How to PowerPoint

While there are a lot of complaints about clip art, the reality is that we still use quite a bit of it.  In previous posts, I’ve shared how to create your own clip art and how to use the same clip art styles to maintain a consistent look.

In today’s post, we’ll explore ways to quickly find clip art using the Microsoft Office online site.   You’ll learn how to:

• Customize how many images you see and how large they are
• Use the clip art properties
• Find images of a similar style
• Search via keywords

Clip Art Tutorial

Click here to view the tutorial.

The Rapid E-Learning blog had a good post on how to create your own handwritten fonts.  I covered it in a bit of detail on a recent post about adding visual interest to your slides.

As soon as the font post was published, I got a bunch of emails asking how to install the fonts.  So here’s a quick tutorial that shows how to install new fonts to your PC.  You’ll see it’s pretty easy.

Click here to view the tutorial.

Here are the basic steps:

• You can right click on a font, and select install. 
• Or open your control panel.  Look for the fonts folder.  Then drag and drop the font to the folder.  It should install automatically.

The Rapid E-Learning Blog has a post on 5 Easy Tips to Whip Your Slides Into Shape. It teaches you how to work with the PowerPoint shapes.  These are great tips for beginners.

In the post, you’ll learn:

• How to size and scale objects
• How to move objects and keep them aligned
• How to apply the format painter
• How fill objects with colors and images
• How to create custom shapes

It’s a good post if you’re just getting started or want to learn some new tips.  There are also links to some other good PowerPoint-based posts. 

Here are some good tips that will help speed up your development time in PowerPoint.  While the post references elearning, you can apply the ideas to all types of PowerPoint use.

In the post, How to Be More Productive When Using PowerPoint to Create E-Learning Courses, you’ll learn three key concepts:

• Move objects off screen so you don’t have to go back and forth.  The viewer can’t see them during the presentation.
• Create a staging area by using a blank slide that sits under the real slide
• Hide slides that aren’t being used.  You have quick access to them, but the viewer can’t see them. 

There’s a lot more detail in the blog post and a quick tutorial that explains it all.

If you read this blog or the Rapid E-Learning Blog, then most likely you’ve seen a few posts on how to group and ungroup clip art.  It’s an easy way to modify and create the clip art images you need.

I’ve gotten quite a few emails asking for some tips and tricks when doing this.  So here’s a quick tutorial that shows you how I work with the ungrouped clip art images.

Working with Ungrouped Clip Art Tutorial

Click here to view the tutorial.

So there you have it, an insider’s peek into working with ungrouped clip art.

The Rapid Elearning Blog has a great post on five basic PowerPoint tips.  They teach you how to work with objects on the screen and offer some time-saving tips.

In the tutorial, you’ll learn to:

• Selecting objects

• Duplicating objects

• Grouped objects

• Keyboard shortcuts

• Right clicking

• Grids & guidelines

This is great stuff for a beginner.  Check out the tutorial on the Rapid E-Learning Blog if you want to learn more.

The Rapid E-Learning Blog has a good post on how to copy and paste content in your slides.  There are some good short cuts.

There’s even a cool tip on how to use the images stored on your clipart as a repository during your design process. 

Check out the blog post and the quick tutorial to learn more.