Category: Advanced Presentations

Create a new template, theme.

A template is simply a format based on which a new presentation will get created in Impress. There are a number of templates which are already present in Impress and if we want to have our own template or make changes to one of the existing ones then this can be achieved easily in Impress.
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To create a new template, simply open a presentation in Impress and then make all the changes to this presentation as per the design and formatting requirements which you need for your template. After making all the changes, click on ‘File’ from the main menu bar and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Templates’ and from the menu which thus gets displayed, click on ‘Save As Template’.

This will open the ‘Template Manager’ dialog box. In this dialog, click and open the ‘My Templates’ folder.

After opening this folder, click on the ‘Save’ button. This will open a dialog which will ask for a name for the new template. Enter an appropriate name here and then click on ‘OK’. The new template will get saved in the ‘My Templates’ folder under the provided file name.

Modify a template, theme.

A template is simply a format based on which a new presentation will get created in Impress. There are a number of templates which are already present in Impress and if we want to have our own template or make changes to one of the existing ones then this can be achieved easily in Impress.

To modify a template in Impress, click on ‘File’ from main menu bar. From the resulting drop-down, click on ‘New’, and from the sub-menu, click on ‘Templates’. This will open the ‘Template Manager’ wizard.

Under the ‘Presentations’ tab, click on ‘My Templates’ or any of the other folders in case you have stored your templates in the other folders. This will open the templates which you have stored in that particular folder.
Now to modify a template, click on that template to select it. This will make a row of icons visible above the template.

Among the icons, click on ‘Edit’ and this will open the presentation template in Impress. Make all the required changes which need to be made and finally click on ‘Save’ from the ‘File’ button of the main menu bar to save your changes.

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Edit slide master layouts like: font, bulleted list format, background colour and fill effects, placeholder position, placeholder deletion.

In Impress, it is possible to edit a slide master after it has been created. The different layouts in a slide master like font, bulleted list formats, background colors or fill effects and placeholders can be edited at any time.
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To edit a slide master layout, first of all click on ‘View’ from the main menu bar, and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Master’ and from the menu which is thus displayed, click on ‘Slide Master’. This unlocks the properties of a slide master so that you can edit it, as has been shown in the figure. The ‘Master View’ toolbar gets displayed and also all the slide masters which have been defined in the presentation are displayed in the Slides Pane.

Now select a slide master from the Slides Pane. After this, click on the portion of the slide master which needs to be modified. This will display the ‘Properties’ menu in the Tasks Pane. Here we can change the fonts, bullet list formats and other formatting details. Also, other changes like the background color of the slides can be made. Most of these changes have already been discussed or will be discussed in the later chapters.

Using all these details, make changes as required to the slide master, and then click on the ‘Close Master View’ icon on the ‘Master View’ toolbar to exit from editing the slide masters. Make sure you save your presentation file before continuing.

Apply a custom slide master to specified slides.

As we have already discussed, a slide master works as a starting point for other slides. So, to apply a custom slide master to specified slides, first of all select the slides from the slides pane to which the slide master needs to be applied to. After this, from the Tasks Pane, right-click on the slide master which needs to be applied to the selected slides and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Apply to Selected Slides’.

The slide master will get applied to the selected slides.
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Insert a new slide master, new title master.

In Impress, a slide master is a slide that is used as the starting point for other slides. It controls the basic formatting of all slides which are based on it. A slide show can have more than one slide master. A slide master has a defined set of characteristics, including the background color, graphic, or gradient; objects in the background; headers and footers; placement and size of text frames; and the formatting of text.
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To insert a new slide master, first of all we need to enable slide masters in Impress. To do that, click on ‘View’ from the main menu bar, and from the resulting drop-down menu, click on ‘Masters’, and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Slide Master’. This will open the ‘Master View’ toolbar.

From this toolbar, click on the ‘New Master’ icon. A new slide master will appear in the slides pane. Modify this slide master to create your own slide master. You can also change the name of this slide master.

To change the name, right-click on the slide master on the slides pane, and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Rename Master’. This will open the ‘Rename Slide’ dialog, where you can enter the new name for the master. After giving the new name click on ‘OK’.

After making all the changes, click on ‘Close Master View’ from the ‘Master View’ toolbar. This is how we can insert a new slide master.
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Related Lesson

The master slide is a powerful tool that enables users to create effective presentations quickly and easily. It serves as the starting point for all other slides, and has defined characteristics such as background color, graphics, headers-footers, placement and size of text frames, and formatting of the text.
Understanding Presentations – Master Slide

Understand timing considerations, tailor content to time available and allow appropriate time interval for each slide.
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While planning a presentation, it is very important to keep a tab on the time available to present the entire presentation. For example, if the time available is going to be quite a lot, you can have a bigger number of slides and explain each of them in detail easily.

But if the total time available is not too much, then it becomes very important to limit the number of slides to a reasonable number so that each slide can be given a fair amount of time and so that it can be explained properly. Allocating a minimum amount of time to each slide is very important to maintain the flow of the presentation and have the maximum impact on the audience.

Understand that presentation dialogue is supported by graphical objects and text. Understand the importance of limiting the level of detail of graphical objects and text.

One important consideration while planning a presentation is that the level of detail of the text and graphical objects being used in a presentation should be optimum. It is very important to understand that the text and graphical objects are there only to support the presentation dialogue and not the presentation dialogue itself.

So the level of detail of the text as well as the graphical objects should be somewhat limited. We should not have slides which are completely filled with lots of text and should instead have some empty space in the slides as well. This increases the readability of the slides and thus making the presentation better as a whole.

Understand the importance of using a consistent design scheme and adequate colour contrast.

In a presentation, it is a very basic yet a very important consideration that the design scheme and color scheme should be consistent throughout the presentation. This means that the design of the different slides in a presentation has to be consistent. Having two completely different looking slides one after the other in a slide show does not look good nor professional. So such mistakes should be avoided at all costs.

Be aware of accessibility design considerations like: font size, alternative text, colours, limiting animations and transitions.

Another important consideration while planning a presentation is that using fancy fonts and animation and transition effects should be limited to reasonable extents. Sometimes, people find these effects very charming and appealing and thus end up doing these in excess. This not only complicates the whole design of the presentation but also becomes irritating for the audience after a while. So such fancy artwork and animation and fancy effects should definitely be used, as they make the presentation more aesthetically appealing, but should not be overdone at the same time.

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Understand how audience demography (age, educational level, occupation, cultural background) and knowledge of subject impacts on planning of a presentation.
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Whenever we are planning a presentation, it is very important to take into account the different aspects about our target audience. The age, educational level, occupation, cultural background and the knowledge of subject should all be taken into consideration when planning a presentation.

For Instance, if the age group of the audience is going to be children, then we can have a presentation which has more pictures than content, as this will keep the children interested and will make things easier to understand. Similarly, if the audience is going to comprise of adults, then a more content driven approach would be beneficial.

In the same way, keeping in view the educational level of the audience is also important, as this will help in making the content more specific for that particular group. In the same way we must take into account the occupation and the cultural background of the audience. These are very important as you would not want to be factually incorrect about things which might be relevant to a particular culture.

So, all these points should be taken into consideration while planning a presentation.

Understand venue considerations like: lighting, available presentation equipment, room size and layout.

Along with the demography and knowledge base of the audience, we must also take into consideration the different aspects about the venue for the presentation. Things like lighting, equipment, room size and layout should all be given due consideration.

If the room size is very large and the screen available is going to be comparatively smaller, then it becomes very important to use larger fonts for all the text so that everything is visible to all the people in the room. Similarly, how bright or dark the lighting in the room is going to be is an important consideration to select the right colors for the different texts and pictures.

So, all these points should be taken into consideration while planning a presentation.
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