you
in PowerPoint 2010 SmartArt gives you
the chance to communicate with your
audience using visuals instead of text
which can help you add more color shape
and interest to parts of your
presentation I'd like to create a
graphic that zeroes in on the sales team
at my company to explain their chain of
command while you can right click inside
any text box to convert the contents to
SmartArt I want a little more
flexibility so I'm going to start from
scratch by selecting a blank slide and
then going to the insert tab if you
click the SmartArt command a list of
categories will appear along with the
graphics you have to choose from and a
preview the type of SmartArt I'm looking
for should be under hierarchy let's try
this one now with the graphic selected
click the small arrow on the left to
open up what we call the task pane all
you have to do here is start entering
your text and it appears in the SmartArt
resize so it fits the shape perfectly
you can also type into the shapes
themselves which is fine for a simple
graphic like this but for something more
complex I do find it easier to stick to
the task pane now I'd like to
point out the format and design tabs
that appear whenever you have your
SmartArt selected from here an easy way
to add more shapes to your SmartArt is
to select a shape near the location you
have in mind then click the arrow next
to add shape you can add one after or
before your selected shape which will
place them on the same level right next
to each other or add one above or below
on second thought I should have placed
this one level higher right under the
sales chief that's okay you can change
the level of any shape using demote to
move it down or promote to move it up
that's perfect you can also manipulate
these shapes from within the tasks pane
I'll use the same one to demonstrate
press the tab key to demote then
backspace to promote it again think of
it as creating an outline with a
multi-level bulleted list you can even
add bullets to the list by pressing
enter now I'm going to go ahead and
delete the shapes I'm not using by
selecting both of these bullets then
pressing backspace or delete on my
keyboard now my SmartArt is almost done
it's just a little bland
the next thing I'd like to show you is
how to change the look of your graphic
using SmartArt styles click the
drop-down arrow here to see the full
list of styles and as always mouse over
for a live preview and like this one I
recommend taking a look at colors too
these come from whatever theme you're
using so they will vary depending on
your theme or color palette and it's
never too late to change your layout
your choices can be found in the layouts
group I'd like to try something a little
more out-of-the-box okay how about this
and if you want to change the appearance
of individual shapes all you have to do
is select one or more switch to the
format tab and take advantage of any of
the options here for example I'd like to
change the color of the text in these
shapes to really make them stand out
SmartArt is a great way to incorporate
more visuals and present something to
your audience that's eye catching and
easy for them to understand