When you start a presentation, it’s usually a good idea to start organizing it someplace other than in PowerPoint. (I love those graph paper notesbooks.) If you’re not the paper and pencil type, or if you really want to hit the ground running once you are ready to start creating slides, this week’s tip is just for you.
You can import a text ‘outline’ from Word or even Notepad to create a new presentation. Here’s how it works.
Creating Your Outline:
1. Open a Word or Notepad document.
2. Type your outline following these guidelines:
» Avoid blank lines, because those will come in as blank slides.
» Before each line of bulleted text, insert a tab. (You’re not using these to inflict “death by PowerPoint” right?!?!)
» You can create 2nd-level bulleted text, by inserting two tabs in front of the text. However…..see my “death by PowerPoint comment above. 😎
3. Save the file as a .doc, .docx or .txt file
Here’s what a sample outline might look like.
Importing Your Outline Into PowerPoint:
1. In PowerPoint, go to File » Open… then change the file type to “All Outlines” and locate your text file.
Voila! Your outline is now a set of PowerPoint slides similar to what you see here. Now you’re ready to add your images, etc and dazzle your audience. Did I mention the bullet points? Just say no!
What do you think? Useful? Not so much? Does this prompt any other questions?
Work Smarter Not Harder 