April 2016

Dear Readers,

With the introduction of Morph in PowerPoint 2016, the market is naturally comparing Prezi to Morph. How are they different?  How are they the same?  PowerPoint is driven by slides while Prezi is often seen as a blank canvas where you can push the envelope.  But the new Morph feature has a lot of power and options.  You can use transitions, animations to objects move across the screen.  And you can apply this to key tools in PowerPoint such as SmartArt, WordArt and Charts. The learning curve for adding Morph to your PowerPoint skills is easy to pick up. I was able to use Morph to animate words for a client presentation and it added an interactivity to an otherwise flat presentation. I see PowerPoint 2016 (available only in Office 365) and its new Morph feature as a good alternative to Prezi. What do you think?  Email me and share your thoughts.

This month’s reader feature takes us over the pond to the UK and the team at POPcomms, a presentation design studio that focuses on bringing their designs alive on the screen.  They are a fun group who often get their best creative going over a pool table and the local pub. Their portfolio is full of great client examples such as Citrix, Fujitsu and Isotrak.  In our interview, Managing Director Damjan Haylor and I chatted about the market, trends and what they see as the next best thing. 

In addition to our upcoming webinars, Adobe's Senior eLearning Evangelist Dr . Pooja Jaisingh will be hosting a May 10th webinar, More Power To Your PowerPoint Slides. Go Interactive! Join us to learn about the tips and tricks you need to know to convert your existing PowerPoint presentations to interactive and engaging eLearning course.

Thank you for your emails and suggestions. I am looking for a few good story ideas and talented writers. Is that you?  Just email me so we can set up time to connect. I am enjoying getting to know our PresentationXpert community.

 Sharyn Fitzpatrick, Editor
Email me: sfitzpatrick@presentationxpert.com

PowerPoint Shortcuts - Finding the Hidden Gems!

by Taylor Croonquist, Nuts and Bolts Speed Training

There are two hidden gems of shortcuts that few ever discover and those that do stumble upon them, often never realize what they have discovered. The golden rule of speed in PowerPoint is: “Never do anything in PowerPoint that PowerPoint can automatically do for you”. And these 2 hidden gems will get PowerPoint to do a lot more for you.

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Bringing the Skills and Spirit of Live Events to B2B Presentations

by Sharyn Fitzpatrick

Despite the 5,293 miles and a few time zones between us, it was great fun to catch up with the team at POPcomms in Bristol, UK, before they headed out to the pub for another inspirational pool game or two. They are known for their interactive presentation designs that come from their extensive experience and skills from doing live events.

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Happy Accidents with Triggers

by Rick Altman, Better Presenting

You never know what you might discover when you thought you were looking for something else.  That is the case when Mary Hampton was looking for a solution on how to control when her info boxes appeared without using a conventional animation sequence. Experienced PowerPoint users know which tool addresses this type of functionality: these are a job for triggers.

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Keeping Your Audience Riveted by Adding Anticipation to Storytelling

by Ellen Finkelstein, Microsoft PowerPoint MVP

Knowing how to craft and then tell a story that keeps your audience riveted and waiting anxiously for the rest of the story is an art form. You can use PowerPoint to tell your story visually and then match it with your voice and script.  If you want to learn more, then your have to read the article.

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