Looking for some help on how to do a specific task in PowerPoint? Don’t want to try to dig through the “help” feature or look it up in the millions of sites returned in a Google search? Don’t want an overly technical explanation that tries to teach you way more than you will ever use? Want practical “how-to” information that shows you just what you need to know?
You’ve come to the right place! On this page are tutorial videos you can download, as well as links to what I consider to be the best tutorials created by experts I trust.
Tutorial Videos
I have created a number of tutorial videos that show you how to accomplish certain tasks in PowerPoint. These videos cover the important techniques you will regularly use in creating effective PowerPoint presentations. This is not a complete video training course, because most presenters will only ever use about 20% of the features of PowerPoint.
Every video is in Windows Media Video format, so it plays in almost any media player, including Windows Media Player. You can pause the video at any time and switch over to PowerPoint to complete your work with your new knowledge. Since you will have the video on your computer, you can review it at any time. The videos show PowerPoint 2007, since that is the most popular version today. Most of the features of PowerPoint 2010 are the same as PowerPoint 2007, so most of the videos work for that version as well.
As an example, here is the video on adding a graph to a slide and copying the data from Excel. You can download this and all the other videos below.
Use the Add to Cart button to add each video to your download list. After you add each video, you will see the cart with all your videos listed. Click the Continue Shopping button to come back and select more videos. You will see the list of videos on the right side of the screen for your reference. When you are done, use the Checkout button on the shopping cart or under the list on the right side of the screen. You will enter your information and receive a page with links to download each video (even though I am using a shopping cart to make the process easier, you will never enter payment information because all the resources are free!). You will also receive an e-mail with a link for the downloads if you want to download the files later.
The videos are grouped by category for easier browsing. Enjoy!
Category: Working with Text
How to emphasize text on a slide when you want certain words in a passage to stand out to make your point
How to format bullet point text and format text boxes, including creating text box tables that can be built using animation
Category: Creating Graphs to Show Numbers Visually
How to add a graph to a slide and enter the data or copy it from an Excel spreadsheet
How to clean up the default graph in PowerPoint to get rid of the “chartjunk” and make the point of the graph clear
How to build the parts of graphs (pie slices, columns, bars, lines) one-by-one using animation to maintain audience focus
How to fill a shape or pie slice with a photo
Category: Creating Diagrams
How to align objects on a slide so they are perfectly lined up horizontally or vertically; also applies to pictures
How to distribute objects on a slide so they are equally positioned horizontally or vertically on the slide; also applies to pictures
How to position the layers of a slide to create the exact effect you want when objects overlap
How to create a Gantt chart that shows a timeline
How to create a Venn diagram that shows an overlapping relationship between areas
How to use the Break-down & Zoom-in technique to make the explanation of complex diagrams or visuals easier (shown in PowerPoint 2003 because the technique is identical in both versions)
Category: Photos and Images
How to include a screen capture from a web site or other program on a PowerPoint slide
How to compress digital pictures in a PowerPoint file so you can easily e-mail it to others
How to remove the background in a photo so it blends perfectly with the slide background and doesn’t have a white box around it
How to create a presentation of photos quickly and easily using the Photo Album feature of PowerPoint
How to align objects on a slide so they are perfectly lined up horizontally or vertically; also applies to pictures
How to distribute objects on a slide so they are equally positioned horizontally or vertically on the slide; also applies to pictures
How to fill a shape or pie slice with a photo
Category: Video and Audio
How to insert a video clip into PowerPoint, modify the settings for it and control when it plays
How to move/e-mail a presentation that has a video clip in it so that the video clip plays when it is in the new location (shown in PowerPoint 2003 because the technique is identical in both versions)
Category: Other content
How to incorporate content from a PDF file into a slide (shown in PowerPoint 2003 because the technique is identical in both versions)
How to create hyperlinks to Word, Excel, PDF, etc. from a slide so you can jump to other content during your presentation seamlessly
How to create a slide that automatically updates the data when the source Excel file is updated
How to link to another PowerPoint file from a slide so you can switch between presentations seamlessly or create a link within a presentation to deliver a non-linear presentation
How to create a looping set of slides that plays before your presentation and seamlessly switch to your presentation
How to incorporate slides from other presentations in 3 steps that reduce the time you spend fixing the slides after importing them
Category: Delivery
How to create a graphic highlight that can be seen regardless of the background
How to build your points one-by-one by animating text, shapes, arrows and photos to keep the audience focused
How to build the parts of graphs (pie slices, columns, bars, lines) one-by-one using animation to maintain audience focus
How to use emphasis animation to make an object or some text stand out when delivering your slide
How to make underlying objects appear during your delivery by using exit animation to reveal them (very useful for building tables row by row or column by column)
How to use advanced animation techniques to simulate movies and move objects on custom paths on a slide
Delivery tips including how to jump to any slide, blank the screen, avoid resolution problems and draw on a slide
How to create a presentation that automatically runs when open from an e-mail and gives the viewer options as to how to view the slides
Category: Handouts
How to format handouts printed from PowerPoint to have a consistent appearance with header, footers and page numbers
How to select which slides to print (including using hidden slides for additional detail) when printing slide handouts from PowerPoint
How to use Word to create a handout that contain images of your slides and allows you to add more detail and formatting
Looking for more self-directed video training?
I offer in-depth webinars that cover a single topic in the detail you need to become very proficient at using that aspect of PowerPoint. The recordings of these webinars are also available. You can see all the topics and order the recordings here.
Links to tutorials by other experts
Interface & Basics by Geetesh Bajaj
If you are brand new to PowerPoint (Windows or Mac), start with this series of tutorials that will give you the basic information you need to use PowerPoint.
http://www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/learn/interface/
Fills, Lines, and Effects by Geetesh Bajaj
http://www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/learn/fillslinesandeffects/
Shapes by Geetesh Bajaj
http://www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/learn/shapes/
Charts by Geetesh Bajaj
http://www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/learn/chartsdiagrams/
Video in PowerPoint 2010 by Glenn Millar
http://www.pptworkbench.com/Templates/powerpoint-workbench-tutorials-2010-video.htm