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Do you use placeholders in your PowerPoint files? Or, do you start with a blank slide and add text boxes to hold your content?

Many people are never trained why they are there or why they should use the text holders. Some of this comes from the earlier days of PowerPoint when there was a limit on how many placeholders could be on a slide. Now that you can create your own placeholders (and have been able to for awhile), using placeholders is a habit you should get into. Not using the placeholders to hold your text leads to problems when you want to change the look and feel of a presentation down the line. (There are other kinds of placeholders as well. We’ll talk about them another day.)

What’s a placeholder?

When you first bring up PowerPoint, you are shown a blank slide with two boxes. These boxes have dotted outlines. These boxes are placeholders. Using them allows you to easily format your content the way you want it to look. Type your text into these boxes and they automatically pick up the formatting you have used in your slide masters, layouts, and presentation themes.

Text placeholders contain slide titles, presentation titles and sub-titles, and slide text. Because we used to be limited on what kinds of placeholders were available, some PowerPoint trainers used to recommend you not use them. Now that PowerPoint allows as many placeholders as you want to put on a layout, you should always use them.

What’s the advantage of a placeholder?

Placeholders allow you to worry about content separate from design. By putting your content into a placeholder, it shows up in your outline. You can see at a glance what content is on what slide. You can edit it, refine it, and sculpt it as you want to until it is both succinct and clear.

Because placeholders automatically pick up the font, sizing, color, and other formatting from the slide designs, changing the look and feel of the placeholders on all your slides is a matter of changing the look in one place. When you use text boxes instead, you have to hand format each text box every time you change the look of your presentation.

But I already did the text boxes! Now what?

There are few ways that I know of to take the content of text boxes and get it moved to the placeholders. The hard way is to cut the text from each box and paste it into a placeholder. This is a tedious process that can drive you crazy. But there is a better way. I’ve documented it over on the Office 2010 blog for Symbaloo. Check it out.

While you are at it, check out the web mixes we’ve been creating on Office 2010. There are some really great links there. I know I haven’t found them all. Let me know which ones I have missed!

(Disclosure time: Symbaloo is a client of The Social Media Party, my employer. That’s why I am blogging there. It’s a new way to access web content. Try it, you will like it. Nice and graphical and easy to navigate. I am the community leader for the Office 2010 community over there. Hey, it’s getting me back into my community roots: OneNote and PowerPoint is where I started, after all.)

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The following is a guest post from Bill Dilworth. Bill is a former PowerPoint MVP, a VERY frequent traveler, and a great guy all the way around. In fact, Bill travels enough to be in the top class for Frequent Flyer miles for two major airlines. I hope you find his tips as useful as I did.

From Bill: This is just some stuff I picked up along the way. Don’t be offended by any of my generalizations, they are my observations and, as such, mine – not yours.

UPDATE: Bill has updated his note. I have updated the post to show the new content. Enjoy!

Booking & general —-

1. Listen when someone with twice your travel time speaks – its easier than repeating their mistakes
2. Never book a connection of less than an hour
3. Avoid New York airspace if your travel plans permit
4. Check the forecasts – bookmark a weather service on your PDA
5. Bookmark the airline’s flight status pages, too
6. Learn what hubs are your kryptonite
7. Try to find a multi-charger to replace the 6 you carry
8. Always keep your bag half packed
9. A bag keeps the dirty clothes separate; a few dryer sheets keep them from stinking up the suitcase
10. Always put the confirmation number in your PDA
11. If you book a leg on more than one airline, don’t expect your checked bag to arrive
12. If what’s in your checked bag is mission critical, consider FedEx
13. Always have emergency funds available
14. Always have your camera handy

Airports —-

1. 1 hour early is better than 1 minute late
2. Never get in line behind a families, kids, or orthodox clergy
3. Check to make sure your freq. flyer number was used
4. If you have to check a bag (I do) make it so you can see it on the wrong baggage claim.
5. Be nice to ticket agents, TSA agents, and gate agents – they can help or hurt your plans.
6. Small airports do a better job on average than the medium ones or hubs – but don’t count on it.
7. Give up your seat on the shuttles, it makes people smile
8. Always give up your place to a traveling military person
9. Frequent flyer lines often take longer than the regular ones
10. A wireless aircard is easier than bongo roulette
11. Keep an eye out for free outlets
12. Carry a 3-way power cube for when you do find an outlet*
13. Tunes at the gate are great, until you miss an announcement
14. Counting the McD’s on Final” is a difficult game to explain to non-travelers
15. People-watching by destination is a great time killer at hubs
16. You can NEVER be too OCD about where your Blackberry is.
17. No place makes a Philly CheeseSteak like Philly.
18. I don’t think Philly is best at anything else
19. Double check the gate assignment before running for the connection

Flights —-

1. Learn to sleep on planes – really
2. Travel with a bag that can fit under the seat
3. Ask if the flight is full before placing the bag in the overhead
4. Always have a book to read, even if you can sleep on a plane
5. Zunes are great travel tools – even if their user interface sucks
6. Laptops cannot be opened if the person in front of you reclines
7. Use only a few key Freq Flyer cards; don’t try to join them all
8. Flight attendants get upset if you say the safety routine along with them
9. Pittsburgh takes the longest to get bags to the belt, by a lot
10. Sleeping with earphones is a great way to avoid talking to annoying people
11. Kids should be required to sit in rows 25 and higher
12. There is no way to avoid plane hair

Rental Cars —-

1. Rent a car from in the terminal, especially if you might be running late on return.
2. Join all the rental clubs – even if it is just for the faster counter service
3. Read what they are charging you for, it often isn’t what you agreed to.
4. Carry a flashlight to check over the rental car before signing for it.
5. If you rent frequently, carry a GPS with you
6. Save the GPS location of the rental car lot before you leave
7. Adjust all the mirrors before you try to drive
8. You may want to check the car’s speedometer against the GPS’s to avoid a ticket
9. Pull over and take the picture, you will regret it when you don’t
10. Avoid deer and carry a hard copy of your insurance forms
11. Leave yourself time to find a station and fill the tank
12. Sirrus radio rocks – if not available, a patch to your Zune can, too.
13. GPS’s are the most frequently stolen item out of checked bags
14. Always keep the gas reciept

Hotels —

1. Check your hotel room before unpacking anything – it makes it easier if you need to change it.
2. With your packed bags holding the door open, do a final check before leaving a hotel room*
3. Carry sleeping pills – when you need them, the places that sell them are closed.
4. Instant oatmeal is a great hold-me-over when checking in after room service is closed.
5. Don’t use hotel glassware
6. Be nice to the hotel clerks, they can be a great source for local information
7. Don’t count on miniature shampoo or soap being in the rooms
8. The top hotels always charge for internet – you are better off at the 3 or 4 star ones
9. Ask for what room you want, they may be able to give it to you
10. There are almost never enough outlets
11. Never rely on the hotel’s wake-up call

* Tips Bill learned from a fellow travelers
Thanks for the great tips, Bill. They are greatly appreciated!

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Just a quick post to say how much I love Techsmith’s Snagit – especially when it saves me from other software problems.

I just had yet another Facebook (FB) crash. I type too fast for FB to keep up in comments and notes. When this happens, the screen dims and I know that the error message isn’t far behind.

Tonight, it happened while I was putting in a comment on a friend’s note containing travel hints. (Which, by the way, I will be adding as a guest post when this post is done.)

Instead of panicking, I thought “Snagit”! My first attempt was a text grab, but the text was too faded. The second attempt was an image grab – that worked. When my browser re-opened, I just set the two windows side by side and re-typed the text. The image I grabbed was:

If I had been thinking, I would have dropped it into OneNote to grab the actual text. It just takes a few moments to drop the image into OneNote, copy the text from the image, paste it on the note page, edit it, and copy paste it to the note after the browser comes back. OneNote did a halfway decent job of recognizing the text, as you can see here:

Has SnagIt saved the day for you? How? Let me know!

(In the interest of full disclosure: TechSmith takes good care of those who help them beta test and discuss thier products. In my case, that good care includes a few great tchotchkes through the year and a paid account on Screencast.com. I regularly tell Betsy Weber that I would write about and talk about the products even without the extras and that they rock. If you think so, you should tell them too!)

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My mother-in-law, Donna Jacobs, is known for her baking. She is the reason that @mindlessfluff cooks – she taught him and encouraged him. When we come home for visits, the place is full of good smells and better foods. That’s always the case. We are here early this year, but the smells have already started. Why? Because Saturday December 12, 2009 is the annual Cookie Walk for the Ames Farmer’s Market.

On a regular week, you can find Donna’s baked goods at the only year-round farmer’s market in Iowa. Good things like cookies, bars, pecan mini-pies, homemade bread (including tomato bread – yum), and so much more. Everything is made from scratch per her personal recipes. It’s all homemade and all amazingly great. If you have ever had her brownies or rolls, you know what I am talking about.

The market is located in the Old Depot (526 Main Street) in Ames IA. Saturday, @mindlessfluff and I stopped by to see Donna at the market. Unlike the markets we are used to in California, this market is indoors. Each seller has table or shelf space.

Like the markets we are used to, the food sold is all natural and chemical free. Besides the baked goods Donna sells, the market also sells meats, wine, coffee, biscotti, fresh veggies, take-and-bake items, and craft items. Everything is locally made by the members of the market.

This time of year, not only is Donna stocking her table at the market with her regular stuff, but she is also baking cookies. Dozens and dozens of cookies. She has already made almost 60 dozen cookies of varying kinds for the day, and has at least that many more she wants to make. These cookies are both a labor of love and a way to survive. Why? Because the income from the cookie walk goes to support the market.

At the cookie walk, you pay $15 for a clamshell container. You then walk around the market picking up cookies and putting them in your container. Average people get 3 to 4 dozen in each container. The record appears to be 6 dozen.

If you are in the Ames or Des Moines area, stop by the Ames Farmer’s Market.  It’s worth the trip. The food is good, the prices are nice, and I bet you will find the people there absolutely amazing!

I took advantage of our visit and took some pictures of the winter veggies which you can see in the video below. The video also shows shots of Donna’s cookies and other baked goods. Enjoy!

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If you follow me on any of networks, you know that @mindlessfluff and I spent a good part of the last week driving from Emeryville CA to Slater IA. He drove, I rode. The plan was that I would work as we went along. At the same time, I would tweet and blog about the trip. Great plan, huh? Too bad it don’t work out that way…

There is one big reason that I didn’t tweet as frequently as I planned, let alone blog the trip: Sprint’s lack of mobile and data coverage.

We have been loyal Sprint customers for MANY years – more than a decade on the mobile side alone. Usually we are quite happy with the service we get. We may not like how much it costs us for the service, but it usually just works. Last week was the exception that may cause us to change providers.

We drove across I-80 to get from the west edge of the US to the middle of the country. From Reno through the eastern side of Nebraska, we had little to no mobile coverage. While on the road, we were in roaming mode from late Tuesday morning until mid-afternoon Thursday. When we stopped overnight on Tuesday night, we did have coverage at the hotel. Wednesday night, not so much. Roaming mode at the hotel in Sidney, Wyoming on Wednesday night sucked.

Coverage here in rural Iowa is better than it was as we drove I-80 (and it isn’t great here). At least here, I can connect. My phone works most of the time, even if other phones on our account don’t always.

Sprint, in this day and age, this isn’t acceptable. If there is an interstate, I should have coverage. No ifs, ands or buts. I shouldn’t have to go two full days of driving to get out of the roaming zone. I shouldn’t have to totally disconnect just because you haven’t gotten around to building a tower.

That’s just my two cents.

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What am I thankful for this year? It has been such a weird year that I don’t know how to start. I do know that I am thankful for very different things than in the past.

A year ago, I was in the midst of moving to the San Francisco area to start a new job and a new life. I was leaving behind Phoenix, my home for almost 18 years. Leaving behind my friends and functions that had been my life. Leaving behind the independent life of a consultant. Leaving behind, temporarily, my husband.

Fast forward a year. Bruce joined me here a few months ago. Life changed in September. This week, we are packing to leave the San Francisco area.

The new start taught me much about myself and about the corporate world. I learned, much to my surprise, that I like working in an office environment more than working at home. I learned, not to my surprise at all, that a one bedroom apartment in an urban environment was not for hubby and I.

This week is Thanksgiving. It’s hard to put into words what I am thankful for right now.

• I am thankful for a car that holds the stuff we need and which will make it to Iowa.
• I am thankful for family that cares and supports in the best ways they know how.
• I am thankful for a community of friends who are always there, no matter where they actually live.
• I am thankful for a skillset that allows me to reach out to those who need help.
• I am thankful to live in a time of hope. Where even if things aren’t what I expected, they are good.

Sharing always makes things easier. What makes you thankful? Join those of us participating in #tweetsgiving at http://tweetsgiving.epicchange.org/

To get you started, check out the “recipe” for tonight’s supper.

Clean out the kitchen soup: Ham Style

Ingredients

• 1 ham bone with some ham still attached
• 1 bag of ham pieces (frozen leftovers from Easter)
• Water
• Misc. herbs – garlic powder, Italian seasonings, etc.
• Can of diced tomatoes
• Half head of garlic
• Can of whole mushrooms
• Can of creamed corn
• Rooster sauce, just a touch

Prep

Put the ham and ham bone in a pot. Cover with water. Add first round of herbs.

Bring the pot to a boil and let it boil for awhile. Stir infrequently.

How long do you let it boil? Until it seems ready…

When you are ready for the next step, remove the ham bone from the pot. Cut off any ham left on the bone and return the meat to the pot.

Place the garlic in a bowl. Sprinkle with oil and microwave for 30 seconds to a minute. Listen for it to start sizzling. When it sizzles, pull it out and remove the paper. Add the garlic to the pot.

Add the canned tomatoes, mushrooms, and creamed corn. Stir the concoction regularly.

Add a dash of rooster sauce if desired.

Let it boil for 30 more minutes. Lower the heat. Taste. Thicken if desired.

Enjoy.

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I love Skype. It lets me sit in one place and talk with people in another place. Whether the person I need to talk with is in the other room or in another country, it doesn’t matter. It just works.

That said, there is one thing about Skype that bothers me. By default, Skype saves everything forever. For a screen recorder like me, that can leave me open for some embarrassing screen moments.

There is a fix: Clear your history. It is actually a two step process: Set Skype to not save the history and then clear the history itself. The process itself isn’t hard. It’s finding where to do it that gets complicated.

How do you learn what to do to clear the history? Watch the screencast – It tells you just what you need to know!

(See the video full size.)

What other tools would you like to see screencasts on? Let me know and I will pull them together. As QueenGeek can tell you, I take requests!