Delivering the Presentation

Keyboard shortcuts are helpful when you’re delivering a presentation:

F5 (the function key) starts the slide presentation.

B toggles to a black screen and then back to the presentation. (Eliminate the visual so the audience focuses on you, especially when you're answering a question that's not related to the current slide or you’re starting your presentation but the slides aren’t part of the introduction.)

W toggles to a white screen and then back to the presentation.

N advances to the next slide (same as pressing ENTER key or clicking the Left mouse button).

P moves back to the previous slide.

HOME key goes to the first slide of the presentation.

END key goes to the last slide of the presentation.

Ctrl+S displays a menu of slides in the program; type the number of the slide to go to and press ENTER. Or, if you know the slide number; type it and press ENTER without using Ctrl+S.

ESC key ends the presentation.

TAB key moves to all hyperlinks on slide; then, press ENTER to select.

Just Say No to PowerPoint?

Next week, February 7 – 13, is “Just Say No to PowerPoint” week. Really? Say no to PowerPoint? Is it PowerPoint’s fault if a presentation is lousy?

While some presenters use the slide deck as their cue cards, the slides are for the audience, not the presenter. Text competes with your message because people are reading the slide or writing down everything on the slide while you’re speaking. So, is the audience really listening to what you’re saying?

Images, on the other hand, help reinforce and complement your message. Having pictures and possibly a “headline” that relates to your topic is recommended. Be sure to use professional photo images; iStockphoto (www.iStockphoto.com) is a first-rate resource for images. Two excellent books on this subject are Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds and Beyond Bullet Points by Cliff Atkinson.

To create a more engaging slide deck, use the Title and Content slide layout:

• Click the Layout button (located on the Home tab in the Slides group—version 2007). Or, select Format Slide Layout from the menu bar in version 2003.
• Select the Title and Content slide layout.
• Click the Insert Picture from File icon.
• Locate the image file and double-click the filename.
• Resize the image.
• Click the title placeholder (“Click to add title”)
• Type the text/title.

Using Delay Delivery

Please remind me to do that. What do you do when people ask you to send them a reminder? Do you write it on a to-do list? Instead of adding it to your to-do list, immediately write the e-mail and send it via Delay Delivery. (NOTE: Outlook must be running and connected to your server/Internet access to send the delayed message. If you’ve logged off during the time the message is to be sent, the e-mail message will be sent when you log on to Outlook the next time, although it may be sent later than you wanted.)

2007 Outlook Instructions:

• Create a New Message.
• Click the Delay Delivery button (located on the Options tab in the More Options group).
• Select Do not deliver before: to place a check in the box.
• Select the date and time in their respective boxes.
• Click Close.
• Type the message.
• Click Send.

2003 Outlook Instructions:

• Create a New Message.
• Click the Options button (on the Standard toolbar).
• Select Do not deliver before: to place a check in the box.
• Select the date and time in their respective boxes.
• Click Close.
• Type the message.
• Click Send.

More on Getting Organized with Outlook

Use the Reminder, Categorize, and Recurrence features to remind you to send birthday and anniversary cards. Set up the Reminder notification time to at least 1 week--that gives you time to buy and send the card, especially if the person’s special day is the first or second day of the month or year. Use Categorize to color code all birthdays and anniversaries on your calendar, and create a recurring “appointment” so you don’t have to fill in everybody’s holidays each year.

2007 Outlook Instructions:

• Create a New Appointment.
• Click Recurrence button (located on the Appointment tab in the Options group).
• Select Yearly (Recur every 1 year(s) and On: selected date should be selected).
• Click OK.
• Click the Reminder list arrow to choose 1 week.
• Click Categorize button to select Birthday/Anniversary category, if it's already been set up.
• Click Save & Close.

2003 Outlook Instructions:

• Create a New Appointment.
• Click Recurrence button on the toolbar.
• Select Yearly (Every “selected date” should be selected).
• Click OK.
• Be sure Reminder is “checked”; change time to 1 week.
• Click Save and Close.
• With the “appointment” still selected, click Calendar Coloring button.
• Select Birthday/Anniversary category, if it's already been set up.

Getting Organized With Outlook

How do you stay on schedule? Calendars? To-do lists? Do you use Microsoft Outlook? It’s an excellent tool to use, especially when you customize some features to help you remain focused.

"Getting organized is one of the top 5 New Year's resolutions people make…,” according to NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) Past President Standolyn Robertson. Is getting organized your New Year’s resolution—or at least one of them? Let Microsoft Office Outlook Calendar help; let’s take a look at two helpful features.

The Categorize feature helps you visually manage your calendar. Use colors to easily identify appointments—by location, by project, by type of appointment (for example, networking events (blue), client appointments (red), meetings (green), exercise (yellow), etc.), or whatever system works for you.

When I was teaching several classes at different schools, I color coded my classes by location. That way, I could quickly see where I needed to be during the week rather than having to read each appointment. You may create new categories, using the names and colors you want; or rename the default categories.

The Reminder feature—the alarm that reminds you of an upcoming event—helps you get out of the office on time. I often change the alarm to help me get to places on time because the default is 15 minutes, which may not be sufficient notification time.

Unfortunately, I missed a class I was enrolled in because I never changed the 15-minute default reminder (on any of my appointments). I had thought the class started at 3 p.m.; however, at 1:45 the reminder for the 2 p.m. class popped up on the screen. Yikes--I was 40 minutes away!

Be sure to include the time needed to get out the door, not just the travel time!