Not sure this saves much time but I think if you hold down Alt and press "I"
followed by "X" you will get into text box insert mode.

I'm a shortcut guy too, so I understand the problem. (BTW, you didn't
say which version of PPT you're using. When posting a newsgroup
question, it's almost always helpful to say which OS you're using and
which version of the product. That may have had an effect on the
answer in this case, since shortcuts are different on the Macintosh,
and they're different in PPT 2007 compared with earlier versions of
Office for Windows. I'm going to assume you're using PPT 2003 for
Windows.)

In Word, you no doubt know it's a fairly easy matter to add shortcuts
or change existing ones, but this capability doesn't exist natively in
PPT. For some things in PPT, you can use the macro recorder (Tools >
Macro > Record New Macro), and put an icon on the toolbar for the
macro, but this won't work for assigning animation to an object.

The only way I know of to customize your keyboard shortcuts is to use
a third-party add-in called OfficeOne Shortcut Manager. It's $29.95,
and available here: http://officeone.mvps.org/ppsctmgr/ppsctmgr.html.
But let me hasten to add that I've never used this product, and I
don't know if it will allow you to assign a shortcut key to
animations.

If all the animations are the same it would be fairly simple to write a macro
to add them.

This eg would add a medium fly from bottom animation to the selected shape.

Sub addit()
Dim oshp As Shape
Dim osld As Slide
Dim oeff As Effect
On Error GoTo errhandler
Set oshp = ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange(1)
Set osld = ActiveWindow.Selection.SlideRange(1)
Set oeff = osld.TimeLine.MainSequence.AddEffect(oshp, msoAnimEffectFly)
With oeff
.EffectParameters.Direction = msoAnimDirectionBottom
.Timing.Duration = 2
End With
Exit Sub
errhandler:
MsgBox "Please select something!"
End Sub

Don't know how to use vba?
http://www.pptalchemy.co.uk/powerpoint_hints_and_tips_tutorials.html#vba

Hi Mr Rahib

While it's not a single keyboard shortcut, you could use the following (you
didn't mention your version so here it is for 2003 & 2007):
2003:
alt+d -> m -> enter -> e -> number that fly-in appears as (7 on my pc)
2007:
alt -> a -> c -> enter -> e -> number that fly-in appears as (7 on my pc)

Basically, alt ativates the menu bar then you press the underlined letter in
the command you are after. They have really expanded this feature in 2007
(while thankfully leaving the old keyboard shortcuts alone).

Hope that helps,
Lucy