types of transition in powerpoint presentation

Slide Transitions in PowerPoint [A Beginner’s Guide!]

By: Author Shrot Katewa

PowerPoint presentations can sometimes be boring looking especially if you simply have a lot of text on your slides. You may need to add some pizzazz to it! And, the best way to jazz it up without being obtrusive is to use slide transitions in PowerPoint!

Slide transition in PowerPoint is the visual effect applied to an individual slide. The effect is visible when one slide changes or transitions into another. PowerPoint allows you to customize and control speed, sound, and other effects for certain transitions using the “Transitions” ribbon.

In this article, we will understand more about transitions and their types. Then, we shall also learn more about how to apply transitions in PowerPoint.

Plus, I’ll also show you some advanced techniques such as applying delay or changing the duration of slide transition. That, and much more! So, let’s get started!

1. What are Slide Transitions in PowerPoint? 

Let’s start with the basics – what are slide transitions in PowerPoint?

As described before, transitions are basically animation-type visual effects that are applied to slides (instead of the elements on the slides) in PowerPoint. Using slide transition can make a subtle but huge impact in making your presentation feel engaging.

There are different types of slide transitions (we shall learn more about them in the next section). Additionally, you can further control certain aspects of the slide transition.

You can also add sound during the transition of slides although I highly advise against doing so. But, I’m sharing this just to show the level of customization of transitions offered by PowerPoint!

In the subsequent sections, we will learn more about the types of transitions and how to apply and customize them in PowerPoint!

2. Different Types of Transitions in PowerPoint?

In PowerPoint, slide transitions are divided into 3 categories. These categories are divided according to the type of transitions that are contained in each section.

The effects in each category are divided in a way that they are similar to each other in terms of visual intensity. The difference between the three categories is how much the transitions affect the overall tone of the presentation on a visual level while changing the slides.

The three categories of the slide transitions are –

1. Subtle: The effects in this category are, as the name suggests, very subtle. The transitions are minimal in effect and require very little time to transition from one slide to the next. These transitions are best used for simple effects. There are a total of 12 effects in this category.

2. Exciting: This category contains effects that are a bit more flashy than the effects in the “ Subtle ” category. The effects in this category are more visually prominent and are fairly noticeable. This category has the highest number of effects with a total of 29 different options.

3. Dynamic Content: This category contains strong transitions. These effects are even more vibrant than the effects in the “ Exciting ” category. This category has the least number of effects with a total of 7 different options.

2b. List of Transition Effects in PowerPoint 

A list of the 48 different effects that are divided into 3 categories, provided in PowerPoint, is given below.

• Random Bars
• Checkerboard
•  Honeycomb
• Ferris Wheel
• Fly Through

3. How to Apply Slide Transitions in PowerPoint? 

Here’s how to add a slide transition in PowerPoint –

• Select the slide from the slide thumbnail view on the left.
• Click on the “Transitions” tab.
• Choose a transition as per your preference.
• Use the “Transition Effects” option to customize (if necessary)
• Preview the transition.

I’ve described the complete process in a step-by-step manner with visual aids below –

Step-1: Select the slide and go to the “Transitions” tab

The first step of the process is to select the slide that you want to add the transition to. You can do so by clicking on the slide in the slide thumbnail view on the left part of the screen.

Then, go to the “ Transitions ” tab in the ribbon of your PowerPoint presentation. It is the 5 th tab in the ribbon section.

Step-2: Click on the “More” button

After you click on the “ Transitions ” tab, click on the tiny arrow button pointing downwards. It is the “ More ” button of the “ Transition to this slide ” section (as shown in the image in step 1).

This will open a drawer with multiple transition effect options.

Step-3: Select your preferred transition effect

After you have clicked on the “ More ” button, a drop-down menu will appear on the screen where different slide transitions effects are displayed.

Simply click on your preferred transition effect and the slide transition will be applied to that slide immediately.

4. How to Preview a Slide Transition? 

To preview a slide transition in your PowerPoint presentation, you have to click on the “ Preview ” button.

In the “ Transitions ” tab, after you select a slide transition effect, simply click on the “ Preview ” button at the left-most part of the options present on the “ Transitions ” ribbon.

The transition effect will be played on the slide to give you a preview when you click on the button.

Another alternative is to enter into the “ slide show mode ” using the current slide. Don’t forget to use the “ Esc ” key to exit the slide show mode in PowerPoint.

5. How to Modify Slide Transitions? 

In Microsoft PowerPoint, there are different options that you can use to modify and edit a slide transition effect to better fit the style of your presentation.

You can modify the slide transition using the “ Effect Options ” button, or edit the duration, or add sounds to the slide transition.

In the following section, I will discuss the three mentioned options available for you to modify your slide transitions, and how to use them.

5a. Modify Transitions using Effect Options in PowerPoint 

The “ Effect Options ” in Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to modify the direction and intensity of the transition effects.

Follow the steps given below to modify the slide transitions in your PowerPoint presentation using the “ Effect Options ”

Step-1: Click on the “Effect Option” button

The first step of the process is to select the “ Effect Options ” button which is located at the right-most part of the “ Transitions in this Slide ” section. This will open a drop-down menu.

Step-2: Select your preferred modifications

After you have clicked on the “ Effect Options ” button, a drop-down menu will appear on your screen (as shown in the image in step 1).

The drop-down menu will provide you with all the possible modifications that you can make to the slide transition in your PowerPoint presentation.

All you have to do now is to select your preferred modification from the drop-down menu and it will be added to the slide in your PowerPoint presentation immediately.

It is important to note that these effect options vary from one type of transition to the other. Furthermore, some transitions may not even have an effect option available.

5b. How to Add Sound to Slide Transition in PowerPoint? 

If you want to add a sound to the slide transition in your PowerPoint presentation, at first you have to select the slide.

Then click on your preferred sound effect from the “ Sound ” option in the “ Timing ” section of the “ Transitions ” tab. The sound effect will be added immediately after you select the sound.

5c. How to Control the Duration of the Slide Transition in PowerPoint?

In PowerPoint, you can also control how long you want the transition to be visible. You can speed up or slow down the transition effect itself!

Here’s how to control the duration of the slide transition –

Step-1: Go to the “Transitions” tab

The first step is to select the slide that has a transition added and head over to the “transitions” tab.

Step-2: Change the “Duration” of the slide transition

After you have entered the “ Transition ” tab, simply type in the time duration you want the transition to take in the “ Duration ” box.

The “ Duration ” box is located under the “ Timing ” section of the “ Transitions ” tab (as shown in the image in step 1). Once the duration has been added, the transition effect will either be slow or faster based on the time added.

6. How to Apply Transitions to All Slides in PowerPoint?

If you have several slides in a presentation and you want to apply a particular type of transition on all slides, it would be quite a cumbersome process to select each slide and repeat the process over and over again.

Fortunately, PowerPoint allows you to apply the same transition to all slides with a click of a button! Here’s how to do it –

Step-1: Apply a Slide Transition for a Slide

The first step is to apply a slide transition to any one of the slides in your presentation. Follow the detailed process described earlier in the presentation to apply the slide transition.

Step-2: Click on the “Apply To All” option

The next step is to simply click on the “ Apply to All ” option under the transitions tab.

This will apply the transition present on the selected slide to all the slides in your presentation! Just make sure that you haven’t used a different transition for a particular slide as using this button will override any pre-existing slide transitions applied to other slides!

7. How to Remove Transition from a Slide in PowerPoint? 

To understand the process of removing a slide transition effect from your PowerPoint presentation, follow the 2 easy steps described below.

Step-1: Select the Slide with an Existing Transition

The first step of the process is to select the slide with a transition that you want to remove. After that, head over to the “ Transitions ” tab.

Step-2: Select the “None” option from the “Transitions” tab

Simply click on the “ None ” option from the “Transitions to this slide” section. If this option is not visible, click on the “ More ” button of the “ Transition in the Slide ” section as described earlier, to open a drop-down menu

After you open the drop-down menu by clicking on the “ More ” button, select the “ None ” option located in the top left corner of the drop-down menu. It is the first option in the “Subtle” category of slide transitions.

After you click on the “ None ” option, all the slide transition effects on that slide will be removed from your PowerPoint presentation.

8. How to Set Automatic Slide Transition in PowerPoint?

To set your slide transitions to automatically change to the next slide, you have to set a timer on the slide transition using the “ Advance slide ” option in the “ Timing ” section of the “ Transitions ” tab.

Here’s how to automatically advance slides in PowerPoint –

Step-1: Select the slide to add the effect

The first step is to select the slide that you want to modify or add the effect to.

Step-2: Locate the “Advance slide” option

Next, click on the “ Transitions ” tab and locate the “ Advance Slide ” options. You should be able to spot it on the top-right part of the ribbon under the “Timing ” section.

Step-3: Remove Checkmark from the “On Mouse Click” option

Next, make sure that you uncheck the “ On Mouse Click ” option.

This option is usually used to enable the mouse click as a trigger for the slide to transition. However, since in this case, we want the slide to transition automatically, we shall disable this option.

Step-4: Select the “After” check box

Now, enable the “After” option by making a checkmark before the option. This will allow you to set a timer for the slide to change.

Step-5: Adjust the interval

After you add the checkmark for the “ After ” option, set the interval after which you want the slide to change automatically (as shown in the image in step 4)

Simply type in the duration in the box to the right of the “ After ” option and the slide will change automatically after that interval while in presentation mode.

Step-6: Choose the “Apply to All” option

The last step is to choose the “Apply to All” option as described in the article before. This will create a seamless transition effect on all slides and make them transition automatically.

9. Can You Add Multiple Transitions to the Same Slide? 

You can’t add multiple transitions to the same slide in your PowerPoint presentation.

However, you can use the Animations feature of PowerPoint and add effects to the objects, texts, shapes, and images in your slide.

You can add multiple animations on the same slide while also adding a transition to it. We have an entire article dedicated to this, which explains the use of animations in more detail. Click here to read the article.

10. How to Fix “Slide Won’t Transition” Error?

Usually, when users face the issue of a slide not transitioning, there are two main issues that you need to check.

You either have a “ Custom Slide Show ” selected or the “ On mouse click ” option is not turned on for your presentation.

Both of these issues and their easy fixes are explained below.

Issue-1: Check your custom slide show feature

Sometimes, users set up their custom slide show feature but only add the first slide and close the process before selecting the rest of the slides.

This may cause your presentation to only display the selected slide and not the rest of the presentation while in presentation mode. Follow the steps described below to get around this issue.

Step-1: Select the Custom Shows option

After you have entered the “ Slide Show ” tab from the ribbon of your PowerPoint presentation, click on the “ Custom Shows ” option.

The “ Custom Shows ” option is located in the drop-down menu of the “ Start Slide Show ” button in the “ Slide Show ” tab of your PowerPoint presentation.

Step-2: Make sure the right slides are in the pop-up window

After you click on the “ Custom Show ” button a pop-up window will appear on your screen. If you don’t want to use the “ Custom Slide Show ” feature, then make sure to remove all the slides in the pop-up window.

However, to use this feature, you have to add all the slides that you want to include in the presentation and not just one slide. After that, your slides will transition accordingly.

Issue-2: The “On Mouse Click” feature is turned off

Sometimes, the reason why users are unable to transition from one slide to another is that the feature which allows users to change slides using the mouse is turned off.

The whole process of fixing this issue is given below.

To get started on fixing the issue, at first you have to select any slide from your PowerPoint presentation and go to the “ Transitions ” tab from the ribbon section as described earlier in this article.

Step-2: Checkmark the “On Mouse Click” option

The first step of fixing this issue is to go to the “ Transitions ” tab from the ribbon and then clicking on the check box located right before the “ On Mouse Click ” option in the “ Advance Slide ” feature of the “ Timing ” section.

Step-3: Click on the “Apply to all” button

After you have turned on the “ On Mouse Click ” option, simply click on the “ Apply to all ” button, which is located at the bottom left corner of the “ Timing ” section in the “ Transitions ” tab.

This will turn on the “ On Mouse Click ” feature for all the slides in your PowerPoint presentation. After that, you will be able to transition from one slide to another normally.

credit to cookie_studio (on Freepik) for the featured image of this article (further edited)

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How to Add Animations and Transitions in PowerPoint

In this tutorial, you’ll learn the basics of adding animations and transitions to your presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint. These visual effects will help you make your slides more dynamic and will keep your audience engage.

Adding an Animation to a Text, an Image, a Shape or Other Elements of a Presentation

Adding transitions to a slide.

• Select the object that you want to animate.
• Click the Animations tab.
• Select the animation that you want from the list.
• If you want to see which animations are applied to an object, click Animation Pane. You can also rearrange the animations as you see fit.
• Use the timing options to set the timing of the animation. You can choose when you want the animation to start: on click, with previous or after previous. You can also set the duration and even set a delay before the animation begins.

• Select the slide you want to apply a transition to.
• Click the Transitions tab.
• After you select any transition from the list, you’ll see a preview of the resulting effect.
• If you want to adjust the direction of the effect, among other settings, click the Effect Options drop-down arrow.

• To remove a transition, on the Transitions tab, click None.

• You can change the animations or transitions at any time. To do so, select the animated object or the slide with a transition applied to it and choose a different option from the list.

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How to make sensational slide transitions in PowerPoint

• Written by: Kate McGrady
• Categories: PowerPoint design

Underwhelmed by the built-in slide transitions in PowerPoint? Or just completely baffled? PowerPoint has almost 50 transitions to choose from. A few of them are tasteful, like the classic Fade or a personal favorite— Push . But many of them are rather strange; the famous Origami folds your slide into a paper crane which turns out to be living and flies off screen, revealing the next slide and distracting your audience for the next few minutes as they ponder your poor transition choices instead of your stellar content.

Credit where it’s due, PowerPoint does subtle transitions well. But on the other end of the spectrum PowerPoint’s “exciting” transitions are downright cheesy and, for most use cases, distracting. PowerPoint lacks solid options in between. When you want to impress your audience, transitioning between an intro slide and a key slide, like a value proposition stating what you can offer a potential customer, adding a slick transition provides that extra polish and that illusive it-doesn’t-even-look-like-PowerPoint quality. We’re hoping slide transitions in PowerPoint get slicker in the future, but until that happens, we’re using this DIY method to add good-looking transitions in ourselves. Take a look at this smooth, colorful transition we built between an agenda slide and the first slide of the deck.

First, let’s set some ground rules. This DIY method to creating slide transitions in PowerPoint is easier to implement while you’re building out your slides. It’s still doable if you have a fully designed deck that you want to spruce up, but it’ll be easier if you add the transitions in while you’re building the slides first time round.

• Once you’ve built your first slide, start by duplicating Right click the slide in the side panel > Duplicate
• Click on the duplicated slide and group all objects together CTRL + A to select everything on the slide and CTRL + G to group it

This will be your bottom layer, and you’ll create the transition on top of it

• On the second slide, draw several rectangles the width of the slide. Make them different heights for a distinct look.

• Recolor the rectangles to colors from your template or brand guidelines and remove the default outline if there is one.
• Next, let’s animate! The Fly in animation works well for this transition. Select each of the rectangles, apply the Fly in animation from the Animation tab, and under the Effect options , set to come in from the left.
• If you haven’t opened your Animation pane yet, now’s a good time to! On the Animation tab, about halfway down the ribbon you’ll see a green icon labeled Animation pane . This will give you a more detailed timeline of when your animations are happening. In the Animation pane, hold down Shift and select all of the animations then Right Click > Effect Options.
• In the pop-up box, slide the Smooth End slider all the way to the right and click OK . This will make the animations a little sleeker

• Now you’re going to stagger the entrance of each rectangle. Above the Animation pane are a few options for timing animations. The box labelled Delay allows you to manually enter the time you want your animation to start. Select the first animation in your list and in the delay box type .1 Select the second animation in the list and type .2 , and so on and so forth with the rest of the animations. Click Play all to see your handiwork in action!

This process can be a bit time consuming, especially if you have lots of objects to animate. Our free PowerPoint add-in, BrightSlide , has a brilliant Waterfall Delay tool that allows you to add a cascading waterfall delay to all animations applied to selected objects. Simply select all your objects, add an animation, then select Waterfall Delay in the BrightSlide tab. Our handy add-in automatically staggers your animations for a smooth, professional look. Settings give you control over timings and which animations the effect applies to.

• Select all of the rectangles and Copy then Paste them onto the same slide. Next, recolor all of the new rectangles to white (or if the color of your slide background if it is different). These rectangles will build on top of the colorful rectangles, creating a clean slate for the content on your next slide. Move the rectangles in line with the color rectangles below them.
• Take a look at the Animation pane again. You’ll see that the animations were copied over as well. Now you just need to adjust the delay on them. Select the top white rectangle, and this time, start with a .5 second delay. Then a .6 second delay for the next rectangle, and so on. When you’re finished, your Animation pane should look like this:

• There’s your transition done! All that’s left is to build out the rest of your slide on top of the beautiful transition you just built.

If you change up the shapes, the same concept can be used to create many different slide transitions in PowerPoint.  What can you come up with?

There are some fantastic tutorials for creating slide transitions in PowerPoint on YouTube if you are eager for more. And if you want to learn more PowerPoint wizardry, check out our bank of PowerPoint design blog posts .

Kate McGrady

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A beginner’s guide to PowerPoint’s morph transition

• PowerPoint design / PowerPoint animation / Presentation technology

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How to use PowerPoint transitions to improve presentations

Your slide show presentation already contains compelling information. However, the finishing touch, the added flair, is the use of transitions.

Even the most confident communicator needs a little help sometimes. PowerPoint is the program to use in order to capture details in a presentation format. Taking advantage of the slide transition options in PowerPoint will develop a flow that helps to keep your audience engaged without distraction. Here's how to get started with transitions.

• Managing slide transitions

Morph transitions

Managing powerpoint slide transitions.

Some may confuse transition and animation effects in PowerPoint. Animation effects in PowerPoint are only applied to objects within the slide whereas transitions are applied to the slide itself. This means that you can have one slide transition effect while the slide can contain multiple animation effects.

How to add a slide transition

To add a PowerPoint transition:

• Click on the slide that is the endpoint of the transition process.
• Click on the Transitions tab in the navigation ribbon.
• In the Transition gallery, click on the More (...) button to view the entire gallery.
• Click on a transition to preview the animation effect.

You will notice that a star icon has been placed next to the slide thumbnail on the left side of the window. This indicates that a transition has been applied. Next to the Transitions gallery, you will also see an Effects Icon command.

If you choose to display all transitions in the gallery, you will see that they are grouped into one of three categories:

• Subtle: This group contains the simplest transition effects. They typically make use of basic motion or animation.
• Exciting: The transitions in this group are more involved than in Subtle. The animations within are typically longer and more complex in nature.
• Dynamic Content: This group provides transitions of a different manner. The animation is applied to the content of the slide, not the background. By using the same background, you can visually link content. Dynamic transitions also work in reverse, if you need to switch back to the previous slide.

How to remove a PowerPoint transition

To delete a transition:

• Click on the slide marked with a star.
• Click on the Transitions tab in the ribbon.
• Select None from the Transitions gallery.

If you want to remove transitions from all slide simultaneously, all slides must be selected before selecting None from the transitions gallery. The easiest way to do this is to use the CTRL + A keyboard shortcut to select all.

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How to modify a PowerPoint transition

To edit transitions:

• Select a transition from the gallery.
• Locate the Timing group.
• Select a sound clip from the Sound drop-down list.
• Specify the duration of the transition animation. Choose between 0.01 and 59 seconds. (Values increase in 0.25-second increments.)
• Choose to advance to the next slide manually (by mouse) or after a specific time has elapsed. This can be increased or decreased in one-second intervals.
• Select Apply To All to create a uniform transition pattern for all slides in the presentation.

Depending on the transitions style that you have chosen, you can also modify the direction in which they move to and from.

If you have an Office 365 account, your organization may have another transition option for you to try. While Morph may seem like an animation nestled within a presentation, it is, in fact, a transition that could increase fluidity between slides. Essentially, you want to make sure that the two slides involved in the transition have at least one comment element, be it an image, title or graph.

How to apply PowerPoint Morph transitions

To add a Morph transition:

• Access the Transition gallery in the Transition tab.
• Select Morph from the Transition Effects group.
• Click the Effect Options next to the Transition Gallery.
• Select the elements you want to work with. (Choose from Objects , Words or Characters .)
• Click Preview to review the Morph transition.

Morph is a handy feature for providing clean animated transitions without having to dip into potentially complex animation components themselves. Here are some examples of what you can accomplish with the Morph command.

How to apply animation-style PowerPoint effects to words

To apply animated word transitions:

• Enter text on a slide.
• Duplicate the slide and text onto another slide.
• Click and hold on the text box of the duplicate slide.
• Use your mouse or trackpad to move the text to its end position.
• Apply any additional alterations to the text such as font size, color or style.
• Click the Transitions tab in the ribbon.
• Select Morph from the Transition gallery.
• Click Effect Options .
• Select Words from the drop-down list.
• Click Preview to review the results.

How to apply animated PowerPoint transitions to images

To add an animated image transition:

• Insert an image onto a slide.
• Duplicate the slide and its contents onto the next slide.
• Apply changes to the image on the duplicate slide. You can drag the corners of the picture to resize, alter the shape or move to another position on the slide.
• Click on the Transitions tab.
• Select Morph from the transitions gallery.
• Click Preview to review.

If you are sharing a presentation containing geographical data, you could use Morph to zoom in on specific locations on a map. Combine this with text transitions and you can create a powerful message without having to use the Animations tab.

How to view transitions in a PowerPoint slideshow

Once your transitions have been applied to the slideshow, you may want to run the presentation to get a sense of the audience experience. You can set up the Slide Show to play at the optimal pace. Your best bet would be to set up the Slide Show to progress automatically.

To change the Slide Show settings:

• Click on Slide Show on the navigation ribbon
• Click Set Up Slide Show in the Set Up group.
• Locate the Advance Slide section.
• Select the Using timings, if present option.

If you set up specific times under Transitions > Timing , you can then sit back and analyze your slide show to see how effective your transitions are. It is important to point out that transitions should compliment the content you are presenting, not distract from it. For a more professional presentation, you should stick with Subtle or Dynamic transitions, as Exciting offers a more fun and casual approach to transitions.

Wrapping up

Content will always be the key component of a fantastic PowerPoint presentation. Transitions are an elegant way to help you and your audience move from slide to slide, without an abrupt visual interruption.

Do you use transitions with your slides? Do you ever use Exciting transitions? Let us know in the comments.

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How to Add Transitions in PowerPoint

Transitions are animations that you can use when advancing from one slide to the next during a presentation. They can be fun, but be careful not to overdo it with complicated transitions because they can become distracting.

Apply a Transition

To select multiple slides, hold down Ctrl as you select each slide.

• Click the Transitions tab.
• Click the Slide Transitions More button.

The transition is applied to just the selected slide. To apply the transition to all slides in the presentation, click the Apply to All button on the Transitions tab.

To remove a transition, select None in the Slide Transitions gallery.

Modify a Transition

You can customize a transition effect to meet your needs, including adjusting its speed or duration and adding sound.

The options available here will change based on which transition you've applied.

• Sound : Pick a sound to play in unison with the slide transition.
• Duration : Specify the length of the transition.
• Apply To All : Apply the current slide’s transition, effects, and timing settings to the entire presentation.
• On Mouse Click : Select this option to have the slide advance when the mouse is clicked.
• After : Select this option to have the slide advance after the amount of time you specify.

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Home Blog PowerPoint Tutorials PowerPoint Animations: Animate Text, Objects, and Slides in Your Presentations

PowerPoint Animations: Animate Text, Objects, and Slides in Your Presentations

Working with graphic assets can bring a degree of expectancy when delivering a presentation, such as in the case of PowerPoint animations. They can help add emphasis to slide content and reveal parts of the slide gradually to help presenters discuss topics sequentially. 

As a presenting software, PowerPoint provides all kinds of animations for emphasis, entrance, exit, and to create a set motion. Join us today to learn all about animations in PowerPoint and unleash your creative potential.

Table of Contents

How PowerPoint Animations Can Benefit Presentation Design

Understanding powerpoint animation basics, types of animations in powerpoint, how to animate text on powerpoint, animating objects for visual impact, crafting seamless slide transitions in powerpoint, mastering advanced animation techniques in powerpoint, dos and don’ts of powerpoint animations, real-world use cases of animated presentation slides, recommended animated powerpoint templates, enhanced engagement and understanding through animations.

Dynamic presentations can have many benefits. The importance of such animations is often only realized by people familiar with PowerPoint. As we’ve seen in our guide on visual communication , graphical elements can make concepts more understandable. In the case of animations, we can use the transitions between slides or elements to split concepts and make them clearer.

Audience engagement is another factor, as eye-catching slides often include surprise elements hidden behind animations. These elements attract the audience’s interest and increase retention rate. In this case, animations serve as powerful presentation aids for the speaker.

Capturing Audience Attention

PowerPoint animations are more likely to capture the audience’s attention than static slides. The moving objects on-screen are the type of visuals people are likely to find attention-grabbing instead of trying to read through static slides or looking at static images. On this behalf, storytelling techniques boost their efficacy in connecting with the audience by implementing animations and transitions rather than sticking to static slides. 

Emphasizing Relationships Between Elements

Whenever we work with contrasting values, like pros and cons slides , animations help the presenter highlight areas of interest or disclose the opposite values section by section. This, in turn, structures the speech for real-time interaction with the graphical assets rather than having the audience read the slide and lose focus on the speech. 

Interactive Presentations

As mentioned before, presenters can craft compelling stories through the careful use of animations in PPT. What is often overlooked is the link between interactive presentations and animations. For instance, a speaker can deliver different outcomes of the presentation by selecting one path whose outcome is revealed through an animation. This “wow” factor induces surprise and creatively presents case scenarios.

Another option is when introducing your team in presentations. Rather than using static slides, incorporating animations gives more rhythm to the presentation and invites the public to interact with the speaker.

Getting Started with Animation in PowerPoint

To start with animations in PowerPoint, select an object you wish to animate and go to the Animations tab to choose an animation to add to the slide element. When adding animations to multiple objects in a slide, you should consider the sequence you wish to use to animate objects.

Accessing Animation Features

When accessing animation features, you will come across various animation types. By expanding the Animations menu, you can select animations for entrance, exit, emphasis, and motion paths to create a path for your animated sequence. You can also click to instantly preview an animation for the selected object or switch to slideshow mode to see how the animation will appear.

Adding Animations to Text and Objects

Once an animation is added to a text or object, a number is assigned. This number shows the sequence in which the object will be presented. For example, the object will be the first to be animated on screen, followed by two, three, and so on.

You can adjust the sequence of animations, triggers, and other settings from the Animation Pane in PowerPoint.

Timing and Sequence in Animations

The Timing menu in the Animations pane provides options to set the duration of the animation, the time to delay the animation on the screen (if necessary), and to assess if the animation starts on click, with the previous or after the last animation. How you select these animations will help you adjust the time and sequence of the animations. For example, you can use ‘ with previous’ option to show two animated objects simultaneously.

Entrance, Exit, and Emphasis Animations

Some of the most commonly used animation types fall under three categories: entrance, exit, and emphasis animations.

Entrance Animations

The Entrance Animations are meant to start or introduce objects. You can explore all entrance-related animations by going to Animations -> Animation (menu) -> More Entrance Effects . This will reveal all entrance animations you can click to preview for a selected object. These often consist of basic animations with effects like appear, fly-in, float-in, strips, wheel, circle, box, dissolve-in, split, wedge, wipe, plus, diamond, checkerboard, blinds, etc. The animations can be divided into three categories: basic, subtle, and moderate. These categories help identify the type of effects in each category according to how prominent they might be on screen.

Exit Animations

The Exit Animations are meant to help exit a slide or animated sequence to close a topic or subtopic, or to conclude the on-screen animations for a slide. These animations are similar to the Entrance Animations with the same effects. You can use these animation types for an exit sequence using effects like blinds, circles, checkerboard, box, plus, split, wedge, wipe, diamond, dissolve out, contract, swivel, fade, zoom, basic zoom, collapse, float up, etc.

Like the Entrance Animations, you can go to  Animations -> Animation (menu) -> More Exit Effects to preview the animations and to see the three categories for basic, subtle, or moderate animations.

Emphasis Animations

Other than basic, subtle, and moderate, the Emphasis Animations come with an additional category, ‘exciting.’ Emphasis animations in PowerPoint provide visual aids for emphasizing content within slides. The effects for these animation types in PowerPoint are also quite different from the entrance and exit-themed effects. Effects like fill color, grow/shrink, transparency, line color, teeter, color pulse, object color, desaturate, darken, lighten, blink, wave, and others can help emphasize an object within a slide to make it pop out before the audience.

Exploring Motion Path Animations

If primary effects aren’t what you want, it’s time to switch to Motion Paths . These are animated effects in PowerPoint that showcase objects across a specific path. In other words, these are elaborate animations that drag objects on the screen based on a particular shape or path, such as a 4,5, 6, or 8-point star, crescent moon, circle, diamond, football, heart, octagon, pentagon, square, trapezoid, teardrop, right triangle, arc (down, right, left, up), curvy right, bounce right, etc.

Motion Paths are divided into four categories. The basic effects consist of shapes, whereas, Line Curves provide lines and curves to animated objects. Similarly, the special category contains more elaborate effects such as inverted square, loop de loop, peanut, bean, curved square, etc.

Choosing Appropriate Animation Styles

When choosing animation styles, picking a style that best resonates with your presentation slides is important. The animations’ names and categories can help you identify what might work for you. Furthermore, after adding an animation, you can go to Effect Options to view the various directions and options used to refine the animation to build your sequence further. Depending on the animation type, you can pick variations of the animation, directions, colors, transparency, points to edit or lock, or other options for selected effects. The image below shows the variations for the Wheel animation in PowerPoint via Effect Options .

Similarly, if you select Transparency from Emphasis Effects, you can choose how transparent the object will appear on the screen. Likewise, many color-themed effects enable picking a custom color to animate an object.

Since Motion Paths are unique, you will get options to edit points, lock paths, reverse the direction of the default animated sequence, etc.

Now that you know how to animate in PowerPoint, it’s time to explore making written content more interesting using animations.

Start by opening a blank PPT file and adding a placeholder text. The idea is to learn how text interacts with animation effects without working with complex graphic layouts.

Select the text and switch to the Animations tab. In there, pick an animation effect of your preference. You will get a preview of the effect applied – which will show the number of the animation order once completed.

Animations for text, like any other animation, can be controlled in terms of behavior by accessing the panel at the right-most section of the Ribbon.

Additionally, we can expand the animations panel to select from the different effects offered by PowerPoint.

Animating Text Elements on PPT Templates

Animating text elements to highlight key aspects of your slides can be a great way to create engaging presentations. The Animated 3D 4 Steps & Core PowerPoint Template shown below are among the Animated PowerPoint templates at SlideModel that animate objects and text elements for emphasis while retaining a clear layout.

As visible from the animated sequence from the Animation Pane in the image below, the slide deck uses animated text boxes with a mix of other slide elements to create a sequence where a four-step diagram is highlighted with supported text to help elaborate each part of the diagram in an animated sequence. We can add, remove, or modify the included effects via the Animation Pane.

Balancing Text Animations for Impact

By balancing text animations, you can have maximum impact when highlighting content for your slides. The animations can be triggered to start simultaneously to reveal all the text after a sequence of objects, before objects appear, or one by one to reveal the diagram contents gradually.

Animating Images, Shapes, and Charts

When animating shapes and images, you can use a variety of animation types for entrance, exit, and emphasis, and to make the content pop out. However, charts require subtle animations, and it’s best to use basic effects to reveal charts, such as Appear and Disappear .

The Animated Network Diagram PowerPoint Template is an example of how to animate shapes.

The template’s title slide reveals shapes and icons in the form of a diagram in an animated sequence.

You can also include images in such a template to customize the given diagram and animate it to reveal the image simultaneously or after a set of objects has already been revealed.

If you are including a chart in your slide that is to be animated, make sure the animation corresponds to other elements that might also be animated. For example, you can trigger the chart to be revealed after the slide title with a simple Appear effect. In such a case, the chart can be displayed altogether or gradually, in animated form.

Applying Object Animations Strategically

When placing slide objects, you must apply the animations strategically to avoid revealing information out of sequence. Furthermore, it is also worth considering how your effects appear. For example, in the image of the diagram below, would you prefer the diagram to appear floating upward or downward? Such considerations and other vital elements, such as your branding needs, are important to ponder when setting your animated sequence.

Enhancing Presentation Flow with Transitions

While Animations for PowerPoint are one way of making your slides engaging, PowerPoint Transitions is another. You can access them via the Transitions tab in PowerPoint and apply transitions between slides.

While many legacy transitions provide basic effects when switching between slides, some of the more recent additions to this menu, such as Morph Transition , enable the creation of elaborate animations by using Transitions to animate your slides. The below example shows a slide with the Morph transition, giving an animated effect to the diagram.

Maintaining Coherence Between Slides

When applying Transitions, it is essential to maintain coherence between slides by ensuring they don’t overlap with any added Animations. To do this, you should preview your slide deck to see how it might appear once all the animated effects have been included in your slides. Like PowerPoint Animations, you can also use Effect Options for Transitions to set a sequence or direction that best suits your needs.

Layering for Complex Animation Effects

Using layers of multiple objects and slides can easily create advanced animation effects. This can be done using not only PowerPoint animations but also transitions. The Animated Pendulum Swing PowerPoint Templates from the SlideModel archive of animated templates use Transitions like Morph to create animated sequences. The below example shows a swinging pendulum created using Morph.

Combining and Triggering Animations

Depending on the number of elements within a slide and the animations used, you can use triggers to customize and set sequences for slide elements to animate. The example below shows the selected pendulum’s various linking options for the on-click trigger. By placing your slide objects to be connected and triggered with different parts of your slide, you can create and customize animated sequences that can be pretty attention-grabbing. 

PowerPoint Animation Painter

If you thought you had to start from scratch to animate each slide of your presentation, you are sorely mistaken. Much like the Format Painter option in PowerPoint, we can find Animation Painter , which is accessible via the Ribbon under the Advanced Animation control options.

This tool helps us duplicate animations between elements of the same slide or copy animation effects from one slide to another. As a format copying tool, it requires at least one animation effect to be placed otherwise the option is grayed out.

Creative Experimentation

Experimenting with Animations in PowerPoint can be pretty helpful to avoid making monotonous presentations. Experimentation does not necessarily require making slides from scratch, but you can also use ready-made templates such as the 3D animation PowerPoint Templates at SlideModel. Alternatively, some slide deck templates offer a considerable range of animation effects intended for maximum audience engagement, which users can quickly customize by editing placeholder areas for text, images, and logos.

Below is a list of do’s and don’ts of PowerPoint Animations for making presentations that best use animated effects.

Maintain Animation Moderation

It is essential to maintain moderation when using animations, as the use of too many animations on a single slide or presentation can make the content confusing.

Use of Appropriate Animations

Try to use appropriate animations for slide objects. The animation should suitably show if the object is to enter, exit, be emphasized, or be highlighted using a motion path.

Avoid Animation Overload

Avoid flashy animated sequences unless your presentation is meant for an audience that might find engaging, such as children in a classroom session.

Subtle can be Just as Engaging

Sometimes, subtle animations can be just as engaging as an animation with an elaborate effect. This can, in fact, be a better option than using animations that might be visually overpowering or difficult to follow due to elaborate effects.

Ensure Visual Consistency

As discussed earlier, it is vital to maintain consistency in using animated effects. Be it Animations or Transitions, using flashy effects or too many diverse effects can hurt how the audience perceives your content, as it might become confusing, visually overpowering, or unprofessional. In such a case, the audience might quickly lose interest in the presentation, leading to Death by PowerPoint.

Less is More

The design language of visual designs over the past decade or more has been intended to use fewer effects and graphical elements with ample space to make the interface look clean. Be it Modern UI or Material design apps, this design language has been evident across desktop and mobile UIs. Using the same concept, you can design your slides with fewer animations and graphical elements to make your content more visually appealing.

Turning PowerPoints into Millions

Courtney Allen, a professional PowerPoint designer who came out of a BFA in graphic design from Boise State University, had all but PowerPoint as a part of her portfolio. She started her freelancing career via Upwork, making over a thousand PowerPoints for clients, bringing in as many as $2 million. She suggests using simple designs and animations to make the most out of PowerPoint presentations. 

Guy Kawasaki Pitch Deck

Guy Kawasaki, a former Apple employee, whose famous 10-slide pitch deck has inspired a variety of PowerPoint templates. This rule was designed for startups and business presentations, focusing on pitching a concept to investors. While this isn’t directly related to using animations in presentations, it is an example of making the best use of minimalist content in a few slides. You can learn more about the Guy Kawasaki pitch deck from our article about the 10/20/30 rule for PowerPoint presentations .

How not to use an Animated PowerPoint Presentation in Court! 

Presentations with animations aren’t always a great idea. In 2014, a court in the United States criticized a PowerPoint presentation by the prosecutor, which led to the court throwing the case out. The presentation was made with sound effects and animations, with flashy elements like the bullseye. Some of the significant mistakes made by the prosecutor included ‘visual advocacy,’ where the defendant was marked with the word ‘guilt’ in the slide deck. Not to mention, the animated presentation seemed to be aimed at influencing the court using visual aids. Something that did not sit well with the court.

Use of PowerPoint by the US Military

The US Military has often been accused of Death by PowerPoint for preparing what some call the worst PowerPoint slides ever created. The issue became so profound that in 2011, it was revealed that an executive communications manager at Microsoft, Dave Karle, was tasked with ensuring that the US military could finally start using the software properly. After discussions with top military officials, an updated military presentation method was created, consisting of a number of presentation templates, tips, and graphics and more than 6000 map symbols. 

In this section, you can check some ready-made templates that can be easily customized for your presentation’s purposes. All these templates feature professionally made animation effects with native PowerPoint tools.

1. Multi-Purpose Animated PowerPoint Slide Deck

Those looking for how to animate in PowerPoint now have a ready-made solution to create mind-blowing presentations in a couple of minutes. This slide deck contains 26 slides in a broad selection of topics. We can present facts, introduce our team, our company, display charts with animated effects, and so much more. Check it out now!

Use This Template

2. Animated 8-Step Social Media Carousel PowerPoint Template

Bring dynamism to your social media posts by implementing this vivid social media carousel template. With eye-catching animated effects, this template emulates the typical carousel posts we can find on platforms like LinkedIn or Instagram.

3. Problem Solving Animated PowerPoint Template

Bring professional graphics to troubleshooting sessions with your team. This template, filled with PowerPoint animations, offers a user-friendly approach to conventional problem-solving situations in which the team has to observe the Issue Matrix, suggest possible solutions, and prepare an implementation plan and its corresponding process flow diagram. Thanks to its high-quality animation effects, the speaker can introduce the facts individually, without diverting attention from the speech.

4. Animated Company Profile Presentation Template for PowerPoint

We’ve seen this template as one of the examples of animations for PowerPoint. It is a 21-slide solution offering all the tools required for a corporate-styled company profile presentation, specifically tailored for service businesses.

5. Corporate Company Profile Animated PowerPoint Template

An alternative option for company profile presentations, featuring a minimalistic graphic layout with a broad variety of animation effects. Check these 12 slides and customize them with information relevant to your organization – we bring complex animation effects in a ready-made format. Colors and placeholder images can also be replaced.

6. Animated Roadmap PowerPoint Template

Bring more action to any planning meeting using this animated PowerPoint roadmap template. After a clear path overview, each milestone slide contains animation effects to introduce relevant information to the topic. It is a new take on traditional roadmap presentations that allows the speaker to pace themselves regarding how to disclose the information about the strategy to embark on.

7. Animated Pros & Cons Comparison Slide Template for PowerPoint

We mentioned the advantages of using PowerPoint animations to discuss contrasting values of a situation. Well, this animated Pros & Cons slide is the ideal tool for that purpose, offering a generalist view, then two accompanying slides for Pros & Cons, respectively, with animated effects to introduce additional information per point.

Using animations to make visually appealing and engaging presentations requires ensuring that your content corresponds with your added animated effects. It is always best to use animations in moderation and to keep your slides minimalist while unleashing your creativity as a presenter. Using ready-made PowerPoint templates can also help give you a good starting point to begin experimenting with animations and effects. This can also be useful for people new to PowerPoint Animations to explore what is doable with an animated slide deck, using animated sequences tailored for customization. 

Whether you’re using an animated template or making one from scratch, a preview in slideshow mode can save you a lot of trouble with potential issues tied to animated effects. Last but not least, using animations in PowerPoint isn’t always necessary, and you can even go for a simple slide deck with a handful of slides. What matters is that you should be aware of the information being presented, and the visual aids should be just to aid your slides and not meant to be the whole package on their own.

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Animations and transitions

Animations and transitions can make your presentations more energetic and fluid. But don't overwhelm your audience: using 1-2 different styles per presentation is a good best practice.

Select the text or object that you want to animate.

On the Animations tab, select an animation effect from the gallery. Entrance effects icons are colored green, emphasis effects icons are colored yellow, and exit effects icons are colored red.

Some animations have Effect Options that add direction to animation.

Transitions

In the Thumbnail Pane, select the slide where you want to apply or change a transition.

On the Transitions tab, find the effect that you want in the Transition gallery.

Select Effect Options to specify how the transition occurs.

If you want all slides in the presentation to transition the same way, select Apply To All .

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How to Use Slide Transitions in Microsoft PowerPoint

Slide transitions in PowerPoint presentations allow smooth animation effects when moving from one slide to the next. Using appropriate transitions enhances the flow of your presentation and keeps your audience engaged.

This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to effectively apply slide transitions in PowerPoint.

Introduction

Slide transitions refer to the animation-like effects used when switching between slides during a PowerPoint presentation. These transitions allow your presentation to feel more dynamic and help the audience follow along by connecting each slide.

Some common types of slide transitions in PowerPoint include:

• Fade – The current slide fades out as the next slide fades in
• Push – The next slide pushes the current slide out of view
• Wipe – A line passes across the screen to transition between slides
• Split – Slides split apart to reveal the next slide behind them

The key benefits of using slide transitions in PowerPoint include:

• Smooth flow between slides
• Maintain audience attention
• Enhance presentation visual appeal
• Emphasize key points

When used properly, transitions can greatly improve your PowerPoint. However, too many flashy transitions can feel distracting. The key is finding the right balance.

Step 1: Select a Slide and Open the Transitions Tab

To start adding a transition, first select the slide you want to apply it to. Do this by clicking on the slide’s thumbnail in the sidebar.

Next, navigate to the “Transitions” tab at the top of PowerPoint. This tab contains all transition effects and options.

Transitions tab in PowerPoint

Step 2: Choose a Transition Effect

In the “Transition to This Slide” section, click the drop-down menu to open the full selection of transition options.

Browse through the different effects, either by category or in list form, to choose one. Click on a transition to preview it on the selected slide.

Consider the overall tone of your presentation when selecting transitions. Subtle, professional transitions typically work best for business presentations. Flashier transitions may suit more casual topics.

Choosing a PowerPoint transition

Step 3: Adjust Transition Effect Options

Some transitions include effect options to customize the direction, duration, or other qualities.

If available, click the “Effect Options” button to tweak the transition’s appearance. For example, some transitions allow you to choose what direction it comes from.

Effect options are great for matching transitions to the slide content or adding your own creative flair.

Step 4: Set Transition Timing and Triggers

The “Timing” section controls when the selected transition activates. This includes options like:

• On Mouse Click – Only occurs when manually clicking
• After – Specifies a delay before auto-advancing slides
• With Previous – Starts when last transition finishes

Check the boxes to enable or disable these settings based on your preferences.

You can also choose transition speed, sound effects, when they advance, and more. Using the timing tools allows smooth, automated slide changes.

Step 5: Apply Transitions to All Slides

Once you have a transition setup that you like, save time by applying it to every slide.

In the “Timing” section, click the “Apply to All” button. This instantly adds the selected transition to your entire PowerPoint presentation.

Rapidly giving a consistent transition to all slides creates a clean, professional look. You can still go back and customize certain slides later if needed.

Tips for Using PowerPoint Transitions

Follow these tips when adding transitions for best results:

• Use consistent transitions – Don’t jump randomly between transition types. Pick 1-3 favorites to reuse.
• Add motion paths – Customize movement using effect options for more dynamic slides.
• Be subtle – Avoid excessive sounds, durations, or distracting transitions.
• Match themes – Consider transition styles suiting your overall theme and content.
• Time properly – Use transition delay and speed settings for the right pace.

Applying smooth slide transitions enhances PowerPoint presentations by connecting each slide for audiences. The right transitions improve flow, emphasize ideas, and boost engagement.

Carefully choose transitions fitting your presentation and apply timing for automatic or prompted advances. With the “Apply to All” button, rapidly add consistent transitions to all slides for a polished look.

Following the best practices covered in this guide will take your PowerPoint slides to the next level. Transitioning between ideas doesn’t need to feel abrupt – use these tools to seamlessly lead viewers through your key messages and content.

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PowerPoint 2013  - Applying Transitions

Powerpoint 2013  -, applying transitions, powerpoint 2013 applying transitions.

PowerPoint 2013: Applying Transitions

Lesson 10: applying transitions.

/en/powerpoint2013/applying-themes/content/

Introduction

If you've ever seen a PowerPoint presentation that had special effects between each slide, you've seen slide transitions . A transition can be as simple as fading to the next slide or as flashy as an eye-catching effect. PowerPoint makes it easy to apply transitions to some or all of your slides, giving your presentation a polished, professional look

Optional: Download our practice presentation .

About transitions

There are three categories of unique transitions to choose from, all of which can be found on the Transitions tab:

To apply a transition:

• Click the Transitions tab, then locate the Transition to This Slide group. By default, None is applied to each slide.

You can use the Apply To All command in the Timing group to apply the same transition to all slides in your presentation. Keep in mind that this will modify any other transitions you've applied.

Try applying a few different types of transitions to various slides in your presentation. You may find that some transitions work better than others, depending on the content of your slides.

To preview a transition:

You can preview the transition for a selected slide at any time using either of these two methods:

Modifying transitions

To modify the transition effect:.

You can quickly customize the look of a transition by changing its direction .

• Select the slide with the transition you want to modify.

• The transition will be modified , and a preview of the transition will appear.

Some transitions do not allow you to modify the direction.

To modify the transition duration:

To add sound:

• Click the Sound drop-down menu in the Timing group.

Sounds are best used in moderation. Applying a sound between every slide could become overwhelming or even annoying to an audience when presenting your slide show.

To remove a transition:

• Select the slide with the transition you want to remove.

To remove transitions from all slides , apply the None transition to a slide, then click the Apply to All command.

Advancing slides

Normally, in Slide Show view you would advance to the next slide by clicking your mouse or by pressing the spacebar or arrow keys on your keyboard. The Advance Slides settings in the Timing group allows the presentation to advance on its own and display each slide for a specific amount of time. This feature is especially useful for unattended presentations , such as those at a trade show booth.

To advance slides automatically:

• Select the slide you want to modify.
• Locate the Timing group on the Transitions tab. Under Advance Slide , uncheck the box next to On Mouse Click .

• Select another slide and repeat the process until all the slides have the desired timing. You can also click the Apply to All command to apply the same timing to all slides.

If you need to advance to the next slide before an automatic transition, you can always click the mouse or press the spacebar to advance the slides as normal.

• Open an existing PowerPoint presentation . If you want, you can use our practice presentation .
• Select a slide, and apply a transition .
• Change the transition duration .
• Add a sound effect to the transition.
• Apply a dynamic slide transition. If you are using the example, apply a dynamic transition to slide 5.
• Remove the transitions from all slides.

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Advanced PowerPoint Transitions – Slides

Jun 23, 2018 | Articles , DataPoint Real-time Screens

PowerPoint comes with some basic transitions to provide some extra interest and movement as you move from one slide to the next slide in your presentation. But the standard PowerPoint transition effects are overused because everyone has the same transitions. So viewers are really tired of the usual fly in from right, or fade in transition effects because they see them in every presentation. The normal, out-of-the-box PowerPoint transitions between slides have become boring and everyday. To combat this “transition fatigue” problem, we have created a free PowerPoint template with 50 slides containing a variety of advanced PowerPoint transitions you can download.

These advanced PowerPoint transitions are basically professionally designed PowerPoint slides with shapes and animations that you can use to get more powerful, playful transitions. These slides feature bold colors, unusual shapes and large sweeping movements that are rare in regular presentations.

View the video below to see some samples of how the advanced PowerPoint transition slides look.

You often see this type of animation at major television stations. The TV station will show 12 secs of a soap, then a 20 seconds promotion for a talk show, and finally a trailer of a movie. In between they use quick animations to separate the items. This is exactly what we want to achieve with these advanced PowerPoint transition slides.

These slides add a professional touch to your presentations to help you stand out from your competition and to avoid “Death by PowerPoint.” You can insert your chosen animation slides in any of your presentations and reuse the slides as many times as you want in the presentations.

Download our Advanced PowerPoint Transitions Now

Download our free presentation with 50 advanced PowerPoint transitions in various schemes and colors. Looking for additional PowerPoint design help or have suggestions for new templates you would like to see? Contact us and we would be happy to help.

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39 Comments

Those proposed animations are not Section 508 compliant and when presenting to an audience of government employees, the presentation must meet federal guidelines for accessibility. Flashing and twirling colors will wreck havoc upon those who have disabilities.

Dear Zhamie, thanks for pointing that out. We just offer these animations and you as a potential user must make sure that the animations and slides match the local regulations or recommendations of your country or state. Don’t use them when they do not comply or 100% match the regulations. Thanks for this note!

I want transitions that I can apply to my slides, not slides that have nothing to do with my content!!!

Sorry but these can only be placed in between 2 slides (as additional slides). It will be hard to add extra transitions next to the standard ones that Microsoft supplies.

nothing to my email

Did you check your spam folder?

Wait, for this template you have to subscribe to our newsletter, but you are not getting an email immediately. After sending your email address, the download should start automatically. Did it?

I have downloaded but how to add these transition effects to my office. Kindly help

This can be done by going to your own PowerPoint and clicking the “Insert” tab. Then click “Reuse Slides” on the left and click “Choose Slides” on the PowerPoint Template by PresentationPoint. Choose the slide and animation you want to use and click “Insert Slide”.

Do you know if PowerPoint has a slide transition like Pop-A-Wheelie? It would look like the slide did just that and would bring us into the next slide?

Hi Russ, sorry no idea or experience with this. Is something very specific… Hope you can find what you need.

I am really grateful for this one and I really love those circular transitions within the list. I can’t wait to present it to my classmates! Thank you, @PresentationPoint :*

Good to see some different transitions in between slides. Glad you like it!

download did not start even after entering email.

Let me send it to you!

Thanks @Admin

I did’t receive any mail

No problem. I see you were added to the list. I will send you a PM.

These are great and will make a huge impact on my work this year. Thanks!

Thanks for these nice words!

I submitted the mail but it didn’t download

Sending in PM!

If you are having trouble downloading, please click on our support button and send our support team a support ticket.

Downloading didn’t start even after subscribing!!!

See your mail!

sorry but i don’t get anything. what’s problems?

No sure why the automation is not working. But check you mailbox now for a PM.

Awesome bruh!.I am extremely suprised with this ppt.Pls make more awesome slides like this

Great to read Delvin!

I input my info and clicked download but nothing was in my email except a link to confirm a subscription???

Kaila, please confirm that subscription request. That is the double opt in method that we have to use before sending messages. After your confirmation, you will get the ‘advanced PowerPoint transitions’ in your mailbox automatically.

Hi am a new one to this i tried it was nice dear admin , thanks !!

Great to read!

my download is not starting even after subscribing?

It will not download automatically after subscribing. You will get an double-opt-in email to confirm. After confirming, you get a second email with the download link. Let me know when somehow/maybe your mail is seen as spam.

Are there any suggestions of how to smoothly transition from my image to one your transitions?

Well I have an idea. You could fill the shapes that we use in the transition, and fill it with parts of your image (shape fill with picture). So the effect is that you see your image in full, and then the other shapes are moving and breaking your picture apart. See what I mean?

I’ve tried one transition and it works well. Thank you. A couple of things I’ve found: * the next slide is best without its own transition, and * I created a pastel slide template to add a background to the transition I tried. Better than on a white background. I appreciate your help. I’m a retired IT professional who teaches other retired people for free so I’m not a business opportunity.

Thanks John for your comments and suggestions. Appreciated!

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Speech transitions: words and phrases to connect your ideas

June 28, 2018 - Gini Beqiri

When delivering presentations it’s important for your words and ideas to flow so your audience can understand how everything links together and why it’s all relevant.

This can be done using speech transitions because these act as signposts to the audience – signalling the relationship between points and ideas. This article explores how to use speech transitions in presentations.

What are speech transitions?

Speech transitions are words and phrases that allow you to smoothly move from one point to another so that your speech flows and your presentation is unified.

This makes it easier for the audience to understand your argument and without transitions the  audience may be confused  as to how one point relates to another and they may think you’re randomly jumping between points.

Types of transitions

Transitions can be one word, a phrase or a full sentence – there are many different types, here are a few:

Introduction

Introduce your topic:

• We will be looking at/identifying/investigating the effects of…
• Today I will be discussing…

Presentation outline

Inform the audience of the structure of your presentation:

• There are three key points I’ll be discussing…
• I want to begin by…, and then I’ll move on to…
• We’ll be covering… from two points of view…
• This presentation is divided into four parts…

Move from the introduction to the first point

Signify to the audience that you will now begin discussing the first main point:

• Now that you’re aware of the overview, let’s begin with…
• First, let’s begin with…
• I will first cover…
• My first point covers…
• To get started, let’s look at…

Shift between similar points

Move from one point to a similar one:

• In the same way…
• Likewise…
• Equally…
• This is similar to…
• Similarly…

Shift between disagreeing points

You may have to introduce conflicting ideas – bridging words and phrases are especially good for this:

• Conversely…
• Despite this…
• However…
• On the contrary…
• Now let’s consider…
• Even so…
• Nonetheless…
• We can’t ignore…
• On the other hand…

Transition to a significant issue

• Fundamentally…
• A major issue is…
• The crux of the matter…
• A significant concern is…

Referring to previous points

You may have to refer to something that you’ve already spoken about because, for example, there may have been a break or a fire alarm etc:

• Let’s return to…
• We briefly spoke about X earlier; let’s look at it in more depth now…
• Let’s revisit…
• Let’s go back to…
• Do you recall when I mentioned…

This can be also be useful to introduce a new point because adults learn better when new information builds on previously learned information.

Introducing an aside note

You may want to introduce a digression:

• I’d just like to mention…
• That reminds me…
• Incidentally…

Physical movement

You can  move your body  and your standing location when you transition to another point. The audience find it easier to follow your presentation and movement will increase their interest.

A common technique for incorporating movement into your presentation is to:

• Start your introduction by standing in the centre of the stage.
• For your first point you stand on the left side of the stage.
• You discuss your second point from the centre again.
• You stand on the right side of the stage for your third point.
• The conclusion occurs in the centre.

Emphasising importance

You need to ensure that the audience get the message by informing them why something is important:

• More importantly…
• This is essential…
• Primarily…
• Mainly…

Internal summaries

Internal summarising consists of summarising before moving on to the next point. You must inform the audience:

• What part of the presentation you covered – “In the first part of this speech we’ve covered…”
• What the key points were – “Precisely how…”
• How this links in with the overall presentation – “So that’s the context…”
• What you’re moving on to – “Now I’d like to move on to the second part of presentation which looks at…”

Cause and effect

You will have to transition to show relationships between factors:

• Therefore…
• Thus…
• Consequently…
• As a result…
• This is significant because…
• Hence…

Elaboration

• Also…
• Besides…
• What’s more…
• In addition/additionally…
• Moreover…
• Furthermore…

Point-by-point or steps of a process

• First/firstly/The first one is…
• Second/Secondly/The second one is…
• Third/Thirdly/The third one is…
• Last/Lastly/Finally/The fourth one is…

Introduce an example

• This is demonstrated by…
• For instance…
• Take the case of…
• For example…
• You may be asking whether this happens in X? The answer is yes…
• To show/illustrate/highlight this…
• Let me illustrate this by…

Transition to a demonstration

• Now that we’ve covered the theory, let’s practically apply it…
• I’ll conduct an experiment to show you this in action…
• Let me demonstrate this…
• I’ll now show you this…

Introducing a quotation

• X was a supporter of this thinking because he said…
• There is a lot of support for this, for example, X said…

Transition to another speaker

In a  group presentation  you must transition to other speakers:

• Briefly recap on what you covered in your section: “So that was a brief introduction on what health anxiety is and how it can affect somebody”
• Introduce the next speaker in the team and explain what they will discuss: “Now Gayle will talk about the prevalence of health anxiety.”
• Then end by looking at the next speaker, gesturing towards them and saying their name: “Gayle”.
• The next speaker should acknowledge this with a quick: “Thank you Simon.”

From these examples, you can see how the different sections of the presentations link which makes it easier for the audience to follow and remain engaged.

You can  tell personal stories  or share the experiences of others to introduce a point. Anecdotes are especially valuable for your introduction and between different sections of the presentation because they engage the audience. Ensure that you plan the stories thoroughly beforehand and that they are not too long.

Using questions

You can transition through your speech by asking questions and these questions also have the benefit of engaging your audience more. There are three different types of questions:

Direct questions require an answer: “What is the capital of Italy?” These are mentally stimulating for the audience.

Rhetorical questions  do not require answers, they are often used to emphasises an idea or point: “Is the Pope catholic?

Loaded questions contain an unjustified assumption made to prompt the audience into providing a particular answer which you can then correct to support your point: You may ask “Why does your wonderful company have such a low incidence of mental health problems?”.

The audience will generally answer that they’re happy. After receiving the answers you could then say “Actually it’s because people are still unwilling and too embarrassed to seek help for mental health issues at work etc.”

Transition to a visual aid

If you are going to introduce a visual aid you must prepare the audience with what they’re going to see, for example, you might be leading into a diagram that supports your statement. Also, before you  show the visual aid , explain why you’re going to show it, for example, “This graph is a significant piece of evidence supporting X”.

When the graphic is on display get the audience to focus on it:

• The table indicates…
• As you can see…
• I’d like to direct your attention to…

Explain what the visual is showing:

• You can see that there has been a reduction in…
• The diagram is comparing the…

Using a visual aid to transition

Visual aids can also be used as transitions and they have the benefit of being stimulating and breaking-up vocal transitions.

You might have a slide with just a picture on it to signify to the audience that you’re moving on to a new point – ensure that this image is relevant to the point. Many speakers like to use cartoons for this purpose but ensure its suitable for your audience.

Always summarise your key points first in the conclusion:

• Let’s recap on what we’ve spoken about today…
• Let me briefly summarise the main points…

And then conclude:

If you have a shorter speech you may choose to  end your presentation  with one statement:

• In short…
• To sum up…
• In a nutshell…
• To summarise…
• In conclusion…

However, using statements such as “To conclude” may cause the audience to stop listening. It’s better to say:

• I’d like to leave you with this…
• What you should take away from this is…
• Finally, I want to say…

Call to action

Requesting the audience to do something at the end of the presentation:

• You may be thinking how can I help in this matter? Well…
• My aim is to encourage you to go further and…
• What I’m requesting of you is…

Common mistakes

When transitions are used poorly you can annoy and confuse the audience. Avoid:

• Using transitions that are too short – transitions are a key part of ensuring the audience understands your presentation so spend sufficient time linking to your next idea.
• Too many tangents – any digressions should still be relevant to the topic and help the audience with their understanding, otherwise cut them out.
• Incompatible transitions – for example, if you’re about to introduce an example that supports your statement you wouldn’t introduce this by saying “but”. Use transitions that signify the relationship between points.
• Over-using the same transition because this is boring for the audience to hear repeatedly. Ensure that there is variety with your transitions, consider including visual transitions.
• Miscounting your transitions – for example, don’t say “first point”, “second point”, “next point” – refer to your points consistently.

Speech transitions are useful for unifying and connecting your presentation. The audience are more likely to remain engaged since they’ll be able to follow your points. But remember that it’s important to practice your transitions beforehand and not just the content of your arguments because you risk looking unprofessional and confusing the audience if the presentation does not flow smoothly.

10 Types of PowerPoint Slides for Convincing Presentations!

When it comes to creating presentations, PowerPoint is indispensable. Obviously, the most important part of any presentation are PowerPoint slides with the right content to communicate your message.

We’ll show you 10 types of PowerPoint slides that you can use in your presentation. We’ll also explain the benefits of each slide type and the added value they can bring to your presentation.

PowerPoint slides: Different slide types for your presentation

A presentation lives and dies by its PowerPoint slides and content. Have you ever noticed how many diverse types of PowerPoint slides there are? Text and picture slides usually have different layouts. And this is just the beginning – there are so many more slide types and layouts.

In the following breakdown, we’ll show you what PowerPoint slides are out there and how to use them to create a professional presentation!

10 types of PowerPoint slides

1.    the text slide.

You’re sure to have at least one text slide in very presentation. Text belongs in your presentation . This type of slide is unavoidable if you want to simply convey information .

Be sure to use text in measured doses ; no one wants to read large blocks of text anymore. Less is definitely more . As soon as you display your slide, your audience will begin to read the text to themselves. This limits their capacity to focus on your presentation.

Use the 5×5 rule or reduce your text to one key message per slide . Click here to find out how the 5×5 rule works and how you can further reduce text .

You can also play with the design of text slides!

2.  The picture slide

You’re probably no stranger to PowerPoint slides with picture elements. This slide type is the perfect way to underscore your statements and visually enhance your presentation – true to the motto, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Moreover, the right use of images will inspire emotions in your audience and grab their attention .

But just like text, images should be used wisely . Pictures that are meaningless and only used to fill empty slides look unprofessional and out of place. Also make sure to use professional images and avoid stock images as much as possible, as they don’t add any individuality.

Take a look at these articles for more information about images in PowerPoint:

• Insert images quickly with the Scan&Paste app
• Compress pictures
• Flip pictures
• Make images transparent
• Optimize images in presentations
• Highlight pictures with a grid design

3.   Introduction and closing slides

These PowerPoint slides belong in every presentation. Whether it’s a business or university presentation, introduction and closing slides will bookend your presentation perfectly .

With an introduction slide, you pave the way for a strong start to your presentation . With a closing slide, you summarize the main points of your presentation . This guarantees that by the end of your presentation, these points are clear to your audience and will stay fresh in their minds.

Tip: Looking for tips on how to end your presentation on the perfect note ? This post summarizes some effective ways to do just that. We also have helpful tips for kicking off your presentation in this post .

4.    The agenda slide

This PowerPoint slide should be included in every high-quality and professional PowerPoint presentation. The agenda slide provides an audience with a brief outline of the presentation’s content and structure right from the get-go.

It also provides you, the presenter, with a quick reminder of how the presentation will flow and gets you off to a good start.

This article explains how you can create your own PowerPoint table of contents for your agenda slide.

5.    The quote slide

The quote slide is effective and shouldn’t be overlooked. As the name suggests, this slide consists only of a quote, usually placed in the center, without any further expository text or images . Quotes are mostly short-form statements of opinion, either personal or from well-known individuals.

Why should you use this type of PowerPoint slide? How will a quote slide support your presentation?

Quote slides support your content . For example, you can use a quote from a famous person (e.g., successful entrepreneur) to support your data and key messages . The truthfulness of the quote also provides weight to your content and supports the veracity of your key messages.

6.    Chart and diagram slides

Chart and diagram slides are used often in presentations, particularly in presentations for companies within the financial sector.

Chart and diagram slides are similar to picture slides in that they underscore what is being said. Numbers and data can be clearly presented to the audience using a chart and diagram slide, making the content understandable without the need for any additional text.

Charts and diagrams also add visual appeal and variety to your presentation. By using a diagram, you avoid long blocks of text, which are often less interesting for your audience.

7.    The table slide

Similar to chart and diagram slides, table slides visually support your data and facts. They help declutter presentations and clearly convey your messages to your audience .

This type of PowerPoint slide also helps you avoid overly long blocks of text that honestly, your audience won’t read anyway.

8.    The link/hyperlink slide

Do you want to link to an internet page within your presentation? Maybe to a YouTube video that supports your topic or to an internal website with your products? Links can be used in so many ways in a presentation.

This PowerPoint slide type will also be a positive change for your audience. Calling up a link creates a new visual stimulus, which in turn helps you hold your audience’s attention.

Links reinforce your slide content and leave a professional impression on your audience.

Using a link slide can only benefit your presentation. Think about how you can use this PowerPoint slide type effectively for your topic.

9.    The animation slide

How about some moving images? With these PowerPoint slides, you’ll definitely grab your audience’s attention! Animations are visually engaging and offer the audience a welcome change from a presentation’s typically static slides .

The broad range of animation options is something you can really use to your advantage. For example, you can focus your audience’s attention by making text appear with a click of the mouse . This is especially effective with bullet points. When you display all the bullet points simultaneously, your audience will start reading through them, meaning they’ll be paying less attention to you and what you’re saying.

Or try using a unique GIF as an animation. You can find out how to do this here .

Other animation options are animation paths , such as flashing arrows, emphasis effects , color effects, etc. Read more about what you can do with animations here .

The important thing with animations is to stick to your presentation style and use them in moderation. A presentation full of flashing slides or pop-up images can be irritating and look unprofessional. Always use animations carefully and sensibly.

10.    The call-to-action slide

Even though you may not be familiar with this PowerPoint slide, you should really think about using it in a professional presentation. Especially if your presentation goal is to attract new customers or to sell products.

A call to action – what is it exactly? In short, it’s a prompt from a company or presenter to encourage an audience to perform an action . For example, this can be a request on what to do after the presentation (visit an online store to see products, write an email with questions, etc.). You can find more information in this post .

Do you want to make a request or invitation to your audience at the end of the presentation? Then this is the PowerPoint slide for you!

10 Types of PowerPoint slides: So many ways to make your presentation more varied and professional

No doubt you’ve already used some of the 10 types of PowerPoint slides from our breakdown and integrated them perfectly into your presentations.Maybe it’s time to try a novel approach and use a wide variety of PowerPoint slides to suit your topic .

Remember: The PowerPoint slides you choose should be cohesive , especially if you use different slide types.

A variety of slide types will always be a welcome addition to your presentation. So, ask yourself what might be exciting for your audience and incorporate these ideas into your presentation preparation .

Do you have questions about the 10 types of PowerPoint slides in this article or are you looking for PowerPoint help in general? Please feel free to contact us by email at [email protected] . We’d be happy to help you!

Looking to add variety to your slides, but would like to have the work of creating a presentation taken off your hands? No problem. Our team will create a professional presentation for you according to your wishes. Click here to get in touch.

These articles might also interest you:

• 6 modern ideas for your slide layout
• The ideal presentation structure
• Creating a presentation: Tips & tricks
• PowerPoint slide master
• How many slides does a presentation need?
• Viva presentations: Tips & tricks

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