MICROSOFT POWERPOINT

MS PowerPoint

PowerPoint is a full featured presentation program that allows you to present ideas with text, graphics, sounds, video and animation.

A presentation can be a collection of slides relating to a specific topic, which may be shown while the topic is discussed on a continuous show.

With PowerPoint, you can easily create slideshows. Trainers and other presenters use slide shows to illustrate their presentation. From the presentation slides, handouts, speaker notes or outlines can also be prepared.

PowerPoint contains graphics tools and many kinds of pictures and graphs to be imported.   

The PowerPoint window:

You use PowerPoint window to interact with it. Features of the PowerPoint window include;

·        The Microsoft office button

·        The Quick Access Toolbar

·        The Title bar

·        The ribbon

·        Rulers

·        Slides, placeholders and notes

·        Status bar, tabs, views buttons etc.

You create a PowerPoint presentation on slides. You use layouts to organize the content on each slide. PowerPoint has several slide layouts to choose from.

Themes are sets of colours, fonts and special effects; you can add themes and backgrounds to your slides.

MS PowerPoint terms

Slide: this is a single page of the presentation

Presentation: It is a document created in PowerPoint

Title Slide: this the slide that introduces the presentation

Slide Master: controls the appearance of all the other slides. It also helps to keep consistency in style and formatting

Slide layout: this is the way text and objects are displayed on the slide, there are several types of slide layouts

Slide Transition: This is the visual motion when one slide changes to the next during presentation

Animation: Rapid display of a sequence of images or text to create an illusion of movement

Handouts: printed material given to the audience before the presentation

Promote: Raises a paragraph to a higher level

Demote: Paragraph that is indented or pushed down to a lower level

Theme: Also referred as the design template. It provides consistency in design and colour throughout the entire presentation.

Speaker notes: material to help the person giving the presentation

Header and footer: Text that appear at the top of notes and handouts and also at the bottom of each slide respectively

Factors to consider before creating a presentation

·        Topic – know and research well on the topic to be presented

·        Audience – know your audience, age and professional group

·        Duration – how much time given on the presentation

·        Location – survey area to deliver presentation in advance to familiarize oneself

PowerPoint Views

Slide View: Shows a single slide, you work on a single slide at a time. In this view the user has access to all the tools.

Outline View: Shows all titles and body text. You can move slides around and edit text. It shows only the text-only version of the presentation.

Slide Sorter: Shows miniature of each slide. You can drag slides around the screen to reposition them. You can also select and copy multiple slides.

Notes View: lets the user create speaker notes. Each page corresponds to a slide on each presentation. You can draw, type or link text in this view.

Slide show: Used to run the show on full screen

Types of navigation in slide show

1.     Forward navigation – press enter key, down, right arrow keys or click mouse

2.     Reverse navigation – use back space key, left, upper arrow keys

3.     Exiting the show – click mouse at the last slide or press ESC key

PowerPoint printing options

Print range: Select all to print all slides in the presentation, Current slide prints only current slide or enter slide numbers in the slides’ field to print only certain slides.

Copies: Enter the number of copies needed of each slide specified in the print range

Print What?

    Slides: prints a full page slide on each page

    Handouts: prints as many slides as you designate on each page

    Notes page: prints one slide with that slides’ notes on each page

    Outline view: prints the text-only version of the presentations

Presentation tips

1.     Use key phrases about your topic

2.     Research and know your topic well

3.     Avoid using too much text on the slide

4.     Limit the number of slides

5.     Use animations and transitions sparingly

6.     Avoid fancy fonts

7.     Use contrasting colours for your text and background

8.     Use themes to keep the look of the presentation consistency

9.     Remember layout of your slides is important

Giving the presentation

1.     Test run the presentation with all the equipment

2.     Review topic before beginning presentation

3.     Maintain eye contact with audience

4.     Keep the lights on as much as possible

5.     Keep the presentation as interactive as possible

6.     Do not read the visual to your audience

7.     Control with visual use colour, reveal one point at a time

8.     Review what has been covered to end the presentation

Tips for better presentations

1.     Design

·        Keep the design clean and uncluttered

·        Leave empty space around text and graphics

·        Limit the number of transitions used

2.     Colours

·        Limit the colours on a single screen

·        Avoid extremely bright colours, pink, neon, lime green

·        Do not combine red/green, yellow/purple, blue/orange

3.     Background

·        The background should never distract the background

·        Use background that is light coloured with dark text

·        Colours appear light when projected

·        Consider changing the background design when transitioning to a new topic

4.     Text

·        Use one or two font styles

·        Too much text makes text unreadable

·        Don’t use all caps

·        Don’t use more than 6– 8 words per line

·        Use a title on each slide 35 – 45 point font size

5.     Graphics

·        Use clear simple visuals – don’t confuse audience

·        Use graphics to make a key concept clearer

·        Use same style of graphics on throughout your presentation

·        Use quality photographs or clipart

·        Let the picture or graphics tell the story

6.     Multimedia

·        Sounds, animations and transitions effects can sometimes be annoying

·        Animation effects can add interest to the presentation when used in moderation

·        You can insert video and audio clips in PowerPoint

7.     Charts

·        Charts and graphs should be clearly labeled

·        Keep charts simple – don’t show minute details

·        Use only enough text to clearly label the graphics

8.     Giving the presentation

·        Do not read slides to your audience

·        Summarize your main points

·        Leave time for questions and answers at the end

·        Practice your presentation so you can speak from bullet points

·        Maintain eye contact with your audience

·        Give a brief overview at the beginning, then present the information, finally, summarize the main points

After reading this post you should be an excellent presenter to your audience.