Use
of Animation in Technical Presentations
Animations
may enhance presentations by (1) reducing the ‘crowd’ on a slide while allowing
more technical content to be placed on a slide and (2) creating excitement
during presentations.
Animations
may be your friend or they may be your enemy
- Enemy: Overusage of animation or use of ‘over-adventurous’ animation may distract your
audience members
- Friend: Proper
use of animation will guide your audience through a discussion and may
help your audience to focus for longer times without the need for ‘mental
breaks‘
Fact: Humans take mental
breaks once every 5 minutes. ‘Mental
break’ means that your mind momentarily drifts to an alternate topic then
returns. This is a natural activity of
the human mind. However, you may structure
those mental breaks within your presentation.
Microsoft
Powerpoint has updated it’s
animation capabilities to give tools which provide a professional animated
presentation. Beginning with your
presentation already written, perform the following actions:
- Slide
Show à Custom
Animation à (You
should have received a task menu on the right side of the monitor).
- Highlight
Object; Click Add Effect ;
- Entrance
– defn:This
object will enter either on mouse click or after specified time.
- More
Effects (bottom of menu) - this will give you the option of determining
the style of your effect. (Style Options: Basic, Subtle, Moderate,
Exciting)
- Exit - defn:This object
will exit either on mouse click or after specified time.
- More
Effects
- Emphasis
- defn:This
object will undergo emphasis transition either on mouse click or after
specified time.
- More
Effects
- Motion Paths - defn:This object drags to new location on
the monitor either on mouse click or after specified time.
Tips for use of animations:
- Decide on a set of motions--- then repeat this
pattern.
- Use common entrance and exit animations. That is, if you are using Fade on Entrance, then you should
also use Fade on Exit.
- For motion path, it will help to use a ‘ghost
object’. Place this ‘ghost object’
at the position you would like your object to move into. Use this ‘ghost object’ for placement of
your motion arrow. Afterward, you
may delete the ghost object.