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Do you use "fancy" transitions in Keynote?

amin

amin

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 17, 2003
977
9
Boston, MA
I recently gave a Keynote presentation where I clearly went a little overboard using the droplet, cube, etc. My Windows-using audience ooo'd and ah'd each time I pulled out the fancy stuff, but it really seemed to distract from my content. I don't think I'll be using much of those anymore. Back to simple dissolves and the occasional push for me. Anyone have a similar experience?
 
amin said:
I recently gave a Keynote presentation where I clearly went a little overboard using the droplet, cube, etc. My Windows-using audience ooo'd and ah'd each time I pulled out the fancy stuff, but it really seemed to distract from my content. I don't think I'll be using much of those anymore. Back to simple dissolves and the occasional push for me. Anyone have a similar experience?
Click to expand...

Cool transitions aren't really a problem because you usually pause when it happens (so nothing to be distracted from.) The problem with people getting distracted is when you have crap moving during a slide.

I would do a cool transition maybe the first two slides which are usually fluff and the audience can 'ooo' and 'aah' all they want. Then when you get to business, use simple ones. After all, things that 'wow' you, don't really have the same effect the next 15 times anyway.
 
I've stopped using the cube transition in Keynote entirely because you can do it in PowerPoint now. :)

IMO, fancy visual effects -- any visual effects, really -- should be used only where they're appropriate and help to make your point. This is the beef I've got with most presentations. People make stuff fly around the screen just because they can. It distracts from the point, instead of helping to make it. It's kind of like when PageMaker came out and everybody could throw dozens of fonts into a newsletter, so they did. More isn't better.

If I use the droplet transition, I do it only after the title side and before the last slide. I use simple dissolves for most of the transitions with maybe a flip or page flip at points where I want to show that I'm moving onto to something else. I almost never fly text unless it makes a particular point. Moving text is really hard on the eyes. Makes me feel kind of nauseous!
 
"Less is more" really does apply to a well done presentation whether you're using Keynote or PPT. Limiting the "busy-ness" and unnecessary movement can enhance the beauty of Keynote's strengths - professional looking, anti-aliased fonts and interesting themes, where appropriate. You'll always want to contextualize your audience, but like for a group of educators, I will use the black background with white, bold lettering and a minimum of effects and movement which detract from the message.
 
Regardless of which transition you use, I do like to keep to one rule:

Only one transition per presentation.

People get dizzy when each slide comes in with a different transition. On the other hand, even with something like the cube transition, if it's consistent, people will "get used to it" and it will be less distracting.
 
xsedrinam said:
"Less is more" really does apply to a well done presentation whether you're using Keynote or PPT. Limiting the "busy-ness" and unnecessary movement can enhance the beauty of Keynote's strengths - professional looking, anti-aliased fonts and interesting themes, where appropriate. You'll always want to contextualize your audience, but like for a group of educators, I will use the black background with white, bold lettering and a minimum of effects and movement which detract from the message.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with this. I stick with simple themes one or two matched colors (usually bright on dark for projector presentations), a single font throughout, a single theme for graphics, a minimum of schtick, and use only one transition type per presentation, except in really rare cases.
 
I agree with some comments made by the previous posters. The transition effects should only complement your presentation (not overpower it). Once you start putting on too much extravagant transition effects, your audience will be distracted and you won't get what you are looking for from the presentation: attention and engagement from your audience. In addition to excessive transition, wordy messages on the slides are not effective as well because your audience will basically read your slides instead of listening to you.
 
I agree with most of the posters on here that the transitions should be simple and consistent throughout the presentation.

I just wanted to add, however, that at the end of one group presentation in an Organizational Business class I had back in college about Boeing or Lockheed (or whoever makes the planes) we had the Blue Angels flying all over the background in different, looping formations during our question and answer session, just to kind of lighten the mood. We were all in suits and it was just a fun way to differentiate our group from the next. The class itself was very laid back for a business class, so it worked very well! :)
 
I agree with the less is more line of thinking, with one exception. I do on occasion create a stand-alone presentation set to music or something of that nature. Movement is essential to keep people's attention on the screen. But even then I try to keep the transitions consistant and only throw in a limited number of "oohs" and "ahhhs".
 
For transitions in most case you need ot be careful about not overdoing them...

1] A fancy transition for leading into the presentation
2] maybe a fancy one between major sections of the presentation
3] going between slides in a section, possible rotate upward
4] going to a continuation slide, maybe a rotate left
5] maybe a fanc transition at the end.

As an alternative, between slides rotate left (like flipping a page in a book) and continuation rotate upward - like scrollling down on a page.

Anything more than that would be too distracting for most people and even then I'm not sure if the above isn't too much.
 
Show and tell

My rule - do one thing (transition or whatever) to show how spiffy Keynote is compared to tedious old PP, when the audience goes "oooh" and "aaah" tell them it's not PP, then get on with the point of the talk (which, unless you're an Apple salesperson, shouldn't be to sell Keynote).
 
Lots of good advice here, and especially the addition of not using too many words on the slides. I've made this mistake myself. Your audience will be reading instead of listening! The rule of thumb I've developed for my own presentations is to rarely put words on the screen that you won't be reading in your narration the moment they appear on screen. This serves to underline what you are saying instead of distracting from it.

Another presentation lesson I learned back in the old days of slide transparencies is to avoid leaving any image on the screen for more than 30 seconds. Keep up the pace and don't let your audience become mesmerized.
 
for backgrounds, i use the same as in Steve's keynotes, as i think it provides minimal distraction on a pleasant background. as for transitions, i like the disolve one the best, as it is nice and simple, but things like he droplet and stuff i use if i want to wow someone....keynoe does i without looking tacky.

i also put quicktime movies in there from time to time, to visually demonstrate, but for text i just use simple dissolves.

tastic
 
You should watch Steve Job's keynotes. I think he really knows how to present well. He only uses effects when they help the presentation and most important - he only has keywords on it, and not the entire text that he is saying. I think most people just don't know how to present well, and then they are given Powerpoint (the crappiest product MS has ever released) and annoy their audience with bad color choices, bad transition choices and the worst font rendering of the industry.
 
Of course, you do your best to make the most business like presentation and your professor is computer illiterate and penaltizes you because your presentation just didn't have enough stuff on it. Whereas the put a entire novel on one slide people who have all the text spin into it (which takes 30 seconds to do), gets a good grade.
 
True story about font rendering in PowerPoint. Don't know if it's as bad on the Mac as it is on the PC -- but ugh! I've seen some otherwise decent PP presentations undermined by those gross-out jagged fonts.

I'm making a presentation later today, one of several that'll be part of a university extension course. The organizers of the event tried to get me to send them the presentation in PP so they could pre-load it onto the laptop they'll have connected to the projector. I had to tell them, very nicely of course, no bugging way!
 
What I like about Keynote is how generally slick the transitions are. They're smooth, they have acceleration curves, they're well rendered and anti-aliased.

I have used the cube transition, and occasionally the dissolve or slide. I like to be understated... rather than showing off "CHECK OUT THE COOL TRANSITIONS!!! K000l d00d" I put in a few nice understated ones. I think people will notice. It's subtle, but it's there. There's just something "extra nice" about that presentation.

Yes, and I reiterate the point that has been made: don't read your slides.

Don't read your slides!

I did a mock thesis defense and my prof had lots of things to say about how I could improve, but the one thing he pointed out right away, and loved, was that I didn't just re-read what was already there. Your audience already knows how to read, don't insult them by making them do it twice.
 
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