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Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Free Lavender PowerPoint Template and Background
Here is your free PowerPoint template of the week. It features a lavender and white background.
If you prefer, here is the PowerPoint background for the above PowerPoint template.
And here is a thumbnail of what the template and background look like.
Here is your free PowerPoint template of the week. It features a lavender and white background.
If you prefer, here is the PowerPoint background for the above PowerPoint template.
And here is a thumbnail of what the template and background look like.
You can also click on the thumbnail to download the PowerPoint template.
Now if only we could enjoy lavender scented PowerPoint...maybe Microsoft will add smell-o-vision in its next release...
Enjoy!
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
PowerPoint, Multimedia, the iPod, and You...
It's official: the iPod was the "hot gift" this past holiday season. If you have one of these gizmos, you might be wondering how you can get the most out of it.
Here's a PowerPoint presentation I created called "How to Get the Most Out of Your New iPod"....which I converted into a multimedia ebook in PDF format.
(Production Note: Apparently, Microsoft will let you convert your PowerPoint files directly into PDF files in its next release, PowerPoint 12. Until then, OpenOffice Impress already lets you do this, so I took my PowerPoint file, opened it in Impress, and ported it out as a PDF.)
But let's get back to PowerPoint and multimedia: why not imbed links to your media files within PowerPoint? That way, instead of just looking at the slide, your audience can click on the link to hear the audio portion of the presentation.
Or if your audience needs to see more detail, why not just link to a video demonstration within your PowerPoint or PDF file?
Even if you aren't into the whole iPod or podcasting thing, this presentation might serve as an eye-opener for marketers and trainers who need to deliver audio, video, and PowerPoint presentations online. PowerPoint can serve as tool for neatly packaging your other multi-media content.
I know some folks will say, "Why bother with PowerPoint? Why not just post all your files with links on a web page?" And of course, you can do that. In fact, I have a site with every multimedia file in the Podcast ebook.
But using the PDF or PowerPoint approach lets me package the multimedia content, step-by-step. This is often a better approach for marketing -- "Here's a white paper" is easier to grasp that "here's a list of links". It's the same information: it's simply presented in different ways, for different audiences.
It's multimedia food for thought! ¶ 1/11/2006 05:44:00 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
It's official: the iPod was the "hot gift" this past holiday season. If you have one of these gizmos, you might be wondering how you can get the most out of it.
Here's a PowerPoint presentation I created called "How to Get the Most Out of Your New iPod"....which I converted into a multimedia ebook in PDF format.
(Production Note: Apparently, Microsoft will let you convert your PowerPoint files directly into PDF files in its next release, PowerPoint 12. Until then, OpenOffice Impress already lets you do this, so I took my PowerPoint file, opened it in Impress, and ported it out as a PDF.)
But let's get back to PowerPoint and multimedia: why not imbed links to your media files within PowerPoint? That way, instead of just looking at the slide, your audience can click on the link to hear the audio portion of the presentation.
Or if your audience needs to see more detail, why not just link to a video demonstration within your PowerPoint or PDF file?
Even if you aren't into the whole iPod or podcasting thing, this presentation might serve as an eye-opener for marketers and trainers who need to deliver audio, video, and PowerPoint presentations online. PowerPoint can serve as tool for neatly packaging your other multi-media content.
I know some folks will say, "Why bother with PowerPoint? Why not just post all your files with links on a web page?" And of course, you can do that. In fact, I have a site with every multimedia file in the Podcast ebook.
But using the PDF or PowerPoint approach lets me package the multimedia content, step-by-step. This is often a better approach for marketing -- "Here's a white paper" is easier to grasp that "here's a list of links". It's the same information: it's simply presented in different ways, for different audiences.
It's multimedia food for thought! ¶ 1/11/2006 05:44:00 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Sunday, January 08, 2006
The PowerPoint Diet Plan: Fat Free Templates!
It seems that everywhere I turn in January, I see ads for diet plans and exercise products. After over-indulging during the December holidays, marketers demand that we think about personal downsizing.
What a drag, man.
Happily, PowerPoint is a no-cal, fat-free treat. And the folks at Techsmith (makers of the truly remarkable Camtasia and SnagIt products) have a great PowerPoint exercise plan - you can download over 60 sets of free PowerPoint templates at their site.
Talk about a workout! Get your point-and-clicking fingers ready for downloading! My favorites are food-related -- Veggiemania, Fruity, and Harvest Time are particularly nice, and of course, they're completely fat free. Perfect for a training course on good nutrition...
Could it be that visiting the Techsmith site is January's best diet and exercise plan ever? ¶ 1/08/2006 11:17:00 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
It seems that everywhere I turn in January, I see ads for diet plans and exercise products. After over-indulging during the December holidays, marketers demand that we think about personal downsizing.
What a drag, man.
Happily, PowerPoint is a no-cal, fat-free treat. And the folks at Techsmith (makers of the truly remarkable Camtasia and SnagIt products) have a great PowerPoint exercise plan - you can download over 60 sets of free PowerPoint templates at their site.
Talk about a workout! Get your point-and-clicking fingers ready for downloading! My favorites are food-related -- Veggiemania, Fruity, and Harvest Time are particularly nice, and of course, they're completely fat free. Perfect for a training course on good nutrition...
Could it be that visiting the Techsmith site is January's best diet and exercise plan ever? ¶ 1/08/2006 11:17:00 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Business Creativity 2006: Free PowerPoint Presentation
You can download a free PowerPoint presentation about Business Creativity. (The background kinda reminds me of the Laugh-In set...I don't know why.)
The "presentation" is actually a collection of index cards put into a PowerPoint slide format from a January 2006 presentation where I didn't even use PowerPoint.
Just me and a microphone. Fancy that....
Take from it what you want: you can use the set of slides as a break roll, a screen saver, a tarot card deck, a thought-starter, or a swipe file. You can even rip it apart and use the slide background to design your own unique PowerPoint template.
Maybe you can get little animated Goldie Hawns and Arte Johnsons to pop out of little PowerPoint doors for your presentation...now that's retro creativity, man. ¶ 1/05/2006 06:08:00 PM 2 Comments Links to this post
You can download a free PowerPoint presentation about Business Creativity. (The background kinda reminds me of the Laugh-In set...I don't know why.)The "presentation" is actually a collection of index cards put into a PowerPoint slide format from a January 2006 presentation where I didn't even use PowerPoint.
Just me and a microphone. Fancy that....
Take from it what you want: you can use the set of slides as a break roll, a screen saver, a tarot card deck, a thought-starter, or a swipe file. You can even rip it apart and use the slide background to design your own unique PowerPoint template.
Maybe you can get little animated Goldie Hawns and Arte Johnsons to pop out of little PowerPoint doors for your presentation...now that's retro creativity, man. ¶ 1/05/2006 06:08:00 PM 2 Comments Links to this post
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Animated PowerPoint with Talking Parrots - Free Trial
Vox Proxy is a PowerPoint add-in that lets you use 3-D talking animated characters in PowerPoint presentations. In other words, you type in your script, and a bunch of goofy little animated characters – called Avatars -- can hop onscreen and give your PowerPoint presentation for you.
So why would you want to use avatars? Think of some of history’s great comedy teams: if you can’t be funny, you can be a straight man, and let the cartoon character tell the jokes. Or vice versa.
Better yet, you can let a crusty cartoon character play devil’s advocate during your sales pitch. For example, a sarcastic parrot can raise objections and ask the hard questions that you wish the audience would ask nicely. And who knows, maybe your audience will feel so sorry for you at being heckled by your own parrot, that they’ll immediately buy your product.
It could happen.
But another use for Avatars is hidden in the very name of the Vox Proxy product. Think of developing a self-running PowerPoint presentation for a kiosk or a trade show or a self-running sales or training CD – if you can’t give the presentation yourself, why not send a lovable character or two as your proxy?
Vox Proxy uses a Text-To-Speech engine. This translates your written text into speech. And it comes with a small army of characters and voices, and promised to be easy to use.
I installed Vox Proxy and gave it a whirl. Here’s what I did: I found an old, short PowerPoint presentation with my speaker’s notes typed into it (a six minute speech). My first thought was: hey, I’ll just pick a character that sort of looks like me – then cut, copy, and paste my speech into the Vox Proxy script builder. Let HER give the speech.
So that’s why I did. But a funny thing happened….
After a minute of having my character give the speech, I started to hate her. A stiff little character with a monotone voice, she was getting on my nerves. So I started throwing more characters on the screen. A guy in pink shoes. A parrot. A monster. A seemingly drug-addled crayon. I couldn’t stop myself. They all started interacting with each other. Havoc ensued.
It ended up being a circus.
My point is this: some presentations are just not meant to be delivered by avatars! If you’re designing a presentation and you want to use avatars, you’ve got to make it a character-based presentation. Put on your movie producer’s hat, and think like a script writer, not a speech writer. This means developing dialog, plots, action, and interactivity between at least two characters.
You can even BE one of the characters, if you like.
Working with cartoon characters is a ton of fun, and your audience just may end up loving you for it.
For a limited time, you can download VoxProxy for a FREE 30 day trial. ¶ 1/04/2006 06:38:00 PM 1 Comments Links to this post
Vox Proxy is a PowerPoint add-in that lets you use 3-D talking animated characters in PowerPoint presentations. In other words, you type in your script, and a bunch of goofy little animated characters – called Avatars -- can hop onscreen and give your PowerPoint presentation for you.
So why would you want to use avatars? Think of some of history’s great comedy teams: if you can’t be funny, you can be a straight man, and let the cartoon character tell the jokes. Or vice versa.
Better yet, you can let a crusty cartoon character play devil’s advocate during your sales pitch. For example, a sarcastic parrot can raise objections and ask the hard questions that you wish the audience would ask nicely. And who knows, maybe your audience will feel so sorry for you at being heckled by your own parrot, that they’ll immediately buy your product.
It could happen.
But another use for Avatars is hidden in the very name of the Vox Proxy product. Think of developing a self-running PowerPoint presentation for a kiosk or a trade show or a self-running sales or training CD – if you can’t give the presentation yourself, why not send a lovable character or two as your proxy?
Vox Proxy uses a Text-To-Speech engine. This translates your written text into speech. And it comes with a small army of characters and voices, and promised to be easy to use.
I installed Vox Proxy and gave it a whirl. Here’s what I did: I found an old, short PowerPoint presentation with my speaker’s notes typed into it (a six minute speech). My first thought was: hey, I’ll just pick a character that sort of looks like me – then cut, copy, and paste my speech into the Vox Proxy script builder. Let HER give the speech.
So that’s why I did. But a funny thing happened….
After a minute of having my character give the speech, I started to hate her. A stiff little character with a monotone voice, she was getting on my nerves. So I started throwing more characters on the screen. A guy in pink shoes. A parrot. A monster. A seemingly drug-addled crayon. I couldn’t stop myself. They all started interacting with each other. Havoc ensued.
It ended up being a circus.
My point is this: some presentations are just not meant to be delivered by avatars! If you’re designing a presentation and you want to use avatars, you’ve got to make it a character-based presentation. Put on your movie producer’s hat, and think like a script writer, not a speech writer. This means developing dialog, plots, action, and interactivity between at least two characters.
You can even BE one of the characters, if you like.
Working with cartoon characters is a ton of fun, and your audience just may end up loving you for it.
For a limited time, you can download VoxProxy for a FREE 30 day trial. ¶ 1/04/2006 06:38:00 PM 1 Comments Links to this post
Monday, January 02, 2006
How to Podcast from PowerPoint
January 2007 Podcasting from PowerPoint Update: I wrote the following three paragraphs about Podcasting from PowerPoint over a year ago. Ignore it. What worked in 2006 no longer works in 2007! Here is the lastest information I have on How to Podcast from PowerPoint. Thanks, Laura Bergells.
I show you exactly how to podcast from PowerPoint in this 5 minute streaming video titled "How to Podcast from PowerPoint." You'll need the Real Player to view it.
So, not only can you podcast directly from PowerPoint, this very blog entry proves that you can video blog from PowerPoint as well.
Now that's a happy new year! Enjoy! ¶ 1/02/2006 06:02:00 PM 6 Comments Links to this post
January 2007 Podcasting from PowerPoint Update: I wrote the following three paragraphs about Podcasting from PowerPoint over a year ago. Ignore it. What worked in 2006 no longer works in 2007! Here is the lastest information I have on How to Podcast from PowerPoint. Thanks, Laura Bergells.
I show you exactly how to podcast from PowerPoint in this 5 minute streaming video titled "How to Podcast from PowerPoint." You'll need the Real Player to view it.
So, not only can you podcast directly from PowerPoint, this very blog entry proves that you can video blog from PowerPoint as well.
Now that's a happy new year! Enjoy! ¶ 1/02/2006 06:02:00 PM 6 Comments Links to this post
Truly Free PowerPoint Templates / Backgrounds!
Here are six sites I found that offer truly free PowerPoint templates and backgrounds. By TRULY free, I mean that you just can download without giving the site your name or email, or get something free by paying for the first one.
No watermarks, either.
The no-strings attached free download sites that I found are:
Here are six sites I found that offer truly free PowerPoint templates and backgrounds. By TRULY free, I mean that you just can download without giving the site your name or email, or get something free by paying for the first one.
No watermarks, either.
The no-strings attached free download sites that I found are:
- PowerPoint 4 Teachers - 15 really, truly free PowerPoint Backgrounds...
- Simply Presentations - 12 classy PowerPoint templates (.pot)...
- Presentation Helper - 13 v. nice PowerPoint presentations/templates (.ppt or .pot)...
- Big Vision Design - 5 Power Point backgrounds...
- e*pres - 5 zipped ppt presentations that contain abstract backgrounds...
- indezine - free PowerPoint templates and backgrounds
