reminded me of this past conversation was the ToolsToo PowerPoint add-in. ToolsToo has 3 different toolbar preset layouts. In the Settings for ToolsToo, on the General tab, is the UI Mode setting. When ToolsToo is first installed, one of the dialog options sets the UI Mode for that computer’s ToolsToo interface. Note: this setting can be changed at any time.
ToolsToo has over 75 features and functions. The developer recognized this could be overwhelming and created 3 versions of the ToolsToo toolbar. The ToolsToo toolbar (say that 5X in a row!) is based on the UI Mode selected. The concept is simple. If you want the basic and core functionality, the Beginner UI mode is going to limit the ribbon to make just those features available. If you want more, select a UI mode that displays more.
Beginner ToolsToo toolbar:
Intermediate ToolsToo tool bar:
- Note: the right section of the toolbar is all standard PowerPoint tools, now also available on the ToolsToo toolbar.
Expert ToolsToo tool bar:
- Note: the right section of the Intermediate and Expert toolbars is all standard PowerPoint tools, but now also conveniently available on the ToolsToo toolbar.
Like PowerPoint, design apps such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign also have many features, and the tools can be overwhelming. Yet each has a layout and UI views that streamline the tools and features to your workflow needs.
PowerPoint has a lot of menus and buttons, which are not all needed based on your workflow or skill level. The idea of a selection of preset ribbon layouts, or even better, the ability to customize (and export as .XML files to share with others), PowerPoint ribbon layouts would be a great addition to an already great application.
I’m just grateful that ToolsToo accomplishes this with its UI modes. ToolsToo is a wonderful suite of functional improvements to enhance PowerPoint design and formatting. (Before Mac users get too excited, ToolsToo is Windows only – sorry!). The add-in is under $25, and everyone on the TLC Creative presentation design team has it installed on their computer and uses it as part of their daily workflow.
Get more info and details at the ToolsToo website, https://toolstoo.com
Troy @ TLC Creative