Slide Transitions For Maximum Effect In Your PowerPoint Presentations!

A slide transition helps make a PowerPoint presentation seem seamless. It's a subtle bit of animation that moves from slide to slide through the show. Some presenters use a slow wipe to the right. Others choose a wipe down--and so on.

Transitions help cue the audience that new information is being presented. If your slides have a uniform look--with the same backgrounds and colors--transitions are extremely important.

If your slides just appear, one after another (PowerPoint's default setting, if no transition is chosen), your audience can quickly get lost.

Here's how to program a transition from slide to slide in PowerPoint:

1. Open your PowerPoint presentation.

2. Choose the slide where you wish to start a transition.

3. In the Upper menu, go to SLIDE SHOW > SLIDE TRANSITION

4. A new window will appear. You'll see a drop-down menu of transition choices. (You can preview any transition by clicking on it in this menu.)

5. Choose the transition's speed: slow, medium or fast.

6. Find the check box by the option ON MOUSE CLICK. Be sure that box is checked. (We'll explain about the other option in a moment.)

7. Click APPLY

Want this transition on every slide in your deck? Then click APPLY TO ALL. We strongly recommend that you choose one transition per show. This assures you a smooth, polished and coherent presentation.

A must to avoid is the choice for RANDOM TRANSITIONS. This is a bit of self-sabotage built into PowerPoint. In our opinion, this option is pure evil!

In the TRANSITION palette, you also have the option to automatically advance your slides. For self-running presentations at trade shows and kiosks, this is a great option. Follow the steps above. In Step 6, choose AUTOMATICALLY AFTER. Then type in a time (say, 10 seconds). The show will transition from slide to slide, automatically, at the interval you pick. (Note: If you go this route, be sure to UNCLICK the ON MOUSE CLICK option!)

You may need to program different intervals for some slide transitions. The quickest way to do this is from SLIDE SORT view. In this view, look under each slide. You'll see a symbol, at the bottom left corner, that indicates a programmed transition.

If you program a timed transition, the interval set for each slide appears in SLIDE SORT view. To change the timing, simply right-click on the slide, in SLIDE SORT view. Then choose SLIDE TRANSITION.

If you have a self-running presentation, you'll probably want to have it loop (repeat continuously). To create a looping (not loopy!) show, take these steps:

1. In SLIDE SORT view, right-click on the last slide.

2. Choose SET UP SHOW.

3. Click the LOOP CONTINUOUSLY UNTIL ESC option. Then click OK.

There are other useful tools in the SET UP SHOW palette. Take a moment to experiment with them--you might discover a great new effect to enhance your PowerPoint shows!

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