Make your point

Before we begin, we’d like to highlight that this workshop is geared at those who have already used the 2003 version of PowerPoint.

1. Create custom slide layouts

If your aim is to keep your company presentations consistent in terms of their design and layout we have good news for you. In PowerPoint 2003 you had to edit an existing slide layout to suit your needs, however in the 2007 version you can create your very own custom slide layout, which is called a ‘Slide Master layout’.

To explain, a slide master manages a group of slide layouts. This means you have a slide master and then an associated title slide layout, a title and content slide layout, a section header slide layout, a two content slide layout and more. The individual layouts inherit their default settings from their parent slide master, and then you can go in and edit each layout to suit your needs.

To create a custom slide, click on the View tab, in the Presentation views section click Slide Master. In the Edit Master section click Insert Slide Master. You can now begin tailoring the master slide to meet your requirements.

2. Design Themes

These are a new feature in PowerPoint 2007 but work similarly to design templates in the 2003 version. In a nutshell, design themes make it easy to co-ordinate your presentation with colours, graphics and fonts that all work together to create a particular mood for your slide show. The best part about these themes is you can see a live preview of the effects immediately. This means you can play around with a number of themes before deciding which one to go for. Here’s how to access Design Themes:

• First, click on the Design tab

• Place your cursor over any of the theme thumbnails shown to see the design reflected immediately on your slide

• Single-click the design theme when you find one that suits you like

Now be aware the design themes that are immediately visible on the Design ribbon are not all the themes available. You can scroll through the existing design themes by clicking on the up or down arrows to the right of the themes windows shown, or click the drop down arrow to reveal all of the available design themes at one time.

Once a style has been selected, you’re not limited to the colour of the theme as it’s currently applied.

• Click on the ‘Colors’ button at the right end of the design themes on the Design ribbon

• Hover your mouse over the various color schemes shown in the drop down list and see a live preview

• Click on the colour you like and it will be applied to the slide.

Sometimes you might want to show display slides without a background image. This is often the case when you want to print. The background graphics will remain with the design theme, but can be hidden from view. Here’s how:

• Check the Hide Background Graphics box on the Design ribbon.

• The background graphics will disappear from your slides, but can be turned back on at any later time, by simply removing the check mark in the box.

Make a statement with SmartArt

With PowerPoint 2003, you can insert WordArt or AutoShapes, however PowerPoint 2007 adds a new tool called SmartArt. SmartArt graphics are basically visual representations of info and ideas that are colour-coordinated and constructed for common purposes, such as listing a number of components or subjects, showing hierarchical relationships and showing the steps of a particular process. SmartArt graphics can be added using the Insert tab, you have tons of graphics to choose from. When you’ve inserted a graphic, the Design tab opens and changes to provide options for editing the graphic you’ve chosen. You can change colours or apply any type of 3D-effect to your graphic by choosing from ‘SmartArt Styles’ in a drop-down list.

Adding tables to your slides

In the 2007 Microsoft Office system, the table feature has been significantly enhanced. It’s now much easier to reuse tables from Word or Excel in a PowerPoint presentation. After you create and format a table in either of these, you can paste the table into an your presentation without having to adjust the table’s look or formatting. Once you add the table, you can use the new table features in Office PowerPoint 2007 to quickly change the table style or add an effect.

In Excel, click the upper-left cell of the table that you want to copy, and then drag to select the table. Next, open up PowerPoint and hit Ctrl + V.

In Word, click the table that you want to copy, and then under Table Tools, on the Layout tab, click the arrow next to Select, and then click Select Table.

Delete private data from your slides

Microsoft has added a new security feature to PowerPoint 2007 (and the rest of the Office 2007 apps) called ‘Document Inspector’. This lets you check your documents for hidden private information or metadata and delete these before you share the file with your friends or co-workers. Private information includes items like speaker notes and comments added to slides. To use this feature, simply click the Start menu button located on the left right-hand corner. Next, navigate to Prepare/Inspect Document. A window will now appear with checkboxes for various types of metadata, including hidden text and custom XML data. Select all the options present and hit the Inspect button. You’ll now see another window displaying what was found in each category.

From PPTX to PDF format

You can now save your presentations in PDF or XPS format, which means it will be much easier to share your work with those who work on different systems such as Linux or Macintosh.

Another benefit of saving your presentation is one of these two formats is it will be almost impossible for others to tamper or edit it. Additionally, printing is easier thanks to the WYSIWUG layout.

Now in order to save your files in these formats, you first have to download a plug-in called ‘Save as PDF or XPS’, available at www.micrsoft.com/downloads.

Once installed, simply click Save As from the Office menu and choose *.pdf or *.xps format (see pic H). That’s it. Simple, isn’t it?