STUDY UNIT 9

MICROSOFT POWERPOINT

IN THIS STUDY UNIT

1 INTRODUCTION
Microsoft PowerPoint is one of the most popular software offerings for presentations.
PowerPoint is the presentation software of the Microsoft Office software suite, one of
the most widely used office programs. PowerPoint has applications for personal use,
academics and business. PowerPoint allows you to build your own presentations using
text, images, video, audios, and tables of data, and has a relatively simple user interface.
However, mastering each of its functions will allow you to create impressive
presentations to engage your audience. PowerPoint is compatible with all other software
in the Microsoft Office suite; you can export slides into Word documents or use Excel
charts within your presentation. It is highly customisable; you can edit PowerPoint
presentations to be as personal or professional as you want. Thus, PowerPoint has
conquered the presentations game (Visual Hackers, 2021; Techwalla, 2020).

The following is the current logo for Microsoft PowerPoint:

2 WHAT IS POWERPOINT?
If you have Microsoft PowerPoint or the entire Microsoft Office package installed
in Microsoft Windows, you can find PowerPoint in your Start menu. Keep in mind
that new computers do not automatically include PowerPoint. It must be
purchased and installed before it can run on your computer.

PowerPoint is sometimes abbreviated as PP or PPT and is a presentation

program developed by Microsoft that creates a slide show of important
information, charts, and images for a presentation. It is most often used for
business and school presentations.

3 BENEFITS OF USING POWERPOINT

The following are the benefits of using Microsoft PowerPoint:

• Easy to download and use virtually anywhere

PowerPoint is considered a standard product in many professional settings.
This allows you to take your user licence virtually anywhere to create the
graphics needed for your presentation. By putting your presentation on a USB
flash drive or in any cloud storage app, your PowerPoint presentation will be
available at any time. Using a PowerPoint presentation is so common, in fact,
that you may create a negative first impression if you don’t offer one (Visual
Hackers, 2021).

• Interesting presentation
Even interesting presentations can get drawn out and boring. With an
animated presentation, interesting quotes or other fun slides, you can capture
people’s attention once more (Brandongaille, 2016).

• Detailed customisation
PowerPoint gives you full control over the appearance of your slides, so that
you can align content, add annotations, use lists, and highlight important
 information visually. Images on a slide can be decreased or increased in scale
to fit your needs. It only takes a few clicks to insert, alter, and align images to
create a visual representation. You can even use arrows, pointers, or other
shapes to highlight key points (Techwalla, 2020).

• It is a simple process to create follow-along handouts.

You can print each slide directly from PowerPoint. Then you can copy those
slides to become a helpful handout for each presentation participant
(Brandongaille, 2016).

• Collaborative solution
Working from home is now a normal phenomenon. The Covid-19 pandemic
has caused rapid and significant changes. Tools that provide solutions for
working together with your team, even if you are in different locations, are in
high demand. PowerPoint has adapted to this situation. With its online cloud
storage, you can now work on presentations at the same time, or work on the
same presentation without sending it to each other (Brandongaille, 2016).

• Suitable for beginners

While training helps with using PowerPoint's advanced features, beginners
can quickly get started thanks to the program's huge selection of templates.
These templates come with a variety of backgrounds, layouts and themes.
You can search by project types such as résumés, posters or charts.

4 DISADVANTAGES OF USING POWERPOINT

• There’s always the chance of running into technical difficulties.

Even tech-savvy individuals can experience presentation issues when the
technology does not work as intended. The computer could stop working. Or
you could lose power to your outlet. The overhead display could be faulty. This
can very quickly alter the positive first impression of a presentation.
• Capturing your audience
As PowerPoint presentations are commonly used at conferences, business
meetings and universities, your audience will probably see a few before it is
your turn. You need to capture your audience’s attention from the outset with
the appearance of the presentation or your skills in presenting, otherwise they
will get bored and stop listening. Make sure you spend enough time preparing
your PowerPoint material; a good presentation with a fine speech will hit the
target (VisualHackers, 2021)

• Slides with too much information can become overwhelming.

Because so many options can be included in a PowerPoint presentation, one
can easily overdo the number of colours, sounds, shapes, and other items that
can be used. By adding too many things, you can detract from the information
that needs to be shared.

• It is not a substitute for what a presenter must do.

Many who use PowerPoint tend to rely on the information on the slide instead
of providing a learning narrative. It is easy to become too reliant on the
software and forget that there is an actual presentation that needs to be
completed.

• Costs are ongoing.

Because it is part of the Office 365 package, you no longer receive a
proprietary software licence for a specific price. You must pay a monthly or
annual subscription cost, which, over time, can add up to more than what the
proprietary licence once offered. You must also download the software to each
computer, which consumes data that may be capped in the case of small
business owners.
 • Some participants may tune out your narrative.
If your PowerPoint presentation is very detailed, some participants may focus
on your handouts and slides more than your actual narrative. This may make
it difficult to make the call to action that you want participants to follow at the
end of the day.

5 HOW TO START POWERPOINT

To launch the PowerPoint:
• Click on the Office Start button.

• Click on the PowerPoint icon from the options panel.

• The PowerPoint Template window will appear.
• To create a presentation from scratch, select Blank Presentation

• To use a prepared design, select one of the templates.

6 POWERPOINT FEATURES

Image Term Description

Number
1 Quick Access Toolbar Displays quick access to commonly used
commands.

2 Title Bar Displays the name of the open file.

3 File Tab It helps you to manage the Microsoft application and

provides access to options such as Open, New,
Save As, Print, etc.

4 Thumbnail Slide Displays a snapshot of each slide.

5 Title Placeholder Section where text is entered

6 Subtitle Placeholder Section where text and/or graphics are entered

7 Status Bar Displays information about the slide presentation,

such as page numbers.

8 Ribbon Displays groups of related commands within tabs.

Each tab provides buttons for commands.

9 Collapse Collapses the ribbon so only the tab names show.

10 Work Area Each slide has an area where text and graphics are
entered for a presentation. There are various slide
layouts to work from.

11 View Option Displays several view modes for slides.

7 SAVING A PRESENTATION
When you are ready to save your presentation, it is the same as saving any
other file in the Microsoft Office Suite (refer to study unit 7 – saving a file). You
can do any of the following:
• Select File, Save or Save As, and then select the location under
Recent to save the file, for example, a OneDrive location or This PC.
• If the location is listed, then select it and enter a suitable name. Then,
select Save.
• Otherwise, select Browse to locate a different folder in which to save
the file.

8 CREATING A NEW PRESENTATION

PowerPoint allows for an unlimited number of presentations to be created. When you
are busy with a presentation, you can create a new presentation by:

• Going to File and selecting New. Then select a template or theme, or

• Typing Ctrl+N to create a new blank presentation from the keyboard.

9 OPENING AN EXISTING PRESENTATION

There are many methods to open an existing presentation:

• Open PowerPoint and select the presentation from the Recent folder list.
• Go to File, then Open (Ctrl+O) and select the presentation from the Recent folder
list. Or, select the location, such as a OneDrive location or This PC and locate the
folder in which the file is stored. If you navigated to the wrong folder, select the Up
arrow to navigate back through the file system. When you find the presentation,
select it once and then select Open or Enter on your keyboard.
• Select Ctrl+F12 to access the Open dialog box, locate the folder in which the file is
stored, select it once, and then select Open or Enter on your keyboard.
• Access the context menu (right-click) and select Recent, and then select Open or
open a copy from the submenu.
9.1 ADDING A SLIDE

Once you have completed a slide, you can create a new slide by clicking on the New
Slide icon. Notice that your previous slides still appear on the left-side frame. You can
still access your previous slides by simply clicking on them from this location.

To add new slides:

• Click on the Home tab.

• Click on New Slide in the Slides group.
• Choose a slide layout.

This following will appear:

 Each slide in PowerPoint has a slide layout. Slide layouts contain formatting,
positioning, and placeholders for all the content that appears on a slide. By selecting
the drop-down arrow on the New Slide button, a different type of slide from the
available layout options is chosen.

PowerPoint includes nine built-in slide layouts. Depending on the theme that you are
using, you might have different layouts than the one in the following image:

9.2 DELETING A SLIDE

To duplicate a slide, perform the following steps:

• Select the slide thumbnail. You can select multiple slides by holding down Ctrl while
you select additional thumbnails.
• Right-click on the selected slide or slides or open the context menu.
• Select Delete Slide. The following screenshot depicts the slide thumbnail context
menu with Delete Slide highlighted:
9.3 ADDING CONTENT TO THE SLIDE

• Add any additional slides you need.

• Select the title placeholder and begin typing.
• Select the content placeholder and begin entering text or select one of the options
in the centre of the placeholder, such as the pictures option, to insert a picture from
your computer.

As soon as you begin entering text, the options will disappear. However, you can
simply go to the Insert tab and use the appropriate command to insert whatever you
need at any time. If there is more text than can fit into the placeholder, PowerPoint will
shrink the text to fit it all in. This is known as AutoFit. If this happens to you, you have
a couple of options:

• Resize the placeholder by dragging the resize handles outward.

• Turn off the AutoFit feature (the following link provides further information on how to
do this).
• Enter less text into the placeholder.
 If you add more text than can fit in a text placeholder, PowerPoint resizes your text to a
smaller font size so that all of it fits. Automatic text resizing is called AutoFit.

1. AutoFit Options button

2. Placeholder
3. Text that extends below the placeholder

Activity 9.1

Go to your e-tutor site and complete this activity.

Create a presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint. You have been shortlisted for a
new position or you want to apply for a position. The presentation should focus on
your personal interests, hobbies and the activities you do during the holidays. It
should exclude personal information such as ID number and cellphone number.

Application - Choices

Go to your Discussion Forum for study unit 9.

You are advising your line manager on the importance of using the Microsoft PowerPoint
for his presentation for the funding of a new project. Explain how you will convince your
line manager and which features (at least two) you will recommend and why.
10 SUMMARY
In this study unit, you have learnt about Microsoft PowerPoint, why it is used widely and
the benefits and disadvantages of using it.
In the next study unit, you will learn about another Microsoft application: Microsoft
Teams.