PowerPoint Triggers: Focus on the Essence of Your Presentation

Triggers are a great tool to streamline content-heavy slides. With a simple mouse click, you can show or hide speech bubbles or other interesting animations containing additional information. Your content can be consolidated to the essentials, and further information can be displayed in a varied way. The slides have a better flow, making it easier for the audience to follow along.

How to use triggers in your presentation:

• First, create a visually appealing table and make sure to list only the most important content.
• Draw the shape that will be used as a trigger and place it where you need it. Clicking on the shape will display the additional information.
• Add your information to a form, such as a speech bubble.

Create the trigger animation:

• Select a bubble (or any shape of your choosing) and choose an entrance animation, such as Fade, under the Animations
• The animation will appear in the presentation when you click on the corresponding field. For this to work, the animation must be triggered. Under Animations in the Advanced Animation group, select Trigger (lightning icon). Click On Click of and then select your shape

If you want to hide the additional information again, you can also turn the button into an on/off switch:

• Under Animations, select the previously created trigger in the Animation
• Click on the arrow in the bottom-right corner (Show Additional Effect Options) to open the dialog window.
• In the Effect tab, go to After animation and select Hide on Next Mouse Click. Now the on/off switch is set!