Cool Powerpoint Tricks

Presentations can be enhanced by using cool tricks on PowerPoint.

"Death by PowerPoint" is a common phrase heard since PowerPoint has become so popular and is used constantly in business presentations. However, it is a useful tool to help explain and visualize information. Moreover, there is increasingly more tricks you can use to make PowerPoint more entertaining as Microsoft enhances its technology.

1 Motion Paths

You will find this in "Animations" when you click on "Custom Animations," then "Add Effect." You will see "Motion Paths." Click on this and you can change the way text moves about the slide. You draw a line, a curve or a freeform object on the slide -- and that is how the text will move during the slideshow. This can be done per line or per text box. You can make your text "wave," or "curl round" or do more or less anything you like, which means this function can correspond to the topic you are presenting.

2 Convert Text to SmartArt

If you have several bullet points you can easily change them into a colorful chart by right-clicking on the text, and then "Convert to SmartArt" in the menu. Choose from the selection of different types of charts that appear in the ribbon that will suit the text.

3 3D Animated Pictures

Insert a picture onto a slide, and then animate them using "Custom Animation." You can get really creative here by right-clicking on the picture and then "Format Picture." Go into "3D Formation" to add 3D effects, then "3D rotation" to lay the pictures on the slide at different angles. Then add an animation effect to each picture, and set it to come in "On Mouse Click." This is in the top right of the ribbon.

4 Picture Slide Show

Within your presentation, you can have a picture slide show on one slide. Insert the pictures, one on top of the other. So when the main slide show is running, you see one picture first, which you will presenting and discussing. Then by using "Motion Paths" and setting it to "On Mouse Click," this image can move to the left, underneath is the next one which you can move to the right, and the third one can move up or down.

Beverley Lee started freelance writing in 2005 while teaching journalism. Her work has been published in the "Leicester Mercury," the "Peterborough Evening Telegraph" and "Inside Time." She holds a diploma in journalism from the London School of Journalism and a teaching degree. She also has her own company for recruitment assistance.

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