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Here’s a Free & Easy Way to Create a Storyboard

3 Feb

Learning PowerPoint: free storyboard generator

People are always asking for storyboard templates.  Personally, I just use PowerPoint.  I can put anything on the slide and if I want comments I can add those to the notes section or drop in a simple comment box.  Plus I can edit and preview on the fly. I prefer this more than I do drawing everything out on paper.

In addition, PowerPoint 2010 has some better commenting features and can link to OneNote (which I’ll cover in an upcoming tutorial).  So, I recommend starting with PowerPoint. 

But if you want to create a storyboard and you don’t want to use PowerPoint, here’s a free tool that let’s you do so.

Check the quick storyboard tutorial below.

Click here to view the tutorial.

Here’s a link to the web site that will generate the free storyboard PDF.

Quick Tour of PowerPoint 2010

29 Jan

Learning PowerPoint: PowerPoint 2010 Rocks!

I get a lot of questions about PowerPoint 2010.  Personally, I think it’s pretty slick.  There are a lot of new features.  In fact, I’m starting to put together some simple tutorials on PowerPoint 2010.  I’ll have them listed soon.

You can always check out this blog post where I discuss a recent free PowerPoint 2010 webinar: Become a PowerPoint 2010 Rock Star!

Some of the things I cover in the screencast tour below:

  • sleeker interface
  • access recent files quickly
  • customize the PowerPoint ribbon
  • insert slide sections
  • paste as image option
  • capture and insert screenshots
  • insert math equations
  • sophisticated audio and video features
  • new design themes
  • improved slide transitions
  • smoother animations
  • animation painter
  • animation interface has changed
  • share a link and broadcast your PowerPoint slide shows
  • translation feature
  • links to OneNote pages
  • reading view for quick preview
  • able to open multiple PowerPoint files
  • alignment guides for objects on the slide

Watch tour of PowerPoint 2010’s new features:

Click here to view the PowerPoint 2010 tour.

I’ll be adding some free tutorials soon.  If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. 

Don’t Let the Experts Tell You PowerPoint Sucks

24 Aug

I did a recent webinar on PowerPoint. Here are some of the links that I shared. if you go to the main page you can find more tutorials and links to free PowerPoint templates.

Amplify’d from www.articulate.com
The Rapid E-Learning Blog - Don't let the experts tell you PowerPoint sucks.

PowerPoint Tutorials

Books
The Rapid E-Learning Blog - PowerPoint books
  • Non-Designer’s Design Book: If there is only one book to buy, it’s this one.  You’ll learn all of the basics about typography and visual design.
  • Beyond Bullet Points: Great tips to help organize your content whether presentation or rapid elearning.
  • Better the Bullet Points. Practical tips on using PowerPoint.
  • Slide:ology: Great book on visual design concepts and how to craft better presentations.  They have some good examples of branded templates that do work.
  • Presentation Zen: This book is very similar to slide:ology and will help you learn to communicate better with your slides.  I haven’t read it yet, but his new book is supposed to be good.
  • Back of the Napkin: Great book on organizing ideas and visual communication.
  • Various PowerPoint books: Tufte is a critic of the poor use of PowerPoint.  He offers a lot of good information on how to present complex data.  There are also all sorts of good how-to PowerPoint books.

Free PowerPoint Templates via The Rapid E-Learning Blog
The Rapid E-Learning Blog - iterations for elearning PowerPoint template

Read more at www.articulate.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/95gy


Here’s a Free PowerPoint Template

24 Aug

In a recent post for the Rapid E-Learning Blog, I added share a free PowerPoint template with some tips on how to create your own.

Amplify’d from www.articulate.com
The Rapid E-Learning Blog - example PowerPoint elearning template

Click here to view the elearning template

PowerPoint Tips
  • Create in PowerPoint and then save the images as graphic files.  This way they’re easier to work with in your course.
  • Play around with the backgrounds.  I like to use the default color theme so I can easily apply a new theme.  But adding an image, like a wood panel in this demo, looks really nice.
  • Incorporate some animated elements.  What would it look like to have the note slide out from the bottom?  Or have the cards animate in?
  • Try to get as many of the elements on the master slide as you can.  This saves time in production and speeds up publishing.

Here are some tutorials that show how I created the template with some additional tips.  You can view them via the Screenr links or in the course below.
The Rapid E-Learning Blog - tutorial on how to build the PowerPoint elearning template

Click here to view the template tutorials.

Read more at www.articulate.com
 
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/95g9


Here’s a Quick Tip If You Do PowerPoint Screencast Videos

7 Jun

How to PowerPoint - quick screencast tip for PowerPoint

I work on a 30 inch monitor.  So when I create a slideshow in PowerPoint and want to play it back, it fills my entire screen.  This can be a little overwhelming.

On top of that, when I do a video tutorial I may already have my screen recorder set to a specific resolution like 960×600.  I need to be able to do my screen recording and playback the slide show in the same window.

Here’s a quick tip to help set your slide show playback to a resolution that works with the screen recorder.

 image

Here are the basic steps and then you can watch the tutorial below.

  • Go into Slide Show and then select Set Up Slide Show.
  • Select browse by individual window. This creates a scalable window that you can position inside the screen recorder.
  • I always choose the lowest resolution.

PowerPoint Screencast Tutorial

Click here to view the tutorial.

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