SlideBlog

There is limited real estate on each slide and it is dumb to waste much of that space by using a background (or a theme with a background) that has background elements that reduces the effective area of the slide.

The effective area is the area that can be used for actual content. It is better to just use a simple background with perhaps just a single color or a subtle gradient.

The background elements not only reduce the effective space but can also be distracting to the audience and draw attention away from the real message. Background elements should only be used if the background elements serve an important purpose for conveying your message. That they are an integral part of your design strategy.

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A quick look at how to remove the background from an image in Microsoft PowerPoint 2010. This feature was updated and expanded in the 2010 version of PowerPoint.