Here is a video featuring samples of our widescreen PowerPoint templates.

You can view all the widescreen PowerPoint templates here.

Our widescreen templates are available for PowerPoint 2007 or newer.  Users of older versions of PowerPoint are still able to use the standard 4×3 versions of the templates.

Our templates for older version of PowerPoint, like PowerPoint 2003, come in .ZIP archive files so there are a few extra steps to get them animate properly in PowerPoint 2003.

1. Download the template.  It will download as a .zip file.

2. Extract the .ZIP file to a folder on your computer.  I like to extract it to my Desktop, but you can extract it anywhere you want. Just remember where you saved it.  To extract the .zip, I like to right click on top of the zip file and choose “Extract All” from the menu that appears.

3. Go to PowerPoint and then using the Open command in PowerPoint, browse to the folder you just extracted, and open the .ppt file.

4. Press F5 or View the SlideShow to see the animations move.

IMPORTANT: In the extracted folder, there is a .ppt file (the template) and one or move .wmv video files.  These .wmv video files must remain in the same folder as your completed presentation.  PowerPoint 2003 is linking to these files and if your presentation is not in the same folder as these video files, PowerPoint will not be able to find the files and the animations will not play.

View all our templates we have available here.

Many of our users are looking for ways to help their presentations stand out.  How can selecting the right music make a presentation shine?

Music is that extra bit of polish that can help one presentation stand apart from another.  Getting this right is like undergoing a military inspection from the colonel and not just having everything in top shape, but actually having  a big sign outside saying, “Welcome, Inspector!”. Getting the music part right communicates that you hold yourself to a higher standard.

What defines a business music track?  Are there certain instruments, tempos or musical styles that represent business music?

 You want to keep it very, very middle of the road. Just having music at all says quite a lot so there’s no need to push the envelope of musical innovation here. Energetic classical music or some upbeat acoustic guitar music will be fine 98% of the time. Stay away from big bashy drums, screaming guitars or song lyrics. This isn’t a TV commercial.

What are your feelings on sounds effects?  Do things like button clicks, and transition sounds help or hinder a presentation?

Having a subtle sound effect occur when you move from one slide to the next  is actually doing the audience a favor.  If I, as an audience member, am jotting down notes, daydreaming or answering a text message, It’s helpful for me to have an additional queue that the speaker has moved onto the next slide. Just being honest.

Why should I license a professional background track, can’t I just use a popular song I have purchased?

The laws about this are very clear. Unless you are using a piece of music in the public domain (which fortunately includes a lot of good classical stuff), you need permission from the copyright holder to use that piece of music in a gathering of people outside of just family and friends. A business pitch made to people you barely know requires this permission. There are tons of production music sites out there with super-reasonable prices and great service that can meet this need.

What common mistakes do first time users of background music make?

Using a popular song that alienates audience members and shows that they didn’t do their legal homework.

Do you have any specific examples how the right music has elevated a project to new heights?

In the 1990′s a good portion of my income was earned composing soundtracks to meeting openers for Coca Cola.  They wanted big accounts, like McDonalds for example, to know they took those relationships very seriously. 

The largest sum of money I’ve ever been paid to write a single piece of music was a fund-raiser video for GA Tech alumni. Every week when I drive through downtown Atlanta I see two very large buildings funded by money raised in that campaign.

Can you tell me a bit about MusicRevolution.com?

MusicRevolution.com is the brain-child of my good friend, Chris Cardell who used to run the stock image company Jupiterimages. We saw how the stock photo industry moved to a point where the best deals in stock imagery were coming from amateur photographers, hobbyists, and professionals who had made their work available online for licensing. That was a big shift away from the offline hegemonies that previously existed.

We knew the same phenomenon would occur in stock music so we set up a comprehensive website (http://www.musicrevolution.com) to help musicians upload and sell their music online at prices they choose. We’ve been very blessed to receive tens of thousands of music tracks from in incredibly talented community of musicians. All of that music is available for license and download from our website. And yes, our license does include corporate presentations!

But what does this mean for you?
If you are using a Mac computer with either Keynote or PowerPoint, these new files will look fabulous.  You can download the QuickTime files with a transparent background and even have semi-transparent shadows and reflections included.  The transparent versions of the QuickTime files include an alpha channel which defines the transparent areas of the animations.

The QuickTime files can also be downloaded with a solid color background.  The solid color background animations will even work with the Keynote App on the iPad.

Things to keep in mind.

1. QuickTime files are best used on a Mac computer.
   PowerPoint 2010 does have support for QuickTime, if you have QuickTime installed, but we recommend sticking with the animated .gif files on the PC.
2. The iPad will only support the solid color background versions.
3. The file size for the transparent versions is larger than the solid versions, so go sparingly if you want to keep your presentation file size down.

Note: Due to limitations in older versions of PowerPoint, video backgrounds are designed to be used in PowerPoint 2010, or PowerPoint 2011 (Mac) or Keynote 09 (Mac).

Covered in this video:

• Download and Insert a Video Background in PowerPoint
• Using the Selection Pane to select or hide items on a slide
• Using the Animation Pane to control the visibility of items on a slide over time.

View all our video backgrounds for PowerPoint.

While there are several options available for converting a PowerPoint presentation into a format that can be watched anywhere. Probably the best option when dealing with a presentation containing animation, video or sound is to convert the entire presentation to a video file.

PowerPoint 2010 makes this easy with a Save As Windows Media Video function directly as an option when you save the presentation.  Many of the videos on our website were originally saved as .WMV files from PowerPoint 2010.  Keynote 09 also has an Export feature that allows you to save your presentation as a easily watched Quicktime video.

Here is a sample video from PowerPoint 2010:

After you have the final video, you could easily use a service like YouTube to display your final presentation video.

If you are using a different version of PowerPoint, you can still save your final presentation as a video by using a screen capture program.  I use Microsoft Expression Encoder 4′s Screen Capture program to record my video tutorials. If your presentations are less than 10 minutes long, you can get by with the free version of Microsoft Encoder 4.

For Mac users not using Keynote 09, TechSmith, the makers of Camtasia, has a nice screen recorder called Jing.  You can record up to 5 minutes with the free version.

Here is more on creating a video of your presentation from Microsoft Office’s blog.

We often get asked if PresenterMedia will work with Prezi.  The good news is that our animations and clipart work great!  View the sample Prezi above to see our 3D animations in action.  Click here to view our entire collection of animations for Prezi and PowerPoint.

Sample Animation

Sample Animation

Sample Animations

A few notes about Prezi:

1. Download our animations as .SWF (Flash animations)
2. Use the largest size available for the animations
3. PNG clipart works great
4. Our Video Backgrounds will work when inserted as a .flv video, but will not automatically loop.

You can also post your PowerPoint presentations created with our templates on Prezi, but, since the presentation is converted to PDF by Prezi, the animations are converted to still images.

Let us know if you are using Presi and PresenterMedia together.

Do you use an iPad for Presentations?

More and more people are using mobile devices like Apple’s iPad to display their presentations.

At PresenterMedia, we are looking at ways to make our animations and templates more compatible with these mobile devices.  For example, we are starting to look at ways to convert our PowerPoint templates over to animated templates which will work with the Keynote app on the iPad.

Our question to you: Do you currently use an iPad or other mobile device to assist you with your presentations?  We’d love to hear how you are using mobile technology to assist with your presentations.  If you are not currently using something like an iPad, we’d like to know why not.  Your feedback will help us tailor new services to meet your mobile device needs.

Post a comment below, and take the time to answer our poll question on our Facebook page here.

New Video Backgrounds

Video backgrounds can be downloaded in several different file formats, Quicktime (.MOV), Windows Media (.WMV), and Flash Video (.FLV).  The video backgrounds can also be downloaded already packaged in a PowerPoint template file (.PPTX).

Many of the video clips are seamless looping backgrounds and feature slow moving subtle designs which allow for them to easily be used as full screen backgrounds in PowerPoint.  The slow subtle movement will not distract from the text or other elements placed on top of the video.

Exclusive to PresenterMedia is the ability to change the colors inside the video before downloading the background.  This makes the videos even more useful as you can customize the video to you own company colors or to other design elements in your presentation or project.

While a video background can be used in any version of PowerPoint, it will work the best in PowerPoint 2010(PC) or PowerPoint 2011(Mac) or Keynote as these programs allow for text over video.  In older versions, the video will need to be positioned in such a way to allow text to sit beside, above or below the actual video file.

PresenterMedia’s video backgrounds are in High Definition (1280×720) and also work great in any video editing or production software.

There is no additional cost to download video backgrounds.

View all our video backgrounds here.

Several of our subscribers have been asking for a separate download of the video files we use in our Presentations.  We are happy to announce that coming in August you will now have access to a new collection of video backgrounds.  You will be able to download individual files as Windows Media (.WMV), QuickTime (.mov), Flash Video (.flv) or as a complete PowerPoint template (.pptx).

You will also have the same customization controls available that we have for our clipart and animations, so you can modify the colors in the videos to match your presentation color scheme or company colors.  Here is a demo of the new Video Background customizer.

We are also excited to announce that the video backgrounds will be included with all PresenterMedia subscription plans.  There will not be an additional charge to download video backgrounds.