New Microsoft features to make life easy
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Date: April 2021
By: Jessica Kruger, Product Marketing Manager, Tarsus On Demand
Gone are the days of boring PowerPoint presentations, Microsoft has introduced a new feature to bring life to your presentations
At some point in our lives, we have had to deal with a “death by PowerPoint presentation” situation.
We have had to sit with situations that require us to convert a Word document into a PowerPoint presentation. In some instances, having to present long slides and dealing with the audience losing concentration along the way.
Although Microsoft cannot assist with people falling asleep during your presentations, they have some exciting new features that make creating and presenting PowerPoint presentations a creative experience.
Some of these new features include the ability to convert word documents into PowerPoint presentations. And new updates to Microsoft Teams to ensure that the presentation is engaging.
AI-powered tool to convert Word to PowerPoint
Microsoft 365 seeks to create a seamless ecosystem. Through the platform, Microsoft wants to be able to integrate apps in one creating a center to access all your business essentials. But these applications not only have to function well together, but they also need to be fully integrated.
With the latest Microsoft 365 features, the company can achieve just that. The new feature allows you to save hours of work by quickly exporting a word document into a PowerPoint presentation.
The AI-powered tool can apply different themes to the presentation, including images, icons, and more. You can make changes as you see fit using different design options.
The Microsoft Word application creates a presentation based on all the summarized sections of the word document.
How it works
Converting your Word document into a PowerPoint presentation can now be done following 4 simple steps. This feature is available in Word for the web.
- Open the document you want to transform into a presentation in Word for the web. Make sure that it contains only text. The headings in the document will become the slide headings in the presentation.
- Go to File > Export > Export to PowerPoint presentation.
- In the Export to presentation window, choose a design theme for your presentation, and then select Export. (Word exports and transforms the document, applying the design theme you chose.)
- After the transformation is complete, select Open presentation to review the results in PowerPoint for the web. (Word for the web saves the transformed presentation to the root folder of your OneDrive.)
Creating engaging Presentations
Another new feature upgrade to Microsoft Team allows you to create engaging PowerPoint presentations. With Live Presentations in PowerPoint, audience members can see a presentation on their devices and read live subtitles in their preferred language while you speak.
They can even zoom in to see the slide clearly when using mobile devices. In addition to giving you feedback, sending live reactions, and reviewing previous slides.
How it works
To use Live Presentations, presenters must have a Microsoft 365 subscription. Audience members don’t need a subscription to participate in Live Presentations.
* Live Presentations are not supported for presenters in GCC, GCC-High, or DoD tenants.
Here are simple steps to follow creating engaging presentations:
- First, check your audience setting. Click the drop arrow next to Present Live to select who should be able to connect to this presentation.
- Only people in your organization – This is the default option for presenters signed in with their work or school account. It limits access to people signed in with accounts in the same Microsoft 365 organizations (work or school) the presenter is in.
- Anyone – If you’re presenting to an audience that includes people who are not in your organization, you’ll need to select this one.
- Next, select Present Live, and your presentation will begin with a screen that shows a customized QR code. You can also start your Live presentation from the slideshow toolbar.
- Your audience can point their device cameras at the QR code, tap the link that appears over the QR code, and PowerPoint Live will load your presentation in their web browser. There is nothing for them to install.
- The audience can connect from any device has that has an Internet connection and a browser: iOS, Android, Windows, or Mac.
- Once your audience has joined the presentation simply advance to your first slide as normal to start presenting.
In closing
It is time to move with the times and take advantage of the new Microsoft features. Contact Tarsus On Demand to find out more.