PowerPoint, Keynote, OpenOffice Impress, and other presentation software come with animation features packaged with the software so users can animate graphics, titles, bullet points, and chart elements to keep their audience interested in the presentation.
Microsoft PowerPoint Animations
In PowerPoint, animations can be applied to text boxes, bullet points, and images so they move on the slide during a slide show. Animation presets in versions of PowerPoint affect all the content on the slide. Entrance and exit animation effects are a quick way to add movement to your slides. You can also apply a motion path to a text or object to animate it. All versions of PowerPoint have custom animation features to allow you to decide which elements move and how they will move. The Animation Painter, which was introduced in PowerPoint 2010, is a great animation tool that works much like the Format Painter option in other Microsoft Office programs. It allows you to copy an animation effect from one object to another with a single click or double-click to paint multiple objects with the same animation format. Powerpoint 2016 added the Morph transition type. The feature requires two slides that have an object in common. When Morph is activated, the slides automatically animate, move and emphasize objects on the slides.
Apple Keynote Animations
Keynote is Apple’s presentation software for use on Macs and Apple mobile devices. With Keynote, you can make your presentation more dynamic by using simple effects such as displaying text on the slide one bullet point at a time or making an image of a ball bounce onto the slide. You can also build complex animations pairing two or more of these effects. Keynote’s build inspector lets you select an effect, speed, and direction for your animation and to indicate if the animation occurs as the object appears or when it disappears. You can also combine actions into a single animation in Keynote or build objects one piece at a time. Both Keynote and PowerPoint give you the ability to add sound effects to animated text and objects. Make good use of it.
Don’t Overdo It
Animation adds a sense of playfulness to a presentation, which can keep your audience relaxed and involved in the presentation. Use a combination of entrance and exit animations and of onscreen effects that grab the audience’s attention. However, use animation with care. A few animations enliven your presentation but use too many and you end up with an amateurish-looking mishmash. This mistake is similar to the rookie error of using too many different fonts on a single slide. Some people prefer to receive hard copies of a presentation. Because different presentation applications use animations and transitions in different ways, experiment with a print-to-PDF version of the presentation to ensure that you don’t end up unnecessarily inserting one slide per animation.
