How do you know when/when not to use custom animation?

[Guest]

How do you know when to use or not use custom animation and/or transition in
the presentation for maximum effect.

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

How do you know when to use or not use custom animation and/or
transition in the presentation for maximum effect.

This depends on your purpose. Generally, you should be asking yourself if
you can justify using it, not just to use it for the sake of using it. If
everything flies in from the left just to be cute, you probably want to
skip it. Transitions effects from slide to slide are usually not too bad if
they are consistent and brief, but if they delay getting to the next slide,
they are probably a bad idea.

Many of the best PowerPoint presentations are more pictures than text (that
is, pictures that are meaningful and relevant) so animation can help
highlight the portion of the picture you are describing.

--David

--
David M. Marcovitz
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.PowerfulPowerPoint.com/

 

[Guest]

There's no hard fast rule - some check points I have used from my own
experience:

- If presenting to higher ups / officers, I would keep animation to a
minimum unless its necessary to illustrate/emphasize a point - like an upward
or downward trend.

- If presenting to teens and kids, some animation would help keep them
interested/engaged.

- If using PPT as a stand alone like at a booth, some animation may help get
bystanders attention.

- Having animation on every slide is not a necessarily a good idea either.

- As for slide transitions. I usually do not use any slide transition
themes, or stick with one theme throughout the presentation. By using random
transitions it can be annoying or lowers the quality of the presentation.

Hope this helps!

 

[Guest]

Beth - animation with bulleted text is rarely appropriate. However, animation
can be used quite effectively in the form of infographics. That is, graphics
used to convey information vs using text. An example, called Predictive
Model, is posted here: http://pptheaven.mvps.org/sandy.html. Note that this
animation won't make much sense without the voice-over.

Sandy Johnson
Microsoft Certified Office Specialist (MOS PowerPoint)