When we are working on multiple versions of a PowerPoint file, it is possible to get confused as to which one is the final version. This is especially true when a team or a group is working on a PPT. One member updates something and sends it to the other. The PPT crosses multiple hands multiple times and you keep saving the file as version 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and so on. If you are working on such a presentation and you have the final version, PowerPoint 2010 now allows you to easily 'mark the presentation as final' . The moment you or your colleagues or friends open this version, they will be intimated that this is the final version and they will be discouraged to make any changes to the file. How to mark a presentation as final? Open the presentation. Go to File . Under Info option on the left, go to Permissions and click on the square box named Protect Presentation . Then choose Mark as Final . Save the file and exit. That's it. If you re-open the file, on the statu...

If you go to a studio in India to get a Passport size photo clicked, it will easily cost you Rs. 100 for 8 photos (that's $2). I made it at home using MS PowerPoint and got 6 photos for Rs. 8 (14.55 cents). This blog post will tell you how. There are four steps involved. Taking your photograph Improving the photograph (adjust contrast/brightness) Setting it up in PowerPoint Getting the print Step - 1 Taking the photograph Take any digital camera and get a close-up picture of yours taken. Transfer the image onto your computer. For the purpose of this blog post we will use Sachin Tendulkar's photo. Step - 2 Improving the photograph (Optional) When you take a photograph with a digital camera, you might need to touch up your photo.  If the original image you have taken is looking good to you then you can skip this step. For editing follow the instructions. Open MS PowerPoint 2010. Insert the image on an empty slide. Insert -> Picture -> Select your p...

Mr. B is making a presentation. He is sharing a brief story with his audience. His audience consists of five people. He has only 5 slides and each slide just has two sentences (no images). After his very brief presentation, the CEO says, "I did not understand anything. Can you forget the slides and tell me the story?" This is a true incident. It just goes to show that we are being ruled by our own software. If you have a small 5 minute story to tell, do you really need a PPT? It is better if you stand up and narrate it. The audience will love you for that.

Imagine this scenario. You are making a presentation to a large gathering. You are standing on the stage and talking. Suddenly the power goes off. Your projector is off. The generator will take 30 seconds to start. The projector will take a lot of time after that to restart. There is an awkward silence in the room. What will you do? Answer this question before reading further. This happened to a speaker recently and his response was outstanding. This is what we call thinking on one's feet.  Few minutes before the power cut, the presenter was talking about uninterrupted power supply in his factory. The factory runs all day long and the generator is so good that when the power fails, there is no interruption. Not even for a second. Hence the machines never stop in his factory. This was one of the 10 things he had said about his plant. When the power went off, he was quite for a while. Not knowing what to do. He could have apologised or felt nervous or kept quite. Instead he c...

Two weeks back we organised a conference.  It was a large room which had 160 people in the audience.  There were three speakers who were presenting at the conference. The presenters were speaking from a podium (on the stage) with two big screens to showcase their slides. As I sat on the last bench I made the following 5 observations: #1 Avoid text at the bottom of your slide The people were seated in 10 rows. The people in the last few rows were having trouble seeing the bottom 30% portion of the slide (see the actual image on the right).  The seats were not like what you see in the image below (a theatre style). All the chairs were at the same level and  the screen was not fixed too high up. In case you are presenting to a large gathering and the audience is going to be sitting on same level make sure you write nothing at the bottom of the slide. Mark the bottom 30% of the slide area as a 'no text zone' . #2 Use large size font This is common sense bu...