How to Get the Most out of PowerPoint

When you have to construct a presentation, you're probably going to use Microsoft PowerPoint. It’s a reliable, user-friendly solution for most purposes, but are you taking advantage of it to the best of your ability? Listed below are some tips to more efficiently utilize PowerPoint.

Modify Your Object Defaults
PowerPoint lets you personalize your presentations in a way that you can construct an identity for them. Having such an identity for your brand is imperative; if your presentations look similar or have the same format, they become easier to build out on a whim. Reformatting all of your objects is quite a task, so make this process much simpler by changing the object default settings.

One of the best examples: changing the default sizes of your text boxes to ensure they match your business’ branding. First step is to provide an example of what the rest of your text boxes will imitate. Change the formatting of a text box to do this. Once you’re done, just right-click on the text box and select Set as Default Text Box. When this is finished, the rest of your text boxes will be added to your presentation with the same formatting as the default box.

Locating an Object
You’ve been working on your presentation for a while and it’s starting to become difficult finding specific objects. If your objects are grouped together, this task is even harder. There is a way to cycle through all of your objects so that you can find the specific one you’re looking for: just press the Tab key. This selects the next element in the sequence, even if they have been grouped together. This makes finding specific objects much more simple.

Apply Templates
PowerPoint can also save time with the implementation of templates. These can limit the amount of time it takes to format your presentation. It’s a great way to get your presentations completed, especially if on a deadline, while maintaining a pleasing appearance. Alas, unless it’s a custom template, it’s unlikely that a built-in template will fit your company’s branding. It’s also possible that some of your prospects might identify it as a template, making you a bit foolish.

A simple way to resolve this is by creating a custom template that matches up nicely with your branding. While this is time-consuming, it is definitely worth it, especially if you plan on using it for the foreseeable future. If this isn’t an option, however, stick to a simple template so that you can focus on the content and its quality. After all, it’s not a presentation if you don’t have some ideas in it. 

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