Copyright: Copyright 1996 - 2003. Corel Corporation. All rights reserved.
Citation: Copyright 1996 - 2003. Corel Corporation. All rights reserved.


Adding special effects

Add transitions, animations, links, multimedia files, and much more to your slide show to make it more entertaining and persuasive.

As you add effects, remember to keep your message foremost. A dazzling slide show that leaves everyone exclaiming over the audio-visual elements should also reinforce the message you want them to remember.

For example, you do not have to use the same transition for each slide, but you should not make them so different from each other that the audience is wondering what the slide will do next, instead of what the next point will be.


Adding special effects to text

Add interesting visual effects to text to emphasize your points in a slide show. You can also use these text objects in logos, letterheads, banners, cards, and much more.

You can:

 Add text to clipart

 Contour text around drawn shapes

 Make text appear three-dimensional

 Warp text into different shapes

 Use TextArt to create graphics out of words


After the presentation

When you have finished presenting, it is often helpful to evaluate how it went. Evaluating your presentation after it is over can help you refine and improve the objectives, slide content, speech material, and your own effectiveness as a presenter.

Ask yourself these questions:

♦	Did I accomplish your objectives? How do I know?

♦	How did the audience react during the slide show?

♦	What worked well during my slide show? What could I improve?


Aligning objects

You can move, center, align, rotate, and even mirror objects on your slide. Whenever you create or select an object, the Graphics menu appears on the property bar. Use the options listed on the menu to manipulate any object on your slide. Remember that Corel Presentations treats anything you add (bitmap, bulleted list, clipart, data chart, organization chart, and text) as an object.

If you have created a set of objects that need to stay in the same relationship to each other, select the objects, then click Group from the Graphics menu to keep them together as you size, move, and align them. Double-click the group to edit each object individually.


The background layer

Use the background layer to add, delete, modify, and name backgrounds in a slide show master. You can choose page backgrounds, orientations, and margin settings that will apply to all the slides in your slide show to give the slide show a professional, consistent look.

Add clipart, bitmaps, and other elements to the background layer when you want them to appear behind the text, data charts, and other elements in the layout layer of the slide show. For example, you may want to put a company logo on the background layer so that it appears on every slide.

You can create your own slide show master by designing a group of backgrounds and layouts. Create a background first, then create layouts, such as text and data charts, and link them to the background for a consistent look. When you are finished, save the new master in a masters category folder (such as 35mm, Color, Printout, or a new category folder you have added). The next time you create a new slide show, your master will appear in the Master Gallery under the appropriate category.

For more information about the background layer and other layers in Corel Presentations, see Applying backgrounds and layouts to slides


Building drawings

You can add any kind of object to a drawing. In Corel Presentations, everything you add to a slide is an "object," including drawn shapes, clipart images, data charts, organization charts, text boxes, bulleted lists, and bitmaps. Select the objects you want to create, and you will be guided through the process.

Before you can edit, move, or choose options for an object, you need to select it. For example, to remove an object, click [image], click the object to select it, then press Delete

Use the options on the Graphics menu (found on the property bar whenever you have an object selected) to move, size, rotate, and align objects on the drawing.


Building slides

After you choose a layout for the current slide, double-click the placeholders to add your own text and information.

You can add any kind of object to any slide in your presentation. In Corel Presentations, anything you add to a slide is an object. This includes bitmaps, bulleted lists, clipart, data charts, organization charts, and text. After you add the object, move and size it to fit on your slide.

Double-click any object to edit it.

Before you can do anything to an object, you need to select it. To select an object, click [image] and click the object to select it. You can then size and move the object by dragging, delete the object, change its colors, and so on.

To delete a slide, click Edit [image] Delete.


Changing organization chart views

To make your organization chart easier to edit, print, and understand, you can zoom in on a specific branch. That branch will fill your screen so you can print or display only that portion of the chart. Then, you can zoom to another branch, or go back to the full-chart view. Even though you can not see some of the positions, they are still there.


Choosing chart elements

Make your charts more informative and useful by adding helpful elements such as labels, a legend, and titles.

You can also annotate your chart. After you finish designing the chart and filling in the data, click outside it. Use text lines and text boxes to create annotations over the chart. When you have them all typed and positioned, select the chart and all the annotation boxes, then right-click and click Group so that you can move the chart without displacing the annotations.


Choosing a page format

Choose the page formatting options you want to use for the drawing. Choose a page size (how large the paper is), orientation (landscape or portrait), and margins to fit your design and your printer.

Choose background colors for a drawing, especially if you are going to print it in color. You can choose solid, pattern, gradient, texture, and picture backgrounds. Choose a background that emphasizes the design and content of the drawing instead of overshadowing it or making it difficult to read.

Posters, banners, and signs

You can also format a drawing across several pages (as large as 6 sheets of paper wide and tall) to create a banner, poster, or sign.

Banners can help you advertise, make announcements, and mark locations. Banners are single drawings printed across several sheets of paper, usually in a single, long row.

 can become

Posters can help you advertise, make announcements, and mark locations. Corel Presentations lets you create a poster from a drawing with any elements you want to use. Posters are single drawings printed across several sheets of paper, usually in a square or rectangular shape.

 can become

When you have finished designing the poster or banner, you can print it across several sheets of paper and tape the paper together.


Choosing a slide show look

A slide show is much more interesting and effective when it uses appealing, appropriate colors. It is best to use a consistent look from slide to slide to keep the audience's attention on the message, not on wondering what colors the next slide will be.

Use a predefined master to help give your slide show a consistent look with well-designed backgrounds and color schemes. Each master contains a set of color-coordinated layouts. Layouts are predefined slides with nicely formatted objects (such as titles, subtitles, data charts, organization charts, bulleted lists, and text areas). Use them so you can concentrate on the content of your slides rather than on their layout and background.

You can add objects (logos, text, and so on) to the layout and background layers if you want to use them in every slide, or on selected slides. For example, you can add your company's logo to the Title layout, so that your logo shows on each slide using that layout. If you want the logo to appear on every slide in the show, put it on the background.


Creating and converting bitmaps

You can create your own original bitmaps in the Bitmap Editor, or you can import other bitmap files and edit them. Use the Bitmap Tools to add painted lines, air brush effects, selective erasing, and other elements to the bitmap. All the Drawing Tools work in the Bitmap Editor as well. The Bitmap Editor also gives you a wide variety of special effects that you can apply to all or part of the bitmap.

You can also save an entire slide or selected objects on a slide as bitmaps, or convert any object on the slide into a bitmap.

For more information about using the bitmap tools, see Creating original artwork.


Creating bitmaps

You can create your own original bitmaps in the Bitmap Editor, or you can import other bitmap files and edit them. Use the Bitmap Tools to add painted lines, air brush effects, selective erasing, and other elements to the bitmap. All the Drawing Tools work in the Bitmap Editor as well. The Bitmap Editor also gives you a wide variety of special effects that you can apply to all or part of the bitmap.

For more information about using the bitmap tools, see Creating original artwork.

As you edit a bitmaps, you can use the Undo button [image] on the property bar to reverse any editing change you do not like. If you want to cancel all the changes you have made, click File [image] Cancel bitmap to return to the slide without the changes.

It is sometimes helpful to zoom in closer to a bitmap so you can make precise changes. Click View [image] Zoom to enlarge the bitmap so that you can edit individual pixels.

You can also make the bitmap area smaller or larger. For more information about sizing and cropping bitmaps, see Modifying bitmaps.


Creating a slide show
Creating the slide show

Now that you have done the preliminary work, you can begin to create your slide show by organizing and creating your slides. Start by choosing a slide show master that sets the tone for your presentation.

You will actually create your slides using the Outliner view.

Your slide outline should contain the three basic divisions of a presentation:

Opener

Your title or text slide should make a statement about the subject of your slide show and its final objective.

Get the attention of your audience by using a title slide with a thought-provoking question or challenging statement. Then, use a text slide with an anecdote or famous quote to lead in to the main body of your slide show.

Main body

Present your information, facts, and images by creating bullet, text, organization, data, or combination chart slides in the Outliner view.

Combine title slides with clipart images to separate and introduce the main sections of your slide show.

Prepare speaker notes for each slide.

Conclusion

Use bulleted list slides to summarize and reinforce the key points you made during the slide show. A title slide with a clipart image can serve as the ending slide. You may also attach a blank slide to the end of a slide show to give a logical stopping point.

Next: Practicing and improving


Creating text boxes and text lines

You can create a single line of text, or type in several paragraphs at once.

The Text Line tool [image] lets you create a single line of text that extends from where you click to the right margin. A text line will not allow a hard return or wrap text when it reaches the margin.

The Text Box tool [image] lets you create a paragraph of text that expands downward as you type, to accommodate multiple lines and paragraphs of text.

You can also import text from other files into text boxes. All you need to do is create a text box, then import the text you want to add from another file. The text box expands downward to accommodate the length of the text. If you want to widen the text box, drag the borders at the sides to expand the box. After you close the text box, you can drag to position it on the slide.

If you need to resize the text, select it, then drag a corner handle to make the font larger or smaller. Drag a side handle to reformat the text box so that the lines wrap into a smaller or larger area.


Designing bulleted lists

Customize your bulleted lists to look exactly as you want them to. You can choose different font faces, sizes, and colors for each level of the bulleted list. Usually, the font gets smaller with each succeeding bullet level, so the first level is the largest.

Create titles and subtitles by choosing center justification and no bullets for the two top levels in a bulleted list. Titles and subtitles usually use a larger font and brighter color than the bulleted items.

As you create your own bulleted list style, remember to keep the style and appearance of the bulleted lists consistent with the master or background you are using. For example, use light-colored text on a dark background, and use colors that harmonize instead of clashing.

When you have finished designing the look of the bulleted list, you can save the style to use in other bulleted lists you create in this slide show or another. For more information, see Saving and applying bulleted list styles.


Designing data charts

As you format your chart's visual appearance, keep these points in mind:

♦	Choose options that make your data clearer

♦	Avoid garish and clashing colors or extreme perspective options

♦	Use colors similar to but not too close to the color of your slide background.

When you finish designing the look of the data chart, you can save the style to use in other charts in this slide show or in others.


Designing organization charts

The visual appearance options you choose apply only to the boxes you have selected. If you want to apply a change to the entire chart, right-click the chart and choose Select all from the QuickMenu.

When you have designed your organization chart, you can save the look of it to use in other organization charts in this slide show and others.


Displaying drawing guides

As you add bitmaps, bulleted lists, clipart, data charts, organization charts, and text, it is often helpful to display the grid and ruler, and alignment guides. These help you precisely position and size the objects as you draw or insert them.

Turn on Snap to grid to force every object you insert or draw to conform to the grid lines. This makes it easier for you to line up and size all the objects in the drawing window. It applies when you create bitmaps, clipart, data charts, organization charts, bulleted lists, and text areas, as well as when you draw geometric shapes and lines.

You can pull alignment guides onto the drawing window from both the side and the top rulers. Choose Snap to guides to force objects to align with the guides for precision positioning and sizing.


Drawing shapes

You can instantly add basic shapes, then size, rotate, and position them. Right-click an object, then click Object properties to choose fill colors, line styles, and shadows for any shape you create.

You can also draw a wide variety of lines and filled shapes by clicking the drawing tools on the toolbar and tool palette. For more information about the drawing tools and what they do, see Drawing and editing shapes in slide shows and drawings


Drawings

While Corel Presentations is primarily a program designed to help you give professional, informative slide shows, it also comes with an impressive array of easy-to-use, powerful drawing tools. You can add bitmaps, bulleted lists, clipart, data charts, drawn shapes, organization charts, and text areas to single-page drawings as well as slides.

Corel Presentations makes it easy for you to create your own clipart and illustrations to use in WordPerfect and other types of documents by saving your designs as WordPerfect Graphic (.wpg) files. Use organization and data charts to quickly convey complex information both inside documents and as printed pages. You also can make single-page flyers and signs, as well as printing your drawings as multiple-page posters and banners.

When you save a drawing, you save the single page as a .wpg file. You can use any of your .wpg files as clipart in other applications, such as WordPerfect.

Designing and creating drawings with objects

You can add any kind of object to a drawing. In Corel Presentations, everything you add to a slide is an "object," including drawn shapes, clipart images, data charts, organization charts, text boxes, bulleted lists, and bitmaps. Select the objects you want to create, and you will be guided through the process.

Before you can edit, move, or choose options for an object, you need to select it. For example, to remove an object, click [image], click the object to select it, then press Delete.

Use the options on the Graphics menu (found on the property bar whenever you have an object selected) to move, size, rotate, and align objects on the drawing.


Editing bitmaps

A bitmap is a graphics image formed by a series of dots (pixels). A bitmap is also referred to as a paint image, a raster image, or a pixel image. Scanned photographs and images created in "paint" applications are bitmaps.

Corel Presentations includes a powerful Bitmap Editor that lets you create and customize any bitmap simply by double-clicking it. If you run out of room while creating or editing bitmaps in the Bitmap Editor, you can enlarge the bitmap frame. Changing the size of the frame not only alters the bitmap, but also changes its size and position when you return it to the drawing window. You can also resize the bitmap frame to cut away parts of the bitmap, such as extra white space or unwanted parts of the image. Any part of the image moved outside the resized frame is deleted when you return the bitmap to the drawing window.

You can also size the bitmap right in the drawing window. The Resample Bitmap feature helps you optimize the display of a bitmap object on your monitor by automatically adjusting the bitmap resolution after you have make it larger or smaller in the drawing window. This in turn affects the actual size of the file on a disk or hard drive.

If you want to change the bitmap into a set of vector objects for clearer printing, you can use Trace Bitmap. A vector object is a whole object and is treated as such. Objects created in the drawing window, such as charts, text lines, and drawings, are vector objects. Bitmaps are formulated pixel by pixel. Because of this, a bitmap may look jagged when printed or enlarged. Vector objects, on the other hand, are formulated through mathematical calculations and maintain a high resolution when printed or enlarged. This feature is most useful on simple black and white or color bitmaps. You should avoid using Trace Bitmap for converting complex images such as grayscale or photographic bitmaps.

You can also save an entire slide or selected objects on a slide as bitmap images, or convert any object on the slide into a bitmap.


Editing chart data

To open the Chart Editor to edit a data chart on your slide, click [image] on the tool palette, then double-click the chart. If you are already in the Chart Editor, you can start editing data right in the datasheet.

Once you begin entering data into the datasheet, you can edit, format, and sort it. If you have Auto redraw enabled, your chart automatically updates to show your changes. If you do not enable Auto redraw, you can click View [image] Redraw to update the chart.


Editing drawn shapes

Corel Presentations gives you a wide selection of drawing tools that let you create all kinds of lines, curves, and shapes. Use them to produce your own logos, clipart, diagrams, decorations, and much more.

In addition, you can size, rotate, skew, stretch, position, and otherwise modify shapes (and any other objects on a slide, since Corel Presentations treats bitmaps, bulleted lists, clipart, data charts, organization charts, shapes, text boxes, text lines as objects, too).

Drawn shapes include lines, curves, filled objects, arrows, rectangles, circles, and so on. Double-click a drawn shape so you can edit it by moving editing handles. To select multiple handles, press Ctrl while you click the handles you want to select.

These are the menu items included in the QuickMenu for editing objects:

♦	Add: Click to insert a new point between the selected handle and the next handle.

♦	Delete: Click to remove the selected handle.

♦	Open: Click to remove the segment between the selected point and the next point drawn to create an open object.

♦	Close: Click to complete the outline of an object by connecting the first and last handle of an object's outline. When an outline is closed, the object can be filled

♦	To curve: Click to create a curve at the selected handle.

♦	To line: Click to replace the curve with straight lines.

♦	Smooth: Click to soften a curve.

♦	Symmetric: Click to even the length of the direction lines on a curve.


Editing shapes in clipart images

Clipart images are made up of a series of objects, shaped and overlaid to create the final image. You can edit and customize any graphic image. Before you can edit any object, however, you must select it.

When you edit a shape, you actually change the way it is put together. This is called editing the shape's "points." Double-click a shape to view its editing handles. Handles mark the places where you can bend or separate a shape's outline. A handle appears at each point where a shape changes direction or adds a corner or curve. A rectangle, for example, has an editing handle on each corner. Clipart images are made up of many drawn shapes, and each one has several editing handles.

To edit the shape, you select and move handles. You can also select multiple handles by pressing Ctrl while you click the handles you want to select.

Drawn shapes include lines, curves, polygons, closed curves, and so on. After double-clicking a shape, select and right-click a handle to see the QuickMenu options you can use. These are the menu items included in the QuickMenu for editing shapes:

♦	Add: Click to insert a new point between the selected handle and the next handle.

♦	Delete: Click to remove the selected handle.

♦	Open: Click to remove the segment between the selected point and the next point drawn to create an open object.

♦	Close: Click to complete the outline of an object by connecting the first and last handle of an object's outline. When an outline is closed, the object can be filled with a color, pattern, gradient, texture, or picture.

♦	To curve: Click to create a curve at the selected handle.

♦	To line: Click to replace the curve with straight lines.

♦	Smooth: Click to soften a curve.

♦	Symmetric: Click to even the length of the direction lines on a curve.


Editing slides

When you have chosen layouts and backgrounds for your slides, added the objects you want, and so on, you can edit the slides and all the objects on them.

If you are using predesigned slide layouts, you can add and edit the text for titles, subtitles, bulleted lists, and text boxes in the Outliner. To display the Outliner view, click the Slide Outliner tab.

When you need to rearrange your slide show, go into the Slide Sorter, where you can drag slides to place them, and have the entire show automatically renumbered. To display the Slide Sorter view, click the Slide Sorter tab.

Adding elements and customizing slides in the Slide Editor

After you choose a layout for a slide, double-click the placeholders to add your own text and information.

You can add any kind of object to any slide in your presentation. In Corel Presentations, anything you add to a slide is an object. This includes bitmaps, bulleted lists, clipart, data charts, organization charts, and text. After you add the object, move and size it to fit on your slide.

Double-click any object to edit it.

Before you can do anything to an object, you need to select it. To select an object, click [image] and click the object to select it. You can then size and move the object by dragging, delete the object, change its colors, and so on.

To delete a slide, click Edit [image] Delete.


Editing text boxes and text lines

Once you have created a text area or line, you can edit it by selecting it and double-clicking. You can also apply new fonts and attributes to the entire text by selecting it without double-clicking.

To select words and phrases in a text line or text box, drag across them to highlight them. You can easily move highlighted text by dragging and dropping it at another location in the text box or text line.

You can use formatting options such as indents, justification, and line spacing to make text look exactly right.

To make a text box or line wider or narrower, select it, then drag a side handle to the desired location. The text box changes shape, and the text inside wraps to conform to the new border.

If you want to make the text larger or smaller, click the text box or text line, then drag a corner handle. The point size of the font changes as you drag.

If you want to add more text to a text box, double-click it and type the text you want to add. The text box automatically expands downward as you type in more text. Text lines do not include more than one line of text.


Finishing drawings

Be sure to save your work frequently!

Once you have finished creating and editing your drawing, adding elements, and making sure it looks the way you want it to, it is time to let others see it. You can save it as a .wpg graphic to use in other documents. You can also print it or email it.

It is often helpful to print a draft copy of your drawing first, to make sure everything looks the way it should. If you are printing to a monochrome printer, be sure to adjust the drawing for black and white printing.

You can even save a copy of your drawings as JPEG and GIF files to publish on the World Wide Web.


Finishing drawings
To save the drawing as a JPEG or GIF file

1	Click File [image] Save as.

2	Choose GIF or JPG from the File type list box.

3	Choose the drive and folder where you want to save the file.

4	Type a filename in the Filename box.

5	Click Save.

6	In the Export dialog box, choose a predefined sized from the Predefined sizes list box.

7	Choose a unit of measure from the Units of measure list box.

8	Choose a resolution from the Resolution list box.

9	Enable a color option.

 Tips

•	Corel Presentations will automatically add the appropriate file extension, based on the format you selected.

•	You can also specify the size of the file by typing values in the Width and Height boxes.


Finishing a slide show

Be sure to save your work frequently!

Once you have finished structuring your slide show, adding elements, and putting in special effects, it is time to let an audience see it. Be sure to spell check and look at each slide carefully to catch any errors.

Printing slide shows and handouts

Now that you have your slide show ready, you can print out each slide, all the slides, the audience notes, speaker notes, and handouts. You may want to print a slide as a test, just to see how it looks on the page or transparency.

Playing slide shows

You can play a slide show with Corel Presentations, or create a portable slide show that you can play on any computer running under the same operating system, even if Corel Presentations is not installed.

Publishing slide shows

You can format your slide show in HTML format for display on the World Wide Web, or create a fully functional Internet slide show with Show It!

Emailing slide shows

You can send an electronic copy of your slide show as an email attachment, if your mail package accepts attachments.


Formatting text boxes and text lines

You can use formatting options such as indents, justification, and line spacing to make text look exactly right.

To make a text box or line wider or narrower, select it, double-click, then drag a side or corner handle. The text box automatically expands downward as you type in more text. Text lines do not include more than one line of text.


Getting ready to present
Getting ready

Before you begin to create your slide show, you need to explicitly state why you are giving the presentation, and what information you need to give. To help you determine exactly what you need to do, write your objectives down. Writing objectives can also serve as a way to evaluate your slide show and guide you in determining the content of your slides and speaker notes. Start each objective with a noun or action verb and be specific about the results you expect.

Ask yourself these questions:

♦	What do you want the audience to learn or be able to do at the conclusion of your slide show?

♦	Are your objectives realistic and attainable by your audience?

After you have the purpose and objectives of the presentation written down, you need to tailor your presentation to fit your audience.

Ask yourself these questions:

♦	How much does your audience already know about the subject?

♦	What do they expect or want to know?

♦	What is the audience's education, age, and career orientation?

♦	Do you want to entertain, motivate, sell, or instruct?

Next: Creating the slide show


The layout layer

A slide layout is a predesigned template containing placeholders for titles, subtitles, bulleted lists, text, data charts, and organization charts. All the elements of a layout are coordinated to give a slide show a professional, consistent look.

Use the layout layer to add, delete, modify, and name layouts in a slide show master. You can also assign a new background to a layout, and specify color schemes, attributes, and appearance options for each type of object on the layout.

You can create your own slide show master by designing a group of backgrounds and layouts. When you create a master, create a background first, then create layouts and link them to the background for a consistent look. Add placeholders for bulleted lists, text, data charts, and organization charts for the layouts. Choose how each element will look and where it will appear on the layout. When you choose appearance options for charts, text, and so on, the layout includes the style, not the data you type.

When you are finished, save the new master in a Masters category folder (such as 35mm, Color, Printout, or a new category folder you have added). The next time you create a new slide show, your master will appear in the Master Gallery under the appropriate category.

For more information about the background layer and other layers in Corel Presentations, see Applying backgrounds and layouts to slides


Making organization charts fit

As you create an organization chart, you may need to modify it so that it fits on a single page and is still readable. Here are some tips for making your organization chart fit:

♦	Change the box size to fit the boxes to the text instead of to the largest box on the level.

♦	Use a multiple-column branch structure to fit many subordinate boxes into a small area.

♦	Modify the branch structure and orientation. For example, you can display the first level in a single horizontal line, then display the second level in vertical columns.

♦	Maximize box spacing to eliminate unnecessary white space around boxes.


Playing slide shows

You can play a slide show with Corel Presentations, or create a portable slide show that you can play on any computer running under the same operating system, even if Corel Presentations is not installed.


Practicing and improving

Before you give your presentation, you need to practice, review, and edit your slide show. Ask yourself these questions:

♦	Is the pacing of your slides and spoken words adequate to hold the attention of your audience?

♦	Do the slide contents relate to your objectives?

♦	Does each slide present one concept? Is the concept clear and direct?

♦	Does the slide show master fit the tone of the slide show?

♦	Are the slides in the right order? Use the Slide Sorter to rearrange them.

These tips can help you create an effective slide show:

♦	Avoid using more than five slide transition types for an entire slide show.

♦	Where appropriate, use drawings or Clipart images with your slides to add emphasis to text or data.

♦	Check the spelling in the Outliner view using the Spell Checker.

♦	Anticipate questions the audience will ask.

♦	Consider printing handouts for participants using audience notes.

Next: Presenting your slide show


Presenting your slide show

Follow these suggestions to give an interesting, informative presentation.

♦	When the audience arrives, have the opening title or text slide of your slide show displayed on the monitor.

♦	If you have printed audience notes, pass them out before you begin the presentation so participants can follow along and take notes during your slide show.

♦	Be enthusiastic, genuine, and understandable.

♦	Keep eye contact with your audience while you speak. Use your speaker notes only occasionally.

♦	Vary the tone of your voice to add interest and maintain audience attention.

♦	Ask for questions from the audience periodically.

♦	Use the Highlighter to emphasize figures in a data chart or to call attention to a particular point in a bulleted list.

♦	End your slide show on time.

♦	If participants did not receive audience notes at the beginning of the slide show, hand out copies of your slides or speaker notes at the end of your presentation.

Next: After the presentation


Printing drawings

It is often helpful to print a draft copy of your drawing first, to make sure everything looks the way it should. If you are printing to a monochrome printer, be sure to adjust the drawing for black and white printing.


Printing slide shows and handouts

Now that you have your slide show ready, you can print out each slide, all the slides, the audience notes, speaker notes, and handouts. You may want to print a slide as a test, just to see how it looks on the page or transparency.


Publishing slide shows

You can format your slide show in Java and HTML format for display on the World Wide Web.

For more information about publishing options, see Internet and electronic publishing, and Publishing slides and drawings as HTML documents.


Shaping objects, text, and images

You can shape any object to achieve interesting effects.

You can:

 Size objects proportionally. For more information, see Resizing objects

 Stretch objects horizontally or vertically. For more information, see Resizing objects

 Skew objects left, right, up, or down. For more information, see Flipping, rotating, and skewing objects

 Make objects appear three dimensional. For more information, see Creating 3-D objects

 Warp objects into other shapes. For more information, see Molding objects

 Blend objects to see intermediate colors and shapes. For more information, see

Blending objects

 Combine objects to create cut-out shapes. For more information, see Arranging objects

Before you can shape an object, you must select it. You can also size an object proportionally by selecting it and dragging the corner handles, or stretch it by dragging the side handles.

To rotate or skew an object, right-click and click Rotate. Rotation handles will appear around the object. You can then rotate the object by dragging the corner handles, or skew it by dragging the side handles.

Use the options on the Tools menu and the Graphics menu on the property bar to reshape objects.


The Slide Outliner

Use the Slide Outliner to create your slide show in much the same way you create an outline using WordPerfect. Specify a layout for each slide in the Slide Outliner, then type in the title and subtitle text for each slide, and the main body of text for a Bulleted list, Text, or Combination layout.

Once you have created your slide show in the Slide Outliner, you can return to the Slide Editor to personalize and edit the slides you added to your slide show.


The Slide Sorter

Use the Slide Sorter to display a thumbnail sketch of each slide in your slide show. Double-click a slide to edit it in the Slide Editor. You can rearrange the order of your slides using the Slide Sorter. When you drag a slide, the vertical red bar indicates the position the slide will take when you release the mouse button. Corel Presentations reorders and renumbers each slide. The colored bar indicates the position the slide takes when you release the mouse button.

From the Slide Sorter, you can also select slide options and display detailed information about the various settings used for each slide in the current slide show. For example, you can view the transition and advance options of each slide. Thumbnails that appear dimmed or faded in the Slide Sorter indicate a skipped slide that will not be displayed when you play the slide show.


Slide shows
Tips for creating and presenting slide shows

Use these tips and suggestions to help you make the best slide show possible and improve your presenting skills.

Getting ready

Creating the slide show

Practicing and improving

Presenting your slide show

After the presentation


Text boxes and text lines

In Corel Presentations, paragraphs are called text boxes, and single lines of text are text lines. You can edit text inside these areas just as you would in WordPerfect. Once you click outside a text box or text line, you can move, size, rotate, skew, group, and duplicate it exactly like any other object.

You can create a single line of text, or type in several paragraphs at once.

The Text Line tool [image] lets you create a single line of text that extends from where you click to the right margin. A text line will not allow a hard return or wrap text when it reaches the margin.

The Text Box tool [image] lets you create a paragraph of text that expands downward as you type, to accommodate multiple lines and paragraphs of text.

You can also import text from other files into text boxes. All you need to do is create a text box, then import the text you want to add from another file. The text box expands downward to accommodate the length of the text. If you want to widen the text box, drag the borders at the sides to expand the box. After you close the text box, you can drag to position it on the slide.

If you need to resize the text, select it, then drag a corner handle to make the font larger or smaller. Drag a side handle to reformat the text box so that the lines wrap into a smaller or larger area.


Using clipart

Using clipart helps make your slides more interesting. It also emphasizes and underscores ideas in text slides, data charts, and bulleted lists. You can overlap clipart images on text, charts, and even other clipart images to achieve exciting effects.

Use the Scrapbook to select a clipart image to place in the current drawing window. The Scrapbook displays a wide variety of images, all arranged in category folders. For example, if you wanted a picture of a robin, you would double-click the Animals folder, double-click the Birds folder, then select Robin.

Use the grid, ruler, alignment guides, and Snap to Grid to help you combine and overlay clipart with precision.

After you insert an image, you can select it, then size and move it into place on your slide just as you would with any other object.


Annual Report Slide Show

Presenting an Annual Report slide show lets you tell your customers, employees, investors, and others about your business in the past year. It should be quite comprehensive, giving you a chance to discuss your history, goals, accomplishments, profits, expenditures, stock profile, future plans, and much more.

It is easy to create an attractive, informative annual report presentation to summarize how your business performed. Be sure to include useful, interesting information and to choose an attractive, appropriate background and color scheme.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Annual Report slide show, see these topics:

Executive Overview

Mission Statement

Company Description

Historical Background

Corporate Citizenship

Stock Information

Financial Highlights

Financial Summary

Objectives Accomplished

Company Organization

Department Reports

International Reports

Other Changes

Products and Services

Marketing

Our Markets

Strategic Partners

Planning for Next Year

Growth Possibilities

Market Opportunities

New Markets

New Products/Services

Objectives for This Year

Summary

Thank You for Coming!


Company Description

Describe your company, including its products, purpose, location, and any other basic facts you want your audience to know about your company.


Company Organization

Describe your organization, giving overall information. Do not go into detail, but briefly review the basic structure of your company, outlining the different divisions or departments and what they do.


Corporate Citizenship

Talk about your company's ethical standards, charity work, integrity, and so on. This is your chance to highlight the beneficial, philanthropic, and/or environmentally conscious work your company has done in the past year.


Department Reports

Highlight each department or division in your company and talk about what they did last year. You may want to add a slide for each department to give more emphasis to specific achievements.


Financial Highlights

Briefly show the last year's financial highlights. Review expenditures, income, gains, losses, and other information.


Financial Summary

Give a brief overview of company finances at the end of the year. Review capital, debts, equity, profits, expenses, and so on.


Growth Possibilities

Talk about upcoming areas of growth, technological advance, and so on. You do not need to go into detail, but give an overall view. This section should not give away any strategic plans, but should outline a general philosophy about company growth.


Historical Background

Give a brief history of your company. Talk about who founded the company, where, when, and why. Review the major turning points and achievements in the company's past.


International Reports

Talk about any events and developments in international areas or departments. Point out any areas of growth or expansion overseas, and give other information about your international operations.


Market Opportunities

Talk about the opportunities you see arising in the market during the coming year. You do not need to go into detail, but give a general outline of the advantages you see.


Marketing

Discuss the success of last year's marketing campaigns, promotions, packaging, and so on. Highlight particular ads, commercials, and other marketing efforts. Explain why your marketing efforts succeeded or failed.


Mission Statement

Review your company's Vision and/or Mission statement. This statement expresses the purpose and intent of your company. Use it to help your investors, customers, and employees understand what your business is all about.


New Markets

List markets where you see potential for growth or breakthrough. Outline the ways in which you plan to take advantage of the new markets, or which markets you want to move into. You do not need to go into detail. This section should not give away any strategic plans.


New Products/Services

List and describe the new products or services you plan to introduce next year. Give a general outline of their features, as well as an estimate about when they will be available in the market.


Objectives Accomplished

Talk about your goals for last year and how you accomplished them. Give specific examples and facts. If you failed to meet any of your goals, explain why. Outline plans for making sure you meet your goals for next year.


Objectives for This Year

List your objectives for next year and how you plan to accomplish them. Make sure your objectives are specific, detailed, and measurable.


Other Changes

Tell about new acquisitions, major reorganizations, and so on. Review any major change in the way you do business, or whom you do it with. Talk about any turnovers in management, the discontinuance of products or services, and the introductions of new systems or ways of doing things.


Our Markets

List the markets your company currently competes in and how you expanded the markets in the last year. Explain how the current market trends affected your business, and how you plan to develop the markets in the future.


Planning for Next Year

List trends and issues your company faces and how you will deal with them. You do not need to go into detail, but give an overall view. This section should not give away strategic plans. It reassures your investors, employees, and customers that you have done your research carefully and have formed plans to take your company into the next year.


Products and Services

List each product or service your company sells and talk about it. List features, facts, market share, availability, selling volume, and other information.


Stock Information

If your company sells stock to investors, give a basic overview on how the stock sold over the last year. Review information on stock numbers, performance, prices, and so on. Give reasons explaining why the stock performed the way it did.


Strategic Partners

List and discuss the strategic partnerships and alliances you have made. Talk about the other companies you work with, what they do for you, and what you do for them. Explain how the partnerships have affected your company in the past year.


Summary

Give a brief summary of your presentation. Review this year's accomplishments, opportunities in the future, and the goals for next year.


Thank You for Coming!

Close with encouragement and thanks to the audience. Remind them of your company's successes and mission statement.


Award or Tribute Slide Show

An Award or Tribute slide show helps you recognize achievements and reward them. Prepare carefully when you present an award or tribute. Gather all the necessary information, then double-check it to make sure it is correct and up-to-date.

Adjust the tone of your presentation and the look of the slide show to fit both the person and the occasion.

As you create the slide show, be sure to include all the relevant information. Make it interesting for the audience as well as the recipient. Be careful not to embarrass anyone with inappropriate comments. Finally, remember that everyone likes a short presentation!

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Award or Tribute slide show, see these topics:

Title

Describe the Award

Accomplishments

Present the Award

Conclusion


Accomplishments

List the recipient's accomplishments. These may be strictly related to the award, or you may include biographical information and details.


Conclusion

Give the recipient a chance to say a few words. Review the recipient's accomplishments and the significance of the award.


Describe the Award

Name the award and state its significance. You may also list other recipients of this award.


Present the Award

Display the recipient's name and relevant information on a slide while you present the award.


Title

Give the title and purpose of your presentation.


Budget Report Slide Show

Use a Budget Report slide show to explain the budgeting for the past year and what you plan for next year. Include statistics, forms, and spreadsheets for estimated budgets, actual budgets, and differences. Be sure to explain any discrepancies, as well as the ways you plan to increase the accuracy of your budgeting practices for the next year.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Budget Report slide show, see these topics:

Agenda

Executive Overview

Estimated Budget Amounts

Actual Budget Amounts

Account Information

Current Appropriations

Permanent Appropriations

Allotted Amounts

Sources of Revenue

Income from Products and Services

Receipts by Department

Total Income

Expenses

Expenditures by Department

Department Budget Outlays

Total Expenditures

Deficits

Debts

Surpluses

Fiscal Year Gain/Loss

Budget Process

Budget Considerations

Future Budget Considerations

Amount of Change in the Budget

Conclusion

Summary

Thank You for Coming!


Account Information

Show the information for any accounts, including checking, savings, shares. Show the current balances, with the year's transactions, deposits, withdrawals, interest charges or dividends, and other details.


Actual Budget Amounts

Show the amounts you actually used for each department, project, area, and so on. Explain why the estimated and actual amounts differed, and how you can plan better in the future.


Agenda

List the items you plan to cover, the allotted times, and the names of other presenters, if any. Make sure every member of the audience has any necessary handouts showing further details or giving more information.


Allotted Amounts

Show how much you currently allot to each department, project, area, and so on. You may show the exact amounts, the percentages of the total, or both.


Amount of Change in the Budget

Project how much the budget will have to grow or shrink for the next year, and why. You may want to display a chart showing budget trends over the last few years.


Budget Considerations

Explain how you budget and criteria and information you use to plan your budgets. Considerations you might list include issues, trends, services, salaries, and so on.


Budget Process

Explain how you create a budget. Be specific enough so that your audience understands the steps you go through and the criteria you use. Give a time line for completing next year's budget.


Conclusion

Give an overall view of how budgeting worked. Explain what went right and how to repeat that success. Explain what went wrong and how to avoid mistakes in the future. Review your budget forecast for next year.


Current Appropriations

Show the amounts of money you have currently in hand from all sources, permanent or temporary. These would include both the money you get every year and one-time funds such as grants, special project funding, and so on.


Debts

Show how much you owe, and in what areas.


Deficits

Show deficit amounts, and in what areas.


Department Budget Outlays

Show how each department spends its money. You may show monetary amounts, percentages of the budget, or both.


Estimated Budget Amounts

Show the amounts you originally budgeted for each department, project, area, and so on. This is the budget on which you are reporting.


Expenditures by Department

Show how much your company spent per department, committee, product, and so on. You may balance this with another chart showing the income for each department, division, or area.


Expenses

Show how much money your company spends overall. You may balance this with your income charts, to show where the money comes from as well as where it goes.


Fiscal Year Gain/Loss

Summarize your gains and losses for the fiscal year. If you need more detailed information, attach a spreadsheet.


Future Budget Considerations

Explain changes you foresee occurring inside your company, in the market, in the industry, and other areas. Discuss the ways these changes will affect the budget next year, and why.


Income from Products and Services

Show your income, divided by category, product, geographic area, and so on.


Permanent Appropriations

Show the amount of money you receive every year. This is the amount you can rely on having, no matter what else occurs.


Receipts by Department

Show how much each department, division, or area contributes to your company's overall income. You may balance this with another chart showing the expenditures for each department, division, or area.


Sources of Revenue

List each source of income and how much you receive from each. Include both permanent sources and one-time funds such as grants, special project funding, and so on.


Summary

Give a brief summary of your presentation. Review the financial data, the budget considerations, and next year's budget.


Surpluses

Show how much your income exceeded your budgeted expenses, and in what areas.


Thank You for Coming!

Close with encouragement and thanks to the audience. Remind any audience members who need to be involved in budgeting about the dates for getting the budget finished.


Total Expenditures

Give overall information about how much your company spent, and in which areas. Show both monetary amounts and percentages to make the expenditures clearer. If you need more detailed information, attach a spreadsheet.


Total Income

Show your company's total income. You can also show how your income has grown or shrunk over time. If you need more detailed information, attach a spreadsheet.


Business Plan Slide Show

A Business Plan slide show is a summary of how you intend to run your business. Be sure to include necessary, helpful information such as the ownership, management, and employees; the products and services; the marketing strategy and target markets; plans for expansion; and financial information. This presentation should summarize your written Business Plan.

Your Business Plan serves as a guide and reference for you, your employees, and even your investors. Remember to include all the information that applies to your business, and to present interesting, useful facts. Try to avoid filler, and remember that everyone likes a short presentation.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Business Plan slide show, see these topics:

Agenda

Why Are We Here?

Executive Overview

How Did We Get Here?

Mission Statement

What Have We Achieved?

What Did We Set Out to Do?

What Do We Want to Do?

Our Financial History and Outlook

Overview Slides

What We Do

Our Management Philosophy

Our Management Team

Our Professional Advisors

Our Strategic Partners

Our Current Organization

Who Are We?

Engineers/R&D

Support Staff

Sales Force

The Future of Personnel

What Do We Make?

What's Coming Next? (Current Developments)

Where Are We Now?

Who Are Our Customers?

Where Are We Going?

Where Are Our Growth Opportunities?

What Are Our Competitors Doing?

How Do We Compare in Market Share?

How Do We Compare to the Competition?

How Do Our Products Compare?

How Can We Do Better in the Future?

How Are Our Products Better?

Leveraging Our Products

Pricing Our Products

Packaging Our Products

Selling Our Products

How Can We Develop Our Markets?

Stages of Market Development

Our Marketing Mix

Our Customer Service Strategy

What's Coming Next? (Research and Development)

The Critical Path

About Manufacturing

What About the Money?

Our Financial Background

Our Current Balance Sheet

A Note about Financial Projections

What We Anticipate

What Do We Need?

What Should We Look Out For?

Summary

Why Will We Succeed?

What Do We Do Next?

Thank You for Coming!


About Manufacturing

Give basic information about contractors, suppliers, manufacturing processes, job descriptions, equipment, and so on. Describe your processes for actually creating the physical product you sell.


The Critical Path

Show the critical path. This is a time line detailing every task you need to accomplish to fulfill your goals, along with dates, deliverables, and the names of those responsible to see that each step is successfully completed in a timely manner.


Engineers/R&D

Introduce the engineering and R&D departments. Present an organization chart, list names, titles, departments, tasks, and so on.


The Future of Personnel

Project overall personnel needs and changes for the coming year. Do you plan to hire new employees? Do you have to reduce headcount? Are you opening or closing offices?


How Are Our Products Better?

Explain the positioning strategy for your products or services. How will you distinguish them from the other similar products in the market? Discuss any plans for improvements or additions to your products or services, and how they will affect the strategy.


How Can We Develop Our Markets?

List markets you want to move into, defining them by demographics, geographical region, customer habits, and so on. Explain how you plan to develop or move into each market. Give a time line showing when your plan for each phase of development.


How Can We Do Better in the Future?

Discuss current market and industry trends. What kinds of things are happening that could affect your business? Explain how you plan to take advantage of positive trends and avoid upcoming risks.


How Did We Get Here?

Give a brief history of the company. Include information about who founded the company and when. Talk about where your business is located. Finally, spend most of your time explaining what your company does or produces.


How Do Our Products Compare?

Compare your competitors' products or services to yours. Remember to choose similar products or services, those that compete for the same customers in the same market. Include differences in pricing, features, quality, availability, and so on.


How Do We Compare in Market Share?

List the competitions' market share, then your market share. Explain the reason for the differences. Briefly discuss what factors contributed to your market share.


How Do We Compare to the Competition?

List the competitions' strengths and weaknesses, then your strengths and weaknesses. Explain how you can overcome your weaknesses. Outline plans for taking advantage of the competitions' weaknesses while countering their strengths.


Leveraging Our Products

Discuss how you will use your products' features to promote sales. Highlight the advantages you plan to use to convince customers to buy your products or services instead of the competitions'.


Mission Statement

Review your company's Vision and/or Mission statement. This statement should guide your company as you go forward, reminding you of what your company's real purpose is. Use your statement to help you make decisions in keeping with your company's intent and goals.


A Note about Financial Projections

Explain your assumptions for making financial forecasts. Discuss the factors you see playing a large role in your company's financial future. Review trends in the market or industry that you believe will have an effect on your company.


Our Current Balance Sheet

Show your current balances, including expenses, debts, income, stock, equipment, and so on. You can link this slide to the latest spreadsheet for the most up-to-date data.


Our Current Organization

Present an organization chart showing the basic organization of your company. Include department or division names, lines of authority, basic assignments, and so on. You may include the names of people in the various positions, if your organization is small enough to fit employee names into the organization chart.


Our Customer Service Strategy

Discuss how you will actually get your product or service to the customer. What kinds of delivery systems will you use? What kinds of training programs will you offer employees? Discuss pricing and availability of services such as warranties, technical support, and other factors.


Our Financial Background

Review the financial history of your company, listing expenditures, income, and so on. Explain any change in your financial situation, for better or worse, and discuss the reasons for the changes.


Our Financial History and Outlook

Give a brief overview of the financial highlights for the last year. List last year's earnings and expenditures. You may also project earnings and expenditures for next year, explaining the basis for your projections and the assumptions you made.


Our Management Philosophy

State what is important to your business (information, quality, and so on) and how you as managers make it happen. Give your audience a good idea of what your management priorities are, and how your company views its managers, employees, and customers.


Our Management Team

Give a brief list and description of the senior officers of your company. List the names, qualifications, positions, and biographical information. You may also present an organization chart illustrating the chain of command.


Our Marketing Mix

List and explain the types of marketing media you plan to use (television, radio, newspapers, magazines, direct marketing, flyers, Internet ads, and so on). Show what proportion of each you plan to use. You may want to show ad designs, clips of commercials, or scripts to give the audience a good idea of what you intend to do.


Our Professional Advisors

If your company had hired outside experts to advise you in specific areas, list the people and/or companies who provide information and advice. Include the advisors' names, qualifications, titles, companies, and other basic information. Explain in what areas they assist your company.


Our Strategic Partners

If your company has made business agreements or alliances with other companies in the same or different markets, list their names, locations, and other information. Explain how you work with them and in what areas. Discuss the services or goods you provide in turn.


Overview Slides

This is a placeholder slide announcing a new section. You may want to put your company logo on the layout layer.


Packaging Our Products

Show the product or service packaging ideas and designs. Explain your company's advertising image, color scheme, logos, and mottoes.


Pricing Our Products

Explain your pricing philosophy. For example, you could aim for high-volume sales at low prices, fewer sales of more full-featured products at premium pricing, and so on. Show your pricing structure, explaining when you use wholesale, retail, VARs, and other agencies and businesses.


Sales Force

Introduce your sales force. Present an organization chart, list names, titles, departments, tasks, and so on.


Selling Our Products

Give an overview of your sales and distribution techniques. Explain what kinds of selling you plan to do (direct sales, retail, wholesale, phone order, Internet, and so on). Show the proportions of each in a chart.


Stages of Market Development

Discuss the stages of market development you foresee. Explain possible scenarios and different contingency plans you have developed.


Summary

Briefly review the most important points of your presentation. List your company's past successes and failures, the new challenges facing your company, and your new goals.


Support Staff

Introduce your support staff. Present an organization chart listing names, titles, departments, tasks, and so on. You can include scanned photographs of employees, buildings, and other related subjects to make the presentation more real and interesting to your audience.


Thank You for Coming!

Close with encouragement and thanks to the audience. Be enthusiastic and leave your audience feeling optimistic about your company, assured that you have planned carefully for the future and set specific, measurable goals.


What About the Money?

Give a brief overview of your company's finances. Show your current status in profit, loss, expenditure, income, and other important areas. Review your capital, equity, debts, and other factors.


What Are Our Competitors Doing?

For each market you plan to compete in, list major competitors and evaluate their strategies. Briefly discuss their products, pricing, costs, sales growth, and so on.


What Did We Set Out to Do?

Review your company's goals and objectives. How far have you progressed toward fulfilling them? Be specific and detailed, with examples and facts to illustrate your points. Discuss the goals you failed to meet, and explain why. Talk about how you can improve your processes or performance to meet all your goals in the future.


What Do We Do Next?

List the steps to accomplish your immediate goals. Be specific, with dates and responsibilities as well as tasks.


What Do We Make?

Describe each of your products or services. Explain what your product or service is, what it does, where it is available, what its purpose is, what its features are, how it works, and so on. You may want to include a slide for each product or service.


What Do We Need?

Summarize your projected budget for the next year. Show the amount of money you will need and in what areas. You may also want to give reasons for the allotted the budget amounts.


What Do We Want to Do?

List goals in key areas related to the growth of your business, trends in the market, and other factors. Your goals could include improvements in profit, growth, quality, and so on. Make your goals specific, detailed, and measurable.


What Have We Achieved?

List your company's major achievements. Be specific and detailed, with examples and facts to illustrate your points.


What Should We Look Out For?

Discuss risks involved in your strategies, including changes in the market cycle or product cycle, unfavorable industry trends, aggressive competitors, and so on. Outline a few contingency plans for overcoming the risks.


What We Anticipate

Give projected financial highlights, including income and expense, overall profit and loss, and so on. Show a time line displaying how you believe your company's expenses and profits will grow or shrink over time.


What We Do

List your company's products and services, and explain what you make or do. Define your company's core business, as well as any other areas you do business in.


What's Coming Next? (Current Developments)

Give a preview of products or services currently in development. List the products or services you are developing, how they will fit with the current product line, when they will be ready.


What's Coming Next? (Research and Development)

Talk about research and development of future products or services. Describe how you gather information about markets, develop products, check for quality, and delegate responsibility among the departments and employees. Give an estimate for the time when the new products or services will be available.


Where Are Our Growth Opportunities?

List upcoming growth opportunities. Explain the trends, market conditions, and other factors that will allow your business to expand. Briefly explain the steps your company plans to take to seize these opportunities.


Where Are We Going?

List your goals for each product or service during the coming year. Explain the new customers or markets you want to target, or those you want to strengthen. Make sure the goals are specific, detailed, and measurable.


Where Are We Now?

Review the current status of your products or services. Discuss current market share, overall and for each product or service individually.


Who Are Our Customers?

List the markets you sell your products or services in. Describe your target (primary) market and market niches. Describe the demographics, geographical locations, and buying habits of your customers.


Who Are We?

Introduce your audience to your employees. Discuss employees' overall qualifications, positions, duties, and other relevant and interesting information. You may highlight a few employees with biographical sketches or special mention.


Why Are We Here?

Explain the purpose of the business plan presentation (to get a loan, to inform employees or investors of your plans, and so on). Introduce yourself and any other presenters.


Why Will We Succeed?

List morale-building and realistic reasons why your company will succeed. Be specific as well as inspirational. If you want to, outline steps your company will take to ensure success.


Company Meeting Slide Show

Preparing a slide show to accompany your Company Meeting can help you present your information efficiently and quickly, with a professional look and feel. It can also help focus your audience's attention on the information, especially if you provide handouts to remind them of the information you covered.

As you create your Company Meeting slide show, be sure to include all the information you think your employees should know. Keep the meeting moving to avoid gaps and loss of interest. Be prepared to answer questions and take suggestions from the audience.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Company Meeting slide show, see these topics:

Agenda

Mission Statement

New Developments in the Company

Our Organization in Detail

Organizational Changes

Our Current Organization

Previous Goals and Objectives

What We've Done

How We've Done

Looking into the Future

Future Goals and Objectives

Goal 1

Goal 2

Goal 3

Summary

How to Reach Our Goals

Thank You for Coming!


Agenda

List the items you plan to cover, the allotted times, and other presenters, if any. Company meetings are best when they are short, so get right to the point and move quickly and easily from item to item.


Future Goals and Objectives

List goals in key areas you discussed under issues, problems, and trends. You may include areas such as efficiency, profit, growth, quality, and so on. Make the goals very specific, concrete, and measurable. If necessary, add a slide for each goal to explain it in detail.


Goal 1

Discuss your first goal in detail. Include a detailed description of what you want to achieve, who will do it, and other necessary information.


Goal 2

Discuss your second goal in detail. Include a detailed description of what you want to achieve, who will do it, and other necessary information.


Goal 3

Discuss your third goal in detail. Include a detailed description of what you want to achieve, who will do it, and other necessary information.


How to Reach Our Goals

Discuss the steps you will take to reach your goals, and how you will measure completion. Use definite dates, deliverables, and other measurable factors. You may want to create a slide for each goal, explaining the steps in detail.


How We've Done

Compare what your company has accomplished with the goals and objectives you set in the last company meeting. Note the goals you have accomplished. Discuss why you did not fulfill some goals, and how you can do better in the future.


Looking into the Future

List current issues, trends, and challenges facing your company. You may include areas such as efficiency, profit, growth, quality, and so on. These points will help you focus on what goals and objectives you need to set for the future.


Mission Statement

Review your company's Vision and/or Mission statement. These statements form the basis for your company's actions, and therefore the efforts of each division, department, and employee. Everyone should be aware of them and keep them in mind as he or she makes decisions.


New Developments in the Company

List changes in the company. These may include personnel changes, reorganizations, moves, new facilities, new employees, and any other event that you want everyone to be aware of.


Organizational Changes

List changes and reorganizations. Explain any alteration in the ways that work flows through the various parts of your company. Discuss what the changes mean for day-to-day operations.


Our Current Organization

Present an organization chart that shows broad areas of the company. You do not need to make a chart that has details right down to the individual employee level.


Our Organization in Detail

Talk about your current organization, list the departments in your company, and discuss the current goals for each department. This is especially helpful when you have just completed a reorganization, as it helps everyone get oriented to the new company structure.


Previous Goals and Objectives

Review the goals and objectives your company set at the last meeting. Remember to include all the information relevant to them (dates, times, specific details).


Summary

Briefly review your company's past successes and failures. List and quickly explain the new challenges facing your company. Remind the audience of your new goals.


Thank You for Coming!

Close with encouragement and thanks to the audience. Company meetings should always be informative, encouraging events. Leave the audience feeling upbeat, energized, and ready to work toward the company's goals.


What We've Done

Review your company's accomplishments and activities since the last company meeting. Discuss achievements, mistakes, or continuation of the status quo.


Describing Alternatives Slide Show

A Describing Alternatives slide show outlines the possible strategies, solutions, and courses of action you can take in a particular situation. When you present alternatives, tailor your presentation to your audience. Include any background information and history others might need to understand and evaluate the alternatives. You may also need to explain why it is important that they make a decision.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Describing Alternatives slide show, see these topics:

Introduction

Importance

Criteria for Judging

Suggested Alternatives

Pro/Con Comparison

Summary

Call for Action

Thank You for Coming!


Call for Action

Ask listeners to make a choice. You may recommend one alternative, or leave that up to your audience to decide. Stress the importance of choosing an alternative.


Criteria for Judging

Describe the criteria you will measure each alternative against, such as efficiency, cost-effectiveness, amount of effort, and so on. Be sure to list the criteria in order, from most important to least. Give the audience a good overview of why some considerations are more important than others.


Importance

Tell why this information will be useful to your listeners. Explain the importance of the problem these alternatives can solve. Stress the reasons why a good decision is important.


Introduction

Give your audience a quick introduction to the subject of your presentation. Tell them what you want them to do with the information you present. Explain the time constraints for the decision (when they need to make the decision, by what date), others who are interested in the decision, and how the decision will affect future operations.


Pro/Con Comparison

Compare your ratings of each alternative in each of the judging areas. Provide supporting data, illustrations, examples, and so on, for each area of importance. Be consistent in comparing like characteristics ("apples to apples").


Suggested Alternatives

Describe each alternative. You may want to add a slide for each one. Explain the idea behind the alternative, what steps it involves, how much time it would take, what problems it specifically solves, how much it would cost, and other necessary information. Rate each alternative on the judging criteria you outlined.


Summary

Review each alternative briefly. Note where it falls compared to the other alternatives and its score on the different judging criteria.


Thank You for Coming!

Close with encouragement and thanks to the audience. Remind them, if necessary, of the time frame in which they need to make a decision. Pass out handouts and notes describing each alternative for them to refer to later.


Interactive Slide Show

An Interactive slide show lets you instantly display any slide in the show, display many types of files, open other applications, even jump out to Internet sites. You can also create interactive slide shows that people can use by themselves, clicking areas on the slides to find out more information.

As you create an interactive slide show, keep its purpose in mind. A presentation you plan on giving will have a wider variety of interactivity than one you intend to set out for public use. After you create your slide show, you will use ActionLinks and SpeedKeys to make it interactive.

An SpeedKey is similar to a ActionLink. Both can launch the same type of events or actions described above. However, the main difference is how they are attached to a slide and how you activate them during slide show playback. a SpeedKey is attached to the entire slide or slide show and is activated when you press an assigned keystroke. A ActionLink, however, is attached to a single object on a slide (such as a image, bitmap image, or a drawing) and is activated when you either click the object or press an optional assigned keystroke.

You can also create ActionLinks by drawing your own object (such as a three-dimensional button with text) and linking it. The textbttn.wcm macro that ships with Corel Presentations makes it easy to create a text button.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Interactive slide show, see these topics:

Executive Overview

First Point

Extra Info about the First Point

Second Point

Extra Info about the Second Point

Financial Information

Stock Information

Summary

Thank You for Coming!


Extra Info about the First Point

Skip this slide in the transition sequence of your slide show so that you do not automatically display it next. You can use this slide if your audience needs more details about the first point. Simply assign a SpeedKey to it, so that you can instantly display it should the need arise. For more information, see To skip slides and About SpeedKeys.


Extra Info about the Second Point

Skip this slide in the transition sequence of your slide show so that you do not automatically display it next. You can use this slide if your audience needs more details about the second point. Simply assign a SpeedKey to it, so that you can instantly display it should the need arise. For more information, see To skip slides and About SpeedKeys.


Financial Information

Display a chart showing basic financial information. Use a ActionLink assigned to a graphic button to connect the chart to the spreadsheet file containing more details. Click Tools [image] Macro [image] Play [image] textbttn.wcm to create a button with text on it.

Assign a SpeedKey so you can return to the financial information slide if necessary. For more information, see About SpeedKeys and About ActionLinks.


First Point

Give the first point you intend to make, with supporting examples, facts, and information. Assign a SpeedKey so you can return to this slide at the touch of a key. For more information, see About SpeedKeys.


Second Point

Give the second point you intend to make, with supporting examples, facts, and information. Assign a SpeedKey so you can return to this slide at the touch of a key. For more information, see About SpeedKeys.


Stock Information

Display a chart showing the trends for your stock, and explain them. Use a ActionLink assigned to a graphic button to connect the chart to the web page showing the latest price and activity quotes. Click Tools [image] Macro [image] Play [image] textbttn.wcm to create a button with text on it.

Assign a SpeedKey so you can return to the stock information slide if necessary. For more information, see About SpeedKeys and About ActionLinks.


Summary

Summarize the main points of your presentation. Assign a SpeedKey to this slide so you can jump back and forth from the summary to the slides you talked about earlier. For more information, see About SpeedKeys.


Thank You for Coming!

Thank your audience for coming and promise to answer any further questions after the presentation.

If you feel it is appropriate to the audience and purpose of the presentation, you can attach an applause sound file to an invisible ActionLink to give a humorous finish to the presentation. For directions about creating an invisible ActionLink, see To create an invisible ActionLink on a slide.


Market Research Slide Show

In a Market Research slide show, you give the results of the market research you have conducted, then make recommendations based on those results. When you do market research, define the goals of your study very carefully, then review your methods to make sure you are asking the right questions. It is a common mistake to apply research data to the wrong problem.

As you review your research, be sure to tell your audience what the goals of your study were, what methods you used, what data you obtained, and how you arrived at your conclusions. Illustrate and reinforce your ideas with concrete data and examples from your study.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Market Research slide show, see these topics:

Agenda

Executive Overview

Background

Objectives

Research Materials

Research Methods

Research Sample

Findings

Conclusions

Recommendations

Next Steps

Questions and Answers

Thank You for Coming!


Conclusions

Give your general conclusions about your findings. Talk about the characteristics of the market and the customers, forecast upcoming or ongoing trends, and so on. Support your conclusions with statistics, examples, and facts from your research.


Findings

Explain and display your data in detail. Use charts, graphs, tables, and other elements to help you explain what you found during your research project. Give detailed information about your markets, customers, market trends, new developments, and so on. Support your findings with statistics, examples, and facts from your research.


Recommendations

Make recommendations for action or further study based on your conclusions. Base your recommendations on the facts and trends you uncovered during your research. Be sure that the suggestions you make are reasonable and have a good chance of being carried out. Making unrealistically optimistic or demanding recommendations leaves your audience with the impression that you have no idea what the "real world" is like.


Market Segmentation Slide Show

In a Market Segmentation slide show, you explain how your target markets break down into different sections, called "segments." Each segment has specific characteristics, and you can divide the market by demographics, geography, habits, and many other factors. Once you have defined the segments, you show how your products fit into the market, and make recommendations about which market segments you want to sell to, and how you will do it.

Market segmentation depends on market research--you have to look carefully at your markets before you divide them into segments to make sure you are using the right characteristics as keys. You also need to make definite recommendations based on the evidence you have gathered. Be sure to give facts, illustrations, and solid data as back-up for your ideas.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Market Segmentation slide show, see these topics:

Agenda

Executive Overview

Background

Objectives

Research Materials

Research Methods

Research Sample

Our Products

Our Customers

Segmenting the Market

Describing the Segments

Customer Profiles by Segment

Our Products in Each Segment

Conclusions

Recommendations

Opportunities by Segment

Which Segments to Target

Our Strengths and Weaknesses

Plan of Attack

Where Our Products Fit

Improving Our Products

Pricing Our Products

Positioning Our Products

Countering the Competition

Summary

Next Steps

Questions and Answers

Thank You for Coming!


Background

Give a brief background for your research. Explain how you came to do the research, other research you or others have done in this area, and other information that will help your audience understand the history behind the project.


Conclusions

Give your overall conclusions about each segment. Discuss the criteria you used to split the market into parts, the characteristics of each part, and the way your products or services fit into each segment.


Countering the Competition

List your competitors in each segment. Explain how you plan to overcome their strategies with your own. You may want to show charts detailing market share and trends in each segment.


Customer Profiles by Segment

List the needs, wants, and buying habits of each segment. This list will help you match products or services to market segments. It will also help you determine what kinds of products or services you should develop, and what kinds of pricing strategies you should follow.


Describing the Segments

Show the basic characteristics of each segment you defined (demographic, geographic, and so on). Characteristics might include buying habits, the importance of price vs. quality, and other factors.


Improving Our Products

Explain how you will improve or diversify your products or services for each segment. Relate the improvements or diversifications to the characteristics of the customers in that segment.


Next Steps

List the next steps to take to carry out your recommendations. Be very specific and detailed. Explain which tasks need to be done, in what order, and who should do them.


Objectives

List the objectives of your study. Tell the audience what you intended to do, prove, or find out about. These are the reasons you did the study.


Opportunities by Segment

Evaluate each market segment for possible growth opportunities. Can you develop new products or services to market to one or more segments? Do you have currently available products or services that you could move into a different market segment?


Our Customers

Discuss your customers' habits and preferences. This might come out of your research, or out of other studies. Indicate which of your company's products or services the customers use, what they use them for, and which competitors' products or services they use instead.


Our Products in Each Segment

List how well your product or service currently sells in each segment. Explain why they do well or poorly, given the characteristics of the customers in each segment.


Our Strengths and Weaknesses

Analyze your company's strengths and weaknesses in relation to the market segments you have decided to target. Discuss ways in which you can apply your strengths, and explain strategies you can use to overcome your weaknesses.


Plan of Attack

Show which market segments you will target, which are secondary targets, and which you will let alone. This is your battle plan for your marketing efforts. Give reasons based on your research data.


Positioning Our Products

Explain how you will position your products or services for each segment. "Positioning" is how you differentiate your product or service from the competition's products or services in the same market. Pinpoint the features you will emphasize to make your product stand out: quality, features, style, look, and so on.


Pricing Our Products

Explain how you will price your products or services for each segment. Relate the pricing strategy to the characteristics of the customers in that segment.


Questions and Answers

Ask for and answer audience questions. Listen carefully to each question, wait until the questioner is finished, then repeat the question in your own words to make sure you understood it. Answer each question completely. If someone wants very detailed, specific information that the rest of the audience is not interested in, ask that person to speak to you after the meeting.


Research Materials

Explain where you got your data. List publications, other studies, people you interviewed, company records, and any other sources you used.


Research Methods

Explain your methods for data gathering, analysis, and classification. Be specific enough that anyone else could duplicate your research.


Research Sample

If you used personal responses in your data gathering, explain the how you chose the people you included (the sample you used). Also include a copy of the surveys, questionnaires, and so on, that you sent or gave.


Recommendations

List your recommendations. Briefly summarize each one, based on your research. Promise further explanation.


Segmenting the Market

Your customers make up your entire market. You can divide the market into parts depending on geographic area, demographic information, customer habits, and other factors. Explain your criteria for dividing the market into segments.


Summary

Briefly remind the audience of your main points. Go over your conclusions. Repeat your recommendations.


Thank You for Coming!

Close with encouragement and thanks to the audience. Have handouts or written versions of your conclusions, recommendations, and next steps available for the audience.


Where Our Products Fit

Fit your products or services into the market segments where you want to sell them. If you are already selling your products or services in a particular segment, indicate how well or poorly it is currently selling.


Which Segments to Target

Rate each segment on possible growth, current size, amount of competition, amount of effort you would need to expend in order to sell your products or services. Explain which segments your company should concentrate most of its marketing efforts on, which are neutral, and which your company should drop. Give reasons based on your research data.


Marketing Plan Slide Show

A Marketing Plan slide show tells employees, partners, investors, and other interested parties about your company's marketing plan. Include information about your needs, customers' needs, markets, products, and much more. Since a Marketing Plan contains strategic information, it is a good idea to keep the information confidential so it stays inside your company.

As you create your presentation, remember to include all necessary information. Avoid filler by making sure each slide has some interesting, vital fact or instruction. In addition, be sure to include your marketing goals, and how you will measure your progress.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Marketing Plan slide show, see these topics:

Agenda

Executive Overview

Mission Statement

Our Needs

Our Customers' Needs

Our Markets

Our Products

Product Positioning

Product Pricing

Market Segments

Product Goals

Steps to Accomplish Our Goals

Current Conditions in the Marketplace

Current Conditions Inside Our Business

So What Do the Trends Mean?

Opportunities

Our Business Strengths and Weaknesses

Our Marketing Strengths and Weaknesses

Our Competitors' Strengths & Weaknesses

What Is the Competition Doing?

What Are the Risks?

Improvements to Our Products

New Products

Positioning Our New Products

Promoting Our Products

Promotions Breakdown

Trade Show Strategy

Selling Our Products Directly

Event-Based Promotions

Publicity Campaigns

Advertising

Implementing Our Promotion Strategy

Marketing Budget

So What Will Happen?

Financial Projections

What Do We Do Now?

What Do We Do Later?

Time Line

Summary

Questions and Answers

Thank You for Coming!


Advertising

Explain the types of media advertising you plan to use. This could include radio, television, magazines, newspapers, Internet ads, and so on. Give sample layouts, films, designs, or scripts to help the audience understand what the ads will contain.


Agenda

List the items you plan to cover, the allotted times, and the names of other presenters, if any. Be sure to abide by the times set out in the agenda. Move the presentation along at a good pace to keep the audience's interest and attention.


Current Conditions in the Marketplace

List market trends going on in your markets right now. Trends might include sales outlook, customer needs, suppliers, channels, and so on.


Current Conditions Inside Our Business

List current conditions inside your business. Review events and status in each department or division. Include information about the present situation and any future plans in marketing, R&D, manufacturing, finances, organization, and so on.


Event-Based Promotions

If your company intends to sponsor events, teams, exhibits, or use other high-profile strategies, explain the types of outside promotions you plan to use. Discuss how these promotions tie into or enhance the image of your company, product, or service.


Executive Overview

Give a concise summary of your presentation. You do not need to go into detail here. Write a paragraph mentioning the main points of your presentation.


Financial Projections

Project your financial needs and gains in areas of revenues, costs, and profits. Explain your assumptions and the things that need to happen to make your forecast a reality.


Implementing Our Promotion Strategy

Explain how you plan to actually implement your promotion strategy. Give specific, detailed steps and information about who is responsible for what tasks, when each needs to be finished, and an overall time line for your promotions.


Improvements to Our Products

List improvements to current products or services that you can use in your marketing efforts.


Market Segments

List products or services and their market segments. A market segment is a particular part of an overall market. For example, an entire market might include all radio listeners between the ages of 18 and 35, while a particular market segment might confine itself to male listeners between the ages of 25 and 30. Market segments can be defined by geographic location, demographic information, consumer habits, and much more.


Marketing Budget

Give the budget for your promotion strategy, including expenditures in all areas. Be careful and accurate in formulating your marketing budget, and then stay within its parameters.


Mission Statement

Review your marketing department's mission statement. The mission statement should be your guide in creating your marketing plan, and will help your audience understand your goals and strategies for marketing your products and services.


New Products

List new products or services you intend to offer. Explain how you will market them, as well as giving facts about their availability, value, features, pricing, and so on.


Opportunities

List opportunities both inside and outside of the company. Discuss how you plan to take advantage of them. Be specific and detailed about the steps you need to take and the reasons why you should take them.


Our Business Strengths and Weaknesses

List the strengths and weaknesses you see in your company. For example, you may have a wonderfully innovative Research and Development division, but your Manufacturing plant cannot keep up with the demand for new products. Explain in detail how to overcome the weaknesses.


Our Competitors' Strengths & Weaknesses

List competitors' strengths and weaknesses in their marketing strategy. Explain how you plan to exploit their weaknesses and counteract their strengths.


Our Customers' Needs

Define the customers' needs and wants. Confine the discussion to those needs and wants that your product or service can help fill.


Our Marketing Strengths and Weaknesses

List the strengths and weaknesses you see in your marketing efforts up to this point. For example, you may have fun, interesting magazine ads, but few customers recognize the name of your product or company. Explain in detail how you plan to overcome the weaknesses.


Our Markets

Define each market your company competes in. You could have a different market for each product or service, or have several products or services for the same market. Markets can be defined as geographic areas, demographic groups, price ranges, specific tasks, and any other division your company accepts.


Our Needs

Define the marketing needs you should meet for your business. Relate these needs to your success, financial solvency, and other important issues.


Our Products

List key products, product categories, and services your company provides. You may also want to cover brief lists of top features for each product or list of basic services, as well as highlighting the purpose of each product and the market where it sells.


Positioning Our New Products

Explain how you will differentiate your new products both in the market and in relation to your other products. What logos, packaging, mottoes, slogans, and ad images will you use?


Product Goals

List the marketing goals for each product or service. Make sure the goals are specific, concrete, and measurable. Goals for a product might include increased market share, increased revenue, new market entry, and so on.


Product Positioning

List the product name, unique qualities, logo, motto, and so on. The position of a product in the market depends on customers recognizing it and distinguishing it from any other product in that market.


Product Pricing

List each product or service and the current pricing. A product's pricing greatly affects which market it competes in, as well as how you market it.


Promoting Our Products

Explain how you will promote your products. Give an outline of your overall promotion strategy: which products you will market aggressively, what kinds of promotions you will use, and other important factors.


Promotions Breakdown

Show the different ways you plan to promote your products. These may include ads, price incentives, channel deals, sales-based promotions, and so on. Explain the different types of promotions, and what proportion of each you intend to use.


Publicity Campaigns

Explain the publicity campaigns you plan to use. Discuss how these promotions tie into or enhance the image of your company, product, or service.


Questions and Answers

Ask for and answer any questions the audience might have. Listen carefully, repeat the question in your own words to make sure you understood it, then answer it completely.


Selling Our Products Directly

If your company uses direct sales strategies, explain what kinds of direct sales techniques you plan to use. These may include telemarketing, direct mail, Internet forms, and so on.


So What Do the Trends Mean?

Analyze the trends for opportunities and areas to improve. Look at trends outside the company and compare them to events taking place inside the company. Do you need to rush to catch up? Are you right where you should be to catch the next wave?


So What Will Happen?

Project the trends/events you see following your promotions. These should be tied directly to your goals, and may include such things as market increase, sales increase, change of market, and so on.


Steps to Accomplish Our Goals

List specific steps to accomplish the product or service goals. Be specific and detailed; remember, this plan is your map to this year's marketing efforts. Steps you might take include marketing new products, altering pricing, creating new ad campaigns, and so on.


Summary

Summarize the main points of your marketing plan. Explain how you plan to market your products to take advantage of current trends and fulfill your goals. Remind your audience of the time line and of the steps your company needs to take now.


Thank You for Coming!

Close with encouragement and thanks to the audience. Be enthusiastic and send your audience away feeling optimistic about your company's marketing strategy and the upcoming year.


Time Line

Give a time line for your market strategy. Mark dates with deadlines, responsibilities, deliverables, and so on for each step of the process.


Trade Show Strategy

If your company sends representatives to trade shows, discuss what you plan to do. Give details about the size of the displays, demonstrations, personnel, times, and other information.


What Are the Risks?

List risks involved in implementing your marketing plan and how you plan to avoid them. Do not downplay the risks, but do not overestimate them, either. Give specific, detailed steps for avoiding or overcoming risks, along with the outlines for contingency plans.


What Do We Do Now?

List short-terms goals and the steps you need to take to achieve them and begin implementing your strategy. Be specific about assignments and the people responsible for each step. Make sure the steps are measurable and follow logically from one to another.


What Do We Do Later?

List long-term goals and steps you need to take further down the line to achieve them and complete your strategy. Be specific about assignments and the people responsible for each step. Make sure the steps are measurable and follow logically from one to another.


What Is the Competition Doing?

Discuss your competitors' strategies and how you can counter them. Take into account differences in marketing budget, product features, and so on.


Marketing Strategy Slide Show

Your Marketing Strategy slide show outlines your marketing plan for the next year, quarter, or other time frame. It lets you explain what markets and market segments you will target, what trends you see, what your competitors are doing, and how you will position, price, and promote your products. Since this is valuable strategic information, it is best to keep it confidential inside the company.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Marketing Strategy slide show, see these topics:

Agenda

Executive Overview

Mission Statement

Our Customers' Needs

Our Markets

Market Segments

Our Marketing Strengths and Weaknesses

Current Conditions in the Marketplace

So What Do the Trends Mean?

Opportunities

What Is the Competition Doing?

What Are the Risks?

Our Products

Product Goals

Steps to Accomplish Our Goals

Improvements to Our Products

New Products

Product Positioning

Positioning Our New Products

Product Pricing

Promoting Our Products

Promotions Breakdown

Trade Show Strategy

Selling Our Products Directly

Event-Based Promotions

Publicity Campaigns

Advertising

Implementing Our Promotion Strategy

Marketing Budget

So What Will Happen?

What Do We Do Now?

What Do We Do Later?

Time Line

Summary

Questions and Answers

Thank You for Coming!


Multimedia Slide Show

Adding sound, animations, and audio-visual files can help make your presentations more interesting. Corel Presentations lets you add Wave, MIDI, and CD sound files, as well as video clips and animations. You can also record your own voice to create a voice-over for self-running slide shows or demonstrations, or loop a music file to give a running soundtrack for your presentation. See To record a Wave sound for more information about recording your voice.

As you add multimedia elements, remember that while a few effects can make your slide show more effective, too many can distract the audience from your point, or annoy them so much they stop listening.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Multimedia slide show, see these topics:

Executive Overview

Extra Info about the First Point

First Point

Second Point

Extra Info about the Second Point

Third Point

Extra Info about the Third Point

Summary

Thank You for Coming!

Blank Slide


Blank Slide

Repeat the introductory musical theme. Leave the blank slide on the screen as you answer questions. For directions, see To add a Wave or MIDI sound clip.


Executive Overview

Give a brief overview of what you will cover in the presentation. Include an .AVI file to get the presentation rolling. For directions, see To insert .avi and .mov files.


Extra Info about the First Point

Attach an opening sound to this slide. Give further details about the first point. For directions, see To add a Wave or MIDI sound clip.


Extra Info about the Second Point

Attach an opening sound to this slide. Give further details about the second point. For directions, see To add a Wave or MIDI sound clip.


Extra Info about the Third Point

Attach an opening sound to this slide. Give further details about the third point. For directions, see To add a Wave or MIDI sound clip.


First Point

Attach an opening sound to this slide. Give the first point you intend to make, with supporting examples, facts, and supporting information. For directions, see To add a Wave or MIDI sound clip.


Second Point

Attach an opening sound to this slide to give it extra interest and engage the audience's attention. For steps guiding you through attaching a sound to the slide, see To add a Wave or MIDI sound clip.

Display and discuss the second point you intend to make, including examples, facts, and other supporting information.


Summary

Attach an opening sound to this slide. Summarize the main points of your presentation. For directions, see To add a Wave or MIDI sound clip.


Thank You for Coming!

Thank your audience for coming and promise to answer any further questions after the presentation.

If you feel it is appropriate to the audience and purpose of the presentation, you can attach an applause sound file to an invisible ActionLink to give a humorous finish to the presentation. For directions about creating an invisible ActionLink, see To create an invisible ActionLink on a slide.


Third Point

Attach an opening sound to this slide to alert the audience that they are about to see important information. For steps guiding you through attaching a sound file, see To add a Wave or MIDI sound clip.

Display and discuss the third point you intend to make, with examples, facts, and supporting information.


Title

Include the title of the presentation, your name, the meeting location, and the date. Add an introductory musical theme. For directions, see To add a Wave or MIDI sound clip.


Persuasive Slide Show

A Persuasive slide show helps you convince an audience to use your solution or idea. Tailor the information and presentation to your audience. A skeptical audience will need more evidence and discussion of the costs of not implementing the solution than a neutral audience.

Whatever your audience, however, be sure to support your solution with concrete evidence, data, and illustrations. Be ready to answer the audience's questions.

As you prepare your presentation, be sure to include an explanation of the current problem that needs a solution, the solution you think will solve it best, the reasons why that idea is best, and the costs and benefits of your solution. Think of possible objections and answer them in your presentation, then be ready to answer other questions.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Persuasive slide show, see these topics:

Objective

Where We Are Now

Explanation of First Need/Problem

Explanation of Second Need/Problem

Explanation of Third Need/Problem

What Does It Mean?

How to Solve the Problems

Supporting Facts and Exmaples

Benefits of My Solution

Proof of Benefits

Costs vs. Benefits

Questions and Answers

Costs of Rejecting the Solution

Summary

What to Do

Ask for Any Further Questions

Thank You for Coming!


Ask for Any Further Questions

Answer audience questions. Listen carefully, repeat the questions, and answer them completely. Be patient with repeat questions. Avoid becoming defensive.


Benefits of My Solution

List up to 5 benefits of adopting your solution. These can include time saved, money saved, materials conserved, more efficient production, and any other benefit your solution will bring.


Costs of Rejecting the Solution

Show the costs of not using your solutions. Give the implications in concrete and/or financial values. This is especially helpful when you are facing a negative or doubting audience.


Costs vs. Benefits

Help your audience see the value of adopting your solution vs. the costs. You may want to show how an initial investment results in savings further down the line, or show how little your solution costs compared to the expenses of letting the current situation continue.


Explanation of First Need/Problem

Support each statement with real, verifiable facts and examples. Do not overstate your case.


Explanation of Second Need/Problem

Support each statement with real, verifiable facts and examples. Do not overstate your case.


Explanation of Third Need/Problem

Support each statement with real, verifiable facts and examples. Do not overstate your case.


How to Solve the Problems

Give your solution to the problems and needs you discussed. Be specific about how your solution will work, and give as many details as your audience needs to understand your solution. Make sure your solution addresses the problems and needs you outlined earlier.


Objective

Tell what you want to convince your audience to believe and act on. This is what you want to persuade your audience to do.


Proof of Benefits

Support each benefit with concrete facts and examples. This is especially important when you are dealing with a doubting or negative audience.


Questions and Answers

Anticipate and answer questions from the audience, and be prepared to answer any objections or inquiries. After you have gone through your prepared answers, take questions from the audience. Listen carefully to each question, wait until the question is finished, then repeat the question in your own words to be sure you understood what the person asked. Then answer the question. Maintain a polite, helpful, professional attitude, leaving out any defensiveness you might feel. Remember that you are here to persuade your audience, not to prove them wrong or alienate them.


Summary

Give a brief summary of your presentation. Repeat the need for a solution, the main points of the solution you propose, and its benefits.


Supporting Facts and Examples

Support your solution with real, verifiable facts and examples.


Thank You for Coming!

Close with encouragement and thanks to the audience. End the presentation on a positive note. Promise (and carry through on the promise) to give further information about your idea if it is needed.


What Does It Mean?

Give the implications of the problems/needs you discussed. Discuss the negative results that will occur if the current situation continues. Use specific facts and examples. Do not overstate your case.


What to Do

List the steps to implement your solution. Be very specific and detailed.


Where We Are Now

Describe as many as five problems and/or needs in the current situation. Remember that in order to convince your audience to do something different, you need to give them a reason to change. You may want to use several slides to explain and discuss the items you bring up.


Product Launch Slide Show

A Product Launch slide show is your chance to introduce your new product or service to the world--and especially to your customers. Highlight the features, benefits, availability, pricing, and comparisons to the competition. Be sure to tailor your presentation to the customers you want to persuade to buy it.

As you create your presentation, keep your audience in mind. Ask yourself specific questions about what they want to know. Do they want more technical information, or are they most interested in the benefits your product offers?

Keep your information interesting and factual; do not just fill your slides with nice-sounding but empty phrases.

As you present, remember to be enthusiastic, and make sure you are well acquainted with the product you are introducing so you can answer questions easily and completely. Remember that competence and enthusiasm sell products, especially if you are ready to answer questions and to respond to your customers' needs.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Product Launch slide show, see these topics:

Introducing Our Product

Where Does It Fit?

Where Did It Come From?

What Is It and What Does It Do?

Why Do You Want to Buy It?

Who Wants to Buy It?

Is It Better Than Brand X?

So What's the Big Deal?

Does It Go with Anything Else?

Do We Get Anything Else?

Are There Other Products that Go with It

When Can We Get It?

So How Will It Do?

How Will We Promote It?

What Do We Need to Make It?

How Will We Sell It?

So How Much Will It Cost?

What Do I Need to Use It?

What Do I Need to Know?

So What Should I Remember?

Thank You for Coming!


Are There Other Products that Go with It
Are There Other Products that Go with It?

List your other products that work with the one you are launching. You may include coupons or special offers in conjunction with the other products.


Do We Get Anything Else?

List value-added features, extra products, or bonuses that come with your product.


Does It Go with Anything Else?

Talk about this product's compatibility with other products, either yours or the competition's. Mention specific features that will let your customers use the product for a wide range of tasks.


How Will We Promote It?

Talk about how you will promote your new product. Give previews of print ads, marketing campaigns, television commercials, and so on.


How Will We Sell It?

Describe the sales and distribution channels and delivery systems for your product. For example, you may decide to make the product available only through Internet ordering and express delivery for the first few months, then sell it from selected retail outlets.


Introducing Our Product

Show the product name, logo, and packaging. You can scan in photographs of actual packaging to add realism and interest to the slide.

Make this slide dramatic and eye-catching, to engage the audience's attention. You may want to add a fanfare, applause, or other sound file. You want the first sight of your product to make a deep, favorable impression on the audience.


Is It Better Than Brand X?

Talk about how competing products compare to yours. Compare feature sets, quality, overall reliability, and any other factors you think your customers will find helpful, informative, and important. Remember to compare your product to others that are like it ("apples to apples").


So How Much Will It Cost?

Explain the prices, sales, and deals for your product. Tell the audience about payment plans, credit options, and other payment-related information.


So How Will It Do?

Give sales and revenue goals for the new product. Talk about your reasons for believing the product will do as well as you say. You may want to mention pre-release orders, contracts you already have, and so on.


So What Should I Remember?

Summarize the most important things you want the audience to remember. These could include the product features, prices, time line, and so on.


So What's the Big Deal?

List the best features of the product, highlighting the breakthroughs and advances you have made with this product. Compare the new product with its predecessors, and point out the improvements. You may want to emphasize the following:

♦	Greater ease of use

♦	Increased reliability

♦	Improved performance

♦	More attractive appearance


Thank You for Coming!

Close with encouragement and thanks to the audience. Promise to answer any specific questions. Be positive, and encourage the audience to buy your product. Have any necessary order forms, purchase forms, and any other materials ready to take customer orders.


What Do I Need to Know?

List frequently asked questions with the answers. Be prepared to answer questions from the audience. Listen carefully to each question, wait until the questioner is finished, then repeat the question back in your own words to make sure you understood it. Answer the question completely.


What Do I Need to Use It?

List the requirements the customer needs to meet to use the product. These can include system requirements, environmental conditions, safety precautions, training courses, and any other information the customer will need.


What Do We Need to Make It?

List the suppliers, materials, and equipment you need to manufacture the new product. Highlight any proprietary processes, environmentally friendly materials, and other information of interest to the customer.


What Is It and What Does It Do?

Describe the product in detail. List and explain its most important and useful features.

List a few eye-catching tasks your customers can complete using this product.


When Can We Get It?

If your product is not yet widely available, give a time line for when and where you plan to release the new product. Try to keep this as accurate as possible.


Where Did It Come From?

Give a brief history of the new product. Highlight any interesting anecdotes, breakthroughs that made this product possible, and other interesting, memorable information.


Where Does It Fit?

Talk about your company's vision statement and overall marketing and product strategy. Explain where the new product fits in.


Who Wants to Buy It?

Describe the primary market you will sell to. Explain whether this product is meant for home use, the business market, or a specialized customer base (doctors, lawyers, and so on).


Why Do You Want to Buy It?

List the customer needs that your product fills. Give a representative, if not exhaustive, list of the tasks and projects your customers can complete with this product. Highlight the quality, design, and craftsmanship that went into your product.


Project Proposal Slide Show

A Project Proposal slide show lets you outline your plans for a project. When you propose a project, you need to sell your idea to your audience. Prepare carefully, and make sure you include all the relevant information: what your project will cover, what its goals are, when you will have it done, what equipment you need, and how much it will cost. Emphasize the benefits of the project, and mention your own qualifications. When you present your proposal, it is important to be confident and articulate. Practice your proposal several times before your presentation.

As you prepare your presentation, make sure you include all relevant information. Do not fill your slides with information that your audience will see as fluff--keep to the point.

Emphasize the benefits of your project, but be utterly honest about costs and risks. Give the audience enough details to make an informed decision about the proposed project.

Anticipate your audience's objections or questions and answer them as you present the proposal. You will also need to be prepared to answer questions from the audience during and after the presentation.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Project Proposal slide show, see these topics:

Agenda

Project Abstract

Objectives

Historical Background

Justification

Explanation

Benefits

Risks

Scope

Implementation

Deliverables

Schedule

Organization

Necessary Equipment and Materials

Budget

Cost/Benefit Analysis

Modifications

Alternatives

Personal Qualifications

Questions and Anwers

Summary

Thank You for Coming!


Agenda

List the items you plan to cover, the allotted times for each topic, and the names of any other presenters. Before you present, practice your proposal several times so you know approximately how long you will need to cover each item.

As you make your presentation, stay with the order you list in the agenda; skipping around between topics will confuse the audience and make you look unprepared. Be sure that any other team members who present parts of the proposal arrive on time with any necessary materials, and that they and practice their presentations as well.


Alternatives

List alternatives to your proposal, with the benefits and risks of each. Be very honest, and take care to show the good points of your proposal over any other possibilities.

Discussing alternatives is especially useful when you are aware of competing projects, or when you face a negative or doubting audience.


Benefits

List the benefits that will come from your project. Give concrete, specific facts, examples, and situations that will help your audience see exactly what good your project will do. Be sure not to exaggerate the benefits, or promise more than you can deliver.


Budget

Talk about your project's financial needs. Detail the amounts of money you will need for fees, contract work, materials, travel, and so on. Be very honest about how much money you will need, and then abide by your estimate. Explain any alternatives you could use or do given less or more money.


Cost/Benefit Analysis

Talk about the costs versus the benefits of accepting your project. Be very specific, giving facts and examples to back up your points. You may want to show how initial costs will balance with savings later on, or show the expenses incurred if the current situation continues.


Deliverables

Identify exactly what you will produce when the project is finished. Depending on your project, this may include written reports, working models, patents, construction projects, and so on. Be very specific about the format, completeness, and other characteristics of each item.


Explanation

Explain how your project will address current problems and issues. Be very specific when you explain what you intend to look at, what ideas you have, how the project addresses the problems and issues, and so on. Briefly discuss your methods, the project scope, and other concerns, indicating that you will give more details later.


Historical Background

Give a history of the situation and problem that the project is meant to solve. Briefly review and discuss any previous research and other projects in this area.

Explain current issues that affect, promote, or cause the need for the project. If this is an ongoing project, or the next phase of a previous project, talk about any progress already made.


Implementation

Discuss the actual methods and steps you will use to complete your project. Explain the blueprint of your project. Give specific details about what will be done first, who will do it, how, and in what time frame.


Justification

Explain what current issues/problems your project addresses, and why it is important that these needs or problems be solved. You need to convince your audience that your project is important and will yield useful results. Be sure you tell the audience why they need you to do this project.


Modifications

Talk about any other options for your project. Explain what would happen if you reduced the scope, chose a different area of focus, created a prototype instead of product, and so on. Discuss where you can be flexible (time, resources, scope) and where you have to stay within tight guidelines.


Necessary Equipment and Materials

Explain what kinds of things you will need for your project: computers, software, seeds, lab equipment, a sailboat, and so on. Be very specific about what types, makes, models, and amounts of materials you need, when you need them, and why.


Objectives

List the project's goals. These should be measurable, specific, and definite. Avoid impressive-sounding but empty objectives.


Organization

Show a list of the people who will work on the project, who they will report to, the roles they will play, and so on. You may also want to include a short biography on each one, including previous experience on projects like this one, qualifications, and other important information.


Personal Qualifications

Give your personal qualifications to work on this project. This is very important when you are bidding on a job, or when you are applying for a consulting or contracting position. Make sure you include relevant experience, other similar projects, education, training, and any other factors you believe are important to your success with this project.


Project Abstract

Briefly describe the project in a paragraph. Cover the basic outline of what you want to do and why, but do not go into detail here.


Questions and Answers

Anticipate and answer questions from the audience, and be prepared to answer any objections or inquiries. After you have gone through your prepared answers, take questions from the audience. Listen carefully to each question, wait until the question is finished, then repeat the question in your own words to be sure you understood what the person asked. Then answer the question. Maintain a polite, helpful, professional attitude, leaving out any defensiveness you might feel.


Risks

List the risks associated with your project and how you will overcome them. Do not gloss over any possible difficulties, but do not overemphasize them, either.

Be very specific about how you plan to overcome each risk. Explain any contingency strategies, backup plans, and other strategies you can use if you need to.


Schedule

Give a time line for the project with dates for milestones, goals, and deliverables. Be very honest about the time it will take you to complete the project, and then abide by your estimate. Promising to finish a project in less time than you know it will take reflects badly on both your judgement and your honesty, while padding the time can make your project look too unwieldy for serious consideration.


Scope

Explain the scope of the project. You may include information about the geographical area it will cover, the kind of statistical sample you will use, how many people will be one the team, the depth of your research, and any other factors that apply to your project.

Explain how flexible the scope of the project is, compared to time and resources. If you run out of money or time, will you narrow the scope of the project? If so, how?


Summary

Give a brief summary of your proposal. Recap the important points of your project, the benefits of the project, the budget, and the time line.


Thank You for Coming!

Close with encouragement and thanks to the audience. End the presentation on a positive, optimistic note. Promise to be in touch with the decision makers soon. Be prepared to give them any added information they request for further consideration.


Recommending a Strategy Slide Show

A Recommending a Strategy slide show gives interest and emphasis to your opinions. When you present your recommended strategy to solve a problem, you are selling your idea. Be sure to tailor your presentation to both the current situation and to the audience you need to persuade.

As you prepare your presentation, be sure to include a definition of the current problem. Explain any necessary background information. Above all, tell your audience why the problem is a problem. They are more likely to listen to your recommendations if they know that the situation is real.

As you present, list all the alternative solutions, giving their pros and cons, then state your own recommendation. Back up your idea with facts, data, and examples.

Before you present your ideas, thoroughly review the problem, the alternatives, and your own strategy so that you can anticipate objections and answer any questions that come up.

Answer the objections you thought of during the presentation, then be ready to answer any further questions the audience might have.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Recommending a Strategy slide show, see these topics:

Agenda

Executive Overview

Mission Statement

Company Objectives

Defining Terms

Current Situation

State the Problem

Justification

Possible Solutions

Recommend a Strategy

Supporting Facts & Examples

Benefits of My Solution

Proof of Benefits

Costs vs. Benefits

Costs of Rejecting the Solution

Summary

Questions and Answers

What to Do

Ask for Any Further Questions

Thank You for Coming!


Agenda

List the items you plan to cover, along with the allotted times and other presenters, if any. You do not need to go into detail here, but do give your audience a good idea of what you plan to discuss and approximately how long you want to spend on each item.


Ask for Any Further Questions

Answer any questions the audience may still have. Remember not to be defensive.


Benefits of My Solution

List up to 5 benefits of adopting your solution. Be sure to tie them directly to concrete or measurable benefits, not only speculation or opinion. Listing the benefits may help you convince a negative or doubting audience.


Company Objectives

List your company's objectives. Make sure your strategy will help the company fulfill its objectives.


Costs of Rejecting the Solution

Show the costs of not using your solution, with implications in concrete and/or financial values. Use this slide to help your audience see that the costs of another solution will be higher than those of the one you propose, or that allowing the current problem to continue will cost more in the long run than implementing your solution.


Costs vs. Benefits

Help your audience see the value of adopting your solution. Explain the investment your solution will require (in time, money, manpower, and so on), and contrast those costs with the negative effects of not adopting your solution.


Current Situation

Explain the current situation and issues that face your company. Outline the implications of each issue for your company. Explain why your company needs a strategy is necessary to deal with these issues.

Keep your analysis confined to the situation to which your strategy applies; listing all the issues in the company will simply fill time without adding to your point, and may distract or annoy your audience.


Defining Terms

Define any terms or ideas you need to discuss that your audience may be unfamiliar with. This is especially important when you want to discuss technical subjects, or fields with specialized meanings for what appear to be common terms.


Executive Overview

Give a concise summary of your presentation. This can be a simple paragraph mentioning the current problem, the need for a solution, and the strategy you are recommending.


Justification

Explain why you need to address the situation. Outline the negative consequences that will arise if the current situation persists. If you have a negative or doubting audience, you will need to prepare your justification carefully. Be sure to mention the needs in the areas your audience cares most about (finances, prestige, public image, and so on).


Mission Statement

Review your company's mission/vision statement. Make sure your strategy follows the path the mission statement sets out.


Possible Solutions

List possible solutions with pros, cons, and costs for each. Before recommending a strategy, you need to research the alternatives carefully so you can choose the best one. Explain the results of that research, then outline and compare each solution briefly.


Proof of Benefits

Support each benefit with concrete facts and examples. Listing the benefits may help you convince a negative or doubting audience.


Questions and Answers

Anticipate the audience's possible objections and list both the questions and answers on this slide. Reiterate your main points if you need to. Indicate that you will take other questions from the audience.

After you finish answering anticipated objections, answer questions from the audience. Remember not to get defensive about either your solution or your performance. Be willing to answer objections and take suggestions also.


Recommend a Strategy

Recommend the strategy you think is best suited to this situation. Be sure to refer to the list of possible solutions, and explain again why this strategy is the best one. Remind the audience of the costs, pros, cons, and other information.


State the Problem

Summarize the current problem/need/issue that you need a strategy for. Be sure your audience understands why the problem is a problem. Carefully outline the needs and issues you want them to focus on.


Summary

Give a brief summary of your presentation. Review the problem your solution addresses, your solution, and its costs and benefits.


Supporting Facts & Examples

Support your solution with concrete facts and examples. This is especially important if you are speaking to a negative or doubting audience, but it can be useful even when your audience is neutral or favorable.


Thank You for Coming!

Close with encouragement and thanks to the audience. Be optimistic and positive about your strategy. Accept and incorporate the useful suggestions the audience made.


What to Do

List the steps to implement your solution. Make them simple, thorough, and possible. Show a projected time line to help the audience understand the way to actually make the solution happen and how long it will take. Include any relevant information about which tasks need to be done, who will do them, and when they will be done.


Sales Slide Show

A Sales slide show helps you persuade customers to buy your product or service. The object of a sales presentation is to help the customers realize how your product, service, and/or company best meets their needs. Tailor your presentation to the audience you will be addressing--do your research before you get there to make sure you give them the information they need to make their buying decisions.

As you prepare your sales presentation, keep your audience in mind. Address their needs, the benefits the product will give them, and the information they need for their decision. Tell about the product's good points, but do not hide any disadvantages. Be prepared to answer any questions your customers have.

Practice your presentation several times to make sure you can get through it smoothly. Anticipate and answer your customers' questions. Finally, keep a friendly, professional attitude while you present.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Sales slide show, see these topics:

Attention Grabber

Executive Overview

Reasons for Buying

Basis for Decision-Making

Our Vision

Defining Terms

Introduce the Product

Product Usefulness

Product Features

Benefits

Product Superiority

Comparison to Other Products

Other Customers

Testimonials

Costs

Purchase Procedures

Costs vs. Benefits

Return on Investment

Positive Impact

Costs of Not Buying

Implementing the Solution

Questions and Answers

Summary

What to Do Next

Ask for Any Further Questions

Thank You for Coming!


Ask for Any Further Questions

Answer the customer's questions. Listen carefully to each question until the customer finishes, repeat the question in your own words to make sure you understood, and then answer the question the customer asked. Be patient and helpful.


Attention Grabber

Ask a question or put up an eye-catching slogan to engage the customer's attention. You can use statistics, philosophical queries, or even jokes to open your presentation. Suit the content to the product or service you are selling, and to your potential customers.


Basis for Decision-Making

Talk about the customer's priorities and issues to create a list of the criteria the customer should use for making decisions. For example, list several factors such as cost, quality, availability, reliability, economy, and so on. Rank the factors with your customer to arrive at a matrix that represents your customer's priorities in purchasing.


Benefits

List the benefits the customer will experience after buying your product. Give specific examples related to the work the customer actually wants to do.

Compare your product or service to what the customer is currently using, and point out the gains in time, money, efficiency, and so on that the customer would experience from using your product instead.


Comparison to Other Products

Talk about how competing products and services compare to yours. Give specific, concrete examples and detailed comparison sheets.

Be honest about areas where the competitor offers more features, a better deal, or other positive benefits; and, after acknowledging that, show how the benefits balance out on the side of your product or service.


Costs

Explain how much your product costs, and how that cost expresses itself in quality or is a better deal than competitors' products or services. Do not hide costs, or fail to mention extra charges for servicing, installation, home visits, and so on; instead, point out the advantages or real value of these services.


Costs of Not Buying

Show the costs of not buying your product or service, with implications in concrete and/or financial values. Be thorough, but do not over-inflate the costs.


Costs vs. Benefits

Help the customer see the value compared to the costs of buying your product or service. Show how an initial cost works out to a lesser one in the long run. Give concrete examples.


Defining Terms

Define and explain any terms or ideas you need to discuss that the customer may be unfamiliar with. This is especially important for products or services that have their own specialized jargon or that use ordinary words to convey different ideas.


Executive Overview

Give a concise summary of your presentation. Use a single paragraph in which you mention the main points you plan to make. You do not need to go into detail here, but give your customers a good idea of what you will cover and in what order.


Implementing the Solution

Explain how the customer can quickly and easily adopt your product. Discuss any necessary installation, alterations, scheduling, and so on. Be detailed and specific.


Introduce the Product

Show the product name, logo, and packaging. If you are selling a service, show the logo and explain the service.


Other Customers

Explain why other customers/companies buy your product. List a few prominent and impressive past customers. It is wise to use others customers' names sparingly, however, since this is one of the techniques that scam artists use.


Our Vision

Talk about your company's mission/vision statement and how it fits the customer's needs. This is especially important when you are selling a service or a long-term contract. If the customer is going to have extensive dealings with your company, you need to show that your company has the customer's best interests and goals in mind.


Positive Impact

Give examples of how buying your product or service will positively affect the customer's future success and happiness. Do not promise more than you can deliver.


Product Features

Describe the product in detail. List the most attractive features and capabilities. Gauge your presentation to the audience. For example, you should give very technical details about a computer service or system to the company's IS technician, but you should emphasize such concepts as ease of use and versatility to a group of executive assistants.


Product Superiority

Tell the customer why your product, service, and/or company is the best. Give specific, concrete examples to show that your product or service is superior to one offered by your competitors.

Concentrate on the positive aspects of your product; do not attempt to impress your customer by downgrading the competing products or services. You need to make a positive impression for your product on its own merits, not by simply pointing out the flaws in a competing product.


Product Usefulness

Discuss what the customer can use your product to do, or what your service will do for him or her. Tailor this to the customer's needs. This means you need to research the customer's job, business, or habits before you begin the presentation.


Purchase Procedures

Explain the terms and conditions of the sale, extra bargains, time limits, and so on. List the methods of payment you will accept, any schedule for repeated payments, and other qualifications.


Questions and Answers

Anticipate the customer's objections and answer them, tailoring the answers to the customer's situation, priorities, and needs.

Answer any questions the customer has. Listen carefully to each question until the customer finishes, repeat the question in your own words to make sure you understood, then answer the question the customer asked. Be patient and helpful.


Reasons for Buying

List the customer's main reasons for buying your product or service. Include the customer's needs, current situations, future planning, and so on.


Return on Investment

Talk about the excellent return the customer can expect on the investment. Be honest and thorough. Answer questions in detail, and relate the answers to the customer's own situation.


Summary

Give a brief summary of your presentation. Reiterate the benefits of your product or service, the purchase procedures, the steps to implement the solution you propose, and any other important points.


Testimonials

Give quotes and testimonials from other satisfied customers. It is wise to use testimonials sparingly, however, since this is one of the techniques that scam artists use.


Thank You for Coming!

Close with encouragement and thanks to the audience. Remind the audience again of the features and benefits of your product or service. Do not hesitate to ask for a sale. Promise to contact the person making the decision.


What to Do Next

List the steps the customer needs to take to adopt your product. Be very specific. Do not leave any steps or conditions out. Include a time line or schedule for delivery, installation, beginning of service, and so on.


Self-Running Slide Show

The defining characteristic of a Self-Running slide show is that it gets your message across without you having to be there. You can use a self-running slide show to sell your products, pass along information, even simply to entertain customers enough that they want to come into your business.

The slide show should be eye-catching, with lots of animation and interesting content to attract the audience's attention. It should also contain useful information--no one is going to pay attention to even a very well-animated slide show once he or she realizes it has nothing to say.

As you create your slide show, be sure to run it several times to get the pauses exactly right on each screen. You do not want to leave your readers behind by changing from one slide to the next too quickly, but you also do not want to make them stand around waiting for the next slide to appear--because chances are, they will not.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Self-Running slide show, see these topics:

Attention Grabber

Follow-Up

First Point

Second Point

Third Point

Summary

Ask for Action

Thank You for Your Attention!

Blank Slide


Ask for Action

Ask your audience to do something (buy your product, come to your event, remember your name, whatever you need them to do). Choose an advance time that gives enough time for your audience to read the slide. For more information, see About Slide Show Tools.


Attention Grabber

Display a slide containing a question, fact, statement, or quote that will engage the interest of your audience. Choose an advance time that allows enough time for your audience to read the slide. For more information, see About Slide Show Tools.


First Point

Give the first point of your message. Add examples, facts, and supporting information in each bullet. Animate each bullet to add interest and motion to the display. Choose an advance time that gives enough time for your audience to read the slide. For more information, see About Slide Show Tools and To add a cascade effect to bullets.


Follow-Up

Follow up the attention-getting slide with an introduction to the subject of the demonstration (answer the question, relate the quote to your business, and so on). Choose an advance time that allows enough time for your audience to read the slide. For more information, see About Slide Show Tools.


Second Point

Give the second point of your message. Add examples, facts, and supporting information in each bullet. Animate each bullet to add interest and motion to the display. Choose an advance time that gives enough time for your audience to read the slide. For more information, see About Slide Show Tools and To add a cascade effect to bullets.


Thank You for Your Attention!

End with a positive note, company motto, or simple goodbye. Be sure to choose Repeat slide show so that your show loops back to the beginning again. For more information, see About Play Slide Show.


Third Point

Give the third point of your message. Add examples, facts, and supporting information in each bullet. Animate each bullet to add interest and motion to the display. Choose an advance time that gives enough time for your audience to read the slide. For more information, see About Slide Show Tools and To add a cascade effect to bullets.


Summary

Restate the highlights of your main points. Choose an advance time that gives enough time for your audience to read the slide. For more information, see About Slide Show Tools.


Welcome!

Add an eye-catching, explanatory subtitle. Animate objects on the first slide to capture the audience's attention. For more information, see About Animating Objects.


Teach a Concept Slide Show

Using a slide show helps you teach a concept to any group of students, especially if you hand out Audience Notes that they can refer to and take notes on. Before you teach, make sure you know the concept thoroughly so you can answer any questions. Find out how much your audience might know already, so that you can cover any background information they will need. Finally, practice your presentation several times so it flows smoothly.

As you prepare your Teach a Concept slide show, remember to include all the information your audience will need to understand and master the concepts you are presenting. Build in time for plenty of reviews and real-world examples to help participants retain the information.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Teaching a Concept slide show, see these topics:

Welcome

Getting to Know Each Other

What We're Here to Learn

Teaser

Why Is This Important?

Overview

Training Objectives

Schedule

Prerequisites

Introduce the Concepts

Defining Terms

Concept Applications

Concepts

Major Points

Concept Example

How Does It All Work Together?

Summarize the Major Points of Each Concept

Concept Performance Objectives

Questions and Answers

Practice

How Did I Do?

Concept Review

Assessment

Concept How Did You Do?

Review Applications

Hints and Troubleshooting Tips

Additional Training

For More Information...

Thank You for Coming!


Teach a Skill Slide Show

Using a slide show helps you teach a skill to any group of students, especially if you hand out Audience Notes that they can refer to and take notes on. Before you teach, make sure you know the skill thoroughly so you can answer any questions. Find out how much your audience might know already, so that you can cover any background information they will need. Give the participants plenty of time to practice, and be available to help them. Finally, practice your presentation several times so it flows smoothly.

As you prepare your Teach a Skill slide show, remember to include all the information the participants will need to understand and master the skills you are presenting.

Give plenty of reviews, practice, and real-world examples to help the participants retain the information.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Teaching a Skill slide show, see these topics:

Welcome

Getting to Know Each Other

What We're Here to Learn

Teaser

Why Is This Important?

Overview

Schedule

Training Objectives

Defining Terms

Prerequisites

Skills

How Does It All Work Together?

Materials and Requirements

Skill Performance Objectives

Introduce the Skill

Skill Example

Skill Applications

Steps

Skill Questions and Answers

Skill How Did You Do?

Practice

Skill Review

Assessment

Review Applications

Hints and Troubleshooting Tips

Additional Training

For More Information...

How Did I Do?

Thank You for Coming!


Teaching and Training Slide Show

Using a slide show to teach and reinforce concepts is a great way to help your students learn and remember what they have learned, especially when you provide Audience Notes for them to follow and take notes on. It is also a great way to keep yourself on track.

As you create your Teaching and Training slide show, be sure to include enough slides for you to convey all the information you want your students to know, as well as basic and conceptual information that will help them understand what they are learning.

Make sure you provide enough practice time, and be available to answer questions and assist your students as they practice. This is especially important if you are teaching procedures or skills.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Teaching and Training slide show, see these topics:

Title

Welcome

Getting to Know Each Other

What We're Here to Learn

Teaser

Why Is This Important?

Overview

Training Objectives

Schedule

Prerequisites

Introduce the Concepts

Concepts

Defining Terms

Major Points

Concept Example

Summarize the Major Points of Each Concept

Concept Performance Objectives

Concept Questions and Answers

Concept Practice Test

Concept How Did You Do?

Concept Review

Skills

How Does It All Work Together?

Materials and Requirements

Skill Performance Objectives

Introduce the Skill

Skill Example

Skill Applications

Steps

Skill Questions and Answers

Practice

Skill How Did You Do?

Skill Review

Overall Review

Assessment

Overall How Did You Do?

Review Applications

Hints and Troubleshooting Tips

Additional Training

For More Information...

How Did I Do?

Thank You for Coming!


Additional Training

Give a schedule and information about additional training. This could be either additional classes on related subjects or other required training that completes or complements the training you gave in this session.

Include information about places, times, requirements, pre-requisites, fees, and so on.


Assessment

Assess the participants' proficiency with the skills and concepts they have learned. The object of the assessment should be to find out what information the participants understand, and pinpoint areas that need further explanation or practice. Remember to test only the skills and concepts you mentioned in the Performance Objectives and Training Objectives.


Concepts

List each concept you will teach and why it is important to the overall meaning. Prepae a slide for each concept so participants can keep the concepts straight in their minds. Arrange the concepts to that each builds on the next, without leaving any gaps or forcing the participants to mentally rearrange the slides to understand the logical progression of ideas.


Concept Applications

Suggest ways the participants can apply the concepts they will learn. This is especially important when the concepts are very broad or philosophical. Try to tailor the applications to the jobs the participants will actually be doing, with real-world examples.


Concept Example

Give an example of actually using the concept. Try to fit the example to the work or project the participants will actually be doing.


Concept How Did You Do?

Review the participants' performance, give feedback, suggestions, and/or more practice time. Be sensitive to possible embarrassment. It is usually inadvisable to ask participants to read their scores aloud, or to call on individuals to share their answers with the rest of the room.


Concept Performance Objectives

Explain what the participants will be able to do when they have mastered the subject matter. This should be tied closely to the Training Objectives. Be sure the goals are specific and measurable. The performance objectives should cover the most important points of the training, not the minor details.


Concept Practice Test

Have the participants take a practice test for a set amount of time, or lead them in a practice session. Be sure the test covers the Training Objectives and Performance Objectives you set previously.


Concept Questions and Answers

List and answer common questions, then take questions from the participants. Listen to questions carefully, wait until the questioner has finished, then repeat the question back in your own words to be sure you are answering the question. Be understanding when the participants ask you questions you have already covered. If they already knew it, they would not need the training.


Concept Review

Review the concepts again. Pay special attention to any aspects of the concepts the participants seemed to misunderstand or misapply.

As you review, try to involve the participants as much as possible. Ask them questions to help them remember the material. It is often helpful to phrase questions to they are open-ended and require more than a simple "yes" or "no" answer.


Defining Terms

List any vocabulary terms your participants needs to know. Be especially sure to define any jargon or specialized terms that a general audience might not be familiar with.

Define each word as it applies to the concept you are teaching. For example, the word "fade" means the gradual changing of one picture to another in a movie in a class for film students, but auto mechanics use "fade" to describe the action of the car's brakes.


For More Information...

Tell the participants where they can find more information about the subjects you have covered. This could include a list of publications, articles, or Internet pages; information about other training courses; experiments the participants can perform themselves, and so on.


Getting to Know Each Other

Get to know the participants. Tell about your background, interests, and education. Ask each participant's name. Lead a group discussion about their background, interests, and education. Find out what department or company each person works for, or what jobs they do.


Hints and Troubleshooting Tips

Give helpful advice for the participants to use when they perform the skill later.


How Did I Do?

Ask for feedback about the training class. Pass out a prepared evaluation form, with instructions about filling it out and handing it back in. Leave the room or move away from the participants to answer questions while they fill out the form.


How Does It All Work Together?

Explain how each skill works in relation to the others, what to do first, how each builds on others, and so on. You do not need to go into details about the skills themselves, but try to give the participants a good flow outline of the skill set.


Introduce the Concepts

Introduce the concepts you are going to teach. List each one, in order, so the participants get a sense of where the training is going and what it will cover.


Introduce the Skill

List the name and purpose of each the skill. List each one, in order, so the participants get a sense of where the training is going and what it will cover.


Major Points

Give the major points of each concept. Present the points in a logical order so each one builds on the one before. It is best to use one "major points" slide per concept instead of using one slide for all the concepts. If you need more space for details, you can also use a slide for each major point within a concept.


Materials and Requirements

Review necessary materials, conditions, work spaces, and other things the participants will need to practice the skill. It is a good idea to have printed handouts prepared listing the requirements so the participants can refer to it later.

You need to be very specific here, especially if safety is a concern. For example, you should explain that when working with chemicals, the participants will need to be in a well-ventilated area, wear safety goggles, and be very careful while handling containers of reactants. You will need to specifically list the equipment (pipettes, beakers, tongs, and so on) as well as the materials (water, acids, bases, and so on) they will need to carry out the task.


Overall How Did You Do?

Review the participants' performance, give feedback, suggestions, and evaluate the results. Be sensitive to possible embarrassment. It is usually inadvisable to ask participants to read their scores aloud, or to call on individuals to share their answers with the rest of the room.


Overall Review

Review both the concepts and the skill steps again. Pay special attention to any aspects of the concepts and skills the participants seemed to misunderstand or misapply. Try to involve the participants in the review as much as possible.


Overview

Briefly explain what you are going to teach. Give the participants necessary background information and clarification about the purpose of the training.

Do not go into detail here, but give a good road map for what you plan to teach, in what order, and when you will provide opportunities for practice.


Practice

Have the participants practice the skill for a set amount of time, or lead them in a practice session.

Stay in the room so you can be available to help, give examples or advice, and answer questions during the practice. If possible, you might move around the room, checking politely on each participant's progress and answering individual questions.


Prerequisites

List any skills or concepts the participants should already know. You do not need to go into extreme detail here, but make sure you cover at least the basics. For example, if you plan to teach users advanced functions, be sure they are familiar with the basics first.


Review Applications

Suggest ways the participants can apply they material they have learned. Review any earlier examples you gave, and add others. You might ask the participants for ways in which they can use the training skills and concepts in their current jobs.


Schedule

Show times, durations, and subjects for the day's training. Be sure to time your training so you are sure you can meet the schedule.

You may need to alter the schedule if you move more rapidly or slowly through the materials. Have one or two alternate schedules (and lesson plans) prepared to use if that happens. If you do need to alter the timing or order of planned activities, inform participants of the schedule change.


Skills

List each skill you will teach and why it is important. Give each skill its own slide, to keep it separate in the participants' minds.


Skill Applications

Suggest ways the participants can apply the skill they will learn. This is very helpful when the skills are general instead of specialized, or when the skill set could have many different applications. Try to fit the application to the work or project the participants will actually be doing.


Skill Example

Give an example of actually using the skill. Try to fit the example to the work or project the participants will actually be doing.

For example, if you are teaching writing techniques to a group of graduate students studying botany, have the participants work with you to write a proposal for further study of wheat germination in wet and dry climates. This will help them see how they can use the skills you are teaching them in a real life setting.


Skill How Did You Do?

Review the participants' performance, give feedback, suggestions, and/or more practice time. Be sensitive to possible embarrassment. It is usually inadvisable to ask participants to read their scores aloud, or to call on individuals to share their answers with the rest of the room.


Skill Performance Objectives

Explain what the participants should be able to do to show mastery of the skill. This should be tied closely to the Training Objectives. Be sure the goals are specific and measurable. The performance objectives should cover the most important points of the training, not the minor details.


Skill Questions and Answers

List and answer common questions, then take questions from the participants. Listen to questions carefully, wait until the questioner has finished, then repeat the question back in your own words to be sure you are answering what the questioner asked. Be understanding when the participants as you questions you have already covered. If they already knew it, they would not need the training.


Skill Review

Review the steps of the skill again. Pay special attention to any aspects of the skill the participants seemed to misunderstand or misapply. Try to involve the participants in the review as much as possible.


Steps

List each step of the skill sequentially, with explanations if necessary. Be sure not to miss any steps, or to assume the participants know what will happen next.


Summarize the Major Points of Each Concept

Repeat the main points of each concept. This is the review for the concept, so you do not need to go into more detail than you want the participants to remember.


Teaser

Give an interesting fact/incident to get the participants' attention and illustrate the importance of what you will teach them.


Thank You for Coming!

Close with encouragement and thanks to the participants.


Title

Begin your slide show with a title slide. Include the presenter’s name, the name of the class, the location, and the date.


Training Objectives

Explain what you hope to accomplish with this training. Make your objectives specific, measurable, and tied to what you plan to teach. List what you want the participants to be able to do or to know after you have finished. This slide is as much for your reference as for theirs.


Welcome

Greet the participants, introduce yourself, and explain the purpose of the training.


What We're Here to Learn

Define the subject of the training by briefly explaining what you will be teaching. Be precise but avoid using unfamiliar jargon that the participants do not understand yet. Use concrete, interesting examples to make the subject seem real and exciting.


Why Is This Important?

Explain why you are teaching this class. Answer the following questions:

♦	What will the participants do with this information?

♦	Why should they know it?

♦	What are the benefits of learning this material?

Keep your reasons relevant to your audience, using appropriate examples, language, and attitude.

Motivate the participants to want to learn what you have to teach by being enthusiastic about the subject and attentive to the participants.


Team Meeting Presentation

Preparing a slide show to accompany your team meetings can help you present your information efficiently, quickly, and professionally. It can also help focus your team's attention on the information, especially if you provide handouts to remind them of the information you covered.

As you prepare your Team Meeting slide show, be sure to include all the information you think your team members need to know. Keep the meeting moving as much as you can, to avoid gaps and loss of interest. Be prepared to answer questions from the team, and to take suggestions.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Team Meeting slide show, see these topics:

Agenda

New Developments in the Company

Current Events

Team Goals and Objectives

Previous Action Items

Updates

Discussion Topics

Summary

After the Meeting

Thank You for Coming!


After the Meeting

Skip this slide during your presentation (click [image] on the Property Bar).

After the meeting, list attendees and action items for next time, fill in the decisions, action items, and other results, and e-mail it to your team for their information and so you can all refer to it as needed.


Agenda

List the items you plan to cover, along with the allotted times and other presenters, if any. Include the amount of time you have allotted for each subject as well as the order in which you plan to cover the items. Be sure to leave time for questions, related issues, and other discussions that arise from the issues you bring up.


Current Events

List and discuss any current issues and events. These can include events both in and out of the company, directly related to your business, or events that might affect your business in the long run.


Discussion Topics

List each topic you plan to cover in the meeting with the name of the person presenting it.

This slide will remain on the screen as you conduct the discussion segment of the meeting, as a reminder and guide. Try to keep the discussion consistent with the times you allotted to each topic. Keeping the discussion on track makes meetings both productive and within the time limits you set.


New Developments in the Company

List changes in the company. This can include policies, reorganizations, general announcements, product information, new employees, and any other information you feel will be important or interesting to your team.


Previous Action Items

Review action items from the previous meeting. Ask the team members assigned to the action items how they are progressing, what information they have discovered, and so on.


Summary

Summarize the key points of the meeting. The slide lists each discussion topic and/or news event you covered. Verbally fill in the conclusions and decisions you reached during the meeting.


Team Goals and Objectives

Review each team goal and the progress you have made toward it. Be sure the goals are specific and measurable.

If the team has met the goals, be sure to praise and compliment the team members. If the team has not met the goals, do your best to positively motivate the members to accomplish their assignments.

You may also want to lead a discussion about what needs to occur inside and outside of the team to make sure the team accomplishes its goals.


Thank You for Coming!

Close with encouragement and thanks to the team members.


Updates

Get updates from each team member. This should be a chance for everyone to tell the group what he or she is working on, not a bragging or back-biting session. As a general rule, this part of the meeting should be kept short and to the point.


Welcome Slide Show

A Welcome slide show adds interest to your introduction of the featured speaker or event. As you welcome and introduce a special speaker, remember two key points: keep it short and keep it to the point. Adjust the tone of your introduction and the look of the slide show to fit both the person and the occasion. Be careful not to embarrass anyone with inappropriate comments.

As you create the slide show, be sure to include all the relevant information. Make it interesting for the audience as well as the recipient. Be sure to research the facts before you present to make sure they are accurate. Finally, remember that everyone likes a short introduction!

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Welcome slide show, see these topics:

Review the Occasion

Welcome the Audience

Introduce the Speaker

Conclude


Conclude

Yield the floor to the speaker and let the meeting begin. At this point, make sure that any presentation equipment the speaker needs to use is ready to go, that the microphone or audio setup is working properly, and so on.


Introduce the Speaker

List the speaker's important accomplishments and what he or she will speak about.


Review the Occasion

State the reason for the meeting and why the audience is here.


Welcome the Audience

List several points that describe the audience and welcome them to the meeting. You may also want to outline the program, make any announcements, and do other conducting chores.


Year-End Report Slide Show

A Year-End Report slide show is much like an Annual Report slide show, with two major differences: it is shorter and less formal. While an Annual Report goes out to stockholders, investors, and other outside participants, a Year-End Report summarizes the year for internal use. You can be more informal in a Year-End Report, with less attention on stock prices and more on how the company fared.

As you prepare your Year-End Report slide show, try to summarize and condense the most important things that happened in the last year. List interesting statistics, new products, employee achievements, and other interesting, insightful elements. Remember to finish on a positive, morale-building note to encourage best efforts next year.

For helpful hints about customizing the slides in the Year-End Report slide show, see these topics:

Executive Overview

Summary

Achievements

Trends and Issues

Statistics

New Products and Services

Market Share

Stock Information

Financial Highlights

Organizational Changes

Future Challenges and Opportunities

Objectives for Next Year

What to Do Next

Thank You for Coming!


Achievements

List your company's achievements for the past year. Include all the projects completed, new deals made, expansion, growth, marketing triumphs, and any other feat your company accomplished. You may also want to include individual employees' outstanding achievements.


Financial Highlights

Briefly explain your company's finances. Include basic information about account balances, gains and losses, income, expense, and so on. If you need a more detailed view, link to the most current spreadsheets.


Future Challenges and Opportunities

List the opportunities you plan to explore in the next year, along with the trends or breakthroughs that gave rise to them. Talk about the challenges you foresee and how you plan to overcome them.


Market Share

Talk about each product's market share. Note whether it increased or decreased during the year and explain why.


New Products and Services

List and briefly describe the new products or services you introduced this year. Talk about how well they did, or how badly, and why.


Objectives for Next Year

List your goals for next year and how you will accomplish them. Make sure your goals are specific, detailed, and measurable. They should be related to your outline of trends and issues.


Organizational Changes

Explain any changes in your organization in the last year. Discuss the ways in which your processes changed due to the reorganization. Use an organization chart to show the basic flow of tasks and departments in your company.


Statistics

Give statistics relevant to your business: number of viewers, hours worked, items sold, new hires, and so on. You may also want to include some interesting, fun statistics, such as number of sodas consumed during the project, number of employees getting married, and so on.


Stock Information

Give information on stock numbers, performance, prices, and so on. Compare this year's stock information with last year's, and discuss the reason for the differences.


Thank You for Coming!

Close with encouragement and thanks to the audience. Answer any questions the audience might have. Leave everyone enthusiastic and motivated to make the next year a success.


Trends and Issues

Talk about market trends and issues in the past year and how they affected your business. Highlight the trends you read correctly and used to your advantage. Mention the problems you had and give ideas for how to avoid them in the future.


What to Do Next

List the next steps the company should take to head into the new year. These steps should accomplish your short-term goals and bring you closer to your overall objectives. Be specific and detailed, with responsibilities, assignments, and dates.


Year-End Summary

Summarize what happened during the past year. Include company achievements, employee records set, goals met, mistakes, and general company news.