Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances

Chapter 1. Presenting Your Presentation

I hate sitting in an audience and having to squint, crane my neck, or turn my head sideways just to make heads or tails of a slide. What’s the point of having slides if nobody can read them?

Whether you’re an audience member or a presenter, presentations are chock-full of annoying issues. In this chapter, you’ll learn how to set up your equipment and navigate your slides to keep your audience focused on your presentation—not on you. You’ll also tackle sound issues and other problems you may face when working with hyperlinks, hidden slides, and custom and self-running presentations.

SETTING UP YOUR EQUIPMENT

The Slides Look Crooked

THE ANNOYANCE: I got the projector up and running without any trouble, but I notice that my slides are cut off at the bottom of the screen.

THE FIX: You just need to adjust the height and distance of the projector. Either move the projector away from the screen, screw the projector feet out some, or do a combination of both.

If you can’t move the projector, or if the feet are as far out as they’ll go, prop the projector up on something—a folded piece of paper under each front foot will often do the trick.

Set Up the Projector

If you’ve never attached a projector to your laptop, don’t worry. Simply plug the projector into an available outlet. If you can, plug your laptop into an outlet as well, to keep the battery from dying during your presentation.

Cable the laptop and the projector together. The projector usually comes ...