Henry Zaranko ....................................................................PowerPoint Presentation for Speakers.......
Here are some useful hints and tips to consider when preparing your PowerPoint (PP) presentation in 2014.
First, try to ensure you save your PP in .pptx format. It's the most recent format when using either Office 2010 for
Windows, or 2011 for Mac. As most computers will be running these versions, it’s a safe way to ensure compatibility.
One major problem experienced by many users was videos. Prior to Office 2010/2011, whenever you attached a file, it
was only a link and the video was never actually embedded into the PP. One of the new features of .pptx files is the
ability to actually embed the video into your PP file, which means when you transfer it to another computer the video
is already within the file.
Previous versions with the .ppt ending did not embed the videos. It was only a link to them. This was shown in a path
that PP pointed to. Once you moved the file to another machine, the path changed and the link was no longer valid.
The only way to make them work again was to re-embed the videos on the new machine. Most of the time people
transfer their PP onto a flash drive and don’t have their videos with them making their presentations incomplete. So
ensure you use the latest versions and save as a .pptx file.
Many conferences have computers with operators at the back of the room. You are left driving your presentation
using a wireless presenter. When attaching videos, bear this in mind and consider using the option “play
immediately” as the “play on click” option will not work using a wireless presenter.
Videos can now come in a variety of formats. Ensure you have the rights to play the video as many can be copyright
protected and will not work. The most compatible file extension of video is .wmv when using PP or .mov in Keynote.
PowerPoint being a Microsoft product will naturally prefer using a Windows Media Player file, and .wmv is exactly
that.
While .avi and .mpeg will work most of the time, you do run the risk of them not working as PP may not have all the
latest codec’s needed to decode the videos. Codecs are essentially what encode and decode videos. If you need to,
you can use a programme called Format Factory on a Windows machine to convert your video from one format to
another, and it's free to download. They now offer a Mac version too
Very often people create their presentations on a Mac and then play them on a Windows machine. Generally, this is
not a problem so long as you use standard fonts. Once you start using fancy fonts available on a Mac, Windows will
not recognise them and substitute what it thinks is the closest font. This will cause spacing issues and words will not fit
in text boxes and other spacing issues. If you are using a Mac and want fancy fonts and effects, use Keynote and stick
with using a Mac if possible.
Naming your presentation may seem trivial, but trust me when I say your operator in your room will thank you very
much. Try to include as much as possible in your title that will help narrow down exactly what or where your
presentation will be; for example: 1100 - 1130_21st Mar_107_Zaranko_Presentation_Guidelines.pptx.
This tells the time and date and month you will be speaking, followed by the room number, your surname and what
your presentation is about. This will help ensure your presentation is loaded in the correct room, time, folder and you
can be easily crossed off the list.
These are amongst the technical issues I've helped speakers resolve as an AV Operator/Technician at client events
since 2004. I trust this helps you with your presentations that you may be asked to do in the future.
Henry Zaranko Audio Visual Technician
Henry has worked on hundreds of events for MNCs, PCOs and MICE Industry
leaders, e.g., CeBit May 2013, Darling Harbour Convention Centre, Sydney, NSW,
Australia Contact details: [email protected] | +61 418 449 067