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Hi,
In this section I'll be including more tips and tricks, along with some advice and stories from the world of PCs.
Have you ever seen a PowerPoint presentation where the slide titles are in different sizes or fonts? Have you ever had to put your company logo on every slide of a presentation? And then found it to be in slightly different positions on each? Or then have to move it to another position? (on all 30 slides!)
One of the most useful (and under-used) features of Microsoft PowerPoint is the Slide Master. The Slide Master allows us to consistently apply text formats, bullets and pictures across all slides in the presentation. Strictly speaking, there are two Masters to start with, Slide Master and Title Master, and more can be added, but just modifying the basic Masters can save huge amounts of time and give a more professional look to your presentations.
In PowerPoint 2003, from the menu, choose View, Master, Slide Master. In 2007, on the View tab, choose Slide Master.
You can then format text, add elements and change bullets. Click the Close Master View button when done, and you’ll find your changes are applied to all slides in the presentation.
More tricks and shortcuts every day at Twitter – http://www.SeanAtTwitter.com
This article is provided by guest blogger Rebecca Parsley of Montpellier Media, a qualified journalist with almost two decades of experience in the media and public relations industry. Rebecca has excellent contacts in both print and broadcasting media and has worked closely with several publishing companies. Thanks Rebecca!
Lots of people use Twitter to drive visitors to their website. Some of the suggestions below might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised at the number of people who don’t do any of them. Do you?
1. Tweet about new posts to your blog or updated content on your website – and link to it. This is a great way to get instant traffic.
2. A good, snappy title will persuade more of your followers to click on your weblink. ’How to…’ or ‘Five tips for….’ are good examples of popular Tweets. They grab attention and give a preview of what’s on offer. Offering to solve a problem is good too. For example, this post asked if you wanted more traffic from Twitter – presumably, if you’re reading this, you do – so my post has attracted traffic (good for me) and offered you some solutions (good for you). See?
3. Tweet about things of value. Nobody really cares about what time you got up, unless maybe you’re a celebrity. And people like the personal touch – Tweets that are blatant sales pitches won’t attract much attention.
4. Use Google Analytics to track the best days and times to Tweet. Some are better than others – you don’t want to waste a fantastic Tweet or blog post by putting it out there when nobody’s reading. Try different days and times to see what works best for you.
5. If you want people to reTweet your posts, try and keep them to under 120 characters. With only 140 characters available, I want to leave room for the “RT @MontpellMedia” which goes at the start. More ReTweets = more traffic.
1. Reinforcement – tell the audience what you’re going to tell them, tell them it, and tell them that you’ve told ‘em it.
2. Put the major points up front. People remember the early stuff better than they remember the later stuff.
3. Don’t make it too flash, don’t put more than 6 points on a slide, use 2 fonts tops, keep it consistent, use Slide Master.
4. Avoid too much text, use pictures. You're the presenter, not PowerPoint!
5. The audience are more important than you – focus on them.
6. When presenting, use “you” in the first 2 sentences – it’s more personal.
7. On a slide, make the top points the most interesting.
8. Practice the first 2% of the presentation in 20% of your practice time. If you’re comfortable early in the presentation, the later stages are easier.
9. A simple animation can be worth a hundred bullet points. But don't overdo it.
10. Failing to plan is planning to fail. There's no substitute for preparation.
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