Google: The New Religion - Powerpoint Edition

~Let's take a journey together, and let reality mix with the dream realm~

The essay is finished - but we're not done yet, 

there's still the PowerPoint to make

there is certainly no reason to fret

we'll make a presentation that just takes the cake!

All with Google's presentation

in all it's holy certification.

So it's been a while! Sorry for going off the charts like that. To explain myself I've been preparing for college and trying to relax a bit before my birthday and before I go back to school on the 18th. It's been exhausting. What's important is that I'm back and better than ever so I'll be posting at least once to twice within two weeks!
We're back to the basics, one of the most commonly used Google drive applications that could be utilized more to create an even better presentation is Google's version of Microsoft Powerpoint, called "Presentation." It's fast, though it doesn't have nearly as much flexibility as Microsoft offers, it's still a good makeshift with it's own pro's and con's. Microsoft focuses on creating a professional program to be utilized for business purposes with numerous applications in the real world as well as a vast amount of flexible tools to help achieve this - while Google seems to focus more on the aspect of simplicity and user-friendliness. In Google, you're able to email as well as share your documents much more easily, plus it's free! It's also available to you anywhere you go so if you don't have your flashdrive, if you have an internet connection, you're good to rock n'roll! Oh, plus you can also add images without having to save them to your computer by inserting them in your powerpoint via link and this also means you'll be able to add mpegs (moving pictures) into your powerpoints as well.

Some of my tips to you are to really try to make your powerpoint stand out and look really clean-cut and edgy - just overall to reflect your work ethic and personality while still staying relevant to the topic. You can do that by adding pictures or using layouts that you find available on the internet. There's billions of resources out there to really amp up how amazing your presentation is, you just have to look for them. You can even personalize your backgrounds by using photos or mpegs and moving them to the back. 

Basic Toolbox

(*= the little triangle on the side means you can scroll for more options)

Add another slide*- As stated in the title, you can add another slide to your powerpoint and choose the layout as well.

Title Slide - The first slide that you use to title your presentation 

Tip: Don't just use a bland title, try to mix up your title a bit to add some spice into it. You can change the font to harmonize with the content and slide as well. Usually, in the second text box, you can label it with your name, your class, the period, the date, as well as the project title (the name it goes under in the gradebook) or the club its for, etc. 

Body Slide - Body slides are like condensed paragraphs, you should utilize bullet points but not put your entire script on the slide. It looks really unprofessional if you keep looking at your slide and reading off everything. If you need to put your script in the notes where it says "Click to add notes" so people can refer to the information later.

Insert (Text box/Image/*Shape/*Line) - Separate and make different bits of information stand out by creating your own layout for all the different information clips.

Format background of one slide - Here you can change the color of the slide's background, use an image as the background of a slide or reset the background.

Change *layout of current slide - You can change the format of the title box/text box/images to present information in a different way.

Theme for all slides - These are preset or pre-created layouts for all of your slides, once you choose one, it will show up on the rest of the slides, unlike layout or background.

Transitions - This will change when you present your powerpoint, as it changes from slide to slide, you can change the manner which your next slide is presented.

Present button - Press this button when it's finally show time! Make sure you check this out before you present to make sure everything fits on the slide.

Tips

1. Try to be minimalist as possible, think of the 4 C's. Clean, clear, concise and correlate.
2. Make sure your text or images don't go over the slide - if it looks too crammed or stretched, it's better to condense it or find something else to work. Get to the point. (the 5 W's & H)
3. Use the one step above rule, depending on how official the presentation your presenting is, dress one step above.
4.  Go beyond the text. Sometimes it's fun to give a small BUT RELEVANT compelling story to convince readers of importance. Talk to your readers, interact with them. Don't talk at them, you're not being paid to be their teacher.
5. Make sure  you cite where your information is coming from appropriately. This includes both text and photos.  You'll find that it'll be easier just to make it a habit - you'll be able to refer back and you'll also be crediting the person who publicized the information. 

That's pretty much all I have for you guys this time around, I'll be posting soon to make up for some of the lost time! On the topic of Sam starting his own blog, I'm really proud of him and super happy that he started his own blog and I'm thankful to have had Sam work with me on Dream Dealers and help me start out this blog. He's a really hard-working guy and he's going into his senior year so I wish him best of luck and hope that you guys can check out his blog linked in his goodbye post!  

Until next time dreamers-sweet dreams,

Marilyn Nguyen