Blueprint for a Successful Presentation by Biswajit Tripathy - HTML preview

Creating a Template

When you complete this chapter you will know about

1. Creating Custom Templates
2. Create a Design Template
3. Add a template to Autocontent Wizard
4. Animating Design Templates

Creating Custom Templates

With PowerPoint you can easily change presentation styles. Depending on the available material and category of audience you are addressing, you may want to select specific styles or keep a consistent style for a topic or series of lessons. In case you don’t

If at any time you select a style that you do not want to use for your presentation, you can easily and quickly change to another style. Or you can try several different styles to find one that fits your presentation. Design templates are used to change the styles at one go. In this chapter we will show you how to create your own design template

P.S. If none of the templates suit your needs or you want to create a presentation with a unique appearance, start with a blank presentation and follow the steps for designing a template. To open a blank presentation, click New on the File menu.

 

To create a design template

 

To build your own template, start with a new blank presentation, and select the blank new slide option.
Click the OK button, and then, from PowerPoint’s main menu, select View| Master| Slide Master.
When the slide master appears on the screen, you'll see a fairly black-and-white uninspiring template.
You can, however, change the fonts, colors, and background of the slide.
Begin by setting the background color: right-click over a blank area of the slide (outside any of the frames) to view a menu of options for adjusting the template's background and color schemes.
From the menu, select Background to introduce the Background dialog that controls background colors.

From the Background dialog, you can select from the default palette of colors, click on the More Colors option to introduce more colors still, and/or click on the Fill Effects option to introduce a variety of pattern/fading color options. (You might want avoid the fill effects, since they can potentially interfere with the clarity of text elements on the screen: if you do use fill effects, always double-check for visibility and clarity.)

Once you've set your background color, you can adjust the slide color scheme: this lets you choose default colors for a variety of elements that might appear on your slides. Again, start by right-clicking over a blank area of the slide (outside of any frame). Select the Slide Color Scheme option from the context menu that appears. You'll then be presented with a two-tabbed dialog, as illustrated below:

A range of preset color combinations appears under the Standard tab. Under the Custom tab, you have the option of setting screen element colors one at a time. Make your adjustments as you'd like and then click the Apply to All button.

Next, you'll want to adjust the Font styles, the Bullet styles, and the Animation Effects. To do this, you'll need to click on the screen element you'd like to adjust (i.e. the title area) to highlight its border.
Then right-click on the selected frame to bring up a context menu of possible actions.
For differing slide elements, you'll want to set differing properties, as outlined below:

 

Title Style : Set only the font and font color; avoid applying animations to titles.

Text Style : Font colors and animations can be set for the entire Text area by selecting the frame; alternately, individual heading levels can have font sizes, colors, bullet styles, and animations set one at a time if you select each line individually and right-click on a single line.
Date/Footer/Number Styles : Animations should be avoided here. Font sizes and colors can be set.

Finally, if you'd like to include a picture (or a logo) as part of your slide template, you can use the Insert|Picture item from PowerPoint's main menu, and then add to your template whatever image you'd like. You should remember also that right-clicking on a picture and selecting the Order option allows you to send the picture behind the text elements on your screen.
That's it. Your template is finished. Click on File|Save As and select Design Template (*.pot) from the Save as type field. Give your template file a name in the File Name field, and then click the Save button.

The next time you create a presentation, you'll be able to apply your very own design template by selecting it from the list of options under the Format|Apply Design Template list of templates.

 

To create a content template

• Open an existing presentation or template that you want to base the new template on.
• Change the presentation or template to suit your needs.
• On the File menu, click Save As.
• In the Save as type box, click Design Template.
• In the File name box, enter a name for the new template and then click Save.

To add a template to the AutoContent Wizard

• On the File menu, click New and then click the General tab.
• Double-click the AutoContent Wizard and then click Next.
• Select the category that you want your template to be displayed in (you cannot add to the All or Carnegie Coach categories) and then click Add.
• Find the template you want to add and then click OK.

Animating PowerPoint Design Templates You've learned a great deal about creating an effective PowerPoint presentation. Here's the piece that will separate your presentation from all the rest: animating PowerPoint's own design templates.
Drawing upon your knowledge of using Slide Masters, of grouping and ungrouping objects, of re-coloring objects, and animation, you can add your own personal touches to PowerPoint's own Design Templates.
For the most effective animation, choose those designs that contain concrete objects, such as twinkles, tropics, and theater, rather than blended and shaded designs.
To animate template designs,

1. Choose VIEW: Master: Slide Master.
2. Click in an empty place on the slide (not in a text box).
3. From the Drawing Toolbar, choose DRAW: Ungroup.
4. Press ESC to deselect all the objects.
5. Click on the object you wish to animate (remember you can group objects to have them function as a single entity.)
6. Choose SLIDE SHOW: Custom Animation.
7. Choose your animations options.

Animate any other objects you desire.