Creating Self-timed Montages in PowerPoint
One of the downsides of PowerPoint is that it can chain you to the podium as you make your presentation, since you have to use the mouse or keyboard every time you want to move from slide to slide. One solution is to use a self-timed montage of images and/or text for parts of your presentation, which, in addition to allowing you to move away from the podium, has the added benefit of allowing the audience a break from the standard bullet-point format.
The montage can be a time-lapse series of photographs, faces of volunteers, or simply images that help underscore you spoken presentation. The only limit is your imagination. As always, if you use photographs of people, you need their permission. You also need to make sure you have legal permissions to use any photos or images you did not create yourself.
Backgrounds
Because you are working with images here, as opposed to bullet points and text, you might want to consider NOT using a design template as a background. You can choose solid colors, textures, gradients, patterns, and even photographs as background images. After opening a blank presentation (File, New, Blank Presentation), choose the Blank layout from the layouts offered. Go to the Format menu and choose Background. Use the pulldown menu just under the Background fill box (see figure 1). You can use one of the colors there, use More Colors to get a complete palette, or go to Fill Effects to choose among many textures, gradients and patterns. If you go to the Picture tab you can browse to an image and use it as your background. Be aware that if the image is not the same shape as the PowerPoint slide, it will distort to conform to the shape of the slide.
Figure 1
Inserting the Pictures
After you have your background selected, insert your image by going to the Insert menu and choosing Picture, then From File. Browse to the image and select Insert. If you need to manipulate the image, you can bring up the Picture toolbar by going to the View menu, choosing Toolbars, and then Picture. You can resize, crop, change brightness and contrast and many other actions with this toolbar.
When you are done with this image, go to the New Slide icon to create a new slide, and repeat the process until all your images have been inserted onto slides.
Creating Timings and Transitions
After you’ve created all you slides, it’s time to set your timings and transitions. Go to Slide Sorter view (View, Slide Sorter). Go to the Slide Show menu and choose Transitions. The Slide Transition dialogue box will appear (see Figure 2). In the Effect box you can a transition effect, such as a dissolve or fade, and the speed of that transition. In the Advance box you can set your auto-timings for your slides. Check the box that says “Automatically after” and then type in the number of seconds you’d like each of your slides to stay onscreen. When you’re done, choose Apply to All.
Figure 2
Looping the Slideshow
Unless you have your presentation timed down to the last second, it might be wise to “loop” your images so they continue over and over until you are done. Go to Slide Show. Choose Set Up Show. Check the box that says “Loop continuously until ‘Esc’.”
Hyperlinking from another show
You are now essentially done. You have backgrounds, images, timings, transitions, and a looped slideshow. One last detail is inserting this montage, via a hyperlink, into another, larger slide show. First save the show you’ve just created. Go back to the slide show you’d like to insert this montage into. Create a slide in that slideshow, then type in your hyperlink text (e.g. - “We’d like to thank our volunteers”). Select the text with a left-click and drag. Right-click and choose Hyperlink. The Hyperlink dialogue box will appear (Figure 3). In the Link To column on the left, make sure “Existing File or Web Page” is selected. On the right side of the dialogue box will be the text “Browse for:” with a File button underneath. Use the File button to browse to your file, then click Okay. Or, simply type in the file name and path into the box provided.
Figure 3
As always, if you have questions about this or any other application, feel free to email me at jeffrey.wood@colostate.edu, or call me ay 719-549-2045.