I have done a bit of work in PowerPoint lately. And suddenly I realized what would be my two most important tricks for this horrible tool.
1. Blank Presentation
Never ever use “Design Template” when you start a new presentation. And I assume that most of my readers know that the “AutoContent Wizard” is the biggest joke since the Microsoft Office Paper Clip Helper, so I guess I don’t have to say that AutoContent is something you never want.
2. Blank slide
In PowerPoint there is actually only one slide template that can be used. The blank one. All the other ones force you to keep your presentation boring. Be creative, spend the extra time. Start with a clean slate for every new slide. To save time you can use the “Duplicate this slide” function at some points.
Got that? Okay…
Then please have a look at the paper by associate professor Jens E. Kjeldsen on The Rhetoric of PowerPoint. Nicely done with a video presentation and a possibility to download the paper as a PDF. This is nice reading for your commute back home today.
Then you can read about how to avoid making boring presentations, how to make illustrations and as always keep an eye on Presentation Zen.
eirikso 
Don’t forget the most important button when you are presenting – hit the letter B and the screen goes black. That puts all the attention where it should be – on you the speaker. B again and you are back on screen.
Another handy tip – type a numer and hit enter. You jump to that slide.
Pearse
Yes. The “black”-function is underrated. It emphasizes the most important feature of a presentation: the fact that you are there in person!
Dette var interessant. Jeg har mine egne tanker om dette. Se http://brynjulvraaen.wordpress.com/2006/08/31/mens-jeg-snubler-videre/ som egentlig ikke handler om det du skriver om, men allikevel da?
Okay. That last comment is a bit internal, but super genius Aslak Hellesøy’s return to Norway can’t get by unnoticed… 🙂
More on that later!