5 Tips for Better PowerPoint Presentations: Page 2

» Step 4: Add Diagrams

If you need a diagram on a slide use the PowerPoint SmartArt tool. To create a SmartArt diagram click Insert > SmartArt and choose the type of diagram to insert.

Some diagrams include placeholders you can use to insert images into the diagram. Once you have selected the SmartArt, click the double-pointing arrows on the left of the object to type the text for each shape.

Alternately you can select text on a slide and, from the Home tab, click the Convert To SmartArt graphic button in the Paragraphs collection to convert the text to a SmartArt graphic. Once you're done, format the SmartArt by selecting a SmartArt Style from the SmartArt Tools > Design tab. To change the colors for the art click the Change Colors button.

The Animate task pane gives you options for animating objects and applying slide transitions to your slides

» Step 5: Transitions and Animations

The final step in preparing your presentation is to select the transitions to take you from one slide to the next. From the Animations tab choose a transition option and, if desired, click Apply to all to apply it to all slides in the presentation — otherwise it applies only to the transition for the currently selected slide from the previous one.

To animate an object on a slide such as a SmartArt diagram, select the object and click an option from the Animations area of the Ribbon and click an option in the Animate dropdown list. Alternately, you can click Custom Animation and animate the object by selecting individual parts of it and specifying how each should be animated. Click Preview to preview the general look of the animation that you have configured.

You will, however, need to run the slideshow to check how the animation will work when you are making the actual presentation. To do this, hold the Control key and click the Slideshow button in the Status Bar.

This displays the slideshow in a small window in the top corner of the screen, allowing you to test the presentation at the same time as making changes to it in the PowerPoint window underneath.

Once you've created your presentation save it as a .pptx or .ppsx file. A .pptx file will open in PowerPoint and can be run from there, and a .ppsx file will run without displaying the PowerPoint screen — although you still need to have PowerPoint installed to run it.

Article courtesy of WinPlanet.