13.3. Customizing the Way Your Slideshows RunWhile most of PowerPoint's customization options focus on the PowerPoint development environment, several affect the way your slideshows run. This section shows you how to control the way you interact with your slideshows while you're running them.
Note: The options described in this section affect how PowerPoint presentations run on your computer. If what you want is to control how presentations run on someone else's computerbecause you're distributing them by email, CD/DVD, or on the Web, for examplecheck out Chapter 7. (If you need to test those presentations on your own computer, though, you'll still find this section useful.) 13.3.1. Show (or Hide) "Ghosted" Navigational ControlsOut of the box, PowerPoint assumes you want to display the semi-transparent navigational controls (Figure 13-25) at the bottom-left of every slide. These navigational controls give you the ability to advance slides, back up, "draw" electronically on the slides, and display a menu showing additional options (the same menu you see when you right-click a slide while it's running, as described on page 412). If you've added your own navigational controlsthe action buttons described in Chapter 12, for exampleyou may not want to display these standard buttons .
13.3.2. Show (or Hide) the Right-Click MenuNormally, when you run a slideshow, right-clicking anywhere on a slide pops up the menu shown in Figure 13-27. The right-click menu can be a boon to inexperienced presenters, because it lets them choose options without having to remember keyboard shortcuts. But flashing a menu can seriously break the rhythm of the presentation, especially if you do it too often. And if there's a chance it's going to tempt a presenter to chew up a lot of the audience's time searching for the perfect electronic pen nib and color , or if there's a chance inappropriately titled slides may appear in the "Go to Slide" list, it's best to hide the menu altogether.
13.3.3. Give Yourself the Option to Keep Ink AnnotationsPowerPoint lets you "draw" on your slides electronically (Figure 13-28). Unless you tell it otherwise , the program assumes you don't want to keep your scribbles, but instead want to discard them when you end the slideshow so that the next time you present the slideshow, you start fresh with clean, unmarked slides.
13.3.4. Tell PowerPoint to End Slideshows with a Black Slide (or Not)Ending your slideshow with a black slide gives you a dramatic buffer zonea quiet moment with nothing on the screen to distract your audience so that you can finish your presentation with one final appeal , joke, bow, or whatever you think is appropriate. PowerPoint assumes you want to end your slideshows with a black slide, but if you'd rather, you can hop from your last slide straight back to PowerPoint (or whatever else is running on the computer). Choose Office button PowerPoint Options Advanced. Turn off the "End with black slide checkbox, and then click OK. Note: If you don't see the final black screen and want to, go to Office button PowerPoint Options Advanced and turn this checkbox back on. | |||||||||||||||||