Anatomy of a PowerPoint Presentation Conference Presented by Technology Training Muskie School of Public Service Introduction(s). The first thing I want to let you know is that the following presentation breaks every rule of PowerPoint presenting possible. The reason is to demonstrate as many of the features available in a short timeframe, so we can get to trying it out ourselves! So, please promise never to do what I’ve done here…

What is PowerPoint? “PowerPoint enables you to create presentations that have an impact in person or online. PowerPoint makes it easy to create powerful, persuasive presentations.” (Microsoft website) Microsoft describes PowerPoint in the following way… You don’t need any programming experience to use PowerPoint to create a presentation that appears to have programmed features in it.

Design Templates Overall look of the presentation Several from which to choose Many available within the program For example, a PowerPoint template is a preset “look” for your slides. It will provide you with text formatting (style and size), bullet styles and possibly other graphic objects, such as these circles. Generally you select one look for the entire presentation. On the last bullet say, “Such as this one, called watermark, which is available in PowerPoint XP.”

Design Templates Overall look of the presentation Several from which to choose Many available within the program Download additional at Microsoft.com As well as this lovely chartreuse one called Glass Layers. Additional templates are available at Microsoft’s website, and it is free to download them.

Design Templates Overall look of the presentation Several from which to choose Many available within the program Download additional at Microsoft.com Create custom templates This is another Microsoft template. You are able to create your own templates and save them in the program for use anytime. (I did not do that in this case).

Color Schemes Each template has a default color scheme plus several other color options Background If you have chosen a Microsoft PowerPoint Template, you will have several color scheme options. These choices may change the Background color, like so…

Color Schemes Each template has a default color scheme plus several other options Background Titles CLICK The color of the slide titles… CLICK

Color Schemes Each template has a default color scheme plus several other options Background Titles Bulleted Items CLICK The bullets CLICK

Color Schemes Each template has a default color scheme plus several other options Background Titles Bulleted Items Custom CLICK You may even customize the color scheme to your liking by selecting your own colors for each of these elements. CLICK

Color Schemes Each template has a default color scheme plus several other options Background Titles Bulleted Items Custom As I have done here.

Slide Layouts Titles Only Layout is the way different objects are placed on the slide. PowerPoint provides you with several different layouts, from very simple like this Titles only slide, to

Slide Layout One-Column Text A Single Bulleted List Aligned on the Left A One-column text slide where text is arranged in a bulleted list. One thing to note about creating a PowerPoint presentation is that you typically don’t put every word you are planning to say on your slides. The bulleted list format is suggested in order to remind you that you only need to put down key points and explain them when actually giving the presentation.

Slide Layout Two-Column Text Bulleted Lists More Text Here Side by Side Text Heavy Blah This two-column text layout is good when you have a lot of points and can portray them all briefly on the slide.

Slide Layout Text and Graphics Single Bulleted List Room for Object Table Chart Clip Art Picture Diagram Media Clip The text and graphics layout allows for some explanatory text and leaves space for an object of some sort, including (read list)

Slide Layout Finally, the Graphics only layout provides an entire slide for one of the graphic objects we just discussed.

Saving your work Save Early, Save Often!!! I cannot stress this point enough. With everything you do to put a single slide together, you’d hate to lose your work, because remembering every detail would be very difficult. My rule is that every time you even think you might want to save, you should just do it – it’s just a click of the mouse.

Text: Entering and Formatting Click & Type Size The most difficult thing about entering text is coming up with what to write. PowerPoint tells you just what to do once you’ve selected a slide layout that includes text by putting the words “Click to enter text” right in the place it will go. And while your template will determine a default text format, you are also able to edit certain formatting features individually on a slide, such as size…

Text: Entering and Formatting Click & Type Size Bullets Bigger is often better on a PowerPoint slide, but remember to be consistent across slides. You may also change the type of bullets…

Text: Entering and Formatting Click & Type Size Bullets Spacing There are many different bullet types to choose from. And the spacing of the items in a list may also be modified…

Text: Entering and Formatting Click & Type Size Bullets Spacing In order to use up the space on a slide when practical.

Graphics Size Location Orientation Color Crop/Alter As discussed earlier, you may insert a variety of objects in your slides. These may come directly from PowerPoint (i.e. the clip gallery), may be downloaded from Microsoft.com or another free graphic site (look some up), or could be your own creations (photos, drawings, graphs, etc.). Any of these objects may be altered in a several ways.

Transitions Moving from one slide to another Don’t go overboard Speed Sound Automatic or Manual Don’t go overboard As you’ve seen throughout this presentation, the transition from one slide to the next can happen in a number of ways. I’ve used a different transition on each slide (which I don’t recommend), but once you’ve chosen a general transition, you may adjust the speed, add a transition sound and decide whether to have the transition happen when you click the mouse or after a prescribed amount of time.

Animation The manner in which text and/or objects appear Effect Speed/Timing Sound Dim Text Options Similar to a slide transition, text and graphic objects can appear on the screen in different ways. The Effect itself is the direction and manner in which the object appears (ex. The graphic “zoomed” in, while the text is “flying” in from a variety of directions. You may set each object to appear on the click of the mouse or after a specific amount of time. Sound may be applied to certain objects as they appear. The “dim” effect makes the previous bulleted item a different (less conspicuous) color as the next item arrives for focus. As you can see this feature can sometimes reverse without warning. Text options include written text appearing one word or even one letter at a time. Be sure to pay attention to the order in which your objects appear. For example, you will typically have the graphic object(s) appear prior to the text, so you’re not seeing it for only a second before moving to the next slide. Also, as you get more involved in animating objects, you’ll realize that PowerPoint defaults animation order to the order in which objects are added to the slide, which may not be the appropriate order. And finally, KEEP IT SIMPLE!!! Keep it simple Consider order

Other Features Photographs Recorded Sounds Media Clips As I mentioned when we discussed templates, you can customize the background. Here I used a photograph to create a background. In addition to adding sound to slide transitions and object animation, you may also record sounds specifically for your presentation to be played at the appropriate times or utilize sound files you may find on the Internet. Obviously, what you just heard, I recorded when creating this presentation. You may also insert sounds and movie clips that are available within the program, that you create yourself, or that you appropriately download (being wary of copyright issues). This movie clip (actually an animated .gif file) and music are both part of Microsoft PowerPoint’s collection.

Running a Slide Show Starting your show Navigation Concluding a show Continuous Loop Black Slide Your Own Closing Slide When you run a PowerPoint slide show, you want just the slides to appear, not the program window where you do all of the work to create the show. Simply by clicking an icon or using the Slide Show menu, you can make this happen. Be sure to always be focused on the first slide prior to clicking it, though. To navigate from one thing to the next, you may use the mouse or keyboard to move forward or even backward. And as we have talked about, you can even set up timings to have the slide show run automatically. This would be appropriate for a “kiosk” type presentation like you would see at Sam’s club or Sears demonstrating a product. Ending a show can happen in several ways. Continuous loop means the presentation begins again at the first slide after the last appears. If no continuous loop exists, a blank, black slide will appear if you advance past your last slide. You could also choose to create a slide specifically for the close of the show. If you advance past the black slide, though, you will return to the “working area” of PowerPoint, which isn’t really what you want your audience to see. The next slide demonstrates a user-created closing slide…

The End Thank You Thanks! There should be a blank slide coming up after this, then I’ll do the wrong thing again and advance one more time to the work area of PowerPoint. Then we can get to work on trying some things ourselves!