Step away from the bullet point
and visualise your presentations
Using this guide
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Contents
What frustrates audiences about PowerPoint presentations? ........................................................... 2
Further web resources................................................................................................................... 2
Set up the story................................................................................................................................. 2
Use sections to organise your slides into groups ............................................................................... 3
Visualise your slides .......................................................................................................................... 3
Where to find images .................................................................................................................... 4
Inserting an image ........................................................................................................................ 4
Tips for working with images ........................................................................................................ 4
Inserting a text box ....................................................................................................................... 4
Insert a chart ................................................................................................................................. 5
Insert a SmartArt diagram............................................................................................................. 6
All about handouts ............................................................................................................................ 7
What should handouts consist of? ................................................................................................. 7
Default handouts in PowerPoint ................................................................................................... 7
More powerful PowerPoint handouts............................................................................................ 8
Creating and printing notes pages................................................................................................. 8
Sending handouts to Word ........................................................................................................... 8
Package your presentation ............................................................................................................... 9
Tips for delivering your PowerPoint presentation ......................................................................... 9
Further resources ............................................................................................................................ 10
IT Skills@UCLan
Learning and Information Services
 [email protected]
 www.uclan.ac.uk/itskills
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What frustrates audiences about PowerPoint presentations?
When you prepare to deliver your next PowerPoint presentation, your audience should be first on
your list of considerations. Unfortunately, too many presenters frustrate their audiences. An online
survey of people who regularly see PowerPoint presentations revealed the following top
annoyances (item and what percentage of the respondents cited that item as one of their top three
annoyances):
The speaker reads the slides to us
72.0%
Test so small I couldn’t read it
50.6%
Full sentences instead of bullet points
48.4%
Overly complex diagrams
30.8%
Poor colour choice
25.8%
Moving/flying text or graphics
24.8%
http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com
Video – Good presentation design
Video – Choosing the right colours
Video – Choosing the right fonts
Video – Using the less is more principle
Further web resources
The five most common PowerPoint mistakes
Presentation Zen – what is good PowerPoint design
PowerPoint slides - Before and after
Set up the story
Creating a storyboard for your presentation helps you manage the big picture of your presentation
so that no individual slide detracts from your primary message. Simply use Post-it notes, or use
PowerPoint's storyboarding capabilities:



Slide Sorter view Click View, and then click Slide Sorter. In this view, you can see the
complete story as a sequence of thumbnail images that flow evenly from one slide to the
next.
Notes Page view Click View, click Master, and then click Notes Master. View a specific
slide at any point in the flow of the presentation while you write out the words that you'll
speak when you display that slide.
Normal view Click View, and then click Normal. In this view, you can add a visual element
to each of the slides in the storyboard.
Video – Creating a storyboard
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Use sections to organise your slides into groups
Much like you would use folders to organise your files, you can use sections to organize your slides
into meaningful groups, especially useful if you are working collaboratively with others.
1. To add a section, right-click between the two slides where you want to add a section, and
then click Add Section.
2. To rename an existing section, right-click the Untitled Section, and click Rename Section.
Enter a meaningful name for the section, and then click Rename.
3. On the View tab, click Slide Sorter. In Slide Sorter view, you’ll see thumbnails of all the
slides organized into sections.
Visualise your slides
“The more strikingly visual your presentation is, the more people will remember it. And more
importantly, they will remember you.”1
PowerPoint slides should help us to gain and hold the audience’s attention; they should provide
supplementary information and visual impact rather than be there to remind us of what to say.
They should help us to:
 engage in communication
 convey complex ideas and relationships
 place ideas into (our audience’s) short term memory
 interact with our audience
If we do want our audience to have lots of text, we can create handouts and keep our slides simple.
Before
After
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Arden, Paul in Reynolds, Garr (2012) Presentation Zen: Simple ideas on presentation design and delivery, 2nd
Ed, Pearson Education, Berkley
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Where to find images
Images are a powerful and direct way of communicating our message. The best ones are generally
found online (avoid Microsoft Clipart!) and will usually cost a small amount, such as
www.iStockphoto.com. You can also find free (and royalty free) photos on Flickr:
1. Go to www.flickr.com
2. Search by keyword (top right of screen)
3. At the top of the search results, change the License to
Creative Commons only
4. Click on image to select and download (check file sizes, if you
want to cover an entire slide you will need a large image)
Inserting an image
1.
2.
3.
4.
Go to the Insert tab
In the images group, choose pictures
Browse to where you have saved your chosen image
Select the image and click Insert
Tips for working with images



Always use the corner handles to resize an image
Use high quality, high resolution images in a suitable size (don’t simply stretch things to fit –
they will distort and blur)
Keep things simple and try not to get carried away with styles, glows and shadows
Please note: Some of the videos below refer to Keynote rather than PowerPoint but the principles
(i.e. which images to use and how to use them) are the same.
Clipart is no longer available in Microsoft products.
Video – Choosing the right images
Video – Using images as background
Video – Adding pictures
Video – Aligning objects using guides
Video – What are focal points?
Video – Creating image focal points
Inserting a text box
1. Go to the Insert tab
2. Choose Text Box and draw your text box on the slide
3. With your text box selected, go to the Text Box Tools tab to change specific elements, for
example:
 change the outline or fill colour
 bring the text box forward (e.g. in front of an image)
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Insert a chart
1. Go to the Insert tab
2. Choose Chart and select the appropriate chart for your
data
3. Enter your categories and series data into the data
sheet (you can remove/add both series and categories
by dragging the lines around the data)
4. Close the data sheet
To change the chart layout:
1. Click on any area of a chart to activate the Chart Tools
tabs
2. Click on the Layout tab and then use the available
buttons to change the way elements of the chart are
displayed, or click the relevant quick tools
To add titles to a chart:
1. Click on any area of an existing chart to activate the
Chart Tools tabs
2. On the Layout tab, click Chart Title or Axis Titles and
then choose an appropriate title position
To change the horizontal or vertical axes:
1. Click on the Layout tab and then click on the Axes
button
2. Select the axis you wish to modify
3. Make appropriate selections from the menu or axis
dialog box
To edit or select chart data:
1. Click anywhere in an existing chart
2. Under Chart Tools select Design and then click on Select Data or Edit Data
3. Make any changes and then close the worksheet to return to the chart
To format elements of a chart using the Format tab:
1. Select the element you wish to format
2. Click on the Format tab under Chart Tools
3. Use any of the available formatting options to change the appearance of the selected
element
To change the fill of a selected chart element:
1. Select the chart element
2. Click on the Format tab and then click the Fill button
Alternatively, you can right mouse click on the element and then choose Format from the
shortcut menu.
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To create a pie chart:
1. Insert a new slide based on the Title and Content layout
2. Click on the Insert Chart icon, select Pie from the chart list and then an option from the subtypes list and click OK
To change the chart type:
1. Click anywhere within the chart
2. Click on the Design tab and click the Change Chart Type button
3. Select a new chart type and sub-type and then click OK
Tips for working with charts
 Double clicking on a chart element will open the formatting pane with options for the
element, for example, double click on a bar to see series options such as change gap width
 Create a focal point of the data you want your audience to remember, e.g. select one bar
(maybe the highest value) and recolour it in the formatting pane
 Keep charts as simple as possible – avoid glows, shadows, blurs and too much text. Check
Hubspot Blogs for a quick look at how to keep your charts simple and meaningful.
Insert a SmartArt diagram
1. On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click SmartArt.
2. In the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box, click the type and layout that you want.
3. Enter your text by doing one of the following:
 Click Text in the Text pane, and then paste or type your text.
 Type/paste your text directly into the relevant shapes
Convert Bullets to Smart Art
1. Right-click the bullet text and choose Convert to SmartArt
Video – Working with text boxes
Video – Exploring data visualisation
Video – Creating and formatting charts
Video – Using SmartArt to create diagrams
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All about handouts
How many times have you referred to handouts that you
received at a presentation, only to find that they didn't
contain enough detail for you to recall what the speaker
said? This is a typical experience when the handouts consist
only of pictures of Microsoft Office PowerPoint slides with
bullet points.
For a handout to be useful when the presentation is but a
distant memory, the handout must contain enough detail
for it to stand on its own. Let that sink in for a minute: The
handout should stand on its own. For this to happen, you
must augment the PowerPoint slides with additional
supporting material (assuming that every word of your
presentation does not appear on the slides to start with —
which is not ideal).
The purpose of a PowerPoint presentation is to provide the
audience with visual cues to help them digest and recall the
key points of your verbal presentation. The purpose of the
handouts, then, is to provide the audience with the additional materials that they need to support
and act on the key points of your verbal presentation.
What should handouts consist of?
Although the exact content of handouts varies with the type and purpose of the presentation, you
can follow these general guidelines for most presentations:



The length of the handouts should match the length and complexity of the presentation. A
short presentation of 10 to 15 minutes may require only one to three pages of handout
material. Longer presentations of an hour or more may call for four to six pages or more of
handout material.
Handouts should be attractive, easy to read, and comprehensive.
At a minimum, handouts should contain the following information:
o Speaker's name, title, and organisation
o Title and date of the presentation
o Speaker's contact information, including phone numbers, business address, and email address
o Outline of the presentation, including key concepts
o Background information, documents, spreadsheets, and so on, to support the
speaker's assertions
o List of recommendations, if applicable
o Statement about what the speaker expects the audience to do as a result of the
presentation
Default handouts in PowerPoint
PowerPoint has built-in tools to create handouts from the presentation's slides. You can choose to
print from one to nine slides per page. Only the layout with three slides per page includes blank
lines for handwritten notes next to each slide.
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If you choose to print slides, include them as part of a packet that also includes the other supportive
materials described in the preceding list.
More powerful PowerPoint handouts
PowerPoint has two options that give you more flexibility to include additional supportive material:


Notes pages
Exporting to Microsoft Office Word
Creating and printing notes pages
The first option involves not printing handouts at all but instead printing notes pages. With notes
pages, you can include all of your supporting documentation, references, and additional materials
with the PowerPoint presentation. Although you can enter as much text as you want in the notes
pane, limit yourself to about 40 lines so that a picture of the slide and its corresponding notes will fit
on one page:
By entering notes in the notes pane, you can print handouts that contain a picture of the slide and
the corresponding notes.
Sending handouts to Word
To have the ultimate in flexibility with your handouts, export the PowerPoint slides to Word and
then modify the Word document as much or as little as you want. The following example shows an
attractive Word document that includes pictures of each of the PowerPoint slides.
With a little modification, you can create great-looking handouts of your PowerPoint presentations
in Word.
If you want to create a Word document from your PowerPoint
presentations:
1. Create the presentation in PowerPoint. Add notes in the
notes pane. You can switch this off so they are not
immediately visible. The notes button is on the status bar
at the bottom of your presentation.
2.
If you prefer, you can add notes after you export the
slides to Word.
3. When you have the presentation in final form, Go to File
and then Export.
4. Choose Create Handouts.
5. Select the page layout that you want. For the most
flexibility when adding your own text to the document,
click Notes below slides.
6. Click OK. PowerPoint sends the slides and notes to Word and creates a document that
contains a picture of each slide followed by its corresponding notes.
7. Save the Word document.
You now have a handout that is completely customisable. You can add headers and footers, resize
the graphics, add additional graphics, insert page numbers, add additional text, and include
whatever other content you want to supplement the presentation.
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Video – Adding speaker notes
Video – Editing and printing handout masters
Video – Rehearsing a presentation
Package your presentation
If your presentation contains embedded objects such as video and audio, you need to be sure that
these will play wherever you present. If you are distributing your presentation to other people, you
might also want to inspect it for hidden data and information e.g. comments, names etc.
Package to CD
1. Go to File and Export
2. Choose Package Presentation for CD and then Package for CD
3. Enter a name
4. Choose to Copy to CD, or Copy to Folder (e.g. for a networked drive or USB)
5. Choose Options to add a password or Inspect the presentation for hidden information.
Tips for delivering your PowerPoint presentation
Playing
 Press F5 to play your presentation from the start
 To play your presentation from a slide that’s already selected, press SHIFT and F5
Navigating
 Stop or restart an automatic slide show by pressing S or PLUS SIGN
 End a slide show by pressing ESC, CTRL+BREAK, or HYPHEN
 Go to slide number by pressing number+ENTER (e.g. 1+ENTER)
Pausing
 Display a black screen, or return to the slide show from a black screen by pressing B
 Display a white screen, or return to the slide show from a white screen by pressing W
Annotating
 Erase on-screen annotations by pressing E
 Show or hide ink mark-up by pressing CTRL+M
Remove or hide annotations
 To hide, go to View and click Show Markup on or off
 To remove, go to File and Check for issues, then select Inspect Document
Video – Running a slideshow
Video – Packaging your presentation to run on another computer
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Further resources
If you'd like to take your skills further with PowerPoint, you can complete the entire lynda.com
courses:
Designing a presentation
PowerPoint 2013 Essential Training
Presentation Fundamentals
Once you've completed a course, you'll receive a certificate of completion which you can share with
others or upload directly to your LinkedIn profile.
You can also complete a Microsoft Office 2013 Specialist Certification in PowerPoint. MOS
certifications are completely free whilst you're a student at UCLan - you'll find more information on
our certifications web page.
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