A lot of times when a new version of an application is released the hype surrounding all

the new and enhanced features proves more exciting than the new features
themselves.

Some features sound really cool at first, but then finding a use for them in your day-to-
day work is difficult or in some cases inappropriate. In those cases upgrading to the
latest version just because there is a later version is not always a worthwhile venture.

It's been close to a year since the public beta release of

PowerPoint 2010, and throughout this past year I've been amazed by all the new
features PowerPoint 2010 has to offer. With 60+ new and/or enhanced features I was
quite curious which ones I'd actually use on a day-to-day basis and which ones would
fade into the background.

And after looking back over the past year's presentations, I'm happy to report that there
are quite a few features that I actually use on a daily or weekly basis. So, I've tallied up
those features and compiled my own "Top 10" list to demonstrate why PowerPoint 2010
is well worth an upgrade.

No. 10: Customize the Ribbon

There are still mixed feelings about the new ribbon interface. Personally, I love the
ribbon and feel that it is much easier to locate certain commands. But if you disagree,
PowerPoint 2010 gives you the ability to create your own custom tabs filled with
whatever tools and commands you use on a regular basis.
For example, I draw a lot of shapes and wanted all commands related to shapes in one
tab. So I created a Shapes group with my frequently used shapes (rectangle, oval,
triangle, and straight connectors), and an Edit Shapes groups filled with all kinds of
editing options including hidden features such as the combine shapes tools. I also
created a Format Shapes group, a Move Shapes group, and a Customize section with
the Customize the Ribbon button added to it so when using my custom ribbon I realize I
forgot to add a command, I can quickly jump to the PowerPoint options window to make
my customizations.
But perhaps the best part of PowerPoint 2010 is the ability to Import and Export any
Quick Access Toolbar or Ribbon customizations so that you can transfer your custom
tabs and commands to other computers.
Click to read more information about how to customize the ribbon in Office 2010.

No. 9: Group Slides into Sections

Another great addition to PowerPoint 2010 is the ability to group slides into sections.
And I've got to be honest; at first, I wasn't that excited about sections and didn't think it
would be something I'd use very often. But after forcing myself to try it out on several of
my presentations, I'm hooked.

Overall, this is a feature that I find very useful for longer presentations (think 50+ slides),
of which I have many. With sections I can navigation the slide deck easily by collapsing
or expanding sections from both the slide sorter view (pictured below) and the normal
view through the navigation pane.
I can even rearrange, print, or apply themes or transitions by section.

No. 8: Improved Picture Crop

I had been using PowerPoint 2010 for a while before I realized just how cool the picture
crop tool is now. You can now easily crop pictures by aspect ratio, a feature which is
great if you work back and forth between widescreen (16:9 or 16:10) presentations and
the standard 4:3 PowerPoint slide ratio.
Also if you have ever tried to use pictures as a shape background fill or in SmartArt, you
may have been bothered by how earlier versions of PowerPoint stretch the images
beyond recognition. Well, with PowerPoint 2010 you can now set and customize how an
image will fill or fit into a shape.
Selecting Crop Fill will make the picture cover the edges of the shape, and selecting
Crop Fit will make the picture's edges fit inside of the shape. Even basic cropping is
better. Now, with the crop tool activated, PowerPoint will still display the removed
portions, just grayed out slightly -- a great feature for seeing both the before and after all
at once from one view.
No. 7: Broadcast Slideshow via the
SkyDrive
Let's face it, not everyone has SharePoint, so sharing documents and slideshows with
people in other locations is still a bit tricky. Luckily, PowerPoint 2010 gives you the
ability to broadcast your slideshow, allowing you to upload your presentation using the
free PowerPoint Broadcast Service.
All you need is a Windows Live ID to sign in to send a private URL to remote users via
email. And all that your remote viewers have to do is click the link to watch your
presentation from most any Web browser.
Click here to view the step-by-step directions on how to save documents to the web with
Office 2010 and Windows Live SkyDrive.

No. 6: Insert Video from Online Sites

In previous versions of PowerPoint, inserting video from online sites was a bit tricky and
didn't always work quite as you would expect it to. Now, with PowerPoint 2010
presenters can insert and play video from online sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, and
Revver during a slide show. All you need to do is copy and paste the embed code into
the insert video dialog box and PowerPoint does the rest.
NOTE: This does not technically embed the video into your presentation. You will
require a high speed internet connection during your presentation to stream the videos.

No. 5: Save Presentation as a Video

For the past few years I've been using a variety of third-party applications all designed
to convert a PowerPoint slide deck into a video; however, often with these third-party
solutions I'd see a drop in quality or a disconnect between my slide animations and
audio. With the release of PowerPoint 2010 I was very excited to see the innate ability
to create a video and see that in doing so both audio and very complex animations keep
their timings and synchronization.

You even have the ability to save in one of three possible sizes:
 Computer & HD (960 x 720),

Internet & DVD (640 x 480),

Portable Devices (320 x 240).

NOTE: Resolutions will vary depending on the size of your PowerPoint slides (Design
Page Setup On Screen Show 4:3 or On Screen Show 16:9, etc.).

No. 4: Combine Shapes Tools

Often in PowerPoint I create my own graphics by drawing and grouping shapes
together. Sometimes, however, rather than grouping shapes I always wished there was
a way to join shapes or at minimum "cut" one shape out of another shape like you can
do in other graphic programs. Well, now with PowerPoint 2010 you can join two or more
shapes with either the Shape Union or Shape Combine tools, and even cut shapes
using the Shape Intersect or Shape Subtract tools.

But you won't find this handy tool on the ribbon. You'll have to manually add this
command to either your Quick Access Toolbar or to a custom tab on your ribbon. You
can find Combine Shapes in the section "Commands not in the ribbon" from your
PowerPoint Options screen (File Options Quick Access Toolbar Choose
commands from: | Commands Not in the Ribbon).

No. 3: Animation Painter

As a huge fan of the format painter, I was happy to see that the PowerPoint team
decided to add an animation painter tool as well to PowerPoint 2010. Now, just like with
formatting, you can copy and paste an object's animations with just a quick click of a
button. This isn't by far the most exciting new feature, but I place it third in my list mainly
because of how much I actually use this feature.

And granted, I do use more animations than the average PowerPoint user does, so my
perspective on this feature might be a bit less than universal. But I've got to say that the
animation painter has saved me a ton of time on the job in preparing presentations.

No. 2: Bookmark and Trigger Audio

and Video
Another great new feature in PowerPoint 2010 is the ability to create bookmarks inside
media, allowing the presenter to skip or jump to a particular point within the media. But
this feature really finds its power in the ability to trigger an animation to media
bookmarks, which if you ever tried to sync animations to music you'll understand why
bookmark triggers are so cool.

Unfortunately, this feature is not one that translates well in blog format. So, watch this
clip from my PowerPoint 2010 Training course to see what you can do with either video
or audio bookmarks and triggers in PowerPoint 2010: Triggering Animations to Audio
Bookmarks in PowerPoint 2010.

No. 1: Remove Background from a

Picture
By far the most used feature (and therefore my most favorite feature) in PowerPoint
2010 is the background removal tool for pictures. As someone who has been using
Photoshop to do exactly this for years, I welcome PowerPoint's quick and easy-to-use
tool.

All you have to do to remove the background is click the background removal tool
(located on the Picture Tools | Format tab), which will open up a special tab on the
ribbon:
Next, click on the Mark Areas to Remove button and then click on the areas of the photo
you want to remove. Alternatively, you can click on the Mark Areas to Keep button and
click on the areas of the photo you wish to keep. When finished, simply click the Keep
Changes button on the background removal tool's tab. And if you don't believe that it is
that easy, be sure to watch this tutorial on using the PowerPoint background removal
tool.

I hope you enjoyed my very own top 10 list of the new PowerPoint 2010 features.

When Used With Tact, These Techniques can Help

to Make Your Presentations Fun and Engaging
It'd easy to bash PowerPoint, especially given the poor uses we see all too
often plain boring slides with no personality, or worse yet slides that are
inundated with text, delivered by monotone lecturers lacking enthusiasm.
But this much maligned yet widely used application is capable of so much
more! Just give PowerPoint a chance.

Those who are experienced with some of these functions may find them a bit
mundane, but I still remember how cool it was to find and use them for the
first time. While many may be aware of some of these techniques, I think
most readers will find something fun and new here.
Following are 10 pretty cool things you can do with the popular presentation
tool. Some are really easy, others will take more time and effort to get
familiar with. Just be sure not to go overboard with these use them
sparingly for emphasis and to keep it interesting, not to create a
kaleidoscope of visual chaos.

1. Animations
PowerPoint's Animation capabilities are an easy way to bring some fun and
pizzazz to your slides, with just a few clicks. Just click on some content on a
slide that you want try an Animation with, then click on the Animations
menu. You will see options like Appear, Fade Fly In, etc. Click one to
see what it will look like when applied to the content you've selected! Note
that it's pretty easy to tweak how the animation works with the controls on
the right of the Animation window Effect Options, Trigger (does it start
when you click, immediately after another animation, etc.?), Duration,
Delay, etc. Don't be afraid to experiment!

Again, you'll want to exercise some restraint here (before your audience
puts you in restraints!). It's easy to get carried away with these and create a
dizzying array of flashing, whirling content please don't.

Here is a more detailed overview of using PowerPoint Animations.

2. Motion Paths
One of the most flexible Animations available in PowerPoint is the Motion
Path. Objects can move across the screen and you can adjust the path they
follow as they do so. If you click the Add Animations' button from within the
Animations menu, this will bring up a menu of the various Entrance, Exit,
Emphasis, etc., Animations, including Motion Paths (you may have to scroll
down to see these, or select More Motion Paths'). The basic Motion Paths
provided include Lines, Arcs, Turns, Shapes, Loops, and a Custom Path (this
is the one that lets you define the path). If you select More Motion Paths',
you'll see a whole bunch of pre-configured paths, like 4 Point Star and
Tear Drop.

Give it a try (and see No. 4 below for a fun example of Motion Paths in
action)!

3. Text and Image Emphasis

One set of Animations are for Emphasis. When you click the Add Animation
button on the Animations menu, you see these. As long as you've selected
an object before you click the menu options, you'll be able to hover over
Emphasis options like Teeter, Wave, Grow/Shrink, etc., to see how they will
look when applied. Remember, you can tweak things about the Animations,
so you may be able to get it to act rather differently and achieve a desired
effect.
4. Follow the Bouncing Ball
Okay, so if you're of a certain age, the phrase follow the bouncing ball
brings to mind images of a small white cartoon ball bouncing merrily along
above a scrolling line of song lyrics at the bottom of the screen while some
scene plays out above them. This is a fun, nostalgic effect. It uses the
Motion Path effect to achieve the end result.

In the music video below, you'll see how I used this technique along with
quite a few of the other Animation tools to create a fun music video for my
song, Hurtin' Up My Heart. Here's the instructions I found online that showed
me how to do this.

5. Narrate over Slides

This is also probably easier than you thought! There are a couple of ways to
tackle this. They're both discussed in the video below.

6. Use PowerPoint as a Blank Template for Building Video

Content
By combining Animations and other PowerPoint techniques and functions
with a Screencasting tool, it's pretty easy to create video content that looks
professional. By using a blank background, or a picture as your background,
viewers will have no idea you even used PowerPoint. I used this technique to
make parts of the music video in #4 above.

7. Embed a YouTube Video in your PowerPoint Presentation

Okay, so I confess, I'd never tried this until I wrote this article. Turns out it's
a piece of cake! Find the video you want to embed, click the Share link and
then the Embed link and copy the Embed code. Then, back in PowerPoint,
just click the Insert Menu and choose Video, then select Video from Website
and paste in the embed code for any YouTube video. Done! It's easy try it.
8. Create an Animated GIF from a PowerPoint Slide
You can save a PowerPoint slide as a GIF and then use a program like GIMP
to create your own animated GIF! This Wikipedia entry provides further
details (there are other GIF animator programs out there as well).

9. Find and Use Your own Unique Templates

I love to seek inspiration when starting a new slide deck or animation by
seeking out a new template. There are lots of good free ones available on
the Web (there are also a lot of purveyors of templates for a fee, but I have
not used any of them). Here's over 44,000 free presentation templates from
PresentationsMagazine.com!

10. Embed a Functioning Excel Worksheet into a Presentation

Did you know you can have a totally functional Excel Worksheet embedded
in a PowerPoint slide? This is super easy, just a couple of clicks. Click the
Insert Menu, then choose Object from the menu ribbon. Then either click on
Excel Worksheet under Create new' or click Create from File' and browse
out to an Excel worksheet and select it. Realize that a large format
worksheet isn't going to work well here, but if you create or insert a small
functional worksheet, it should be easy to navigate and use.