Am I dreaming? Possible to fit a dozen slides and their many layers onto one slide?

Ellysa,

As I read your original, it seems to me that two of the big problems currently are a bunch of cascading headers and sub-headers, and the possibility of the learner getting lost. Those are characteristics of projects that use the built-in menu and Previous and Next buttons.

I think the best thing you can do is do use your own menuing system, and homemade buttons with descriptive text for navigation. The truth is that continuity/feel/theme depend more on consistent shape, size, placement, and message of objects than anything else. You don't need to stay on one slide to do what you are asking. You can, but the more stuff you put on a slide, the more complicated it gets for you. The attached sample shows intuitive navigation, consistent look and feel, and visual theming. I used slide masters quite a bit, especially for the menuing and look and feel. I may have exaggerated a bit in some of the theme colors for emphasis - you may want be a bit more subtle. Most of it is scavenged from previous projects, so a lot of it may seem disconnected.

And of course, you can use lightboxes. Michael is seldom wrong.