PowerPoint is an example of
Presentation Software; a program that allows one to put many different pieces
of information in a single file to present to others. Another very similar program is the
Presentation portion of the OpenOffice Suite.
It is free (downloaded legally from the net) and can both read and save
files in the PowerPoint format.
By launching PowerPoint and
creating a new presentation, you can intuitively add text to a number of
slides. Running the AutoContent Wizard
allows you to see a number of different examples; creating a blank presentation
gives you more flexibility from the start.
Adding
slides: To add a new slide to
your presentation, from the Insert menu, select New Slide. Do NOT go to the File menu and create a New
presentation! To view your show, select
Slide Show / View Show. The ESC key will
allow you to exit early.
Graphics
(pictures): If you copy and paste pictures from the
internet using Safari on a Macintosh, they are compressed and they will not
show up in your slideshow on a Windows computer. Instead, when you find a picture, save it in
your documents folder, then use Insert / Picture to place it in your
presentation. Or, you can Copy and Paste
directly if you use Mozilla FireFox as your browser rather than Safari. This is not a problem on Windows
computers. Don’t forget to cite your
sources!
Graphics
(everything else): Not only can
you insert pictures, but using the tools on the draw menu, you can add shapes,
word art, ovals around text, arrows, etc.
If the Drawing toolbar is not visible, from the View menu, select
Toolbars / Drawing.
Transitions
and Animations: Some people use Slide Transitions (Slide Show
menu) extensively; others find excessive use of them disconcerting. To affect the presentation of text, select Slide
Show / Animation Schemes(Windows) or Preset Animations (Mac). This allows you to have your lines of text
appear with each mouse click.
Order
of slides: You can change the order of slides by
dragging them up or down the list on the left in the Normal View or by
selecting Slide Sorter from the View menu.
Citations: Any
information taken directly from another source should be cited
appropriately. (e.g. pictures taken from
the internet.)
Backgrounds
/ Templates: You can
standardize the theme of the entire show by selecting a Design Template
(Windows) or Slide Design (Mac) from the Format menu. Even if you end up customizing the show with
unique graphics, this gives a good example of where pieces are placed to carry
out a theme.
Slide
Master: From the View menu, select Slide Master. Changes made here will be applied to the
entire show. This is where you would put
in a logo that you wished to use to identify the overall theme.
Sound /
Movies: Sound and movies can be added through the
Insert menu. After you have inserted
your sound, you can select it, then select Slide Show / Custom Animation to
edit the options on how the sound is played.
Notes: The slide
show you create is visible by all. If you
wish to include notes to yourself that only you can see, from the View menu,
select Notes Page. These notes will show
while you are building the presentation, plus they will show if you print out
the slides or create the show as a Web Page.
You can only use them while giving a ‘traditional’ slide show by using a
second monitor or by having a printed copy to refer to.
Save As
Web Page: If you select Save As a Web Page from the
File menu, a folder is created that has a collection of web pages for each
slide, note page, etc. The page named
‘outline’ is the starting point to the show.
Printing
slides: Under File / Print, you can select Handouts
and print up to 9 slides per page.
Hints: Don’t put
too much text on each slide; you don’t want to just read paragraphs of text to your
audience.
Miscellaneous: Web links,
spreadsheets, charts (graphs) organizational charts, tables, etc. There is a wide variety of items that can be
added shown in the Insert menu. Tables
give you a good method to show structured data; graphs present numbers in a
more visual way. Some, such as
organizational charts, require a custom installation of the program and may not
be available on your computer.