From Storyboard to Presentation Deck

Storyboard to Presentation Deck

Performing a Needs Analysis

A needs analysis measures what skills employees have -- and what they need.  It indicates how to deliver the right training at the right time.  The results answer the following questions:

1. What is the audience with the problem or need for change?
2. What tasks and subtasks does an expert perform to complete a work process?
3. What gaps exist between experts, average and poor performers of a work process?
4. How do we translate the needs into objectives to promote a strong learning outcome?

Methods of analysis

Audience?

• Interview key stakeholders and listen to their concerns about the problem
• Define who needs help to overcome the problem
• Identify and describe the audience and the work

Tasks?

• Observe the work being done by recognised experts
• Take careful notes and ask questions where needed
• Document the proper performance of the work tasks

Gaps?

• Observe other workers doing the tasks
• Compare results with the performance of experts
• Document identified skill gaps

Outcome?

• Develop a complete list of tasks for performing the work completely and correctly

Researching, Writing, and Editing

Researching

The needs analysis has likely produced much of the supporting content required to build the program. However, if information gaps exist, return to your expert performers (also termed subject matter experts) and ask questions.

Writing

If you’re using a word processor, create a template so your material is consistent from the beginning. Assign a preliminary time length to each module based on the total time available for the presentation. (You’ll validate it later.) When writing, aim for brevity. The more you say, the less the audience remembers.

Make sure to validate your finalised content before you move on to editing.

Editing

As you edit, write for the ear, not for the eyes. Make sure sentences are twenty words or less and only convey one thought. Use simple, familiar words. Make sure that you have provided the definitions of any terms important to the learning experience. Try to spice up your module titles.

Tips and Tricks

Use the following suggestions to enhance the benefit of your PowerPoint presentation.

Overall Appearance

• Display only one major concept on each slide
• Use short phrases or bullet points rather than paragraphs
• Limit each line of text to no more than 7-8 words
• Allow only 7-8 lines of text per slide
• Use images sparingly; one or two per slide
• Leave a good amount of blank space in your presentation
• Create a title for each slide
• Use effects, transitions animation and sound very sparingly.

Building Custom Presentations

Advanced Slide Master Techniques

Master slides hold all design and layout elements of a presentation. Master slides should be used when dealing with numerous slides in a publication. Using a master slide will give you layout and design consistency. You may add an extra set as an alternate choice for the presentation.

Master slides can be created, duplicated, converted, modified, and used for Web publications.  In this lesson, we will focus on types of masters, and viewing slide, note and handout master ribbons.

Using the Slide Master Ribbon

Switch on by selecting View menu à Slide Master. The commands are centred on one ribbon to make editing easier:

Let’s go over the commands in each UNIT of the ribbon:

EditMaster
Use these commands to manage the master slides of your presentation.  Delete, rename, add new layout elements and more with these commands.

MasterLayout
Customise the elements included in your master slide by adding new placeholders, as well as adding or removing title and footer placeholders.

EditTheme
Customise the look of the master slide with these commands, using themes, colours, fonts, and object affects you are already used to using.

Background
Add a background picture, texture, or gradient with the Background Styles command. You can also hide the background image which allows you to focus on managing the content of the master.

Using the Notes Master Ribbon

The Notes Master ribbon contains commands that will assist you in creating and editing Notes Masters. Click View à Notes Master to see this ribbon:

PageSetup        Change the margins and page orientation of either the Notes master sheet or the Slide master sheet.

Placeholders     Add or remove content from the Notes page.

EditTheme        Notes pages are designed to be passed out like a handout sheet or for your own use while presenting. You can also add the company logo or change its theme.

Background      Modify background.

Using the Handout Master Ribbon

The Handout Master ribbon will assist you in creating and editing a Handout Master. The Handout Master ribbon is accessed by clicking View à Handout Master:

PageSetup          Change the margins, page orientation, number of slides (max of 9) to appear on the handout page.

Placeholders       Add or remove content from the Handouts page.

Edit Theme         You can keep a plain style for handout or edit themes to include a company logo or some colour to the page and make the handouts usable for a formal occasion.

Background        Modify background of the Notes page with these commands.

Using Animation Effects

Animation is a great way to focus on important points, to control the flow of information, and to increase viewer interest in your presentation. You can apply animation effects to text or objects on individual slides, to text and objects on the slide master, or to placeholders on custom slide layouts.

There are four different kinds of animation effects in PowerPoint:

Entrance effects. For example, you can make an object fade gradually into focus, fly onto the slide from an edge, or bounce into view.
Exit effects. These effects include making an object fly off of the slide, disappear from view, or spiral off of the slide.
Emphasis effects. Examples of these effects include making an object shrink or grow in size, change colour, or spin on its centre.
Motion Paths You can use these effects to make an object move up or down, left or right, or in a star or circular pattern (among other effects).

You can use any animation by itself or combine multiple effects together. For instance, you can make a line of text fly in from the left while it grows in size by applying a Fly In entrance effect and a Grow/Shrink emphasis effect to it.

Add animation to an object

To add an animation effect to an object, do the following:

Select the object that you want to animate.
On the Animations tab, in the Animation group, click the ‘More’ button, and then select the animation effect that you want.

Notes

If you do not see the entrance, exit, emphasis, or motion path animation effect that you want, click More Entrance Effects, More Emphasis Effects, More Exit Effects, or More Motion Paths.

After you have applied an animation to an object or text, the animated items are labelled on the slide with a non-printing numbered tag, displayed near the text or object. The tag appears only in Normal view when the Animations tab is selected or the Animation task pane is visible.