So you are about to do a presentation – maybe it is at an event or a tradeshow – and instead of using a projector, your are presenting your slides using a plasma or LCD tv.

When you practice your presentation on your computer or on a projector, your slides look fine.  But as soon as you try your deck on the plasma or LCD, your slides stretch and look horrible!

How do you get your slides to look perfect on the plasma?

Did you know that you can change the size, shape, and orientation of your slides in PowerPoint 2007!

You can set up your presentation for different “On Screen” sizes, such as 4:3 (which is the default), or 16:9 and 16:10 aspect ratios, which are perfect for widescreen plasma panels!

(just as an aside, you can also select different paper sizes as well if you want to build your slides specifically for printing as opposed to being used on screen – but we can talk about that another day!)

To change your slides from standard to widescreen

1. In PowerPoint 2007, click on the “Design” tab on the Ribbon
2. Look for the “Page Setup” group
3. Click on “Page Setup”
4. Look for the “Slides sized for:” drop down box, and select either “On-screen Show (16:9)” or “On-screen Show (16:10)
5. Click “OK”

Now you will have noticed the shape of your slides has changed from being close to a square, to more like a rectangle – and you will find that your graphics and text will no longer distort when you show your presentations on those fancy plasma screens!

Now get out there and impress those customers!

’till next time!
TNP