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In PowerPoint, you can use animation and builds to introduce related or complex ideas one element at a time. For example:

• If you're showing your product sales growth over several years, you can build a bar chart one bar at a time.
• If you're outlining a new, streamlined process, you can build a flowchart one task at a time.
• When you're discussing a project timeline, you can introduce and discuss each milestone separately.
• In a wide area network (WAN) overview diagram, you can add each router to the map as you describe the specific circumstances of its location.

As the following table describes, there are two ways to present Visio diagrams sequentially in a PowerPoint presentation.

Ways to present diagrams sequentially

Use animation to build a diagram sequentially

When you use animation to build a diagram, the entire diagram builds on just one PowerPoint slide and you control the way each separate element appears.

For example, you can add the first element from the left, the second from the bottom, and the third from the right.

To build a diagram using animation

1. In Visio, copy the part of the diagram that makes up the first element that you want to add to the PowerPoint slide.
2. In PowerPoint, paste the first element onto the slide.

   Tip  Choose a Blank or Title-only layout for the slide from the Slide Layout task pane.

3. Continue copying elements from Visio and pasting them onto the slide until you have assembled the entire diagram.

   Tip  If you're using a Blank slide layout, by default, the elements will stack on top of each other as you paste them. To avoid stacked elements, drag each element to a new position after you paste it.

4. In PowerPoint, right-click the first element, and then click Custom Animation.
5. In the Custom Animation task pane, click Add Effect.
6. Point to Entrance, and then click the effect you want.
7. Repeat Steps 4–6 for each separate element in the diagram.
8. To test the animation, click Slide Show at the bottom of the Custom Animation task pane.

   Tip  To exit the slide show, press ESC.

Use consecutive slides to build a diagram sequentially

When you build a diagram using consecutive slides, each slide displays an additional element until the diagram is complete.

Building a diagram across slides is a good choice in a presentation where animation effects might seem too dramatic.

To build a diagram using consecutive slides

1. In PowerPoint, create a new slide for each element of the diagram that you want to build.

   Tip  Choose a Blank or Title-only layout for the slide from the Slide Layout task pane.

2. In Visio, copy the element that you want to appear on the first slide and, in PowerPoint, paste it onto the first new slide you created.
3. In Visio, with the first element still selected, press SHIFT and select the second element.
4. Copy the elements and, in PowerPoint, paste them onto the second new slide you created.
5. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 for each subsequent element that you want to add, in each case pasting the copied elements onto the next new slide.
6. Preview how the diagram will build during a slide show by choosing View Show on the PowerPoint Slide Show menu.

   Tip  To exit the slide show, press ESC.