Microsoft Office Reference Guide

Mar 26, 2004

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A new product from Serious Magic provides help when most of us need it most -- during the actual presentation itself. In video terminology, it's almost a post-production tool for PowerPoint.

When you import a PowerPoint presentation into Ovation from Serious Magic, the slides go into a bar at the bottom of the interface, and several libraries of "Power Looks" are available to reformat your slides.

Notice in the first figure that the bland title and bullet slide about traffic congestion is now projected over a background of animated clouds.

Bullet slides are also automatically animated with builds, which will allow the user to present point by point instead of showing the entire slide all at once.

Figure 889

With your background selected, Ovation has you present directly out of its Present tab. Here you can make large text notes to accompany the slide show and also track the timing. It is a combination of PowerPoint's Rehearse Timings and Presenter View.

Figure 890

Dual Monitor Set Up

Ovation resembles PowerPoint's Presenter View in taking advantage of a dual monitor set up on an extended Windows Desktop. This requires a second monitor or projector – a procedure we covered in a previous update.

There are other advantages of the Present tab – mainly the ability to see the "big picture" of the presentation on the local monitor while the audience sees only the presented slide.

This makes it almost impossible to lose your place or thread because you can always see which slides are about to be shown, as well as the current and previous slides.

The Go Deeper feature mimics the Hidden Slide feature of PowerPoint but may be more intuitive for some users. This lets you avoid certain slides unless you are specifically asked about them, and display them in response to a question.

The Options panel lets you save default information and customize the look of your presentation further. This gives you a walk-in slide if you like, with an animated background, as well as a title slide with your contact information.

Figure 891

This is a product that, while it is brand new, will certainly set your PowerPoint shows apart from the masses. As more and more presenters use Ovation, the effect will be abated somewhat, except that Serious Magic intends to upgrade the functionality of the product as well as provide more Power Looks to its users.

As it is with the usual gamut of PowerPoint templates, the first few users who find the best ones will impress their audience, but the Ovation backgrounds are quite distinctive and many of them have subtle motion and animation that enhances the message without overwhelming it.

Updating From PowerPoint

Ovation has a PowerPoint button on the upper right that lets you go back to your original presentation to make updates and changes. Then, under the File menu, Ovation lets you refresh the current Ovation version to make sure that it has accepted your changes prior to presenting.

In essence Ovation is a post production tool for PowerPoint that can especially help non-designers. Many users will struggle for a long time to make their presentations have a professional look, and Ovation can help with this in minutes.

In addition, the more intuitive presenter tab, when combined with a dual monitor setup can give the inexperienced presenter especially a way to keep notes at his or her fingertips and never lose their place or their pace (with the timer feature).

There are limitations in terms of what types of content Ovation can handle – the rule of thumb is simple PowerPoint slides for version one. Later versions should have support for video as well as the ability to transform other types of content beside bullets, like tables, charts and diagrams, to coordinate with the Power Looks.

Here are the main features to look at in Ovation:

PointPrompter™ turns notes into a scrolling teleprompter just like newscasters use to help users stay confident and on point while citing facts, figures, dates and other data without memorizing or cluttering up slides.
TimeKeeper™ keeps users on pace by letting them know at a glance if they're ahead or behind on the presentation so they can determine whether to speed up or skip over certain points.
Go Deeper attaches hidden, expanded information to PowerPoint slides that can be used in response to audience questions.
Next Bullet helps you make a smooth transition from point to point by peeking at your next bullet without having to reveal it to the audience first.
Intermission Mode displays a countdown or time of day clock to ensure everyone's back from break on time.
Walk-In & Walk-Out Slides give an excellent first impression to a large audience by greeting them as they enter and thanking them as they leave a room.
Title Slides exhibit presenter contact information and showcase the presentation name in a unique way.
Brand Reinforcement lets users add their organization's logo, brand elements and even an entire background image to turn Ovation's PowerLooks into their own brand-building look.
Go to PowerPoint button allows users to open PowerPoint from within Ovation so they can quickly make edits to their presentation without closing either program.
PowerLooks Favorites gives users quick access to the looks that they use most.
PowerLooks Organizer provides a variety of ways to filter through more than 100 PowerLooks allowing users to choose by color or by style.
Slide Timer preserves slide times imported from PowerPoint as well enables users to customize their own timing per slide. This is especially useful when users have a tight time schedule.
Slide Navigation Bar displays a thumbnail image of each slide along with its allotted slide time.
Direct Slide Access allows users to quickly access any slide in the Slide Navigation Bar by simply clicking on it. This eliminates the need to constantly hit the back button when referencing a previous slide.
Disable Slide preserves the Hide Slide feature within PowerPoint and can be enabled at any time. Users can disable any slide at any time within Ovation without deleting the actual slide.

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