Author: Derek Paulus

PowerPoint isn’t really meant for project planning, but let’s be real… people use it anyway. Your boss doesn’t want to open Excel, and nobody’s logging into a project management tool just to check one deadline. They want a slide. That’s why folks end up trying to cram timelines into PowerPoint.  The problem is, a plain…

When you spend time creating a PowerPoint, you want it to look exactly the way you envisioned it. Of course, that’s not so easy. Fonts are a huge part of that, whether you’re using a sleek sans serif for a pitch deck or a bold display font for a workshop presentation.   The problem? If…

If you’ve ever opened a PowerPoint file, changed the font on a slide, and then realized you’d have to repeat the process dozens of times, you’re not alone. Many presenters eventually stumble onto a built-in feature called Slide Master. Think of this as the control center for the entire look and feel of a presentation. …

If you’ve ever been asked to “just throw together an org chart” for a meeting, you know it’s never quite as quick as it sounds. The good news is PowerPoint actually has some pretty solid tools for building organizational charts… no fancy design software required.   Whether you’re mapping out a small team or a…

If you’ve built your slides in Canva and now regret it because you’re trying to share them with someone who needs them in PowerPoint, you might feel like you’ve made a big mistake. Thankfully, you haven’t. If your boss, professor or peer doesn’t use Canva or needs the file in .pptx format for editing, there’s a…

If you’ve ever needed an infographic, you know just how difficult it can be to make them. Skilled designers made be able to use Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator to crank out an attractive and informational infographic in a short amount of time, but if you’re not one of them, you’re going to struggle.  Thankfully, you…

Tables in PowerPoint are useful, but they don’t always look great out of the box. The default borders are usually gray, a little thin and not always the best match for the rest of your slide. The good news is, it’s easy to change the border color to make your tables look more polished or aligned…

Transitions are those effects between slides that create a dissolving, fading or pushing effect as the PowerPoint goes from one slide to the next. They certainly have their place, but when they’re overused, inconsistent or set up in a deck you didn’t create, they can slow down your pacing or distract your audience. In some…

Want to make your PowerPoint move beyond the linear, “click‑through” slide deck? Linking slides gives you navigational flexibility. It’s useful for all kinds of scenarios or for simply skipping ahead without losing flow.  We’ll show you how to link a slide to another slide in your PowerPoint presentation, and once you know how, we bet you’ll…

Unless you have a lot of experience with it or are just naturally gifted, the design aspect of creating a PowerPoint presentation can be overwhelming. One part in particular that people get hung up on is the font.  There are a lot of fonts to choose from… Almost too many, in fact. That’s why we’re…

Do you want to know how to create a table of contents in PowerPoint? Unfortunately, creating a table of contents in PowerPoint doesn’t happen with a simple menu click. It takes a little creative effort. But once you get the hang of it, you can build a dynamic TOC that gets your audience oriented and…

When you’re giving a presentation, especially something like a sales pitch, a classroom activity or a timed quiz, it helps to have a countdown. But if you’ve ever tried to add a timer to a PowerPoint slide, you’ve probably discovered it’s not exactly obvious how to do it.  The good news is, there are a…