IN THIS CHAPTER
Among all the documents that you can create with the Microsoft Office Suite, PowerPoint presentations are unique in that they are the only ones that are regularly critiqued by other people. If someone sends us a Word document or an Access database, we rarely begin by casting a critical eye on the layout and formatting. Among spreadsheet jockeys, there is a worksheet aesthetic that looks for a certain amount of elegance in model building, but the main concern is getting the right answer. A PowerPoint presentation, on the other hand, must first meet a certain standard of visual appeal before we even consider the information it is trying to impart. Why? Perhaps it's because presentations seem to be just one small step removed from entertainment: We sit in a darkened room looking at text and pictures on a screen while a person tells us a story about what we're seeing. Or perhaps it's because we've all seen more than our fair share of PowerPoint presentations, and the idea of sitting through another lackluster series of slides is just too much to bear. Whatever the reason, if you create PowerPoint presentations for your job, you need to know what Office gurus know: that your presentationsevery one of themmust be knockouts. That doesn't mean you need to create something that has your audience cheering and on their feet at the end of the show. Rather, it means having your audience look forward to seeing your presentation and actually learning something from it. This chapter shows you how to create such presentations. You'll concentrate on the three main areas that compose any knockout presentation: organization, formatting and design, and animation. The focus will be on avoiding so-called PowerPointlessnessthose fancy formats, transitions, sounds, and other effects that have no discernible purpose, use, or benefit. Instead, you get practical tricks and techniques that serve the goal of creating a knockout presentation. |