I get questions about this all the time. For years, I studied how to use Macromedia Flash. I finally gave up on it because it was so complex. Around 2000, someone introduced me to Swish - the easy version of a program that creates Flash animations and man, was I ever glad.
Swish is much much more user friendly and intuitive than Flash was for me and I started creating lots of Flash movies and putting them in PowerPoint. (You can find the free flash movies here as well as some swish templates to play with as well.)
This is really the best time to start using Swish because they have just come out with a new version.
If you use swish you can modify some of the free templates on the brainybetty site with your own text and create fabulous moving animations with video, sound and more.
I love to play with the program and still do for my really special presentations where I am wanting to make a big impact visually.
Have a great weekend, and don't forget to buy candy for the 31st if you are in the U.S. for Halloween!
Nan @ brainybetty
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
PowerPlugs has over 120 new backgrounds
Energize PowerPoint Presentations with 3D, Flash, Templates, Backgrounds, Photos, Plugins, Charts & More
Energize PowerPoint with stunning 3D transition effects, cool Flash animations, sophisticated 3D charts, TV-style animated 3D titles, beautiful templates, inspiring photos and more! For more information, please visit www.CrystalGraphics.com.
One of my faves is the video backgrounds. I used to go to the huge seminars and the best speakers always had some subtly moving background - it always kept your attention and made you gaze at the content.
Lots of people have been writing me lately aso about adding music to presentations. CG's Music for PowerPoint is really easy to use and the libraries of music are fabulous for everything from corporate type of music to newsroom to educational. On this page scroll down and test out the PowerPlugs: Music item on the left. (You can preview music available there.
Oh! Be sure and sign up for the Brainy Betty newsletter here. We'll be coming out with our October End special with new free template sets - Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving themed and much more!
Have a great week!
Nan
Energize PowerPoint with stunning 3D transition effects, cool Flash animations, sophisticated 3D charts, TV-style animated 3D titles, beautiful templates, inspiring photos and more! For more information, please visit www.CrystalGraphics.com.
One of my faves is the video backgrounds. I used to go to the huge seminars and the best speakers always had some subtly moving background - it always kept your attention and made you gaze at the content.
Lots of people have been writing me lately aso about adding music to presentations. CG's Music for PowerPoint is really easy to use and the libraries of music are fabulous for everything from corporate type of music to newsroom to educational. On this page scroll down and test out the PowerPlugs: Music item on the left. (You can preview music available there.
Oh! Be sure and sign up for the Brainy Betty newsletter here. We'll be coming out with our October End special with new free template sets - Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving themed and much more!
Have a great week!
Nan
Crabby Office Lady
The Crabby Office Lady demystifies PowerPoint and PowerPoint terms on this Microsoft site. For me, the most useful information was on Themes in PowerPoint 2007. (20 come with the program).
Have a great week!
Nan @ brainybetty
Have a great week!
Nan @ brainybetty
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Wow! You can do THAT with PowerPoint?
You won't believe your eyes when you see the things you can do in native PowerPoint. Take a look at what some visionary thinkers are doing at PowerPoint Heaven.
You'll find some true artistry - but just knowing that they used only the PowerPoint program to create these works - well, it gives me hope for the rest of us! It can be done. :)
Crystal Graphics has a new sale going on on their image library - they now have over 1,000,000 (whew) images and you can get a one year subscription for just $99! A year subscription gets you 100 downloads over a 12 month period (NOTE: Each image bought separately is $7.95 - so this is a really great offer.)
But hurry - these sales don't last too long! And good grief, I know I have seen enough stock free stuff in presentations over and over again. $99 is worth it to get new content. Get it here soon before the sale is over.
You'll find some true artistry - but just knowing that they used only the PowerPoint program to create these works - well, it gives me hope for the rest of us! It can be done. :)
Crystal Graphics has a new sale going on on their image library - they now have over 1,000,000 (whew) images and you can get a one year subscription for just $99! A year subscription gets you 100 downloads over a 12 month period (NOTE: Each image bought separately is $7.95 - so this is a really great offer.)
But hurry - these sales don't last too long! And good grief, I know I have seen enough stock free stuff in presentations over and over again. $99 is worth it to get new content. Get it here soon before the sale is over.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
How to share PowerPoint presentations with Gmail
Here's a great how-to article from PC Advisor about using PowerPoint and Gmail for those of us with mac friends or on other platforms...
Friday, October 05, 2007
Webinar: Cliff Atkinson's Webcast - Watch, Listen and Learn
Most people would agree that you have to capture an audience's attention in the first moments of delivery, or else you have already lost them. Yet when it comes to Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentations, the first slides usually have titles like, “Overview,” “Our Company,” “Our Services,” etc. Attend this webcast to learn tips and tricks for starting strong with PowerPoint every time by using the Beyond Bullet Points approach. Discover how you can use classical story elements to create dramatic suspense and to ensure that the beginning of your story sets the stage for an engaging presentation to come.
Presenter: Cliff Atkinson, Communications Consultant, Sociable Media
Cliff Atkinson is a leading authority on how to improve communications across organizations. He is a popular keynote speaker, writer, and independent management consultant whose clients include companies ranking in the top five of the Fortune 500. Cliff is not only the president of Sociable Media in Los Angeles, but also a teacher at UCLA Extension, a senior contributor for the MarketingProfs newsletter, and writer of the Beyond Bullets blog. Cliff is also the author of Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire (Microsoft Press, 2005).
Presenter: Cliff Atkinson, Communications Consultant, Sociable Media
Cliff Atkinson is a leading authority on how to improve communications across organizations. He is a popular keynote speaker, writer, and independent management consultant whose clients include companies ranking in the top five of the Fortune 500. Cliff is not only the president of Sociable Media in Los Angeles, but also a teacher at UCLA Extension, a senior contributor for the MarketingProfs newsletter, and writer of the Beyond Bullets blog. Cliff is also the author of Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire (Microsoft Press, 2005).
PowerPoint Users: Get the magic back with Transitions and 3D Titles and Marcia Martin - Speaker/Coach Extraordinaire!
There's nothing I hate more than a boring presentation - content is king, but I have seen so many corporate presentations with slide after slide of text and standard graphics, it's quite painful to sit through these - especially in a live environment.
One way to keep your audience engaged while you are presenting is to use transitions in PowerPoint - not the standard ones, PowerPoint comes with - but some they are not used to seeing in SlideShow mode. Seeing something new and exciting always tends to keep people "awake" during a presentation - especially if it is a presentation that is technical in nature.
You can see examples of what I am talking about here and here.
But even before you create the presentation, learning how to present is an art. Some speakers command your attention, easily persuade, build rapport with the audience and seem to magnetically attract success whereever they go. In the coming month, I will be talking more about learning the "ART" of presenting with the help of my friend and mentor, Marcia Martin of powerspeak.com and the Vice President of the Transformational Leadership Council.
A little about Marcia:
Marcia Martin has been a Teacher of Success for over 30 years in the Transformational Training Business. She is renowned internationally for being one of the leading Life & Executive Coaches, and Transformational Trainers in the World today.
Marcia is considered to be one of the original pioneers of the Human Potential Movement, and was instrumental in training many of the executives and managers of the leading transformational training companies, including Esalen Institute, Landmark Forum, Technico, Life Spring, Insight, Actualizations, International Federation of Coaches (IFC), Sports Mind, Self Esteem Seminars, Tony Robbins Seminars, Human Potential Project, Money & You, Accelerated Learning, and Delfin International.
She is the Executive Vice President and a Board Member of The Transformational Leadership Council (TLC), a not-for-profit association she helped co-found in 2004 with Jack Canfield, the famed author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. As the Executive Vice President of TLC she is responsible for Program Development, Event Production, Media, and Communication.
In July of 2005, she was selected by Rhonda Byrne, the Executive Producer of the world phenomena DVD and Book, The Secret, to be one of the TLC Teachers to be interviewed for the film, and is a recognized expert in teaching the Law of Attraction. She is also the Associate Producer and a regular guest host of the international television series, Positive Living TV, to be shown in over 100 countries by the end of 2008.
In 1971, Marcia was one of the original founding members of est, Erhard Seminars Training, the largest human potential training and educational company in the World. As the Senior Vice President of est, Marcia was responsible for training the trainers, graduate and guest seminar leaders in the arena of enrollment, sales, and presentation skills. She managed the Communication Registration Division and created the Guest Seminar Leaders Training Program (GSLP). Her responsibilities for the est organization included marketing, public relations, sales, promotional campaigns, production and filling of all est events & programs, the opening of new centers, registration systems, and managing the Creative Department.
In 1980, Marcia became the COO and Vice President of Marketing of Tsuru, an international design and marketing corporation, which manufactured and marketed fashion jewelry designs by world acclaimed designer, Laurel Burch. Marcia managed marketing, operations, and staff training, and had offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Hong Kong and Beijing.
In 1985, Marcia founded her own consulting and transformational training company, MM Productions, (also known as Power Speaking Seminars). As the CEO and President, Marcia currently delivers corporate and public trainings, seminars, and courses that teach people to be successful, and how to create the results they want in their lives and in their organizations. Marcia’s clients include: Inter-Continental Hotels International, Loews Hotels International, Capital One Financial Services Inc, Chase Manhattan Bank, and Warner Brothers. She has personally trained and coached over 150,000 people worldwide to be more effective in their lives and communication.
One way to keep your audience engaged while you are presenting is to use transitions in PowerPoint - not the standard ones, PowerPoint comes with - but some they are not used to seeing in SlideShow mode. Seeing something new and exciting always tends to keep people "awake" during a presentation - especially if it is a presentation that is technical in nature.
You can see examples of what I am talking about here and here.
But even before you create the presentation, learning how to present is an art. Some speakers command your attention, easily persuade, build rapport with the audience and seem to magnetically attract success whereever they go. In the coming month, I will be talking more about learning the "ART" of presenting with the help of my friend and mentor, Marcia Martin of powerspeak.com and the Vice President of the Transformational Leadership Council.
A little about Marcia:
Marcia Martin has been a Teacher of Success for over 30 years in the Transformational Training Business. She is renowned internationally for being one of the leading Life & Executive Coaches, and Transformational Trainers in the World today.
Marcia is considered to be one of the original pioneers of the Human Potential Movement, and was instrumental in training many of the executives and managers of the leading transformational training companies, including Esalen Institute, Landmark Forum, Technico, Life Spring, Insight, Actualizations, International Federation of Coaches (IFC), Sports Mind, Self Esteem Seminars, Tony Robbins Seminars, Human Potential Project, Money & You, Accelerated Learning, and Delfin International.
She is the Executive Vice President and a Board Member of The Transformational Leadership Council (TLC), a not-for-profit association she helped co-found in 2004 with Jack Canfield, the famed author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. As the Executive Vice President of TLC she is responsible for Program Development, Event Production, Media, and Communication.
In July of 2005, she was selected by Rhonda Byrne, the Executive Producer of the world phenomena DVD and Book, The Secret, to be one of the TLC Teachers to be interviewed for the film, and is a recognized expert in teaching the Law of Attraction. She is also the Associate Producer and a regular guest host of the international television series, Positive Living TV, to be shown in over 100 countries by the end of 2008.
In 1971, Marcia was one of the original founding members of est, Erhard Seminars Training, the largest human potential training and educational company in the World. As the Senior Vice President of est, Marcia was responsible for training the trainers, graduate and guest seminar leaders in the arena of enrollment, sales, and presentation skills. She managed the Communication Registration Division and created the Guest Seminar Leaders Training Program (GSLP). Her responsibilities for the est organization included marketing, public relations, sales, promotional campaigns, production and filling of all est events & programs, the opening of new centers, registration systems, and managing the Creative Department.
In 1980, Marcia became the COO and Vice President of Marketing of Tsuru, an international design and marketing corporation, which manufactured and marketed fashion jewelry designs by world acclaimed designer, Laurel Burch. Marcia managed marketing, operations, and staff training, and had offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Hong Kong and Beijing.
In 1985, Marcia founded her own consulting and transformational training company, MM Productions, (also known as Power Speaking Seminars). As the CEO and President, Marcia currently delivers corporate and public trainings, seminars, and courses that teach people to be successful, and how to create the results they want in their lives and in their organizations. Marcia’s clients include: Inter-Continental Hotels International, Loews Hotels International, Capital One Financial Services Inc, Chase Manhattan Bank, and Warner Brothers. She has personally trained and coached over 150,000 people worldwide to be more effective in their lives and communication.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)