Everyone seems to have an option about how to create great presentations. Online bookstores are filled with volumes on how to write "award-winning" presentations in just minutes. Presentation software packages promise easy-to-use tutorials that will have you delivering great presentations using wizards.

Unfortunately, most of these quick fixes seem to fall short. The books are out-dated, the applications have cookie-cutter templates and no one solution seems to really help. So, it is with some skepticism that we approach any "presentation design" aid . . .

It is nice to be surprised now and then. Slides That Win! — by Crystal Graphics — does just that. This interactive guide to presentation design focuses on teaching you the important principles of slide layout, content organization and design. The guide is easy-to-use and includes over 300 before-and-after slide examples to illustrate its key points.

Hands On Learning Makes It Easy

Slides That Win! is a unique computer-based training product for presenters. Rather than simply teaching the PowerPoint toolset, this CD tutorial teaches you the skills and concepts necessary for creating compelling slides and presentations. This means you can apply the knowledge you gain to ANY presentation application. The CD also includes some PowerPoint tips-but that is not the focus. Instead, Slides That Win! teaches you a variety of ways to improve the readability, comprehension, and artistic quality of the slides you create.

Rule Slides

There are over 300 "before-and-after" PowerPoint slides that demonstrate design, layout, and presentation concepts. A general guideline is put forth — this is then followed by bad and good examples of the guideline in practice. You can see from the mistakes of others how easy it is to improve visual aids with very minor effort.

Good and Bad Samples

Following is an example of the Good and Bad slide type. The left side of the slide provides an example of a mistake — and the right side of the slide (note the green light) shows the rule applied correctly.

Usable Samples

Interestingly, Slides That Win! was created using PowerPoint — so you can actually modify and reuse the examples!

Conclusion

If you have the time to work through the CD tutorial, this is a good resource for anyone who really creates their own presentation slides. To find out more, visit www.crystalgraphics.com.

System Requirements

PowerPoint 97/2000/2002 Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000