PowerPoint

Objectives

Realise the potential of PowerPoint in the classroom by reviewing sample presentations.

Enter, edit and format text in presentations - recognise good practice.

Understand different presentation views and when to use them; choose different slide layouts and designs, and edit slides.

Insert and edit pictures, images and objects.

Apply animation and transition effects to presentations.

Insert sound, movie files and background music.

Check and correct presentation content before finally printing and giving presentations.

PowerPoint is a presentation tool increasingly used by lecturers, teachers, conference speakers and

business people. Children can use it for creating and presenting projects.

A PowerPoint presentation is made up of a number of slides. Each slide typically has a title with

supporting text in bulleted list format and/or graphics.

Presentations can be made more attractive with the use of transitions – special effects to switch

from one slide to another and animations – effects to reveal bullet points one at a time rather than

displaying them all at the beginning.

Good Practice in Creating Slide Content

Avoid using fonts that are difficult to read.

Ensure that no font size is smaller than 24 pt.

Use a larger font (35 – 45 pt) or different colour for the title.

Use a single, easy-to-read font for most of the presentation.

Use different colours, sizes and styles (bold, underline) for impact.

Avoid using italic formatting to text as it is difficult to read quickly.

Use concise phrases: you should not use more than six to eight words per line.

For bullet points, you should have only one thought per line with no more than six words per line and no more than six lines per slide.

Use dark text on light background or light text on dark background.

Do not use uppercase lettering, except for titles.

Identify how many slides you need

To calculate the number of slides that you need, make an outline of the material that you plan to

cover, and then divide the material into individual slides. You probably want at least:

A main title slide

An introductory slide that lists the major points or areas in your presentation

One slide for each point or area that is listed on the introductory slide

A summary slide that repeats the list of major points or areas in your presentation

By using this basic structure, if you have three major points or areas to present, you can plan to have

a minimum of six slides: a title slide, an introductory slide, one slide for each of the three major

points or areas, and a summary slide.

If there is a large amount of material to present in any of your main points or areas, you may want to

create a subgrouping of slides for that material by using the same basic outline structure.

TIP Consider how much time each slide should be visible on the screen during your presentation. A

good standard estimate is from two to five minutes per slide.

Creating a Presentation (PowerPoint 2003)

When PowerPoint opens the Title Slide is already selected. If you wish to change the style of slide

go to Format, Slide Layout. The different styles appear to the right of the screen. Click on the style

you require.

Adding Text

Click once in the Click to add title box and enter your information.

Adding a New Slide

Select New Slide in the Insert menu. Select the slide you require by clicking on it and click OK. Add

text as before.

Adding a picture or graphic

Select the slide on which you want to insert the image. You would select From File if you had your

own images saved in a folder on your desktop or on a CD. Clip Art contains the images supplied with

PowerPoint (type in clip you require and click Go. Position image by clicking and dragging. Resize it

if necessary by dragging a handle.

Slide Shows

You can view a slide show at any time to see how the presentation looks.

There are 5 small control buttons at the lower left-hand corner of the screen. The buttons are used

to alter the view of the slide and allow editing of individual slides.

*Normal View displays individual slides. You can prepare or edit the slide in this view.

Slide Sorter

Slide Show

Clip Art

Picture on file

Normal View

*Slide Sorter displays thumbnail versions of the slides which you can rearrange easily. You

cannot edit the slide in this view.

*Slide Show hides the PowerPoint window and starts the presentation, displaying the slides

on the full screen. You cannot edit the slide in this mode.

Viewing a PresentationTo view a slide show click the slide show button at the bottom of the screen. The slide appears full

screen. To display the next slide, click the left mouse button or press the right arrow key or the Page

Down key. Use the left arrow key or the Page Up key to display the previous slide. To quit the slide

show, press the Escape key.

You can start a slide presentation with any slide, not just the first one. Click the Slide Sorter button

to display the slides. Click the slide you want to start with by clicking on it. Click the Slide Show

button to begin the presentation with the selected slide.

Slide Transitions

PowerPoint can add slide transitions to vary the way in which one slide follows another. You can

specify 2 settings for a transition – the effect and the timing. The effect will apply when changing

from the previous slide to the current slide. The timing will apply from the current slide to the next

slide.

To apply a slide transition, follow these steps:

Display the slide to which you want to add a transition.

Select Slide Transition in the Slide Show menu.

The Slide Transition window appears.

Custom Animation

Further effects are available when you click the Custom Animation button on the Slide Show menu.

Select text / graphic you want to animate. Select one of the options from the ‘Add Effect’ menu –

Entrance: Emphasis: Exit: Motion Path. You can decide on Start, Direction, Speed, Timing, Sound etc.

Rearranging Slides

There may be times when you will need to change the sequence of slides in a presentation. Click the

Slide Sorter view button. Click and drag the slide you wish to move and drag it to its new position

between two other slides. As you drag, a vertical line appears between the slides to show its

present position. Release the mouse button in the new location. The other slides are moved and

the selected slide appears in its new position. The slides are automatically renumbered.

Colours and Backgrounds

Select Slide Design on the Format menu

Scroll down through the different styles. Preview of style is available on right. When you have

selected a style click Apply to all slides or selected slides.

If you want to pick a different colour for each slide select Background on the Format menu.

Click on the dropdown and select a colour. Select More Colors for any colour or Fill Effects for

Warning!!

The over-use of transitions and animations becomes a distraction and has an

irritating effect on the viewer. An effective presentation uses the many facilities

that are available sparingly and tellingly.

dropdown

special effects. Experiment! Click on Apply if you want your chosen colour on just one slide or

Apply to All if you want all the slides the same colours.

Adding Graphics from the Internet

Create a folder on your desktop for your images – (Right click on desktop, New, Folder and give it a

name e.g. project images). Locate the website that contains the graphics you want to use (Google -

Images). Right click the image you want to use. Click Save Picture As. Locate and open your folder

‘project images’. Give the image a relevant name and click Save. When you have all your images

saved open your presentation and the particular slide. On the Insert menu, select Picture and then

click From File. Locate your ‘project images’ folder, select your picture and click Insert.

****More Advanced Options

Linking slides (Hyperlinks)

Hyperlinks are useful if you have a large number of slides in your presentation (see sample). You

usually link slides when you have all your slides completed.

Click and drag on word or click on picture you want as a link. Select Action Settings on the Slide

Show menu. Action Settings window opens.

Click on Hyperlink to and click on the dropdown arrow. Click on Slide. Select slide you wish to link

to and click OK and OK. Click on the Slide Show button and see if you have linked correctly. (Link

will only work when you are in Slide Show mode).

You can also link to a website (URL), another PowerPoint Presentation or another File.

dropdown

Action Buttons

If you have a link to a page it is important that you insert a link to bring you back to your contents /

index page (see sample). An action button can be used for this.

Open a slide. Select Action Buttons on the Slide Show Menu.

Click on a button e.g. Home. You will notice that your mouse pointer changes to a cross. Click on

your slide and the button appears with the Action Settings window (Don’t worry about the position

or size of the button – you can move it and resize later). Using the Hyperlink to steps as above link

this slide to your contents / index slide. Note: it is important that you have a contents / index slide

done before you start linking!

Handy shortcut! As you will want all your slides to link to a contents / index slide use copy and

paste to do this. Click on the action button and select Copy on the Edit menu. Go to each slide and

select Paste on the Edit menu. This results in each slide being linked back to the contents / index

page without have to go through all the initial steps. Select the Slide Show button and see how your

links work.

Printing

Multimedia elements such as sound, music and video files can be added to PowerPoint

presentations.

Display the slide to which you want to apply the sound. Select Movies and Sounds in the Insert

menu. A sub-menu displays a list of choices.

Select Print on the File menu. If you want A4

copies of your slides in colour select Slides in the

Print what section. If you want thumbnails of the

slides select Handouts and click on Grayscale. You

can decide how many slides you want per page.

Click OK.

Click on Sound from Gallery to add a sound from the Clip Art gallery (if there are any in the gallery).

Select Sound from File if the file is stored elsewhere.

Click Movie from Gallery or Movie from File as appropriate to add a Video clip.

Adding Music from a CD (Note: Copyright law applies to music as well!)

Place a music CD in your computer’s CD-ROM drive.

On some computers, the CD begins to play automatically. Stop the CD and close the window.

Go to the slide where you want the music to begin.

Select Movies and Sounds on the Insert menu and then select Play CD Audio Track to display a new

window.

Specify the track(s) and start and end times. Click OK.

You should see a small CD symbol on the slide. Click on it to play the music you selected. Click Yes if

you want the sound to play automatically or No for it to play only when you click the icon.

On the Slide Show menu, click Custom Animation for further effects.

Create a Basic Presentation in PowerPoint 2007

When you start PowerPoint, it opens in the view called Normal view, where you create and work on slides.

 In the Slide pane, you can work directly on individual slides.

 Dotted borders identify placeholders, where you can type text or insert pictures, charts, and other objects.

 The Slides tab shows a thumbnail version of each full size slide shown in the Slide pane. After you add other

slides, you can click a thumbnail on the Slides tab to make the slide appear in the Slide pane. Or you can drag

thumbnails to rearrange the slides in your presentation. You can also add or delete slides on the Slides tab.

 In the Notes pane, you can type notes about the current slide. You can hand out your notes to your audience

or refer to your notes in Presenter view when you give your presentation.

 NOTE   By default, Office PowerPoint 2007 applies the Blank Presentation template, which appears in the

preceding illustration, to new presentations. Blank Presentation is the simplest and most generic of the templates

in Office PowerPoint 2007. Blank Presentation is a good template to use when you first start working with

PowerPoint because it is straightforward and can be adapted to many presentation types.

Near the top of the screen are three buttons that you may find useful:

Undo , which undoes your last change. (To see a ScreenTip about which action will be undone, rest

your pointer on the button. To see a menu of other recent changes that can also be undone, click the arrow

to the right of Undo .) You can also undo a change by pressing CTRL+Z.

Redo or Repeat , which either repeats or redoes your last change, depending on what action you

just performed. (To see a ScreenTip about which action will be repeated or redone, rest your pointer on the

button.) You can also repeat or redo a change by pressing CTRL+Y.

Name and save your presentation

As with any software program, it is a good idea to name and save your presentation right away and then to save

your changes frequently while you work:

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , point to Save As, and then do one of the following:

For a presentation that can be opened only in Office PowerPoint 2007, click PowerPoint Presentation.

For a presentation that can be opened in either Office PowerPoint 2007 or earlier versions of PowerPoint,

click PowerPoint 97-2003 Presentation.

If you choose this option, you cannot use any of the features that are new in Office PowerPoint 2007.

2. In the Save As dialog box, in the Save in list, select the folder or other location where you want to save

your presentation.

3. In the File name box, type a name for your presentation, or do nothing to accept the default file name, and

then click Save.

From now on, you can press CTRL+S or click Save near the top of the screen to save your presentation

quickly at any time.

Add, rearrange, and delete slides

The single slide that is provided automatically in your presentation has two placeholders, one formatted for a title

and the other formatted for a subtitle. The arrangement of placeholders on a slide is called a layout. Office

PowerPoint 2007 also provides other types of placeholders, such as those for pictures and SmartArt graphics.

When you add a slide to your presentation, you can do the following to choose a layout for the new slide at the

same time:

1. On the Slides tab, click just below the single slide that already appears there.

2. On the Home tab, in the Slides group, click the arrow next to New Slide.

A gallery appears, showing thumbnails of the various slide layouts that are available.

 The name identifies the content that each layout is designed for.

 Placeholders that display colored icons can contain text, but you can also click the icons to

automatically insert objects, including SmartArt graphics and clip art.

3. Click the layout that you want for your new slide.

The new slide now appears both on the Slides tab, where it is highlighted as the current slide, and in the

Slide pane. Repeat this procedure for each new slide that you want to add.

 TIP   If you want your new slide to have the same layout that the preceding slide has, you can just click

New Slide instead of clicking the arrow next to it.

Identify how many slides you need

To calculate the number of slides that you need, make an outline of the material that you plan to cover, and then

divide the material into individual slides. You probably want at least:

A main title slide

An introductory slide that lists the major points or areas in your presentation

One slide for each point or area that is listed on the introductory slide

A summary slide that repeats the list of major points or areas in your presentation

By using this basic structure, if you have three major points or areas to present, you can plan to have a minimum

of six slides: a title slide, an introductory slide, one slide for each of the three major points or areas, and a

summary slide.

If there is a large amount of material to present in any of your main points or areas, you may want to create a

subgrouping of slides for that material by using the same basic outline structure.

 TIP   Consider how much time each slide should be visible on the screen during your presentation. A good

standard estimate is from two to five minutes per slide.

Apply a new layout to a slide

To change the layout of an existing slide, do the following:

1. On the Slides tab, click the slide that you want to apply a new layout to.

2. On the Home tab, in the Slides group, click Layout, and then click the new layout that you want.

 NOTE   If you apply a layout that doesn't have enough of the right kind of placeholders for the content that

already exists on the slide, additional placeholders are automatically created to contain that content.

Copy a slide

If you want to create two slides that are similar in content and layout, you can save work by creating one slide

that has all of the formatting and content that both slides will share and then making a copy of that slide before

you add the final, individual touches to each.

1. On the Slides tab, right-click the slide that you want to copy, and then click Copy on the shortcut

menu.

2. Still on the Slides tab, right-click where you want to add the new copy of the slide, and then click

Paste on the shortcut menu.

You can also insert a copy of a slide from one presentation into another presentation.

Rearrange the order of slides

On the Slides tab, click the slide that you want to move, and then drag it to the location that you want.

To select multiple slides, click a slide that you want to move, and then press and hold CTRL while you click

each of the other slides that you want to move.

Delete a slide

On the Slides tab, right-click the slide that you want to delete, and then click Delete Slide on the shortcut

menu.

Add and format text

The most common content for slides in a PowerPoint presentation is text — in titles, headings, and bulleted

lists.

To add text to any slide, click the placeholder where you want to add the text, and then type or paste the text

that you want to add.

Format bulleted lists

Some placeholders automatically format your text as a bulleted list, and other placeholders don't. On the Home

tab, in the Paragraph group, do either of the following:

To switch between a bulleted list and unbulleted text, select the text, and then click Bullets .

To change the style of the bullet characters in a bulleted list, click the arrow next to Bullets , and then

click the bullet style that you want.

You can also make these changes by using the Mini toolbar, which is a handy, miniature, semitransparent

toolbar that becomes available when you select text. To see the Mini toolbar clearly, rest your pointer on it. To

use the Mini toolbar, click any of the available commands.

 TIP   You can also display the Mini toolbar by right-clicking unselected text.

Change the appearance of text

There are many ways to change the appearance of text on a slide, ranging from basic buttons on the Home tab

for formatting font, style, size, color, and paragraph characteristics to more advanced options, such as animation

or conversion to SmartArt graphics.

Apply a more appropriate look to your presentation

So far, you have focused on the arrangement and the basic content of your slides. Now, consider the overall

appearance of your presentation. What visual tone do you want? What look and feel will make it clear and

attractive to your audience?

Office PowerPoint 2007 provides a wide variety of design themes that make it easy to change the overall look of

your presentation. A theme is a set of design elements that provides a specific, unified appearance for all of your

Office documents by using particular combinations of colors, fonts, and effects.

Office PowerPoint 2007 automatically applies the Office theme to presentations that are created by using the

Blank Presentation template, but you can easily change the look of your presentation at any time by applying a

different theme.

Apply a different theme to your presentation

On the Design tab, in the Themes group, click the document theme that you want to apply.

  NOTES  

To preview how the current slide looks with a particular theme applied, rest your pointer on the thumbnail of that

theme.

To see thumbnails of additional themes, click the arrows next to the row of thumbnails.

Unless you specify otherwise, Office PowerPoint 2007 applies themes to the entire presentation. To change

the appearance of only selected slides, on the Slides tab, press and hold CTRL while you click each slide that

you want to change. When all of the slides are selected, right-click the theme that you want to apply to them,

and then click Apply to Selected Slides on the shortcut menu.

If you decide later that you want a different theme, click that theme to apply it.

Add clip art, SmartArt graphics and other objects

You want to create the most effective visual presentation possible — and often, a series of slides that contains

only bulleted lists is not the most dynamic choice. Lack of visual variety can cause your audience's attention to

drift. And many kinds of information aren't most clearly expressed in a paragraph or a bulleted list.

Fortunately, Office PowerPoint 2007 makes it possible to add many other kinds of audio and visual content,

including tables, SmartArt graphics, clip art, shapes, charts, music, movies, sounds, and animations. You can

add hyperlinks, too — to move more flexibly both within your presentation and to locations outside of it — and

you can add eye-catching transitions between slides.

This section introduces just a few of the most basic kinds of objects and effects that you can add to your slides.

Add clip art

1. Click the placeholder that you want to add clip art to.

If you don't select a placeholder, or if you select a placeholder that cannot contain an image, the clip art is

inserted at the center of the slide.

2. On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click Clip Art.

The Clip Art task pane opens.

3. In the Clip Art task pane, locate the clip art that you want, and then click it.

You can now move the clip art, resize it, rotate it, add text to it, and make other changes.

 TIP   To search for additional clip art on the Microsoft Office Online site, click the Clip art on Office Online link at

the bottom of the Clip Art task pane.

Add a slide transition

Slide transitions are animation-like effects that occur when you move from one slide to the next. Office

PowerPoint 2007 provides many types of slide transitions, including standard fades, dissolves, cuts, and wipes,

as well as more unusual transitions such as wheels and checkerboards.

On the Animations tab, in the Transition to This Slide group, click the transition that you want.

  NOTES  

To preview how the current slide looks with a particular transition applied, rest your pointer on the thumbnail of

that transition.

To see thumbnails of additional transitions, click the arrows next to the row of thumbnails.

If you decide later that you want a different transition, click that transition to apply it.

You can choose other options in the Transition to This Slide group to control the transition speed, to add a

sound, and to apply the same transition to all of the slides in the presentation.

Add hyperlinks

You can use hyperlinks to move from one slide to another, to a network or Internet location, or even to another

file or program altogether.

1. Select the text that you want to click to activate the hyperlink. Alternatively, you can select an object

(a piece of clip art, for example, or a SmartArt graphic).

2. On the Insert tab, in the Links group, click Hyperlink.

3. In the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, click the appropriate button in the My Places box for the target of

your link (that is, the place where the link takes you).

4. To go to another slide in your presentation, for example, click Place in This Document.

5. Find and click the target location, make any changes that you want in the Text to display and

Address boxes, and then click OK.

Preview your presentation as a slide show

To view your presentation on your computer screen exactly the way that it will look to your audience when you

are presenting, do the following:

1. On the Slide Show tab, in the Start Slide Show group, do one of the following:

To start with the first slide in the presentation, click From Beginning.

To start with the slide that currently appears in the Slide pane, click From Current Slide.

The presentation opens in Slide Show view.

2. Click to advance to the next slide.

 TIP   To return to Normal view at any time, press ESC.

Of course, you can also preview your presentation at any time while you are creating it.

Print handouts and speaker's notes  You can print your presentation either as speaker's notes or as

handouts:

Speaker's notes show one slide at the top of each printed page, along with the content of the Notes

pane for that slide at the bottom of the page, and can be used by the speaker as a script or outline

during the presentation. They can also be distributed to the audience, so that each member has more

complete information from the presentation.

Handouts show one, two, three, four, six, or nine slides per printed page and are intended for cases in

which it isn't desirable to include the Notes pane contents in the distribution to the audience. (The

three-slides-per-page handout includes ruled space where the audience can write notes.)

PowerPoint 2007 has a vast array of editing features to better customize your work. Among these features is the

option to insert and format audio clips to your presentation and to edit these clips for optimum effectiveness. To insert audio clips into your individual slides, select the slide you wish to add the clip to, click on the Insert tab

and select the drop down menu under Sound. From there you should have the three following options:

Sound from File...

Sound from Clip Organizer...

Play CD Audio Track

After choosing the audio clip to insert, you have the choice to play the sound automatically (as soon as the clip is

presented) or when clicked. You also have the option to further edit your audio clips by following these steps:

1. After inserting your audio clip, an icon representing the clip should appear in your slide. Click on this icon.

2. Then you need to click on the Animations tab and select Custom Animation.

3. A menu should then appear on the right side of your slide, displaying all the animations in the current slide.

Select the sound you wish to edit and click on the down arrow next to it, then select Effect Options

         

You can change the effect of the audio clip in the following ways:

Under the Effect tab, you have the option to choose when you want the clip to begin and end, including

the option to have the audio clip play over the current slide onto other slides.

The Timing tab gives you the ability to choose the order in which your clips will play, initiate a time

delay, and repeat option. It also has a Triggers button which, when expanded, allows you to select a

trigger on the slide, other the actual sound clip icon, that will initiate the audio file.

Sound Settings gives you the option to change the volume level and hide the sound icon during the

slide show.