Learn-Along: A little how-to & free PPT template

I've been working furiously on a couple of projects the last couple months, so I hope you have been happy and busy too!

2 good things: I've finished both projects & I can share a template with you today!

The template is a semi-chalkboard theme inspired by Nancy Duarte's free "Tools for Revolutionaries"

Duarte Design's Five Rules for Presentations

...and utilizing some cutout image styles learned from the amazing David Anderson and free hand-drawn elements from the again amazing Tom Kuhlman, both via the invaluable Elearning Heroes Community. I also utilized some free handwriting fonts, which I will link at the end of this post.

I used this design for a training module for some of our customers to introduce our recommended process, so there's a 3-step process diagram, a sectional color scheme & tabbed layout, with a resources link page at the end. I've removed all our proprietary images and content, replacing them with Microsoft clipart, but you'll get the idea as you walk through the template.

The images were edited mostly right in PowerPoint 2010 with the remove background and film grain filters. (See Tom's posts about using these features for more info.) To make the paper cutout (or sticker) effect, I mostly followed David's tutorial on Elearning Heroes. (Have I mentioned how helpful those guys are?)

However, since I am HORRIBLE at drawing with my mouse/trackball, I used the "Freeform" drawing tool and clicked away rather than "scribbling." In the following screen video (created using Snagit by Techsmith), I follow the steps for creating the paper cutout with the Freeform tool, and the image editing to create the film grain effect. (sorry there's no audio, my mic stinks)