Google Presentation Tip - VermontFest 2012

Several new features have been added to Google Documents recently that now work in Google Presentation as well as other document.

ONE feature in particularly has allowed me to LET GO of PowerPoint for building slides.
This was the ability to use CTRL V  to paste from the Clipboard of your local computer into Google Presentation.

I frequently use the windows snipping tool  or CMD, CTRL, SHIFT 4 (select Screen Capture) to grab screenshots or pieces of the current screen.   On your local machine, it was a simple CTRL V to paste them unto a document.  This did not work when pasting in a cloud based application.  But recently it started to work within Google applications.  This saves the 5  steps of  (Insert,  Image, Browse, File Select) and also saves all those "rogue" screen shot files all over my desktop that are for one time use.

This was the one reason I frequently built slides in PowerPoint and then inserted them into my Google Presentation later.   (Note:  Make sure there are no selected text box or objects before you try CTRL V to paste your screenshot)

Presentation Slides make a convenient canvas for creating quick and easy graphics to use elsewhere. For example,   I used this Google Presentation to collaboratively create all the slides for last year's Project Ignite Recognition.  When we were finished collaborating on these slides, I downloaded the Google Presentation and added it to Voice Thread which automatically put each slide on a different page in my VoiceThread).


Finally if you want to really STRETCH your use of Google Presentation, consider using Google Presentation to Create Animations.

The Animate feature of Google Presentation allows you to turn your Google Presentation into a primitive animation studio or  set up slides to reveal features when you click.

1. Right click on a selected shape and select Animate

1. Open the Appear drop-down menu to choose how you’d like a selected shape to appear.
2. Click the On click menu to set the timing for the shape’s animation.
3. Adjust the speed of each shape’s animation by selecting a speed along the Slow, Medium or Fast spectrum.

Check out this AMAZING ANIMATION using a 450 slide Google Presentation

Okay, so maybe using Google as an Animation Tool is not the 'smartest' way to make an animation, but
the Animate feature can be used to add focus to your Google Presentation.

Hide or incrementally reveal certain parts of a slide as you speak about them is a technique that can help  increase understanding of the visuals you are are using to supplement a lesson  or presentation.

Learn more about Google Presentation  from the Google Apps Training Document or by watching  from Zorba Rose's 2012 Overview of Google Presentation.