Animated Headshots in PowerPoint

First, take a look at this embedded presentation below.

You can download a copy of this presentation from our Presentation Bank.

You can see that a series of headshot pictures are animated in sequence to create an effective collage slide that can function as the starting slide for a presentation for a relevant subject suited for this type of an opening. You can also use the same technique for product shots or vacation pictures. Just substitute the headshots with the other pictures!

So how was this created? Follow these steps:

1. First, we collected a bunch of pictures and resized/cropped them into squares in an image editing program. We used Adobe Photoshop, but you can use almost any image editor.
   
   
   Tip: We sourced all these images from Microsoft's Office Online site, where tons of free clip art and pictures are available to Microsoft Office users.
2. Thereafter, we placed square shapes on the slide. These were laid in a grid of 4 x 3 squares (12 squares in all) on the slide, as shown in Figure 1 below. Do note that this is a Standard 4:3 aspect ratio slide. If you are using a Widescreen 16:9 or any other aspect ratio slide, your shapes may be sized differently, and may not even be perfect squares.
   
   
   Figure 1: Square shapes laid in a grid of 4 x 3 on the slide
   
   
   Tip: To draw square shapes, choose the Rectangle shape tool, and press the Ctrl key while drag-drawing to restrain the rectangle to a square. Learn more in our Drawing a Perfect Square in PowerPoint tutorials.
3. Right-click any of these squares, choose the Format Shape (or Format Autoshape) option to bring up a dialog box of the same name. Add a picture fill, and choose one of the pictures you have assembled to fill the square.
4. Repeat the steps for all the squares.
5. Add an entry animation to these squares. For the first set, we used Wipe animations and alternated between the four Wipe variants:

   From Left
   From Right
   From Bottom
   From Top

   For the second set, we used the Split animations and alternated between four variants for this style:

   Horizontal In
   Horizontal Out
   Vertical In
   Vertical Out

6. Set all animations to play After Previous (see Animation Events), and set their speed to Fast.
7. Preview the presentation, and save.