is there a program out there that will make gifs or things that you can use in a powerpoint presentation?

basically i want to make an awesome powerpoint presentation, but not use those weird sounds and dumb transitions that come stock on the CD.

anyone know of ways/sites/program/hints to make a powerpoint presentation awesome and beyond the normal types teachers bore you with everyday?

11/8/2006 11:49:29 PM

Draw some sketches and hand it to the publications department.



PS: Less is more. Color is key, only put pictures that actually explain or show something. You are a fucking faggot if you are planning to put that shit in just as decoration.

11/8/2006 11:54:39 PM

unless you are showing some sort of a process in motion that's actually related to your presentation, i would advise you against using animated gifs. Any sort of unnessesary transitions or animation at that. like ^ said, in most cases less is more. if you don't want people to fall asleep during the presentation, make the actual content more engaging

[Edited on November 9, 2006 at 12:17 AM. Reason : drunktypR]

11/9/2006 12:16:05 AM

Quote :

" You are a fucking faggot if you are planning to put that shit in just as decoration. "

who said anything about a publications department you idiot.....and yea, i guess im a @#$@#$ing faggot because i want to put pictures in powerpoint presentation.......you're a moron

11/9/2006 12:19:15 AM

I dunno if pictures (generic clipart pictures) would impress me in a presentation as much as good design.

You know, good graphic design. Steal from the best m8, look up different publications/brochures/magazines that you like and implement their text styles/formats/designs in your powerpoint presentations.

Contemporary is a pretty cool way to go right now.

11/9/2006 1:04:29 AM

Quote :

"Less is more. Color is key, only put pictures that actually explain or show something. You are a fucking faggot if you are planning to put that shit in just as decoration. "

11/9/2006 1:08:37 AM

^oh, you want to reiterate "only put in pictures that show something" too? thanks for the contribution.....should I also put in audio that allow people to hear something?

11/9/2006 1:40:07 AM

"Show something" means "show something important."

Just make your own images though. It's not that hard. Go to websites of graphic designers and copy their ideas.

11/9/2006 1:49:21 AM

Quote :

"Less is more. Color is key, only put pictures that actually explain or show something. You are a fucking faggot if you are planning to put that shit in just as decoration."

11/9/2006 1:55:56 AM

PACKFAN17:
it may sound like these guys are belittling you (and maybe they are) but everything they're saying is dead-on. CONTENT is what makes a good presentation. one huge key is to not just read off of the slide. A slide is supposed to illustrate what you're saying and perhaps outline it, NOT repeat it.

some of the best presentations i've seen have been off of overhead projectors from old school people who actually had something to say (ie they didn't try to cover up ignorance with pretty animations or transitions)

[Edited on November 9, 2006 at 4:08 AM. Reason : .]

11/9/2006 4:07:56 AM

If you can do this presentation on something OTHER than powerpoint, do it. Most people just kind of tune out when someone puts on a powerpoint these days. If you have to do it as a powerpoint presentation then:

Quote :

""Less is more. Color is key, only put pictures that actually explain or show something. You are a fucking faggot if you are planning to put that shit in just as decoration.""

11/9/2006 6:46:25 AM

i would read some of this guy's posts on this blog

Presentation Zen
http://www.presentationzen.com/

[Edited on November 9, 2006 at 7:06 AM. Reason : .]

11/9/2006 7:05:48 AM

Also know your audience, or audiences. The only time I've done anything relatively fancy was for senior design. Most of the time, a spiced up powerpoint won't impress anybody.

Embedded Video
Narration (if not presenting orally)

Oh, and last but not least, make sure if you print the thing out that people can read your slides ... should be able to comfortably read 6 slides per page without having to reformat so it doesn't print white text, etc.

11/9/2006 9:20:59 AM

thanks dfshadow for that site, it was helpful

does stock windows have a program where you can sort of edit photos (other than paint)? Where you can simply type text over a photo, but it will just have the text and not a big square white box with text in it?

11/9/2006 9:51:32 AM

Depending upon your scenario - here are some real suggestions:

#1 - Above all else... the power point slides do not make an 'awesome' presentation... the speaker and content does. Learn and practice presenting. Make sure you know the audience. Know the content inside and out... the most "boring" presentations are those where people just read from the slides. Improvisation is your friend.

#2 - If presenting to a small audience and you are the first or only speaker in the early morning - bring in something like coffee and doughnuts to offer while everyone gets settled and you get fully prepared. Sounds stupid... but people will reflect on your presentation because they had coffee and doughnuts. Plus... coffee will wake their ass up while you talk.

#3 - Do not put in cheesy animations or useless pictures in the powerpoint slides. If you want animation in your presentation, let that come from you and not the slides. Less in a slide truly is more. The only pictures you should ever use should be examples of something that require the image. The reason is quite simple... do not detract from your presentation with useless graphics. People are easily distracted... if they are watching the graphics on your slides they are not listening to you. The only reason people think powerpoints sans graphics are boring (aka.. teacher style) are because they are used to listening to shitty speakers talking about content they could care less about.

#4 - As mentioned a bit in #1... do not fucking read from the slides. Only put bullet points and key concepts that you will be discussing on the slides. The point of your slides are to drive your speech along... not serve as a script for it. Consider it an outline of topics and key figures/notes... nothing more.

#5 - Consider the lighting in the room you are presenting and adjust accordingly. Nothing is worse than putting up something that is going to blind people because it is so blurry or difficult to read. As said before - color is key. Adjust all colors so that nothing is hard on the eyes... nothing is distracting... etc etc... "color is key".

#6 - Print an outline of your presentation for the audience. By outline I mean use powerpoint to print the format which offers lines for note taking on the side. If your presentation is not insanely long and actually has content worth a damn to the listeners... they will appreciate the handouts for being able to take notes and reflect on what you said.

#7 - Do not be a dumbass. I reiterate... know your content and do not just read the slides. A "powerpoint presentation" should be thought of as a speech first... fuck the digital medium on the wall behind you.

#8 - Again this goes back to your ability to present... pace yourself. Do not go too slow or too fast. Make sure your key concepts sink in and that people understand the content. Entertain questions if you feel necessary. Your presentation is worthless if nobody knows what the fuck you are talking about in the end.

[Edited on November 9, 2006 at 9:53 AM. Reason : edit.. damnit..]

11/9/2006 9:52:07 AM

on each slide set the text animation per word and set the per word sound effect to laser.

11/9/2006 9:53:36 AM

On second thought.. do what ^ said and you should rock the house

11/9/2006 9:54:29 AM

Better yet, set it per letter and make it the typewriter noise.

That shit was off the hook in E101 during presentation days.

11/9/2006 10:31:10 AM

Quote :

"does stock windows have a program where you can sort of edit photos (other than paint)? Where you can simply type text over a photo, but it will just have the text and not a big square white box with text in it?"

Don't do this even if you have the ability to.

11/9/2006 10:49:29 AM

dude, if you just want to add text over a picture, do it in powerpoint itself. there's no need to do it in a photoediting program unless you're actually good at doing editing that goes beyond captions. add a text box, type what you want, then change the properties have the area as none...presto - instant captions

but those pics better be absolutely critical to your presentation - otherwise you're just asshating it up

11/9/2006 10:52:45 AM

You can put text in mspaint with out the white box around it. Just change the text background from bakcground color to transparent.

11/9/2006 10:56:18 AM

packfan, how do you like using a computer for the first time?

11/9/2006 11:21:40 AM

I like to put backgrounds on my slides. I'll take a purposeful background (e.g. I was doing a presentation on the homeless in Columbus, OH so I found relevant pictures of homeless in Columbus) and use Photoshop to dim it to about 20-30% transparency. I'll usually convert to B+W to not distract as much. It conveys a lot of gravitas, IMO. Don't do this with unrelated pictures.

11/9/2006 11:46:44 AM

text over pictures isnt a good idea

11/9/2006 11:59:58 AM

make the color of the slides the same color as your shirt

11/9/2006 12:03:29 PM

hopefully he's trying to do something like this with the text overlay:
http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2006/10/inspiring_visua.html

and not something obnoxious

11/9/2006 12:51:00 PM

Madman: Horrible idea, makes me want to shoot myself

^That only works well if the ENTIRE presentation is done that way, and requires someone with a) well composed and flowing photos to work with and b) graphic sense.

Neither of which Packfan17 apparently has

11/9/2006 2:42:15 PM

yea ive been using a computer for a while - had a mac way back in the day with a 8" x 8" black and white screen.....then 10 PCs since, hell I can I say I spent $250 on a 2400 baud modem back in the day!

11/9/2006 6:24:04 PM

looking back, yeah I guess it's not as visually appealing as I thought. I really did make the background close to 80% in terms of transparency in photoshop.


[Edited on November 9, 2006 at 7:29 PM. Reason : .]

11/9/2006 7:28:54 PM

Get Keynote, and use one of the stock templates. It's a stock template, but not being PowerPoint, people won't be used to it. Plus Keynote has cooler transitions.

11/9/2006 7:33:24 PM

transitions are retarded.

11/9/2006 8:15:40 PM

Quote :

"packfan, how do you like using a computer for the first time?"

Haha.

11/9/2006 8:28:22 PM

I'm not sure if that's your slide or not, but I see only a few things on there:
-Findings, Perception, Spatial Reality, Two Checks, Two X's.

Anything else I'm not going to read, even if I'm in the audience, listening and bored. Too much to comprehend at once.

11/9/2006 9:10:33 PM

^Agreed.

[Edited on November 9, 2006 at 9:13 PM. Reason : .]

11/9/2006 9:12:59 PM

^^That is my slide, and your conclusion is pretty ideal if you think about it. You are probably antipathic towards it yet you've conveyed that you saw the "important" elements: two of the perceptions were accurate (checks), two were inaccurate (X's). If you cared to find out why, you'd read the text. Thanks for approving my presentation.

Not to mention it's not even full screen.

I'm a huge opponent on hugeass text slides, but c'mon. It's effective enough.

[Edited on November 9, 2006 at 9:21 PM. Reason : .]

11/9/2006 9:14:19 PM

Two more from the same PPT (this was a rather rushed production, so I understand it is so-so):



[Edited on November 9, 2006 at 9:24 PM. Reason : order]

11/9/2006 9:23:20 PM

For the record, I think there is a fine art between having too much text and having too little.

I've been often annoyed when people give powerpoint presentations and simply have two or three words per slide. Why have a powerpoint at all? It's like a frickin' GWB "talking point".

11/9/2006 9:26:58 PM

^^ Those two slides are examples of good use of pictures. They seem to convey some sort of technical info that you would be talking about. (The pictures could be better, though)


This original poster sounds like a toddler with a loaded gun, though. Every time a shitty power point presentation is born, an angel dies.

11/9/2006 10:11:44 PM

Just keep this in mind: the key metric by which all PowerPoint presentations will be judged is. . . AWESOMENESS.

11/9/2006 10:30:41 PM

Quote :

"(The pictures could be better, though)"

I know this, but all of those slide backgrounds come from a google image search-meets-photoshop.

At the end of the day, I felt OK.

[Edited on November 9, 2006 at 10:49 PM. Reason : because GIS is a buzzword]

11/9/2006 10:43:12 PM

this got a little hostile

11/10/2006 6:03:45 PM

http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/

Read this site about piss-poor design inherent to powerpoint

11/10/2006 11:47:35 PM

I swear to fucking christ; a good presentation is created by its content - otherwise everybody would be paying $texas to go look at blank power point slides (but with cool graphics!!111)

if you do anything more than try to make your presentation look clean and easy to read, then you're bullshitting and your audience will know it

[Edited on November 11, 2006 at 12:19 AM. Reason : s]

11/11/2006 12:16:48 AM

^^ haha gg

11/11/2006 1:02:37 AM

excoriator - why the foul language.....do powerpoints excite you that much? and why do you have pictures of skinning people in your gallery.....you're sick in the head

11/11/2006 1:32:49 AM

yea i wonder why EXCORIATOR has pictures of skinned people in his gallery durrrrr

and yes, shitty powerpoints with no content (but awesome graphics!!!1!) piss me off - they waste my goddamned time

[Edited on November 11, 2006 at 9:35 AM. Reason : s]

11/11/2006 9:35:34 AM

porn

11/12/2006 6:48:55 PM