This tells PowerPointto display a preview of the scheme as soon as you click it. The Slide Design, Animation Schemespane appears, as shown in Figure 3.18.īe sure to leave the AutoPreview check box activated. Here are thesteps to follow to apply an animation scheme to one or more slides: In the PowerPoint lexicon, a transition is a visual (and sometimes auditory) effect that playsduring the switch from one slide to another an animation is a visualeffect applied to a specific slide element, such as the slide title or bullettext.Īn animation scheme is a preset collection of animations that applyto the slide text, including the title, bullets, and paragraphs. I’ve been using the term animation rather loosely up to this point, sothis is a good time to tighten up our terminology. (If you don’t click this option,the transition applies to only the selected slides.) If you decide you want to use the transition for all the slides in thepresentation, click Apply to All Slides. On Mouse Click-Activate this check box to advance the slide whenyou click the mouse.Īutomatically After-Activate this check box to advance the slideafter the minutes and/or seconds that you specify in the spin box. In the Advance Slide group, choose the method by which you want to moveto the next slide: Sound-Select the sound that you want to play during thetransition. Speed-Select the transition speed: Slow, Medium, orFast. In the Modify Transition group, customize the transition with thefollowing lists: This tells PowerPointto display a preview of the transition as soon as you click it. The Slide Transition pane appears,as shown in Figure 3.17.īe sure to leave the AutoPreview check box activated. Use the Slides pane or Slide Sorter to select the slides you want to workwith. Here are the steps to follow to apply a slide transition to one or moreslides: PowerPoint gives you two ways to apply built-inanimations: PowerPoint comes with an extensive library of built-in animations, whichoften means that you can apply your slide transitions and other effects withjust a few mouse clicks. If you start adding effects just for fun, I guaranteeyour audience will stop having fun and will start looking for thenearest exit. The goal of any animation shouldalways be to either highlight a slide element or to keep up youraudience’s interest. Unless you’re presenting tokids (who, naturally, prefer elaborate animations), the transition from oneslide to another should never take more than a few seconds.ĭon’t overshadow your content. It maynot seem like a long time, but if your slide transitions are taking 10 or 15seconds or longer, your audience’s mood will soon degenerate fromfrustration to anger to outright hostility. Just as your slide text looks awful if you use too manyfonts, your presentations will look amateurish if you throw every effect in thebook at your audience.ĭo keep your animations snappy, particularly transition effects. In a flashypresentation for sales and marketing types, you can probably get away with moreelaborate animations in a no-nonsense presentation to board members, animationsand transitions should be short and sweet.ĭon’t use a number of different transitions and animations in asingle presentation. Nobody will object to fade-ins,dissolves, and other simple transitions, but don’t have multiple objectsflying in from all corners of the screen.ĭo keep your audience in mind when planning your animations. They add visual interest, give the audience a shortbreak between slides, and help you control the pacing of yourpresentation.ĭon’t overuse transitions. Here are some do’s and don’ts to bear in mind whenadding the animation touches to your presentations:ĭo use transitions. After all, advancedknowledge of animation is one thing, but putting that knowledge to good use isquite another. Animation Do’s and Don’tsīefore you get to the tricks and techniques, it’s worth taking a secondto put this animation business into some perspective. This section helps you prevent that fate by showing you anumber of advanced but very useful tricks and techniques not only for doinganimation well, but for getting the most out of this powerful PowerPointfeature. But animation is a complex business, and without a few tricks up yoursleeve, even an Office guru can ruin his or her presentation by blowing theanimation stage. These can certainly pump upthe "wow" factor in your work, and any presentation that seeks the"knockout" adjective had better incorporate some animation into itsdesign. Learn More Buy Advanced PowerPoint Animation Techniquesįor many people, a presentation just isn’t complete until they’veadded slide transitions and other animated effects.