Slide transitions
Transitions are all about how one slide changes to the next. Normally you won’t need any transition effect – the next slide should just appear in your presentation. However, there are occasions when they can be useful such as when you’re using the application to present a real ‘slide show’ – a sequence of images or a photo gallery.
You can apply transitions to individual slides, groups of slides of to the whole show (which is usually the best option). They can be applied in Normal view but Slide Sorter view can be simplest.
Use SlideShow | Transitions to bring up a new panel on the right which lists the options available.
When you click on one of the entries you get a preview of what it does. The speed of the effect can be changed (and some have sound effects that can be added if you really want to amuse your audience!) Very rarely do PowerPoint sound effects contribute anything of professional value to a presentation and are totally out of place in a serious display of content but they could add fun to something you’re doing for children and it may be that it was the junior school teacher whom Microsoft had in mind when the bizarre collection was originally included back in the early 90s.
One thing that you can access here which has little to do with effects or sounds is whether a slide needs to be clicked before it advances or whether it’ll do so on its own after a set time. Automatic advance is what you would need for the ‘wallpaper’ use of PowerPoint – as a show that runs in a reception area, for instance, or as a background display at an event. It can be a dangerous tool if you are intending to talk about slides as you may well find that they move on either far too quickly or hang around long after you’ve finished!
As with the design and other tools mentioned in these notes, the Apply to All Slides does what it says and is often the recommended option. Transitions and timing can be removed from individual slides if required later.
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