Tweet PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts for presenters

There isn't any doubt that every speaker tries his best to have long lasting effect on audience. Everyone wants it to do the way Steve Jobs had been doing all his life. In addition to the right content, your communication skills, it's your presence of mind, ability to engage the audience, a right and pronto use of technology that gonna lead to a successful presentation.

If you are going to use Microsoft PowerPoint to deliver your presentation in next conference, use Presenter view and following keyboard shortcuts to be in control of things:

• Go to slide number: number+ENTER [During presentation you might have to jump to particular slide, just press the number and hit enter key]
• Display a blank black slide, or return to the presentation from a blank black slide: B or PERIOD [ You can use this when discussing something not on slide]
• Display a blank white slide, or return to the presentation from a blank white slide: W or COMMA[ You can use this when discussing something not on slide]
• Stop or restart an automatic or rehearsed presentation: S
• Return to the first slide: Press and hold Left Mouse button for several seconds

Shortcuts for audio/video

These shortcuts work on media inserted (embedded) from file and not on online embeds of YouTube etc.

• Stop media playback : ALT+Q
• Mute the sound: ALT+U
• Toggle between play and pause: ALT+P
• Increase the sound volume: ALT+Up
• Decrease the sound volume: ALT+Down
• Go to the next video bookmark: ALT+END
• Go to the previous video bookmark: ALT+HOME 

Besides these are standard keyboard shortcuts which many of you already know and use like F5 to start a slide show, backspace or next arrow to move forward and Ecs key to end the slideshow. To view complete list of keyboard shortcuts press F1 function key during slideshow mode. 

Tweet Deliver great presentations with Presenter view

Presenter View is one nifty feature of PowerPoint 2010 and PowerPoint 2013 which lets you view the slides, speaker notes on one computer (laptop), while the audience views just the slideshow on another monitor or projector.

Using Presenter view you can control the slide show, jump around the slides and  blacken the screen for the audience while keeping your view of the presentation and speaker notes intact on your own monitor. Presenter view lets you track the time elapsed so that you stick to the schedule. If you want to highlight something while presenting, use annotation or pen tool.



You just need to connect your laptop to another monitor/projector and select the option "Use presenter view" from Slide Show tab before you go for slide show mode of presentation. Presenter view is surely gonna help you deliver one of those effective presentations.

 Here is a quick video which explains it all:

Tweet PowerPoint 2013 's color picker tool: Eyedropper

If you use MS- Word or MS- PowerPoint frequently, you must have used Format painter which helps you maintain consistency of color, font and size of text throughout the document or presentation. Consistency no doubt is the key to a good presentation. Though format painter was a great tool, yet maintaining consistency of animation effects across slides was still a challenge until Microsoft introduced Animation Painter in  PowerPoint 2010.

In PowerPoint 2013 Microsoft has something for shapes known as Eyedropper. Eyedropper the color picker tool helps you copy the shape color and apply to any other shape. You can pick and apply any color visible on your screen (be it text, shape or from a window other than PowerPoint) to a shape.

Steps to pick and apply color to a shape

1. Select the shape you want to apply color.  Click on Drawing tools> Format on ribbon (Alternatively you can double click the shape to bring Format menu).
2. Click on "Shape Fill" Drop down under Format menu
3. Select "Eyedropper"
4. Move the color picker (mouse cursor /square box) on the shape/picture and click when desired color appears

Steps to pick and apply color from outside PowerPoint or from a text

In case you want to pick and apply color to a shape from a website, picture or any other software running on your desktop, follow these steps:

1. Select the shape you want to apply color.  Click on Drawing tools> Format on ribbon (Alternatively you can double click the shape to bring Format menu).
2. Click on "Shape Fill" Drop down under Format menu
3. Select "Eyedropper"
4. Click the left mouse button and move it to the website, picture or any other software from which you want to pick and apply the color. Clicking left button would let the color picker move anywhere outside on your desktop.
5. Release the left button when the color picker (square box) is on the desired color