A well-formatted press release has 7 main components. These instructions will help you put together a useful press release for the media.
#1 – Company Logo
Add a little branding and a polished image with a small logo at the top of your press release.
#2 – Press Release Validity
“For Immediate Release”;
“For Release Before [date]” or
“For Release After [date]”
Most press releases are “For Immediate Release” and are most convenient for the media to use. If you are sending a release that shouldn’t be used until after a certain date, you may want to wait until it is ready for “Immediate Release”. Noting that a press release is “For Release Before” may put undue pressure on the media outlet and may cause your story to be passed up. The media gets plenty of press releases and they want to be able to use your release when they need it.
#3 – Contact Information
Include your phone number, address, company name, fax number, email and URL. Be as available for contact as possible.
Here’s what the contact information might look like:
#4 – Attention-Getting Headline
Write an attention-grabbing headline that includes benefit for the target audience. Remember, the media wants to know why your release is relevant to their audience, so keep their audience in mind. Avoid hype, promotional language and excessive adjectives. Be direct, succinct and descriptive.
Here is a sample headline:
#5 – City, State and Date
On the same line where you place your summary (#5), include your city, state and date of the release. These items are generally bold and italicized.
#6 – Summary
Before you get into the body of the release, write a sentence or two to summarize your press release. Make it interesting, you want the recipient to keep reading. This information is generally italicized. Answer the who, what, where, when and why as much as possible.
Here’s what a summary might look like, including the city, state and date:
#7 – Body Content
Now you’re ready to get into the meat of your story. Always keep the target audience in mind your audience and writer. Your audience may partly be the editor or report, but ideally your story should target and share the benefits to media’s audience. HINT: Adjust your release to the target audience when sending it do different media outlets.
Keep in mind that your press release is a newsworthy story. It is not an ad and shouldn’t read like one. Read through a local newspaper and see how stories about businesses are put together to give you an idea of how you might position your release as a story as well.
Your target audience is partly the editor or reporter who will be reading the release. Ultimately, however, your target audience is that editor or reporter’s readers or audience. You need to write a story that will be of interest to them.
Quotations from yourself, your customers and other experts add credibility and allow the injection of opinion into the story.
Close out the body of your release with information on how to get further information, including a phone number, email address and website URL.
#8 – Signify the End of Your Release
Add ### at the bottom of your release to indicate your release is finished. Try to keep your press release to one page.
Press Release Template
<INSERT COMPANY LOGO>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Person’s Full Name
Company Name
Mailing Address
Phone Number
Email Address
Precise Website Address / URL for More Information
Attention Getting Headline Here – Include a Benefit for the Reader
City, Town, Date – Summary that draws the reader in to learn more. Make sure you address who, what, where, when, why and when. Be succinct, but include enough information.
Provide some relevant background information about your product/event/announcement. Make sure you include information on why this is important to the target audience. Be factual and succinct.
Add a quotation from a customer or somebody who reinforces your expertise or the importance of your announcement. Include that person’s full name and if relevant, include their credentials.
Include a quotation from yourself that says why you created the products/put together the event, etc. Having a quotation from yourself makes it easier for you to assert an opinion, while still remaining newsworthy. Make sure to include your full name and position in the company.
Finish your press release with a company summary and what you do. Include a statement that says, “For more information, please contact…” and include a phone number and email. Also include the URL of where to get more information on the website.
Bit.ly is a great little free tool that allows you to shorten long URLs such as affiliate links so you can more easily insert them into emails, tweets and such. Bit.ly also allows you to track your clicks as well.
Step 1: Shorten Links
When you log into your account, you’ll see a box as shown below where you enter the long URL that you’d like to shorten. Simply enter the long link and click the “Shorten” button.
Below the box you’ll now see a shortened link as shown below.
Copy & paste this short link on your website, social networking sites, email or any place you want to share it.
Step 2: Custom Link
If you don’t like the look of the shortened link, you can create a custom link. To do this, click “Customize” next to the bit.ly generated short link. Enter the letters/word you’d like to use for the link & click the “Customize” button as illustrated on the page below.
If the link is available, it will be updated. If someone else has already used that customized set of letters or words, then you’ll have to choose a different word/letter combo.
Once you have a unique letter/word combo, your new link will generate.
Copy & paste this short link on your website, social networking sites, email or any place you want to share it.
Repeat for each link you want to shorten.
Step 3: Short Domain & Tracking Domain (optional steps)
With the Pro version of Bit.ly, you can enter a short domain and a tracking domain. To do this, in the upper right corner, next to your username, click the down arrow and select “Settings”.
Custom Short Domain
A custom short domain is used in place of the bit.ly.com domain when creating short links For instance, if you owned the domains all-baseball-card-deals.com and abcd.com you could enter http://aplc.com here and your shortened bit.ly links would look like abcd.com/aQ7tz rather than bit.ly/aQ7tz
Just enter the short domain into the box and click the “Add Short Domain” button.
Note: Adding a custom short domain requires you to edit your DNS settings before it will work.
Tracking Domain
This will allow you to gather data on how your domain is being circulated across the web. If you own the domain all-baseball-card-deals.com and set it as your dashboard tracking domain, all of the bit.ly redirected traffic to all-baseball-card-deals.com would show up in your stats.
You simply need to enter your root domain and click the “Add Tracking Domain” button.
You’ll then be asked to verify your domain one of three ways…
Step 4: Sidebar Bookmarklet
Bit.ly has a sidebar bookmarklet that allows you to tweet, watch your stats and see who is talking about the linked page on Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and blog comments right from your browser’s sidebar.
To set this up, navigate to the upper right corner next to your username & click the down arrow and select “Shorten Everywhere”.
The page will show you an outline of how the bookmarklet will look. At the bottom of the page, there’s a yellow box that tells you to drag the link to your browser toolbar to get started.
If you already have links set up in your dashboard, once the bookmarklet refreshes, you’ll start to see your stats.
You can add your Twitter and Facebook account details so you can quickly post directly from this bookmarklet.
You can find similar tools that work pretty much the same on this page:
Kunaki specializes in print on demand CDs and DVDs which can contain audio, video, ebooks, games, or data. In this tutorial, you will learn how to use the Kunaki software to create a data CD.
You will need:
A PC (not Mac compatible)
A fast internet connection (Dial-up is not recommended!)
Your data product(s) already added to a CD
Graphic program
Graphics for CD and cover (16 bit and 300 dpi)
Use these templates to make sure your images are the correct size.
Note: Kunaki deletes CD /DVD products if you or someone doesn’t buy within 180 days.
Step 1: Download and install your software
The first thing you will need to do is download your CD/DVD creation software, which is an .exe file. Save it to your desktop for easy access.
Double click on the icon to install. Choose run.
When the program screen opens, read the info and click on the green button in the upper right corner to begin.
Step 2: Select your options and fill in product info
When the next page appears, you will see a list of information. The first question asks you to select your product type. This determines the questions you see underneath. We chose the data/other option.
The information requested includes (bold is required):
Product type
Add UPC bar code
Title
Sub title
Original release date
Copyright message
Author
Author web site
Publisher
Publisher web site
Catalog number (ASIN)
Description / requirements
When you are finished adding your information, click the green button in the top right of the page.
Step 3: Design your case and CD
Note: Make sure you have your images ready before you start. You cannot save your project and come back to it, so you will need to have everything ready to go when you start.
On this page you will choose your design method. You may choose to have the program auto-design a cover or you may add a custom design. Then pick the disc type you’d like to use. Choose whether you want to use a CD or a DVD. What kind of case would you like to use? Choose a jewel case or a DVD case.
We chose the custom design. By doing this, we were able to add a 3-D title instead of just having the program add it in plain text. If you are good with graphics or have a graphic artist on your team, we recommend using the custom design option.
Make sure your images are the appropriate size. Upload your images using the browse button. If the graphic doesn’t look right on the product, use the “clear” button to delete the image. Edit and upload your image again.
To preview your product, use the view buttons to open the case and scroll through the different views of the case and CD.
Step 4: Create and save your master CD
When you are finished adding your images, click the green button in the upper right corner.
Upload your CD files.
Click the “save as” button. Choose the place where you would like to save your project and type the file’s name into the popup box. The location will show up in the box below.
You should see this type of message. If you do not see this message, you may need to adjust the settings on your CD and try again or click on the question mark in the top right of your screen.
Step 5: Launch your master file
When your product has been compiled, you should see the file location of your project and a button. To launch your saved product click the button.
When your project launches, you will see a master copy similar to the one shown below.
Step 6: Perform pre-publishing tasks
On this page, you have three pre-publish options in the upper left of the page.
Option 1: You may print disc label and contents by clicking on the “print disc and case” button and then choosing your print options.
Option 2: If you want to save the CD contents to a folder on your hard drive, click the “extract contents to folder” button, browse to folder and click on the “start extracting” button..
Option 3: To make a copy of the master CD, click on the “record contents to cd” button in the upper left of your screen. Simply insert a blank CD and press the “start recording” button.
Step 6: Publish your product
Once you have saved or printed anything you wanted from the master CD file, you are ready to publish. To do this, click the “publish” button in the top-right corner of your screen.
Here you will be asked to login or register. Registered members may quickly fill in the current member section at the top. If you aren’t a registered member, you’ll see a registration form. After you fill in the info, click on the publish button.
Next, you will see your publishing progress. The larger the file is, the longer it will take to upload. Some people, in the past, reported video upload time taking as much as 48 hours. However, you can see that our 6.58 MB file, took less than 5 minutes to upload with a DSL connection.
When your project has completed uploading, you will see a message stating that it was delivered successfully. The message also instructs you to access your account to order your product or activate the “publish at no cost” service. Simply click the “ok” button to do either of the two things.
Once you receive the success message and login to your account, you may want to request a free copy of your product, purchase a product, or make adjustments to the product details, etc.
Novamind is a mindmapping tool with an emphasis on great design. It’s ideal for presenters who want to create first class professional looking mindmaps for use in online or offline presentations. Of course, Novamind can also be used for note taking or brainstorming.
The price ranges from $49 for the most basic version to $249 for the platinum version. To try out the software, just download their 30 day free trial at:
Click on the main topic to select it. Type in the name of the main topic.
Step 2: Learn to Create Topics
When the main topic is selected, just press enter to create your first sub-topic.
When any other topic is selected, press enter to create a topic on the same level. This is called a sibling topic.
Press insert when any topic is selected to create a sub-topic. This is called a child topic.
Step 3: Creating Callout Topics
Callout topics are attention-catching topics that you can use to draw emphasis to specific points.
To create a callout topic, first select the topic you want the callout to be attached to, then click “Callout” along the top bar.
This is what a callout looks like.
Step 4: Creating Floating Topics
Have a second main idea? Put it in a floating topic. Just click on the arrow under “Topic” and select “Floating Topic.”
This is what a floating topic looks like.
Step 5: Learn Your Formatting Options
Novamind offers a wide range of formatting options.
Fill color. This changes the background color of the whole topic.
Outline color. This changes the color of the line connecting to the topic, as well as the line outlining the topic.
To change Fill or Outline colors, click Fill or Outline in the top bar.
Text color. This changes the color of the text.
Text background color. Changes the background behind the text.
To change either of these options, click on the arrow next to the “A” in the top bar.
Bold, Italics and Underline. Click their respective buttons along the top, or use CTRL + B, I or U.
Font. Change the font by selecting the topic and clicking the font box.
Text size. Click the text size box next to the font box to select your text size. Alternatively, click the A^ or Av arrows to go one size up or down.
Here’s an illustration of the different formatting options.
Step 6: Change Your Map Design
Different designs work well for different purposes. If you’re taking notes for yourself, then a simplistic and fast design might work best. If you’re creating a mindmap for a presentation, then you might want a more classy design.
Click on Map Design along the top to access the map design menu.
Select the map design you want. Each design will look significantly different than other designs. Here’s an example of the Presentation design.
To change the colors, fonts or backgrounds in any design, just click one of the drop-down arrows on the right hand side.
Step 7: Presenter Mode
If you’re going to be using your mindmaps to make presentations, Novamind’s presenter mode can help.
To use the presenter mode, just click Presenter along the top.
To build a presentation, first select a topic, then click Create Slide From Selection on the left. Repeat this process for each topic you want to focus on.
Each slide will focus on one topic, zoomed in fully. Move from slide to slide to create a dynamic presentation.
Click on either of the Start Presentation buttons to play your presentation.
Wrap Up
We’ve just covered the most important features to Novamind. You now know how to create sibling and child topics, how to create callouts and floating topics, how to change text, outline and filler colors, how to change map designs and how to structure presentations.
Find your operating system and download the install files. Follow the on-screen instructions to install Freemind.
Step 2: Rename Your Map
Click on the center of your mind map to enter the text edit mode. Enter the name of your mind map or the central idea.
Hit enter to confirm your changes.
Step 3: Create Your First Node
To create your first node, hit enter. A blank node will appear. Fill in the text that you want to appear.
Step 4: Sibling and Child Nodes
A sibling node is a node that’s above or below your current node. To create a child node below your current node, just hit Enter. To create one above, hit Shift + Enter.
A child node is a “child” of the node above it. Its text can be shown or hidden at will. To create a child node, hit Insert.
Step 5: Adding Art
Click on any clip art symbol on the left hand bar to add it to any node.
Step 6: Format Your Nodes
To italicize or bold a node, click on the bold or italics buttons along the top bar. Alternatively, use Ctrl + I or Ctrl + B.
To change the size of your text, hold Control and press either + or -.
To change the font, select the node you want to change then click the font drop down box along the top. You can also change the font size using the box next to the font selection box
For even more formatting options, such as node color, background color, edge width and so on, go to the Format menu.
Step 7: Inserting Links and Images
To add a link or image to your mind map, click on the Insert menu, then select the type of file or link you want to insert.
Here’s what the inserted links or images look like:
These are some of the most important basic features of Freemind. You now know how to rename your nodes, add sibling and child nodes, format your nodes and insert links and graphics.
Bookify is generally best for photo books and your book can be made online.
Blurb BookSmart is best for photos and text. This is the option we chose for this tutorial.
Professionals works best for those who want a large amount of control over their options and settings.
Click the BookSmart button.
If you have not already registered, you will be prompted to do so now. Simply provide
Your email address
A user name
Password and
Email preferences
Then click the button to continue.
Your download should start shortly. If not, retrace your steps and click the download button again. Save the .exe file to your desktop and double click the icon to install. Once the software installs, double click the program icon to start the program.
Step 2: Start making your book
When the book opens click on the “start a new book” button.
Step 3: Choose a size
On this page you will add the book’s title and author name. Then choose the standard portrait option and click continue.
Step 4: Choose a format layout
For this tutorial, we chose the text only option. Click “start book now”.
Step 5: Design your cover layout
Choose your cover layout template from the list. The front cover is the large square on the right. The gray empty boxes represent images.
Change the cover type to “soft cover”, using the blue buttons on the right.
Step 6: Set the background color for your cover
Use the background color selector to add color to your book cover.
Step 7: Add text to your cover
Click the text boxes to add the title, sub-title and name to your front cover. Once you click the box, you can use the text editor buttons to change the font family, size, color, etc.
Step 8: Add images to your cover
Use the “get photos” button to upload images to add to your book. You may upload multiple images.
Drag your image on the left to your cover and drop it in the image area. Your image will resize to fit the box. If there is a problem with the image resolution or size, you will see an image warning and message giving you more info.
Step 9: Add text and images to the back cover
To add text and images to your back cover, click on the back cover image at the bottom of the page to add the image and click on the top or text area to add information to the back cover in the same way as in the step above.
Step 10: Add and format special pages
Next, you’ll add or fill in special pages such as the title page and the copyright page. These may be blank; if so, click on the page and then the “insert button” at the top of the screen. Insert the appropriate content. Edit where needed.
For example, when adding the title page info, click on the title link.
Step 11: Add your book’s content
On the appropriate content pages, add your content. You may copy and paste content into the pages; however, you’ll have fewer formatting problems if you type it in manually. When you’re finished, click on the preview button.
Step 12: Publish your book
After previewing and making any edits, click on the order button to publish.
You will see a popup and be asked to sign in to your account. Just click the sign-in button in the bottom right.
After you sign in, you will see a notification that shows you the upload progress.
Step 13: Ordering your book
Once you upload your book, you see a notification saying that you have 15 days to order your book. Unfortunately, you MUST purchase the book before you are allowed to sell it in the market place. If you have not ordered in 15 days, the book will be deleted from the server.
If you want to order now, just enter the number of books you want to buy, add it to your cart and continue the purchase process.
To order later, you would log into your account, click on the my books tab , click on the book’s name and add it to your cart.
Step 14: Selling your book
After you order your book, you are allowed to set your royalty and sell it in the market place. Just look for the signup link tab at the top and click on it to get more information.
Hand written mindmaps are a powerful and fast way to take notes, brainstorm, get ideas out of your head or enhance creativity.
Unlike computer programs, they offer virtually unlimited room for adjustment. You can draw any kind of line you want, any kind of picture and put your text anywhere.
Drawing a mindmap by hand is a lot faster than doing a mindmap on a computer. If you’re in a classroom or an impromptu meeting, all you need is a pen and a sheet of paper and you can be taking notes mindmap-style.
How do you create a handwritten mindmap?
Start with the Central Concept
Put the most important concept in the middle. This helps you sort out your mindmaps later and also helps your brain categorize and remember the mindmap.
If you’re taking notes on an advertising class, you’d put “Advertising” in the middle.
Branch Off a Main Concept
Then, let’s say the teacher starts talking about a specific topic within advertising. For example, designing a strong brand.
Draw a line, any kind of line, from the main topic to create a new topic. In this case, the new topic is “brand.”
From the branch topic, keep on branching out sub-ideas. Use different kinds of fonts and lines to make it more memorable for you.
Continue Until Finished, Then Start a New Idea
Keep taking notes in this manner until the branch idea is finished. Then start the next branch.
Add Images and Creative Lettering
Your brain tends to remember plain text rather poorly when compared to images or unique lettering.
Add images next to concepts you want to remember. The more unique the image, the more likely you are to remember it weeks, months or even years down the line.
In our example, let’s say the advertising teacher tells the class they can get a 15% discount on any TV ad they buy through what’s called the “agency discount.”
If you want to be sure to remember this concept, make the 15%’s lettering unique and draw a picture of some sort next to it.
Text First, Then Images
At times you’ll have ideas flowing so fast that there just isn’t time for pictures or creative lines and letters. In that case, just jot down your ideas in branches as quickly as possible.
Again, in our advertising example, say the teacher starts talking about online advertising and goes through so many concepts so fast that you can’t afford to slow down.
In that case, just get the main ideas down in text form first.
Then come back in and add the images later. (Upper right.)
Condense Similar Thoughts and Topics
If you have several topics that are very similar, consider either grouping them under one branch or linking the branch through arrows.
In this case, if the teacher is talking about magazines and newspapers together, just create one branch for both instead of a branch for each.
Choose Where Your Eyes Will Go
If there are particularly important concepts to remember, make sure to draw your mind map in such a way that your eyes will automatically be drawn there next time.
For example, if the teacher is talking about the importance of testing in advertising, you might write “TEST” in block letters right above the branch to make sure you see those notes first when you pick up the mindmap.
Recap of the Main Points
To recap:
Start with the main idea in the middle. This helps you organize your mind maps and helps your brain sort different ideas.
Use images to draw attention to different areas of the mindmap. This also helps your brain remember and process concepts.
Add emphasis through size and texture to the most important concepts.
Use different lines and images throughout the mindmap. Again, this helps your mind process concepts.
If you need to take notes or write quickly, leave out the images first then come back and add it in later.
Here’s an example of a completed hand-drawn mindmap.
Mindmapping takes note taking and brainstorming to a whole new level. Most people take notes linearly, one item after another in a sequential order. Unfortunately, that’s not how your brain works.
Your brain works out of order. It has many ideas that are interlinked with other ideas. Ideas have important concepts and sub-concepts, some of them related and some of them not.
Furthermore, your brain also thinks in multiple senses. Most people’s brains think primarily either visually and auditorily, sometimes with a touch of emotion or physical sensation as well.
Linear note taking doesn’t address any of that. Fortunately, mindmapping does.
Mindmapping is an innovative tool that that images, branched ideas, words and idea-linkage to form the ideal note taking and brainstorming tool.
Here’s when to use mindmapping and how to use mindmapping.
When to Use Mindmapping
Mindmapping works great for two primary purposes: Note taking and brainstorming.
You can use mindmaps to take notes in a meeting, in the classroom, while reading a book or while at a business lunch. The multi-idea format of the mindmaps makes it ideal for almost storing information on a wide variety of concepts.
By using pictures, different textures and different fonts, you store the information in a way that your brain is much more likely to remember. Six months from now, you might not remember the written text on a mindmap, but you will remember the creative doodle you drew to represent the concept.
Brainstorming is another place where mindmaps really shine. The purpose of a brainstorm is to free mental blocks and get creative juices flowing around creating new ideas.
Mindmaps allows this to happen in a way that makes it easy for the brain. The brain doesn’t necessarily brainstorm linearly. You might have three ideas about Topic A, then two ideas about Topic D, then a brilliant idea about Topic B before deciding to change your mind about something in Topic A.
Linear brainstorming in a list makes it very hard to do this. On the other hand, in a mindmap, you can easily jump back and forth.
Mindmaps also make it easy to record graphical ideas and incomplete ideas. Most ideas that come out of brainstorming sessions tend to be half-finished and can be very difficult to write out coherently. On a mindmap however, an incomplete idea is very easy to record and finish later.
In short, whether you’re taking notes or brainstorming for ideas, mindmapping works with your brain rather than against it.
On the flip side, mindmapping doesn’t work so well for things that are designed to be linear. For example, a task list, which is meant to be done from top to bottom, is better in linear form than in a mindmap.
How to Create Effective Mindmaps
Here are a few choice tips for creating effective mindmaps.
Start with a central concept or question. Write it large and clear in the middle. When you visualize this mind map later, the central concept should clearly come up in your mind’s eye.
When in doubt, write it out. Write bad ideas. Write half-baked ideas. Write ideas that might be wrong or stupid. The purpose of mindmapping is to get your brain flowing. Don’t stifle the flow by over-censoring.
Use personal shorthand. If there are words and phrases that only you will understand, don’t hesitate to use them. That’s how your brain talks to itself. The only exception is if your maps need to be shared with others.
Make it messy. Don’t worry about making it look pretty. Again, your brain thinks in a more disorganized manner than you might realize. Let it be messy and your note taking will flow better.
Leave room for later additions. If an idea or concept isn’t complete, then don’t use up all the space around it. Leave room to come back later and add other ideas or details.
Link related ideas. It might seem clear to you now that two concepts are related, but it might not seem so clear to you 6 months from now. Link ideas that are related to one another, so later you’ll clearly be able to see the most important related concepts.
Emphasize important points with images. Your mind uses images as well as words to remember. If an idea is important, draw a picture next to it. This will help your brain represent the concept visually and remember it better in the future.
Use simple words and concepts. Your brain works best with ideas that it can easily grasp. If your brain has to spend a lot of time processing before it can understand a concept, it probably won’t remember it in a few months.
Use different lines, colors and shapes. Again, the more variety, the better your brain will remember the content. Our minds in general don’t do very well with boring, rote or monotonous concepts.
Step away then come back refreshed. If you’re brainstorming, step away once you’ve ran out of ideas and come back later with a fresh mind. The ideas will often flow much more freely than if you tried to force yourself to carry on. The same is true with note taking. Take the important concepts now, then come back later to add the details.
Mindmapping results in more retention, more creativity and more idea-flow than traditional note taking or brainstorming. Try it for 30 days to see for yourself.
To keep your audiences interest, you can add animation to your presentation to catch their eye. There are many options for animating text and images. This demonstration will walk you through the basics.
You will need:
PowerPoint
A presentation previously started
Step 1: Animate Images
If you’d like an image to gradually come onto the screen in your presentation, you simply need to animate the image. To do this, select the image you wish to animate. We’ve chosen to animate the image in slide # 3. You can tell we’ve selected it because the selection box is visible around the image.
Click the animations tab. Here you have several options for how to animate the image. You might want your image to fade in or perhaps you want it to fade out right before the slide changes. Use the scroll bar or click the arrow below the scroll to view all your options.
Click preview to see how each animation will look. Below is a shot of the options if you click the arrow.
Here’s a shot of the animation options available by using the scroll.
We’ve chosen to have our image split where two pieces come together. In the image below, you can see the two sides coming together.
Step 2: Animate Text
You can animate text in the same way. You can choose to animate the entire page or on a paragraph by paragraph basis. On the animation navigation bar, use the drop down arrow next to Effect Options to select how you want to animate the slide.
We wanted our sentences to zoom in and our bullet points to bounce into place so we chose to sequence by paragraph. Once animation is applied, each paragraph is assigned number. You can click the number to change the animation for that particular paragraph.
You can apply more than one animation to an object. To do this, simply click the Add Animation button just as you did with the first one. Animations will play in the order they were applied.
Step 3: Animation Pane
Another way to view a list of the animations applied to a slide is to click the Animation Pane. The Animation Pane for the slide will open to the right. You can see that each animation effect has an assigned number to the left. You can change the animation effects, the timing and also play the entire animation to see what it will look like.
Step 4: Effect Options
For even greater edititng ability, you can adjust many of the effects available in powerpoint. To see which options are available for an individual effect, simply right-click the effect in the animation page and select effect options. Not all effects will have extra options.
We chose to see what options were available for our 2nd animation effect. Remember, this is a bullet point that we wanted to bounce. With the effects option, we can enhance our animation by adding sound, a dimming feature, set the timing and more.
Simply make your selections and click OK when you’re finished.
Step 5: Animation Timing
By default, the animation is set to play immediately upon the slide opening. To change when the animation starts, select the effect in the animation pane and then using the drop down arrow next to the Start, choose when it should start – upon click, at the same time as the previous animation or after the last animation.
You can edit the duration of the animation as well as set a delay. These are measured in seconds.
In addition, you can change the order in which the animations are applied. Simply click the effect in the animation pane and click the move earlier or later arrow.
That’s it! Creating animated text and images is quite simple and can make your presentations really stand out.
Create PowerPoint Slides
Video presentations continue to grow in popularity. From marketing businesses to keeping in touch with family and friends, everyone is using it. One of the easiest ways to create presentations is with PowerPoint. This demonstration was made with PowerPoint 2010.
You will need:
PowerPoint Installed
An outline of your presentation text
Step 1: Start a New Presentation
When you open PowerPoint, you will be presented with a new title slide. If you are not, you’ll need to click File then click New. This will bring up the first slide in your presentation.
Step 2: Select a Theme
Click the design tab and you should see a screen similar to the one below. This tab allows you to select a theme from several design choices. Using the slider or bottom arrow, you can scroll through the available themes. As you mouse over each theme, you will get a preview on the existing title page. Select the theme based on layout as you can change the colors.
Here’s a shot of some of the themes available.
Step 3: Edit Theme
Once you’ve chosen your theme, it’s time to edit it. You can change the color, fonts and effects by using the drop down arrows as indicated in the design tab image above. Here, we’ve chosen to look at the color options. As you can see, there are many color choices available so try several until you find one that works for your business or personality.
Now that you have your theme and colors, you can change the background if you’d like. On the design tab, using the drop down arrow next to Background Styles, mouse over your options to get a preview of what features each option will give you.
Each theme will come with its own set of background options from plain white, to fades to subtle designs. You can also change the fonts and effects from the design tab as well. Those options are located directly below the colors option.
Step 4: Edit Title Page
Now that you have the presentation design you want, it’s time to start editing the slides and adding more. As indicated in the slide image below, you simply need to click the area in the slide to add text.
Switching back to the home tab will give you editing features as in Word where you can add underlines, bolding, change the font, add bullets and more.
Each slide will have a place at the bottom to add notes.
Step 5: Add Slide # 2
To add another slide, you simply navigate to the home tab and click new slide to bring up a blank slide.
Click the drop down arrow below the New Slide icon to bring up other types of slide options.
As you did with the first slide, simply click the slide and enter your text. Repeat step 5 for each additional slide you wish to add. To move between slides, simply click the slide in the sidebar that you wish to view and/or edit.
Insert Media into Presentation Slides
Adding media to your PowerPoint presentations can give them a more sophisticated style. It will capture the viewer’s attention and help drive home your message.
You will need:
PowerPoint presentation in the works
Images, videos, etc to insert
Step 1: Insert Pictures
There are two ways to insert media into your slides. The first is when a new slide opens, before you add any text, you can click the appropriate icon in the middle of the slide.
The second way is of course, by using the insert tab. Here you have the option of inserting all types of images, shapes, tables, charts, text boxes, video, equations and more into your slides.
We’ve chosen to add a picture to our 3nd slide. To do this, click the picture icon on the insert tab.
This will bring up your pictures library on your computer. If the image you want to use is not located in this folder, simply navigate to the location of the image. Select the image and click the open button as shown below.
This will insert the image into your slide as shown below. If you click the image, you’ll see it brings up a selection box around it.
Drag the side or corner of the selection box to make the image larger or smaller.
Click the image once and hold the left mouse button down to drag and drop the image where you’d like it to be placed in the slide.
Clicking the image will also open a Picture Tools tab where you can edit the image further.
Here we’ve moved our image to the left side and inserted a text box (from the insert tab) so we can make our point to the side of the image.
Step 2: Insert Video
You can insert video into your PowerPoint presentations as well. To do this, navigate to the Insert tab and click Video.
Navigate to the location of the video you want to insert. Select the video and click the Insert button.
Note: If the video is online, use the drop down arrow on the Insert button and select Link to File, then enter the URL of the video file.
Your video will be inserted into the slide. You can move it around as you did the image in step 1.
You can also click the Video Tools tab to edit the video shape, give it a border, add other effects and so forth.
Step 3: Insert Charts
If you have a chart you’d like to add, you can do so by clicking the Insert tab then selecting Charts.
Select the type of chart you’d like to insert and click OK
Once the chart is inserted, you can click it to open the Chart Tools. Here’ you’ll be able to change the chart colors, edit the data and more.
Step 4: Insert Tables
To insert a table, click the Insert tab, and then click Table. Using your mouse, highlight to select how many rows and columns you want the table to include.
Move the table as you did the image and video. To edit the table, simply click each cell and type the data. Clicking the table once will also bring up the Table Tools where you can change the layout, colors, borders, shading and more.
Again, you can add many things to your slides to make them as fancy or sleek as you’d like. Simply follow the steps as outlined above and play around with a few options to see what you like.
PowerPoint Timings, Narration & Publishing
This demonstration was made with PowerPoint 2010 which has the ability to publish a presentation as a movie file. This allows anyone to view it whether they have PowerPoint or not.
Before we publish our presentation, we first want to set the slide timing and add some narration to it. Here’s how.
You will need:
PowerPoint
Pre-created presentation
Microphone
Speakers
Step 1: Set Slide Transition &Timing
PowerPoint will automatically record your slide timings when you add narration. However, you can also manually adjust the timings if you prefer.
To manually set these, when viewing your presentation, you’ll see your slides along the left side of the screen. Click the slide you want to set the transition and timing for.
Click the transitions tab. This will give you options for how you want to transition from one slide to the next. Choose the transition type you want to use from the options on the transition tab.
Under the Advanced Slide section, select the box next to the word After. Set the number of seconds you want the slide to appear on the screen. Here, we want it to show for 6 seconds.
You’ll also notice we’ve selected the “on mouse click” option as well. This means the next slide will appear after 6 seconds or when the mouse is clicked – whichever comes first. You do not have to select the mouse click option; it’s entirely up to you.
If you want these same settings for all the slides, simply click Apply to All. Alternately, you can set each one individually.
You can turn these timings off by going to the Slide Show tab, clicking Set Up Slide Show under the Set Up section. Then click Advance slides and select Manual.
Note: This will NOT delete the timings; it simply turns them off so you have to manually advance the slides.
To turn the timings back on, just navigate back to this area and click “use timings if present”.
Step 2: Add Narration
There are two ways to add narration to your slide show. The first is to record the narration when you create the slide show – before the live event. The second way is to record it during a live presentation. Recording during the live presentation will allow you to include comments from your viewers in the recording. However, you may want to test this out a few times before your live event to ensure you are comfortable with how it works.
For this demonstration, we’ll be narrating when we create the slide show, not at a live event.
PowerPoint will prompt you to record just the slide timings, just the narration or both at the same time. If you are creating a presentation to play automatically on demand, perhaps as a message on your website, you will most likely want to record the narration and set the timing at the same time. This will ensure everything is in sync.
To start recording, on the Slide Show tab. Then click the arrow next to Record Slide Show.
This will give you the option to record from beginning (the first slide) or record from current slide.
Once you make your selection, a dialog box will open. Select the narrations and laser pointer box. If you want it to automatically set the timings, select the slide and animation timings box as well. Otherwise, leave that box empty.
Click Start Recording
To pause during narration, click Pause and then to resume, click Resume Recording.
When you’re finished with the narration, right-click the slide and choose End Show.
Your recording and timings will automatically be saved and the slide show will be visible in the slide sorter view with the timings listed below each slide.
To preview your new recording, click the From Beginning play button at the top left of the navigation bar as indicated above. Alternately, you can press F5 on your keyboard.
As you’re previewing, in the bottom left corner of the show, you’ll have some navigation buttons and other buttons to edit the slides with.
Step 3: Publish
When you are satisfied with your presentation it’s time to publish it.
Click the File tab, then Info. Here you can set your permissions, optimize the video and more. These are optional, so you can skip this if you’d like, but here are the options you have.
Optimize Media Compatibility: Because we’ve included a video in our slide show, PowerPoint needs to embed the video. You can view the link and change the link location if necessary to have it linked to a file you already have stored online.
Media Size and Performance: This allows you to set the quality of your video. You can choose presentation quality, internet quality or low quality which would compress your files to save disk space, though as the name suggests would lower the quality of the video.
Permissions: If this file is meant only to be viewed by one person or a special group of people, you can set up permissions so that only those with the right information can access the video.
Prepare for Sharing: This will check for any issues with your video. It also gives you the ability to change the properties on your presentation and notes as well as adjust it for those with disabilities so that they too can view the information.
Once you’ve made your selections, choose Save and Send. Click Create Video.
To the right, you’ll have some options for setting the video displays. Use the drop down to make your selections.
Here are the options when you open the drop downs.
How it will be displayed:
By default, the quality is set to Computer & HD Displays which creates a movie at a 960×720 resolution and meant for viewing on a computer or burning to a DVD.
If you set the quality to Internet & DVD, it will be of medium quality with a resolution of 640×480.
The Portable Devices option is the lowest quality and has a 320×240 resolution.
Confirming the Timings:
This is a last minute option to change the timings on the video. Most of the time you would choose to use timings and narration you have already set up.
If you haven’t set the timings up or want to make changes to the ones you have set up, turn this option off and enter the number of seconds you want to spend on each slide.
Once you’ve made your selections, click the Create Video button and the save as dialog will pop up where you can name and save your video.
The video will be saved as a windows media video (WMV) – a format that can be viewed by most people without needing PowerPoint.
Now that your video is ready to go, you simply need to upload it to your website, YouTube, Facebook or wherever you want it displayed.
If you need the video in another format, you will need a video converter. There are several free ones online, just do a quick search of Google to find them.
Scribd is an online document sharing platform that combines social networking elements with online text file sharing.
When your documents are on Scribd, it’s automatically search engine optimized and submitted to multiple platforms to help you get maximum exposure.
Here’s how to submit your documents to Scribd.
Step 1: Select Upload a Document
When you land on Scribd’s front page, you’ll be presented with the “Upload a Document” button in the middle of the front page. Click that button to get started.
Step 2: Choose Your File
Select a document to upload. Scribd makes this process very intuitive by giving you several different uploading options.
You can upload via files, connect it to Google Docs, copy and paste the text or download Scribd’s desktop uploader to upload files faster from your desktop.
Choose one of these options and select the file you want to upload.
Step 3: Confirm TOS & Copyright Policy
A popup box will appear to verify that you own the documents you’re uploading:
Click OK. The upload process will then begin:
Step 4: Create Your Account
Enter your email address to create your account. The password will be sent to your email.
Step 5: Verify Your Upload
At this point, your upload should be finished! If everything went well, you’ll be taken back to your home screen which now has the document you just uploaded:
Click on the document to make sure everything is in order. Congratulations! You’ve just uploaded your first Scribd document.
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