Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation Guide
Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation Guide
INTRODUCTION
Microsoft PowerPoint is a graphics presentation program used for designing presentations quickly.
A presentation mostly consists of graphics accompanied by descriptions (text) that a presenter displays on a
projector screen as he presents them verbally to an audience.
Paper Printouts: - You can design your presentation so that it looks great on the screen and print it out using
a Printer.
35mm Slides: - You can design slides that have the correct height and width of 35mm or use a service
Bureau to transform your electronic slides into 35mm slides.
Overhead Transparencies: - You can create a presentation that uses overhead transparencies by printing
your slides as Black-and-White or color transparencies.
Notes, Handouts and Outlines: - To support your presentation, you can give your audience Handouts
(smaller versions of your slides that are printed 2, 3 or 6 to a page). You can also print your speaker notes
for the audience. Still, while working on a presentation, you can print your outline, including Slide titles and
Main points.
World Wide Web Documents: - You can design a presentation specifically for the World Wide Web, and
then save it in a Web compatible format, such as HTML.
Use of Presentations
One can use Presentations to convey information more effectively. Examples of situations where PowerPo
int is used include;
1. Marketing or internal company presentations.
2. To deliver company results to a shareholder meeting.
3. To report sales figures.
4. To launch a new product into the market.
5. To introduce/induct new employees into a company’s operations.
6. Advertising in the media, trade fairs or exhibitions.
With PowerPoint, you can create overhead slides, Speakers notes, audience handouts, and an outline all in
one single presentation file. PowerPoint has powerful wizards to help you create and organize your
presentation systematically.
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STARTING POWERPOINT
Purpose
√ You can start PowerPoint whenever you want to create or run a presentation.
1. Click Start, point to Programs, then select Microsoft PowerPoint from the resulting pop-up menu.
2. The PowerPoint Startup dialog box appears giving you four (4) options from which you must
choose one in order to proceed with any other PowerPoint features or functions.
PowerPoint then provides a basic outline to guide you in organizing your content in a professional manner.
Design Template:
This option gives you a list of presentation designs; presentations and other templates that have predefined
slide colors and text styles.
Blank Presentation:
This option brings up the New Slide dialog box, which has 24 blank slide layouts. The slides are pre-
designed. After choosing a layout, the user fills in the rest of the content.
A PowerPoint presentation consists of sequence of slides. A slide may include text, picture or other elements
as well as a background with solid colour or patterns.
The wizard also contains templates, which give tips on how to become a better [Link] wizard guides
you to select from many pre-built templates and it provides ideas, starter text, formatting, and organization
for your presentation.
Procedure
On the startup dialog box that appears when you start PowerPoint, select the AutoContent wizard option,
then choose OK. -OR- On the File menu, choose New. Click the General tab, and then double-click
AutoContent wizard.
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(a). The 1st screen describes the process (on the right). Click on the Next button.
(b). The 2nd screen – Presentation type – offers a variety of layouts for different purposes.
1. Select the type of presentation you are going to create, e.g., General, Corporate, Projects,
Sales/Marketing, etc.
2. Select the option you want to use from the list given on the right.
3. Click on the Next button.
(c). The 3rd screen – Presentation Style – offers a list where you are required to choose the type of
output that you want to use.
1. Select On-screen presentation, Web presentation, Black and White Overheads, Color overheads
or 35mm Slides.
2. Click on the Next button.
(d). The 4th screen – Presentation Options – provides boxes where to enter information about your topic
and yourself.
1. Click in the box and type the title for your presentation.
2. Type any additional information (or select the items to include on each slide), then click on the
Next button.
(e). The last screen simply tells you that the wizard has completed its work.
1. Click on the Finish button.
(2).When you finish with the wizard, PowerPoint displays the outline with a thumbnail representation
according to what you have included during the sequences. You can add your own words and pictures to
the sample presentation and then displays it in Normal View.
(3).If you like, you can work from Normal view, or you can switch to Slide view by clicking the Slide
View button at the lower left of the screen. Slide View will enable you to add other objects like pictures,
drawings, sounds, etc, to your slides.
(4).Use the scroll bar to move to other slides, and continue to type your text in place of the sample text.
(5).You can delete any extra slides that you do not need for the presentation.
Purpose
√ One can create a presentation in order to convey certain ideas in an organized manner, e.g., the
launching of a product.
If the presenter has a general idea about what is to be said, then he/she can open or start with a blank
presentation.
1. In the PowerPoint startup dialog box, select Blank Presentation, then click OK.
-OR-
If you are already working in PowerPoint, select New from the File menu to display the New
Presentation dialog box.
Select the General tab, click on the Blank Presentation icon, then click OK.
2. From the New Slide dialog box that appears, select a slide layout from the 24 ready-made slide
layouts displayed.
3. Click OK.
Depending on the layout chosen, a blank slide with text or object placeholders appears.
4. To add text to the slide, click on the text placeholder and type in your own text.
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Add a sub-title to the presentation, if necessary.
5. Apply any formatting that is appropriate for your needs.
Purpose
√ Usually, most presentations have more than one slide, and as such, you may want to create or add new
slides to your presentation.
The New Slide dialog box appears. Scroll to see more layouts
2. Choose the slide layout you would like to use for the next slide, then click on the OK button.
A new empty slide is added after the current slide in Slide View.
Add the content you want for each new slide.
From the Status bar, you can know the total number of sliders there are in the presentation.
Purpose
√ PowerPoint has six views that help you to view or work on your presentations in different ways.
The View buttons are usually located at the bottom left of the presentation window. The different views are:
Normal view.
Slide view.
Slide Sorter view.
Outline view.
Notes Pages view.
Slide show.
The main views you use in PowerPoint are Normal view, Slide view, and Slide Sorter view.
To switch between the different views, click on the View buttons at the bottom of the screen,
-OR-
Select one of the options from the View menu.
Normal View
Normal View simultaneously displays the Slide, Outline, and Notes views in their own, allowing you to see
everything at once.
These panes let you work on all aspects of your presentation in one place. You can adjust the size of the
different panes by dragging the pane border.
In the Outline pane, you can organize and develop the content of your presentation. You can type all the
text of your presentation and rearrange bullet points, paragraphs, and slides.
In the Slide pane, you can see how your text looks on each slide. You can add graphics, movies, and sounds
create hyperlinks and add animations to individual slides.
In the Notes pane, you can add your speaker notes or information you want to share with the audience.
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Slide View
Slide view is the default view when you open or create a presentation.
In Slide view, you can work with the text in your presentation one slide at a time.
Outline View
Outline view allows you to see all the titles, text, etc of the entire presentation in a single window.
In the Outline view, the text appears exactly the way it appears when you work with Microsoft Word, i.e.,
you can see how your main points flow from slide to slide.
In Outline view, each slide is numbered. A Slide icon appears to the left of each slide’s title. The text
below each Slide title is indented. This is the same text contained in that particular slide.
In Outline view, you can edit the text, add and delete slides, move text between slides and change the order
of the slides themselves.
You can type in, view or edit the text for all your slides at once. To type in text, position the cursor, type in
the text, and the press the ENTER key.
Use the buttons on the Slide Sorter toolbar to set timings for a slide show and transition effects when
moving from slide to slide.
Slide Show
Slide Show view displays slides on the entire screen the way the audience will view the final presentation.
Purpose
√ When you want to use or apply a different design to the slides in a presentation.
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Saving a Presentation
Purpose
√ The work done is currently stored only in the computer memory; to save your work for further use you
must save the presentation.
You can save the presentation you are working on. You can also save a copy of it with a different name or
in a different location.
You can save any presentation in a Web format, such as HTML so that it can be viewed and used on the
Internet.
You can also save a presentation so that whenever you open it, it always starts as a slide show.
Note. A typical PowerPoint presentation has a .ppt filename extension, while a file saved as a slide show
has a .pps extension.
Purpose
√ You close PowerPoint when you want to exit from the application.
Exercise.
1. What type of software is Microsoft PowerPoint?
2. Give examples of situations where you can use PowerPoint presentations.
3. Give TWO ways in which you can create a PowerPoint presentation.
4. Explain the difference between Slide view and Normal view.
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Inserting a Chart
Purpose
√ A chart allows you graphically display data that is contained in a table or spreadsheet.
√ Charts help in summarizing information in graphical form, and thereby make the information easier to
understand.
Note. You can also insert a chart by clicking on the Insert Chart button on the toolbar or by choosing
Insert Chart from the Insert menu.
4. Type in a title for the slide, and then double-click the Chart placeholder.
5. PowerPoint starts Microsoft Graph, which is the application used to create and edit charts.
A datasheet and chart window will appear, and they contain default data, which can be replaced with
your own data.
6. Using the datasheet, enter the data for the chart and then close the datasheet.
In a datasheet, you can select an individual cell, a range of cells, or an entire row or column when you want
to work with selected data.
To select: Do this:
A cell Point to the cell and click
A range of cells Hold down the SHIFT key, then click the first and
last cells of the range that you want to select.
A row or column Click the row number or column name
Note. The View Datasheet button is a ‘toggle’ button. This means that, when the datasheet is on the screen,
clicking on this button will hide it from view; whereas if the datasheet is hidden, clicking on it will make it
appear.
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Changing and Formatting a Chart
Purpose
√ After creating a chart, you can select a new type of chart that will better suit the data, or format your
chart type to achieve the results you want.
A chart gallery allows you change your chart type and then automatically format the chart.
For example;
To format the legend, click on the legend, and select Format Legend from the Format menu.
Alternatively, select the legend and then click the right mouse button, then choose Format Legend.
This option changes depending on what part of the chart has been selected.
3. From the Format dialog box that appears, choose the desired option.
This will exclude data from your chart without deleting it from the datasheet. The excluded row or column
turns gray in the datasheet and that data series is excluded from the chart.
When you want to include the data again in the chart, click Include Row/Column.
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THE CLIP GALLERY
The Microsoft Clip Gallery contains a wide variety of Clip Art images, pictures, sounds, video clips and
movies that you can insert and use in your presentation. It is in the Clip Gallery where we choose the
images to use in the presentations.
Purpose
√ When you incorporate the appropriate Clip Art image, your presentation will look much better, and also
easy to understand.
You can insert ClipArt pictures from the Clip Gallery or you can insert a scanned photo.
1. Open the slide you want to add ClipArt picture to.
2. On the Insert menu, select Picture, then click Clip Art.
3. In the Categories dialog box that appears, select the category of Clip Art pictures, e.g., Nature.
A preview of images appears for that category.
4. In the Pictures list box, select the picture you want to use.
When you rest the mouse over the picture, you will see keywords, which help you to identify the
purpose or message of the Clip Art picture.
5. Click Insert clip on the menu that appears to insert the Clip Art picture in the slide.
Note. When you insert a picture (or click on a picture), the Picture toolbar appears with tools you can use
to change the brightness or contrast of the picture or to crop, recolor or add a border to it.
Note. You can also resize an object by dragging its resize handles. However, the Scale command is used to
resize an object numerically.
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Cropping the Picture
This option is used when you need only a portion of a picture in your presentation. You can trim portions of
a picture, so that you don’t see all of it. Basically, the original picture is not altered in any way.
Photos are often cropped to focus attention on a particular area of the photo.
1. Click on the picture that you want to crop.
2. From the Picture toolbar that is displayed, click the Crop button.
The pointer changes to a cropping tool.
3. Position the center of the cropping tool on any of the resize handles and drag to achieve the required
size.
4. Click a blank area to deselect the picture.
Purpose
√ You can insert other types of objects like Microsoft Word tables, Excel worksheets or charts, WordArt
objects, scanned photographs or other applications into PowerPoint.
1. Click on the New Slide button, and select the Table Layout option from the Apply slide layout
gallery.
2. Double-click on the Table placeholder.
OR
Note. Once the table is inserted, you can perform all sorts of functions on it like sorting, calculations,
enhancing, aligning text and numbers, and so on.
Purpose
√ To add drawings and modify them in order to enhance the look and content of the presentation.
You can draw objects such as squares, rectangles, polygons, lines, ellipses, textboxes, or even combine
different shapes. These are referred to as AutoShapes.
The drawing can be on a blank slide on its own, or it can be included as part of another slide.
1. Select the drawing tool from the Drawing toolbar.
To get a wider selection of drawing tools/ shapes, click on the AutoShapes button.
2. Click on any of the buttons. The mouse pointer changes to a plus (+) symbol.
3. Drag the plus pointer to the slide in order to draw the object desired.
4. When you finish drawing an object, it is automatically selected. The fill handles indicate that the
drawing is selected.
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Tips.
To draw a proportional object, hold down the SHIFT or CTRL key while you draw.
For example,
- To draw a perfect square or circle, select the rectangle or the oval tool, hold down the SHIFT key as
you drag.
- To draw an object from the center outwards, hold down the CTRL key while you draw.
Rotating a Drawing
You can rotate an object 90 degrees to the left or right or to any other angle.
It is possible to rotate one object, a set of objects, or a group of objects. If you rotate an AutoShape that has
attached text, the text rotates with the shape.
You can ‘ungroup’ a group of objects at any time, and you can easily ‘regroup’ them by selecting any one of
the objects that was previously grouped.
To Group Objects
1. Select the objects you want to group. To do this, Hold down the SHIFT key, then click on each of the
objects.
2. On the AutoShapes toolbar, click on the Draw button, then choose Group.
-OR-
Right-click inside the selection, point to Grouping, then click Group.
To Ungroup Objects
1. In Slide view, select the group you want to ungroup.
2. On the AutoShapes toolbar, click on the Draw button, then choose Ungroup.
Exercise
1. What do you understand by the term ‘Scaling a picture’?
2. What are the reasons for grouping objects?
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Animating Slide Text and Objects
Purpose.
√ Animation effects are usually added to slides to add interest to the presentation.
√ They also assist the presenter to control the flow of information and to focus on important points.
Slide Objects refers to all other objects like drawing, ClipArt pictures, charts, tables, etc that are included in
the slides.
Animation effects are special visual effects or sound effects that are added to text or objects on a slide, e.g.,
Fly from Top, Wipe left, etc.
Animating Slide text and objects means adding special visual effects or even sound effects to text or an
object on a slide. For example, you can have the text appear one word, or letter at a time from the top of the
screen.
To display the Animation Effects toolbar, right-click inside the toolbars, then select the Animation
Effects toolbar.
2. Using the Animation Effects toolbar, you can quickly apply preset Animation effects to your slides.
Some of the effects include; the Typewriter effect, Flash once, Camera effect, Drive-in effect, etc.
3. Click on the effect that you would like to apply to the text on the slide.
Microsoft PowerPoint places an animation symbol below the selected slide. This shows you that the
text in that slide is animated.
4. To apply other Animation effects that are not shown on the Animation Effects toolbar, click the Text
Preset Animation box on the Slide Sorter toolbar. From the drop-down list, choose the effect that
you want to apply, e.g., Fly from Top.
5. To view the animations applied, click the Slide Show button.
Click the mouse button to proceed from one point to another or from slide to slide.
Note. To animate the title, click the Animate Title button found on the Animation Effects toolbar.
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Animating Slide Objects
It is possible to animate objects on a slide just like text.
For objects with text, you can either animate the text in the object or animate the text and object together.
When you animate the text in an object, the object remains unaffected.
1. Switch to Slide view, and select the slide that contains the objects you want to apply the animation
effects to.
2. Select the shapes or objects that you want to animate.
3. From the Animation Effects toolbar, choose Custom Animation.
4. Choose the settings you want.
5. Preview the animation set by clicking on the Preview button, and then click on OK.
Purpose
√ A Slide Transition is a special visual effect that is used to introduce a slide during a slide show. Slide
transitions are usually added to slides to create added impact to a presentation.
Examples of slide transitions include effects like Wipe Down, Box in, Cut, Checkerboard Across,
Dissolve, Fade Out, Cover Down, etc.
√ Slide Timing refers to the length of time a slide appears on the screen. If you don’t want to manually
move through a slide show by clicking the mouse, you can set the length of time a slide appears on the
screen. This allows the presenter to be in control of time during a presentation.
OR
1. If you are in Slide view, open the Slide Show menu, then choose Slide Transition.
2. In the Effect box, select the transition you want.
3. Change the transition speed if necessary.
4. Click on Apply. If you want to apply the transition to all the slides, click on Apply to All.
Note. Microsoft PowerPoint places a transition symbol below the selected slide. This shows you that the
slide has a transition effect.
(i). By setting the time manually for each slide, and then run the slide show and view the timings you set.
(ii). By using the rehearsal feature, where you can record timings automatically as you rehearse.
You can also adjust the timings you’ve already set and then rehearse the new ones.
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3. Under Advance, click Automatically after, and then type in the time you want the slide to appear
on the screen.
4. To apply the timing to the selected slides, click Apply. To apply the timing to all the slides, click
Apply to All.
5. Repeat the process for each slide you want to set the timing for.
6. To view the timings, click Slide Show.
Note. In Slide Show, clicking a mouse always advances a slide, even if the timing set has not yet elapsed.
1. On the Slide Show menu or toolbar, click Rehearse Timings. The Slide Show begins in rehearsal
mode and the Rehearsal dialog box appears at the bottom of the screen.
The slide time begins running as soon as the first slide appears.
2. Click the Next button () on the dialog box as soon as you are ready to go to the next slide.
3. When you reach the end of the slide show, a dialog box appears showing you the total time for the
slide show.
4. Click Yes to accept the timings or No to try again.
5. You can click the Repeat button to restart the process if the slide timings are not appropriate for your
purposes.
Note. As with animations and transitions, you can see the slide timings for the slides when in Slide Sorter
view.
Purpose.
√ Speaker Notes are the notes that a presenter uses as ‘cue cards’ or reminders in the course of giving a
slide show.
These notes are usually printed and they help the presenter to remember key points during a
presentation.
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Each slide has a notes page that includes a smaller version (miniature) of the slide and space for speaker
notes.
You can create notes pages while you are creating your presentation and then use them as speaker notes
when delivering the presentation.
2. Click inside the Notes box, and then type in your notes for the current slide.
3. To enlarge the view of the Notes box, click the Zoom box and choose a suitable size.
4. Use the scroll bar to move to other slides you want to add notes to.
Purpose
√ A Master is a special slide or page on which you define formatting for all slides or pages in your
presentation.
A Slide Master is the slide that holds information such as; Text, Pictures, background items or any
special formatting which you want to appear on every slide in a presentation.
If you make a change to the Slide Master, the change affects all the slides in your presentation based on
the Master.
1. To display the Slide Master, on the View menu, select Master, and then click Slide Master.
The Slide Master appears showing the different areas of the slide, e.g., the title, date, footer, and number
areas as well as the text area.
2. You can use the Slide Master to format the title and the main text on your slides including fonts, size,
color, etc.
If you would like to have a picture or object appear on every slide, add the object to the Slide Master.
You can also create other types of masters in the same way. These include:
- Title masters
- Handout masters
- Notes masters
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6. All the slides will have the formatting specified in the Slide Master, together with the Footer,
drawing, page number, etc.
Exercise.
1. What is the difference between Animation effects and Transition effects on a slide?
2. a. What is a Slide Master?
b. What kind of information is usually included on a Slide Master?
3. a. What are Speaker Notes?
b. In what view can you type in Speaker Notes?
Organization Charts
An Organization chart is a diagram showing/describing the hierarchy of staff in an organization, or the
flow of a process.
Like a family tree, it needs to be reviewed from time to time since changes like expansions or mergers may
take place.
Organization charts may also be used to illustrate processes or procedures in an organization, or to draw
flowcharts, etc.
There are different types of organization charts, but the most common are; Vertical and Horizontal
organization charts or a combination of the two.
Purpose
√ To show relationships between staff and departments.
√ To define lines of authority and responsibility in an organization, etc.
1. Open the presentation for which you want to add an organization chart.
Method 1:
i. Display the slide you want to add an organization chart to in Normal view or Slide view.
ii. On the Insert menu, point to Picture, and then click Organization Chart.
Method 2:
i. Click the New Slide button. This opens the New Slide dialog box.
ii. From the Apply slide layout gallery, click to select the Organization Chart layout.
iii. Click OK.
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Regardless of the method you use, a blank new slide appears with a placeholder for the organization
chart.
2. Double-click on the placeholder in order to insert the organization chart. This starts the Microsoft
Organization Chart application.
An organization chart is displayed in the window and it has two levels. The top level of the chart is open
and ready for you to enter your information. This information is usually typed into a Chart Box.
You can use the Up or Down arrow keys to move between the placeholder text lines. After entering
all the text in the chart, you can modify the chart to meet your specific needs.
2. Select and click inside the chart box you want to attach the new level.
3. If you want to delete the chart box, select it, and then press the Delete key.
Purpose
√ To change the style or structure of an organization chart. E.g., some people or companies favour a
horizontal chart as opposed to a vertical one.
√ Editing may also involve rearranging the chart boxes. This can achieved by moving some chart boxes to
different locations or deleting some chart boxes.
This action is be necessitated when, for example, someone changes jobs or leaves the organization; or
when new people join the organization.
√ You can also edit the text in the chart title, chart boxes and text labels.
To edit or format a chart box or chart title, the chart title or chart box must be selected first.
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To select a Chart box
- Click inside an individual box to select one box.
To select more boxes, click the Edit menu, choose a command from the Select submenu such as All,
All Managers, Lowest Level, etc.
Purpose.
√ All elements of the organization chart can be formatted. These include; the chart title, chart boxes, the
connecting lines, etc.
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Add a connecting line to the Organization Chart
Sometimes you may want to show a unique relationship between chart boxes in your organization chart, that
is currently not represented. Usually, a dotted line can be used to indicate that the manager has some
measure of authority over the subordinate, but the exact nature of that authority is not usually indicated in
the chart.
Note. You can draw other types of lines like horizontal or vertical lines, diagonal lines or even rectangles
by using the other buttons on the drawing toolbar.
Purpose.
√ Microsoft Organization Chart is the program that enables us create, edit or format an organization
chart in PowerPoint. Therefore, if we want to continue using PowerPoint for creating other slides, we
need to exit from this program.
1. On the File menu, Click Exit and Return to ‘Presentation’ or choose Close and Return to
‘Presentation’.
A dialog box appears prompting you to update the object in a certain presentation before proceeding.
2. Click the Yes button to update your presentation.
This will ensure that the chart, and any changes made to it, are updated in your slide.
3. Click on a blank area to deselect the chart object.
Printing a presentation
Purpose
√ You can print slides from a presentation when you want to get hard copies of them. In addition, you can
also print speaker notes, audience handouts, outlines, etc.
1. When printing a colour presentation on a Black & White printer, it is advisable to first preview the
slides in either grayscale (i.e., showing all the shades of gray) or in pure black & white before
printing, in order to ensure that what you are printing is going to be legible.
You may also have used some dark text against a shaded background, which when printed may not
be legible at all.
To preview and change how slides will look like when printed in black and white:
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To preview the slides in grayscale or in pure black and white, or in color, click Color/Grayscale
button on the Standard toolbar, then choose the option.
The slide switches from colour to Black and White or Grayscale view depending on the options
chosen.
Note. You can change more than one object at a time. Hold down the SHIFT while you click
each object and then click an option.
You can also mix black-and-white options on the same slide.
Presentation Tips
Purpose
√ An effective presentation is well prepared and carefully planned.
An effective presentation is more than just slides that contain text and shapes. It often combines text,
shapes, charts, colour, and sometimes sound or movies to produce a successful communication tool.
This is due to the fact that, most people retain 40% - 50% more information when they see and hear
simultaneously rather than from just listening.
Simplicity: - Good presentations are simple and to the point. They are not long-winded and boring or
complicated. They are easy for the speaker to present and easy for the audience to understand.
A long-winded and complex presentation usually ends up confusing the audience contrary to expectations.
Visuals: - Good presentations make use of a lot of visuals, i.e., graphics, pictures, ClipArt, charts, and so
on. These generally serve the purpose of:
1. Attracting attention to the pertinent (important/relevant) points of a presentation.
2. Helping relieve stress and ‘eye fatigue’ from too much reading.
3. Making your presentation more interesting.
4. A visual can tell the audience much more about the subject matter than a slide full of text. In other
words, “A picture says more than a thousand words”.
Colour: - A good presentation usually has a lot of colour. Compared to a black and white presentation, a
colour presentation attracts a lot of attention.
However, the use of colour must be judicious (sensible / well judged), otherwise, the presentation will end
up being overly ‘colourful’ and too flashy.
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Creating an Effective Presentation
Having determined the characteristics of an effective presentation, the next logical step is to create the
presentation using the tools covered in this package.
There are THREE steps that need to be followed in order to create an effective presentation.
Planning
Preparing
Execution
A. Planning a Presentation.
You need to develop an overall plan for your presentation before you begin writing it down. Organize the
entire presentation in your mind and sketch the outline of your presentation on paper.
Message
This is the most important part of your presentation. It is important for the presenter to know the subject
well.
Therefore, define the purpose of the presentation and plan your main points carefully, focusing on essentials.
Also, set goals you want to be achieved by the end of the presentation.
In PowerPoint, you can create an outline from scratch using Outline view or you can choose a Sample
Outline using the AutoContent wizard. Some of the samples include; Financial Report, Business Plan,
Launching a Product, General, etc.
Style
The style can be formal or informal. This depends on the intended audience. It is important that you do a
background study of the make up of your audience before you decide on the style. Also, choose a style that
compliments your audience.
Length
Determine the amount of time or duration you have to present your presentation. This will assist in
developing and coming up with the right number of slides. For instance, it does not make sense to have a
large number of slides for a 10-minute presentation; neither does it make sense to have too few slides.
The recommended length for a presentation is 30 minutes or less. If your presentation is going to last more
than that, provide a break halfway through for the audience.
Output
This should reflect the presentation style. Some recommendations or preferences are:
- Black and White overheads for informal presentations.
- Colour overheads for a formal meeting.
- 35-mm slides for professional meetings where computers are not available.
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Related Materials
They are an important part of the presentation. These include materials like audience handouts, notes pages
and speaker’s notes.
Having considered all the above aspects of a presentation, the end product of the planning stage should be a
Sketch or a rough outline for the presentation.
Layout Design
The layout design should be simple, contrasting and consistent. For a conservative image, use simple color
lines and borders, whereas for a flashy style use flashy colours, curves and shapes.
Keep all textual matter brief and include graphics whenever possible.
Designing Visuals
The Type, Style and Placement of the visuals should compliment the content. For example, use bulleted
lists, charts, drawings, tables, worksheets, ClipArt or pictures where appropriate.
Incorporate appropriate transition effects, build effects, etc and add speaker’s notes to your presentation.
Finally, run through the presentation and re-sequence the slides as needed.
Equipment
- Before the actual presentation, ensure that audio-visual equipment such as, Projectors are functioning
properly.
- Ensure that there is proper focus of visuals, e.g., the overhead projector screen being used should be
well positioned and in full view for all the audience.
- Practice using the machines or equipment in advance at the venue to familiarize yourself with them.
Audience
- Involve the audience in the presentation. This can be done by:
Asking questions and inviting questions from the audience.
Timing the presentation and pausing at appropriate stops to allow for discussion, etc.
- Invite and act on feedback. Feedback from the audience can be verbal or non-verbal.
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Voice/Mannerisms
- Make effective use of voice. Use a moderate voice; do not use a voice that is too loud or too soft.
Also, vary the tone in your voice to capture interest.
- Avoid distracting mannerisms like twiddling fingers, picking your nose or teeth in public, throwing
your hands about, etc. These can actually end up offending or putting off the audience.
Rehearse
- Rehearse the presentation with yourself as the audience.
- Rehearse with a friendly audience in the actual venue.
- Time yourself.
Purpose
√ When you want to run a slide show on another computer, you can use the Pack and Go wizard.
The wizard “packages” together, on a disk, all the files and fonts used in the presentation.
√ When you intend to run your show on a computer that doesn’t have PowerPoint installed, it also
packages the PowerPoint Viewer on the disk.
√ You can also pack a presentation in order to compress it.
1. Open the presentation you want to save on a disk.
2. On the File menu, click Pack and Go.
3. In the 1st step, select the files that you would like to pack. Then click on Next.
4. Choose the destination for the file. This can be the A: drive or even a folder on the hard disk
itself. Click on Next.
5. Choose whether linked files and true type fonts should be included in your presentation.
In a presentation file, some of the information or objects are contained in a different file. The
presentation file is referred to as the Destination file, whereas the other file is known as the
Source file. If the files are such that whenever the information in the source file is updated, then
the information in the destination file is also updated, then the files are referred to as Linked
files.
6. Click on Next.
7. Depending on whether the destination computer has PowerPoint Viewer installed or not, select
the relevant option and click on Next.
8. Click on Finish.
9. Click OK.
The presentation is now ‘packed’ and can be used on a different computer.
Tip. If you make changes to your presentation after using the Pack and Go wizard, just run the wizard
again to update it.
Unpacking a Presentation
Purpose
√ When you want to run a slide show on another computer.
√ You may also want to run a slide show on a computer that does not have PowerPoint installed using the
PowerPoint Viewer on the disk.
However, before ‘unpacking’ a presentation, you must have used the Pack and Go wizard to package
your presentation.
1. In Windows Explorer program, open the folder in which you packed the presentation. If you
had packed the presentation to a floppy disk, insert the disk into the drive.
The compressed file has the extension .ppz. Such files cannot be opened from the Explorer
window until they have been extracted (unpacked).
2. In Windows Explorer, go to the drive where the disk is located.
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3. Double-click on the file [Link].
4. Type in the name or location of the destination folder you want to copy the presentation to.
5. Click OK.
To run the slide show, in Windows Explorer, double-click the PowerPoint Viewer (Ppview32), and then
click the presentation you want to run.
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