Introduction to PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint, part of Microsoft Office, creates and plays presentations. A presentation is something a speaker makes to an audience, typically using a computer and LCD pro ector to display material in a lecture hall or auditorium. PowerPoint works a lot like Microsoft !ord, and the assumption here is that you are familiar with !ord. A PowerPoint presentation is made up of "slides" that are indi#idual frames or screens of information. $o create a presentation, create the slides. A PowerPoint file %&.ppt' is a collection of slides, typically for one and only one presentation, although files can (e linked together to make up compound presentations. PowerPoint has functions for

Creating and inserting new slides. )diting e*isting slides. +eordering e*isting slides.

,lides can contain

$e*t $a(les -ulleted and num(ered lists .raphics Audio /ideo Many other types of content.

Content can (e modified (y

0ormatting, including standard fonts, si1es and other attri(utes, and (ackground colors and images. +educing, enlarging, cropping pictures, and superimposing drawing. Animation schemes, such as ha#ing each (ulleted point appear one at a time. Many master templates, which are patterns for colors, (ullets, te*t si1es and (ackground images.

-ecause presentations are pro ected to an audience, font si1es are larger than for print documents %typical font si1es are 23 to 45 points'. $he large font si1es limit the content of an indi#idual slide, so the content for each slide should (e carefully selected. Points are often made with a((re#iated, incomplete sentences. Complete paragraphs are e#en rarer. A single slide often makes a single point. ,eparate slides are re6uired to integrate the single points made on other slides. Critics of PowerPoint say that it

0orces presentations to o#ersimplify comple* topics +educes information to well7digested, uniform "factoids"

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)mphasi1e animations and appearance for solid content

,upporters of PowerPoint often say the same things in words that are only slightly different, for e*ample that it;

0orces presenters to present information clearly and concisely. Clearly separates indi#idual points. Maintains audience interest.

Critics of PowerPoint also point to the common practice of a speaker reading the slides to the audience and ask why the audience can<t ust read the slides themsel#es, especially since they are often gi#en print copies of the presentation. ,upporters of PowerPoint agree with this criticism, and respond that the content of the slides should merely remind the speaker of talking points. In this #iew, the speaker should face the audience, not the screen, and look at the screen 6uickly to keep track of organi1ation. $he screen shots (elow are from !indows =P >ome, and will (e formatted differently in other #ersions of !indows, while the te*t and choices will not change.

$o start PowerPoint, recogni1e its icon $he default PowerPoint opening screen assists in opening an e*isting presentation or starting a new one.

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,tarting a new presentation, or choosing to insert a new slide in an e*isting presentation (rings up the PowerPoint menu of slide templates %all of these templates can (e edited into and out of the other forms and more (esides, (ut starting with one that is close to what you want makes life easier'. $he (ulleted list as shown (elow is a #ery common option and the one we follow (elow;

$he figure (elow shows what a (ulleted list slide looks like at first. ?otice that, unlike !ord, in which the whole document can hold te*t, in PowerPoint te*t is contained within Page 4 of 9

:sing PowerPoint "$e*t -o*es." %Indeed, in PowerPoint all content of whate#er type is within some kind of container.' $he figure (elow shows two $e*t -o*es, the top one for the slide title and the lower one for the main slide content. along with the (uttons that control how slides are #iewed;

A(o#e, notice also the te*t formatting tools in the second tool (ar after the menu (ar, and the drawing tools in the drawing tool(ar near the (ottom of the screen. $he te*t color (utton on the drawing tool(ar near the (ottom of the screen is used to change te*t can insert a new

color of selected te*t anywhere in a slide. $he $e*t -o* (utton $e*t -o* on a slide.

$o insert te*t in a $e*t -o*, click inside it and type. Another common PowerPoint dialog is "Apply Design $emplate" found on the 0ormat menu. $his dialog is used to apply templates that specify color schemes, font, font si1es and font colors, and (ackground images, to an entire presentation.

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Other formatting dialogs, such as color schemes, can apply to anything from a single slide to an entire presentation %screen shown from !indows 2@@@'

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:sing PowerPoint $he figure (elow shown how to set up a PowerPoint te*t animation. >ere, an indi#idual slide, shown in miniature #iew at the top ust right of center, is (eing animated. $he elements of the slide are in the check7off list at the top left, and "$e*t 2" is (eing animated, while "$itle 8" will not (e animated. $e*t 2 is shown inside the shadow (o* in the miniature #iew. >ere, $e*t 2 consists of three top7le#el (ullet points, followed (y two lower7le#el (ullet points, and a final top7le#el (ullet point. $he animation effect (eing chosen is that each top7le#el (ullet point %paragraph' will "0ly" %slide across the screen' from the left into its position as shown, one (y one. the two lower7le#el (ullets will appear with the preceding top7le#el (ullet, as determined (y ".rouped (y 8st le#el paragraphs." $o ha#e the lower7le#el (ullet points also appear separately, change ".rouped (y 1st le#el paragraphs" to 2nd le#el. It is possi(le to dim each (ullet when the ne*t one comes in, although that option is not chosen here. :nder "Order B $iming," you could choose that either the appearance of each le#el is timed, or alternately that it (e determined (y a mouse click %Page :p C Down (uttons also act as mouse clicks';

Dou can also use PowerPoint to put header and footer information on each slide. ,lide num(ers are often important, as the audience uses them for reorientation in case people get lost or stop paying close attention, (ut then notice something they want to make note of.

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PowerPoint slides can include graphics from graphics files or from internal Office Clip Art. ?otice the many other types of content that you can insert.

Clip Art is organi1ed into categoriesE select the category first, then the graphic within the category; Page F of 9

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And finally the figure (elow shows the main PowerPoint tool(ars.

$he lower formatting tool(ar should (e familiar to !ord users, e*cept for "Increase 0ont ,i1e" and "Decrease 0ont ,i1e" ust to the right of the (ulleted list (utton. $he top ,tandard tool(ar has much that should also (e familiar, (ut we will list some of the (uttons starting from "0ormat Painter" ust under the left7hand side of ",lide ,how";

0ormat Painter 7 copy formats from one place to another (y %a' selecting the te*t with the format you want, %(' clicking on the 0ormat Paint(rush (utton, and %c' dragging o#er the te*t that you want to format. :ndo and +edo Link, including a clicka(le link to another presentation Draw a ta(le Insert a ta(le (y selecting how many rows and columns you want %can (e changed later' Insert a chart from a ta(le

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:sing PowerPoint Insert a new slide

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