Most of you have probably seen a PowerPoint presentation that contained music or sound. But, have you ever seen one that played sound, but also showed the sound icon on the slide(s)? I imagine you have. To me, this would indicate that the presenter was new to the role.

Well it is a very quick task to avoid this issue. You can simply choose to not show the sound icon on the slide, but the music will play during the slide show anyway. Here are three methods to Hide the Sound Icon on PowerPoint Slides.

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• 12 Tips about PowerPoint Slide Shows
• Deliver a Knockout Business Presentation
• The 10 Most Common Presentation Mistakes

Do you ever need to see two different presentations, side by side? Maybe you are making a similar presentation, or just want to compare this new presentation to an older version. Whatever your reason, it is just a couple of clicks of the mouse to view two (or more) presentations at the same time. PowerPoint can split your screen into equal portions to show you both working copies.

Check out how to easily View Two Presentations at the Same Time

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• Copy PowerPoint Slides to Another Presentation
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• Hidden Slides in PowerPoint

Why Use a Header or Footer?

Headers and/or footers are used on PowerPoint 2007 notes or slide(s) to include important information about the slides. This can be information for the presenter (or audience), such as the date this presentation was created or delivered, to brand the slides with your company name or simply to automatically place a slide number on each slide. Read more on how to quickly Add Headers and Footers to PowerPoint 2007 Presentations.

More PowerPoint 2007 Tips
• Create a Default PowerPoint 2007 Presentation
• Change Line Spacing in PowerPoint 2007
• Locate PowerPoint 2007 Properties

Free up some of that screen real estate by hiding the PowerPoint 2007 ribbon. The ribbon takes up about an inch or so on the screen -- not much in the big scheme of things -- but it just might give you that little bit more of the screen you need. Check out how to Hide the PowerPoint Ribbon.

More PowerPoint 2007 Tips
• Quick Zoom in PowerPoint 2007
• PowerPoint Goes Widescreen
• Change PowerPoint 2007 Options

By default, PowerPoint opens up in normal view, which is the view showing the large slide to begin your work. But, did you know you can tailor PowerPoint to open in another view instead? How would like all future presentations to open in slide sorter view or perhaps in outline view?

It is a simple matter of a few quick clicks to change the settings for this feature. Read more on PowerPoint Default View Settings.

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• Time Saving PowerPoint 2007 Tips
• 10 PowerPoint Conundrums - Solved
• Top 3 PowerPoint Quick Fixes

How many times have you added a image to a PowerPoint slide -- a slide with a colored background -- only to have the image be surrounded by an ugly, white box? The white background on the image looks dreadful on your colored slide.

Well there is a quick and easy fix to get rid of the white (or other color) of the background of the image, as long as that image is either formatted as a GIF or a PNG file format. Read more on Making an Image Background Transparent in PowerPoint.

More on Images in PowerPoint
• 10 PowerPoint 2007 Photo Tips
• 10 PowerPoint 2007 Graphics Tips
• Create a PowerPoint Picture Background

I just love that word "conundrum". It even sounds annoying -- which is what it is -- and that is just what I have identified here -- PowerPoint annoyances.

These are the top 10 PowerPoint problems that I get asked about the most. Nothing earth shattering, but just little annoyances that cause you to spend too much time to fix that could be better spent elsewhere.

So, check out this list of 10 PowerPoint Conundrums - Solved, and if you have any others to add, make a comment below. I might need to write up a quick fix for those problems too.

And -- along the same line, how about a PowerPoint pet peeve? What bugs you most about PowerPoint? Would you care to share your thoughts?

Ghouls and goblins? The scariest ghost story ever? The worst Halloween candy? What are your kids' favorite or scariest Halloween moments? Let them write about it using free PowerPoint story writing templates

Creative writing time once again. This time let the kids write all about their favorite Halloween costumes, treats or scariest times. Download the free template as a story starter, as well as a sample story using PowerPoint.
Halloween Story Writing Templates Using PowerPoint

And here is something from Microsoft. For PowerPoint specifically, there is a new template to download for presentation fun -- Trick or Treat. If you are using other Microsoft products there are lots of other goodies to download as well.

More Story Writing Templates
• Seasonal Story Writing Templates
• Blank Story Writing Templates

Kids of all ages love to use PowerPoint in school. It is an easy program to learn and they love all the fancy things you can do with the program. They find lots of neat tricks on their own, and add every single one of them to their projects! Fun as this is, it does not necessarily make for a wonderful presentation.

Making effective presentations takes practice. Take the challenge and create a successful presentation using these 9 Presentation Tips for Students as a guide. There could be an A in it for you!

More Classroom Resources

• Lessons Plans Using Multimedia
• Add an Excel Chart to Your PowerPoint Presentation

Rather than stick to a plain or textured background for your PowerPoint presentation, sometimes you would like to use a picture instead. You can apply this picture to one slide or to all slides -- you get to choose. Just be aware that the picture may be distracting to your content, so use this process only where it will have the most effect.

This short tutorial will show you the steps to apply a PowerPoint Picture Background.

More PowerPoint Picture Tips
• Compress Photos in PowerPoint 2007
• Crop Photos in PowerPoint
• Create Pictures from PowerPoint Slides