Month: September 2017

PowerPoint, Word, Excel: My Favorite Tips

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For my job, I am organizing professional development events for the staff of the Fisher College of Business. One of the topics of interest is computer skills. When I think computer skills for the non-programmers I think “how to use the Microsoft Office Suite more effectively.” And there are a TON of resources out there on how to learn the basics of Microsoft, but I often find they are long and too basic. And there are a TON of resources out there on how to troubleshoot problems, but you have to know the vocabulary and know enough to arrive at that specific problem. What I can never find is a good guide or video on the few things I find most helpful, why can’t the internet read my mind and create exactly the tools I would like to share?! So as I am looking around for tools to share with the staff I was inspired to put my favorite PowerPoint tips down on paper to share. So check out my tips below, and let me know your favorite tips, and maybe we can create a good list for the Microsoft Office novice/intermediate user that I think many of us would be qualified as. *Warning these are just a few of my favorites and are no way all encompassing.*

PowerPoint:

  1. The rule of thirds: This isn’t a PowerPoint-specific tip, but since PPT is often used for design, it is helpful. If I am honest, I don’t always adhere strictly to this rule. Although I enjoy fooling around on PPT, design isn’t a strength of mine, but if you find yourself designing a flyer, as many of us do, refer to the rule of thirds to help with the layout.
  2. Canva: Also not PowerPoint-specific, but like I said, many of us find ourselves designing flyers or posters or bio-sheets with no design background. This is a great, free website that can give you design inspiration. You can build directly on the site, but I prefer to recreate designs in PPT. This makes them easier to manipulate and avoids any issues with downloading.
  3. Slide Master: This nifty tool in PPT allows you to create a template that can be applied across your whole PPT document. Do you want to redesign a title slide? Add a logo to the bottom corner of every slide? Change the default color scheme of a presentation? Slide Master is the answer! This is a fun place to play around and it can make creating a cohesive and elegant document much easier.
  4. Picture editing. This isn’t PPT specific, because you can edit pictures like this in Word too!
    1. First, the align tool: This tool helps you align objects and pictures without dragging across the page or making tiny adjustments. You can highlight multiple objects and align one of their edges or you can align things to the slide, which is particularly helpful for centering objects. It’s easy to use and can save you frustration.
    2. Second, the set transparent color tool: This tool helps eliminate unwanted backgrounds on pictures. This can make organizing things much easier and allows you more freedom.

      Set Transparent Color Example

      When you select the picture, go to “Picture Tools Format” tab that appears, then under “Color” select the “set transparent color” and then click on the color you would like to be transparent. I have found that it works best on white backgrounds, because sometimes pixels get left behind.

      Set Transparent Color

       

What makes you happy?

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I have some very big decisions coming up in my life: What do I need out of a job or a career? Where do I want to live? What are my priorities? And it all seems to come back to this concept of happiness.

I used to think I had this happiness thing figured out. I spent my life, since the beginning of high school until about a month ago, working my absolute hardest to one day get that dream job. I collected leadership positions and achievements and straight A’s like a 90’s kid collected Pokemon cards. I was in 12 extracurricular activities in high school. I had an internship every summer in college, including a terrible marketing internship after my freshman year. I lost sleep and ignored my well-being. I’ve run myself ragged for years. Why? Because I saw each one of those things as the next step in landing that perfect job. And don’t get me wrong, I have had amazing experiences and learnings and, sometimes, relationships come out of those experiences, but I wasn’t learning a very important lesson about happiness.

This summer I had the perfect internship at an amazing company. I worked my butt off on incredible projects, and I learned more than I ever could have hoped. It was everything I worked so hard for, and I got a full-time offer that could be my career for the rest of my working life. But I was miserable. I came home exhausted and sad more days than not. I never felt satisfied or fulfilled. And I was faced with a question that I had long neglected: what if an amazing job I’ve been working towards for 10 years now is not going to make me happy? Trust me, that was not a question I wanted to grapple with, mostly because I didn’t really have a backup plan. I was lucky though. I had recently met someone, full disclosure – he’s my boyfriend now, who had a drastically different view on life. His work is only a fraction of what brings him satisfaction (what a concept!) and he nurtures and invests in other passions like music or board games (yes, board games). He opened up this radical concept of not letting the professional side of life consume him and all of his time. I have watched him excel in school, and now his career, whilst still prioritizing his personal time

So now what? Now I’m working towards have a full life inside and outside of my work (or school if we are talking about the present). I am trying to turn down the intensity and build time into my schedule for me, for reading, boxing, maybe learning basic Spanish (plug: Duolingo). I am working on my stress levels. Making time to travel. And figuring out what makes me happy now, not what I think will make me happy in the future.

Photography and the outdoors make me happy. Photo cred: me 😀

So I have a blog?

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Today, Monday, September 18th I got two very different emails. First, was my formal job offer from my summer internship (yay!), and the second was a notification that I now had an OSU blog (huh?). You see, I didn’t sign up for a blog or ask for a blog or really even want a blog. I’ve never been much of a writer, and I’ve never felt it necessary to share my various and sometimes strange thoughts with large audiences. But, I’ve been determined lately to live my best life and try new things and find new passions, so I’m taking this as a sign. Thank you for indulging me by reading. For this first entry I will tell you a bit about myself and how I’m going to attempt to manage this new blogging thing. And please leave comments if you have any tips or suggestions.

Title: Pensive yet upbeat.

First, this is me! Hi! I am 23 years old in my second year of Fisher’s Master’s of Human Resource Management program. I love cats (my Odin is pictured below), being outside, and exploring new things (hence the blog). I am an aunt of two amazing little children, Kirra and Emmitt. I am very passionate about various things to the point that I exhaust myself and sometimes those around me. My leadership legacy statement is: I strive for excellence, honesty,and justice and will use my leadership to motivate others to achieve more. Anything else you want to know?

Second, I want to write a blog post at least once every two weeks. They will most likely range in topic from leadership to power to life decisions. I hope I can share my thoughts and voice in way that inspires you to have new thoughts and find your own voice. Because a voice is one of the most powerful things we have.

Thanks for reading <3

K

Title: What is fun if not messy?