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Hello Paul,
Our elementary school puts on a raffle each year to raise money. In the past we have done the old-fashioned raffle with ticket stubs pulled out of a bucket for each raffle item. This year we are trying to "go green" and create an iRaffle where we project, on a big screen, each raffle item and 'pick' a winning name or number on the screen to announce each winner. This would be a LIVE event.
If you have any ideas on how to do this in PowerPoint, I would love to hear from you.
(Val S., Creek Valley Elementary School, Minnesota) |
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| A: |
Thanks for writing. After considering about your problem, I have thought of a solution for you!
Say you sell 500 raffle tickets. Here's what you can do:
1. Make a slide with 500 identical buttons on it. Use a color or shape that best makes sense for your event.
2. Make a slide with the word "WINNING NUMBER!" on it in colorful lettering, perhaps word art. Insert a text box and type in the first raffle ticket number. Make it very big, bold and easy to read from the back row.
3. Copy this slide and paste it into your deck 500 times.
4. Change the number on each slide to correspond to one of your 500 ticket numbers.
5. On the first slide you made, now hyperlink each of the buttons to the 500 slides. Each button will lead you to a different slide.
6. For the "drawing" display the slide with the 500 buttons and have someone from the audience randomly click on a button. The hyperlink will pull up one of the 500 "WINNING NUMBER!" slides... and that will be the winner. (To make it as random as possible, it's important the buttons on the main slide be exactly identical and have no letters or numbers on them).
7. Optional: If you have more than one drawing to do, you can create a hyperlinked "Back" button and paste that on each of the 500 "Winning Number" slides. That will allow you to zip back to the main drawing slide. You can also program the buttons to show a different color when clicked so you'll know which ones have already been "drawn."
Have a helper write down each of the winning numbers, just in case there is a dispute later, because when you close the PowerPoint file, it will "reset," and you will lose the ability to tell which numbers were selected.
If you've never hyperlinked in PowerPoint before, don't worry. It's ridiculously easy. Simply go to Insert> Hyperlink. Play with it a few times and you'll get the idea.
This would probably 3-5 hours to make.
Note: Val succesfully used this solution and sent us a nice thank you note. Thanks for the t-shirt, Val!
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| Q: |
Hello Paul,
My question is part Powerpoint, part SEC requirement question.
I'm looking to redo an annual shareholder / investor presentation for a
public company. Do you know what the SEC requires us to post on their
website after the presentation? Is it the exact same Powerpoint
presentation? Can it be a detailed handout instead which would have more
info than the actual presentation slides? Are there other requirements you
know of that I need to be aware of in designing a Powerpoint presentation
for investors or shareholders?
(Joel) |
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| A: |
This is an excellent question. Since the annual shareholder presentations we work on are all co-ordinated by an investor relations team at the client's office, I cannot advise you with any authority. My general understanding is that the SEC is attempting to make public and widely available the reports given at publicly-owned companies. I would say it's important to file the PowerPoint (in PDF format) exactly as it was given, and if you wish, to file any supplementary material in separate documents. I think, in the filing process, they give you the chance to supply additional material, but don't hold me to that.
Here are some links that may provide you with the information you seek:
Check out the SEC regulation S-T, Rule 101 (Mandated Electronic Submissions and Exceptions)
See also the SEC's filer manual, which offers details on how to file.
It might also be helpful to see how others have done it, so check out this PowerPoint presentation filed by Yahoo!.
Lastly, here is a company that offers software for Edgar filing with the SEC. They may know the answer to your question, and you might even find their product useful.
I hope this is helpful to you. Thanks for writing Presentation Tree!
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| Q: |
I’d like to have a PowerPoint presentation display on my website. Preferably, I’d like the website visitor to have the option of either having the slides advance automatically or manually. I don’t want the viewer to have to download the presentation and view it in PowerPoint. I’d like them to be able to do it directly from my website, just like it was a video.
Is there a way to do this?
(Jeremy R., Oregon) |
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| A: |
Internet Explorer will usually open a PowerPoint file within the browser app. However, this is not 100% reliable, and other browsers will do this only if the plug-in viewer is installed.
The best option I know of is to convert the PowerPoint presentation into Flash (.swf) format. This makes the file very small, so it will open very quickly, and also secures it from others being able to alter your information, or "liberate" your content.
Ispring provides a simple, free, and elegant converter. Click here and you can download Ispring's PowerPoint to Flash converter for free. The free version will include a discreet brand for the manufacturer in the navigation tools. You have the option to purchase a non-branded convertor (which has more features, too) for a very reasonable price. The converter will add forward and back buttons.
Click here to view an example (created by Presentation Tree) of a converted file, which also shows how you can use audio narration.
Here is another example (also created by Presentation Tree), which shows the interface generated by using the non-branded business version of of the converter.
I hope this is helpful to you. If you have any further questions, please let me know.
Thanks again for writing, and good luck!
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| Q: |
How do I embed video into my PowerPoint show?
(Steve D., Arizona) |
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| A: |
Steve, don’t feel badly, but you just made a very common mistake among PowerPoint warriors. It is actually not possible to embed video or audio into PowerPoint! This is a common mistake. You actually have to link the media files to an action button in your presentation. This is fairly easy to do. The most important thing to remember is that you must first include your audio and video files in a folder that also includes your PowerPoint file. Here’s the basics: |
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| The Basics: |
- Right-click on your desktop, and create a new folder
- Move your PowerPoint presentation and audio/video files into that folder
- Open the PowerPoint presentation and go to the slide that will present the media file
- In the upper menu, choose Insert>Movies and sounds > Movie (or sound) From File
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- Navigate to the folder where the media file is located, select it, and click OK
- A small window will pop up asking if you want the media file to play automatically. If you choose yes, it will play when the slide comes up. If you choose no, it will play on a mouse-click.
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If you share the presentation, you must also send the audio and video files, which must be included in the same folder (preferably in the same location and with the same file names).
See also our PowerPoint Tip: Get The Picture! Insert Video Into Your PowerPoint Show! |
| Q: |
My PowerPoint presentation is too large to e-mail. Is there an easy solution for getting around this?
(Janet S., Washington) |
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| A: |
Yes! There are several Web services that allow you to quickly and easily upload your large files and share them with others. We like YouSendIt (www.yousendit.com), which is FREE! |
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| Q: |
How do I put some space between my bullet points? I usually hit the enter key to add a line and then backspace to delete the bullet, but this puts in too much space, and is a pain!
(Helise F., Florida) |
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| A: |
Helise, your PowerPoint line-spacing pain is over! Simply follow these 3 steps: |
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| 3 Steps: |
- Select all the bulleted text by highlighting it, or by clicking on the border of the text box
- In the upper menu, go to Format > Line Spacing
- Make the following changes: Line Spacing : 0.9, Before paragraph: 0.5
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Note: If you do this in the slide master, then it your slides will have the correct line-spacing automatically. Our free PowerPoint template downloads have line-spacing adjusted for maximum readability in the slide master, if you need an example of what this looks like.
See also our PowerPoint Tip: Five Professional Secrets To Make Text Look GREAT In Your PowerPoint Presentations!
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| Q: |
I have to give a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation, but I have 40 slides. Do I too many slides for this amount of time and, if so, how many slides would you recommend?
(Ralph B., Massachusetts) |
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| A: |
Great question, Ralph! We get asked this all the time. More slides does not necessarily mean a longer presentation. In fact, using more slides could lead to a much more engaging and lively presentation. The next time you watch a commercial or TV show, count the seconds an image is on the screen before it changes. It’s usually 2-3 seconds! The point here is that most of us can process visual information very fast. So… the way to think about your problem is not the number of slides, but rather the amount of information that is on each slide, and in your presentation overall. It’s much better to spread information across several slides, vary the layouts, insert lots of images, and advance the slides frequently. This will keep your audience engaged. If you sit on a single slide and talk through 8 bullet points for 5 minutes, then chances are you will hear some snores out there! |
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Is it possible to put a live Web page into a PowerPoint slide so that I can click on it and do things, just like on the Web?
(John D, Colorado) |
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| A: |
Yes! Try downloading and using Shyam Pillai's LiveWeb. It's free, easy to use, and it works! Please note: For this to work in your presentation, you must be connected to the Internet.
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