New to Keynote

[AndyMoore]

Hi,

I've been ask to put together and give a presentation at work, something I've not done before but it's only got be around 10 minutes or so. I've knocked some basic slides up in Keynote '09 and stuck in some transitions and effects.

As I haven't got access to a Mac at work, I'm going to export as a movie and play in QT which I've tried with my basic presentation and found that it works quite well.

My question is really for those with experience doing this, are there any effects or transitions that I should shy away from using? You know, anything that would be seen as too flashy or taking away from the information being presented. Are there any that are great to use that can't be done in PowerPoint. There's at least one other presentation that's going on and I want mine to look a little better 😉

Thanks.

 

[steveoc]

Hi,

I've been ask to put together and give a presentation at work, something I've not done before but it's only got be around 10 minutes or so. I've knocked some basic slides up in Keynote '09 and stuck in some transitions and effects.

As I haven't got access to a Mac at work, I'm going to export as a movie and play in QT which I've tried with my basic presentation and found that it works quite well.

My question is really for those with experience doing this, are there any effects or transitions that I should shy away from using? You know, anything that would be seen as too flashy or taking away from the information being presented. Are there any that are great to use that can't be done in PowerPoint. There's at least one other presentation that's going on and I want mine to look a little better 😉

Thanks.

You aren't going to have to work very hard to outdo most Powerpoint presentations unless the other presenter is quite skilled. Keynote default themes have an aesthetic balance down to the colors, the layout, and typography that are unrivaled by anything I have seen in PPT. The transitions range from simple, to spectacular, to subtle. I will qualify this by saying I have not seen PPT 2010.

Use graphics that reinforce your message and go light with text on the pages. Avoid endless bullets. I tend to make each bullet a separate slide to focus attention. You can use friendly Creative Commons reusable images at http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

In general, I shy away from a lot fancy transitions because they can detract from the message, plus I am becoming more concerned with exporting to other formats. If, however, the transition "signals" or highlights something, it may be effective. There are all kinds of cool transitions. Have measured fun with them (it's hard to resist), but don't send up so many fireworks that nobody remembers your message.

 

[Dave Braine]

Keep it simple. Don't use every font/effect/transition just because you can. Use your slides to illustrate your talk/presentation rather bthan putting up a series of slides and just repeating what is shown on the slide verbally to your audience. If you no longer have a need for the slide on display, but are still talking, yet not ready for the next slide, inside a blank slide. Then your audience should be concentrating on you rather than the last slide.

 

[steveoc]

If you no longer have a need for the slide on display, but are still talking, yet not ready for the next slide, inside a blank slide. Then your audience should be concentrating on you rather than the last slide.

Good suggestion. You can also white-out your slideshow by pressing ⌘-w or black-out the slideshow by pressing ⌘-b

 

[macbookairman]

When I started using Keynote, I asked those same sorts of questions about what transitions and effects are okay to use--ones that don't distract viewers. I ended up just watching a lot of Apple Keynotes to see what sort of effects they use. I recommend going to the link below. They are some very well made presentations.

http://www.apple.com/apple-events/

 

[kasakka]

Don't bother exporting it as a movie. If you have access to Powerpoint then just export your presentation as a Powerpoint. At worst you'll lose some of the transitions but otherwise at least the presentations I've done in Keynote '09 have been identical when exported to in Powerpoint. Keynote is just so much easier to work with and the default templates are a lot better.

In any case it's not your presentation that will wow the crowd, but the presenter and how he handles him- or herself. Just remember that in your presentation there should not be huge blocks of text that just distract the audience from what you're saying. Keep bullet points to a maximum of three per slide and even then they should be just a single sentence or even just one or two words.

 

[Mac In School]

Personally, I like to use a simple, subtle transition from one slide to the next, and I use the same transition between each slide, unless I'm trying to convey a large shift in topic. It's hard to explain.

It's probably easier to explain in terms of football on TV. Transition from one camera angle to the next are very simple, until they cut to instant replay. They often do a fancier transition when they go into and cut out of instant replay, telling the audience that there's a time shift.