Don't do PowerPoint like this!

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This blog relates to this video....

When I get an idea, I tend to just jump right in and try to get it on a PowerPoint slide as quickly as possible without a thought for my poor audience. After all, I have an interesting story to tell; I'm respected by everybody; why should my PowerPoint presentation distract from all that?

The truth is: What we project to the world should reflect more of who we are. So my mission is to try and help educators do a little more with PowerPoint. We don't have to invest in new technology or new skills to make the most of what we have.

To make a Presentation a little bit more of what it could be, we should do three things. I'll discuss all three briefly in this mini-blog.
  1. We should use background colors that 'rhyme with the time'. To find out what those are, Google "Pantone color of the year". Use the main color discussed and supplement it with complementary ones. Use bold text and fonts that resonates with the color.
  2. Create a colorful image as a backdrop for your text. Pinterest shows these images often.
  3. Avoid text as much as possible. Rather use pictures to convey your story.

Set your background color.

To set your background color, follow a few simple steps. Select: Design, Format Background, Fill, and then select Gradient Fill. Select colors that you want to have displayed at the various color stops. In the example presented, the base color is the 2023 Pantone Color of the Year "Viva Magenta" and one of its contrasting colors.

In addition to the background color, I also decided on a very dynamic slide transition called "Vortex".


Create an image.

I saw a number of "stacked paper" images on Pinterest and decided to try designing my own. To start you have to have a color palette to work with. Below is the Standard MS Office color palette; below it is the Paper Theme palette. Notice the subtle difference in colors:
To get a new theme do the following: Click on Design, under Variants, click the down arrow to open Colors. There is a wide variety of colors to choose from. Choose one that will suit you, or create a brand new one to align with your brand colors.

Insert a curved shape as illustrated below. Make sure the curves close, so that you have a new freeform shape. Make several copies of the shape and fill each copy with a successively darker shade of your chosen color theme. The darker ones should be behind the lighter ones.



Use pictures.

You can now use the stack of images as the basis for your text, but ideally, you should use the minimum of text and rely on imagery to get your message across. (Of course, in most slides you will have to use at least some text.)

By simply clicking on Insert Icons, a world of stock images becomes available to you. In a variety of formats. Many of them can be customized with any color.

My PowerPoint as promised.

This is the PowerPoint I used to create the video.



Learn PowerPoint Interactive Animation
Udemy hosts a course on Interactive PowerPoint Animations that I created. So, please visit it. PowerPoint presentations used in the course can be used as templates for your own animations. Moreover, I sometimes have discount coupons for the course to give away. I post the coupons on my Facebook page, but they go quickly, so I offer them to my mailing list first. Please send me an e-mail johan@myfutureway.co.za
Johan Venter Interactive PowerPoint AnimationJohan Venter Interactive PowerPoint Animation YouTube Interactive PowerPoint Animation

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