Classroom
Presentations
using PowerPoint
Stan Soh
Specialist Associate
Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning (CDTL)
National University of Singapore
Email: [email protected]
Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION TO POWERPOINT ........................................................................................ 1
PLANNING YOUR PRESENTATION ........................................................................................ 1
CREATING YOUR FIRST PRESENTATION ............................................................................. 2
Understanding the workspace ........................................................................................................... 3
Creating a new presentation ............................................................................................................... 4
Using blank presentation .................................................................................................................... 5
From templates .................................................................................................................................... 5
From themes ........................................................................................................................................ 5
SAVING YOUR PRESENTATION ............................................................................................. 6
TIPS FOR CREATING EFFECTIVE PRESENTATIONS ........................................................... 7
MODIFYING YOUR PRESENTATION ....................................................................................... 8
Working in the outline view ................................................................................................................ 8
Creating slides ..................................................................................................................................... 9
Managing Slides................................................................................................................................... 9
Adding bullets or numbering to text ................................................................................................ 10
Adding notes ...................................................................................................................................... 10
Changing the design ......................................................................................................................... 10
Using Theme Colours ........................................................................................................................ 11
Using Theme Fonts............................................................................................................................ 11
Customising the background style .................................................................................................. 12
NAVIGATING THROUGH YOUR PRESENTATION .................................................................12
WORKING WITH GRAPHICS (ILLUSTRATIONS) ...................................................................14
Inserting a clipart ............................................................................................................................... 14
Working with pictures/photos .......................................................................................................... 14
Creating a digital photo album ......................................................................................................... 16
Inserting Shapes ................................................................................................................................ 18
Inserting SmartArt ............................................................................................................................. 19
Applying transition effects ............................................................................................................... 20
CREATING ANIMATIONS ........................................................................................................20
Ordering of animation effects ........................................................................................................... 21
Timing options for animation affects ............................................................................................... 21
PRINTING YOUR PRESENTATION .........................................................................................22
GUIDELINES TO REMEMBER ................................................................................................23
REFERENCES .........................................................................................................................24
2
Introduction to PowerPoint
PowerPoint is a simple yet flexible and powerful tool for creating professional-looking slides.
PowerPoint slides can be easily printed as handouts, and speakers' notes can be added. You should
remember that it is just a tool that presents you with a blank canvas. You then have to colour it with
your ideas and your messages to make it interesting. Hence, to use PowerPoint to its complete
potential is to understand its composition of elements and how these elements can be used to
structure a presentation by creating a workflow. Workflow of a presentation begins with a conceptual
visualization and you end it with the delivery.
PowerPoint also offers powerful tools such as wizards, multiple preview modes, and animated slides
to help you create a presentation. With the addition of elements like text, shapes, graphics, and
animation, you can create overhead slides, speaker notes, audience handouts, and outlines—all in a
single presentation file. When run from the computer, the slides can incorporate sound, animation and
video. Slides can be changed manually, or with pre-set timings. They can even be set to run
unaccompanied in a continuous loop. Different effects can be used to merge one slide into another
(transitions), and points on each slide can be built up one at a time (builds/animations).
Learning Outcomes
After completing this guide you will be able to:
• Create a basic slide show.
• Add, format and move text on a slide.
• Add, resize and move a graphic on a slide.
• Run a slide show.
• Revise, edit and rearrange slides, text and graphics.
• Use the Slide Master to format slides.
• Apply designs and select colour schemes.
• Add transitions and animation.
• Use the different PowerPoint Views to view, edit and present your presentation.
• Print your presentation in various ways.
Planning your presentation
Most of you would start making a PowerPoint presentation by opening PowerPoint, but a better way
to make a presentation may involve some planning time first before you jump in and get started. The
idea of planning a PowerPoint presentation may seem like a waste of time but presentation planning
can save a lot of time and effort, and can result in a superior finished product.
How do you plan a PowerPoint presentation? Most people start with an outline. It's a great way to
organize your thoughts, identify your major points and eliminate the unnecessary thoughts and words
from your presentation. An outline allows you to re-arrange your slides, add and subtract discussion
subjects, and think about your presentation without becoming distracted by slide designs, special
effects, and colour schemes. Outlines can be created in Microsoft Word and then imported into
PowerPoint, or created directly in the Outline tab in Microsoft PowerPoint. To bring up the Outlining
toolbar in PowerPoint choose View - Toolbars-Outlining. You can promote or demote topics by
choosing the relevant green arrow at the top of the Outling toolbar.
You can also start with a storyboard with the assumption that your slide presentation is going to tell a
story. This approach creates an interesting presentation and will help you create a visually distinct
presentation.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
Creating your first presentation
The PowerPoint window appears displaying a blank presentation.
Observe the different elements in the window. At the top in the centre is the presentation name. An
unsaved presentation has the name "Presentation" [number] - Microsoft PowerPoint, but once a
presentation is named and saved, the name and extension will appear. (PowerPoint 2010
presentations have the extension .pptx.)
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
Understanding the workspace
Listed below are the main components of the PowerPoint default workspace:
1. Title bar is the top bar and indicates the name of the presentation file currently on the screen.
2. The File Button is in the upper-right area, and contains the file commands and PowerPoint
options for manipulating the presentation documents.
3. The Quick Access toolbar is where the most commonly used commands are displayed and
is located to the right of the File Button.
4. The Ribbon, located beneath the Quick Access toolbar contains the tools and features that
you are most likely to use when working with a presentation. The commands are organised
into logical groups, which are collected together under tabs. Each tab relates to a type of
activity, such as writing or laying out a page.
The File Button
Quick Access Toolbar
contains file commands
contains commonly used commands
Ribbon
contains commands
and tools for the
current task
Slides tab
Outline tab
Slide
pane
Slide sorter
Notes
pane
Slide show
Normal
Status bar
5. The Slide pane is the container for the PowerPoint slides. This is where you create a layout
and design, type headings and text, insert graphics, diagrams or other elements.
6. The Slides and Outline tabs are tabs that help you to alternate between an outline of your
slide text (Outline tab) and your slides displayed as thumbnails (Slides tab). Outline tab is a
great place to start writing your content — to capture your ideas, plan how you want to
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
present them, and move slides and text around. Switch to the Slides tab to see the slides in
your presentation as thumbnail-sized images while you edit. The thumbnails make it easy for
you to navigate through your presentation and to see the effects of your design changes.
7. The Notes pane is where you type notes that accompanies a slide. These notes are invisible
to the user but are available to the presenter.
8. The Status bar is located at the bottom of the window, contains the current slide number and
the total number of slides (slide 1 of 1), the current presentation design template and the
spelling status button.
9. The View buttons, located on the right of the status bar, contains buttons to switch amongst
the views: normal view, slide sorter view, and slide show view.
10. The zoom slider allows you to zoom in and out using a slider or using the (+ and -) buttons
on either side of the slider.
Creating a new presentation
You’ve opened the PowerPoint application and you’re ready to create your first presentation. But how
do you begin? You could either jump right in or start typing text, adding background colours, and
experiment with your font colours and styles or you could use a pre-configured template approach.
The first approach is not recommended for beginners while the template approach would be a good
start.
To create a new presentation, click the File Button, and click New. The New Presentation window
opens and gives you a range of ways with which to start creating a presentation.
1. Blank presentation: Starts with a single title slide that has minimal design and no colour
applied to them.
2. From templates: Uses a template that has pre-defined content, design, fonts, and colour
scheme.
3. From themes: Gives your presentation a unified, professional look. Themes provide
background colour and design, pre-defined fonts and other elements that hold a presentation
together. It is simple to add slides with appropriate layout, once an overall theme is defined.
4. From existing presentation: Creates a copy of an existing presentation and will allow for the
design or content changes to be made.
5. Microsoft Office Online: Select from any of the categories listed to download your preferred
templates.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
Using blank presentation
From the New Presentation, select Blank and recent, and click on create. This opens up a new
presentation with a single title slide.
From templates
This is a simple yet powerful guided approach for beginners to create a professional looking
PowerPoint presentation. It helps you create your presentation by allowing you to select the type of
presentation you wish to prepare. These templates come complete with backgrounds, pictures, and
pre-chosen fonts and colours.

From the New Presentation window, click Installed Templates.

A thumbnail list of the installed templates along with a preview will be available.

Now, select the template that you like to use and click on Create.
From themes
PowerPoint provides many presentation designs called themes to help you set up a consistent look
for a presentation. Themes contain a master design that determines the overall look of the
presentation – the colour scheme, co-ordinating fonts, font styles and font sizes.

From the New Presentation window, click Installed Themes.

A thumbnail list of the installed templates along with a preview will be available.

Now, select the template that you like to use and click on Create.
The slides created contain sample text that you can customise for your own purpose. Now, make any
other changes you want, such as adding or deleting slides, adding art elements or animation effects,
and inserting headers and footers to customise your presentation.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
Saving your presentation
You should save your presentation often as you work.

From the File button, select Save.

Choose a location and enter a file name the File name box, and then click Save.

From the Save as type options, choose PowerPoint Presentation (*.pptx). This is the
default file format and it is important because it will allow you to go back in and edit your
masterpiece. This format also permits you to print slides, handouts, notes and the outline.
Saving as a PowerPoint Template
To save the presentation as a template, choose the PowerPoint Template (*.potx) from the Save as
type options. It will automatically save the template file in the Microsoft’s Templates folder. This
template will then be available to you for future use under the My Templates section.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
Tips for creating effective presentations
1. Use readable and consistent typeface.
Fonts generally come in families. Choose two font families and carefully select standards for
titles, subtitles and text. For example, you can use serif fonts (Times New Roman, Courier)
for the titles and sans serif fonts (Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica) for the text on your slides. Avoid
using extra bold or delicate typefaces, or italics. Uppercase letters are more difficult to read
than lower case, so use them sparingly.
2. Limit the text to a few phrases and not sentences.
A good rule of thumb for an effective and easy-to-read PowerPoint slide is six lines down and
six words across. Of course, you may have a few slides that run past the recommended size.
But you should be careful not to load your entire lesson onto PowerPoint slides. They are
meant to be cues for your lessons. Reading off entire slides of text will not make you an
effective presenter.
3. Put one heading on each screen.
The main idea on a particular slide should be clear and easy to remember. If you have any
company or department logos, you may place them on the left or at the bottom of your slide
so that they do not distract your audience.
4. Be consistent.
Watch out for consistency in fonts, type sizes, presentation styles and formatting. Check for
consistency in bullet lists. For example, a list of action steps should all begin with verbs or
have every phrase begin with a noun. This will structure the flow of your presentation, making
it smoother as you link from one point to another.
Be consistent in the use of animations and transitions throughout the slides. This will make it
easier for your audience to follow your presentation. Do not overdo the special effects as
they can slow down the pace of the presentation.
5. Use colours with care.
While colours can make your presentations come alive, make sure that the colours you have
chosen not only blend well together, but are also easy on the eye and readable on screen. If
you use different colours for charts, accents, hyperlinks and highlights, they should only draw
the attention to them and not command it.
Strong contrast in presentation materials helps legibility and adds interest to visuals. Plan
your work in a strong light colour on a dark background or in a strong dark colour on a light
background. When working with text visuals, limit your colour scheme to only two or three
colours.
6. Use visuals appropriately.
Keep your background simple to highlight the text clearly. Be careful if you are presenting
charts and numbers on screen as they may not be readable on a photo-type background.
Do not say in words what you can show and tell in images and story. Augmenting the text
with meaningful graphics (related photographic imagery, pictures of software boxes or
menus, appropriate clipart) will help to deliver better presentations. These elements create
an interest and engage the audience.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
Modifying your presentation
Working in the outline view
The outline view shows the text from the presentation’s slides in a hierarchical tree, with slides at the
top level (Slide level) and the various levels of bulleted lists on the slides displaying as subordinate
levels. This view helps you edit your presentation's content and move bullet points or slides around.
The content in your outline can come from many sources: you can type it in originally; use prepared
text provided by the templates. Since it is easy to move content between Microsoft Applications, you
can create outline for a presentation and then import it into PowerPoint.
To import the outline from a word document, you can choose the Slides from Outline option
available on a New Slide popup menu. PowerPoint then uses the heading styles that you assigned in
word to decide which items are slide titles and which items are slide content. The top level headings
(Heading 1) form the slide titles while the second level headings (Heading 2) form the bulleted points.
While in the Normal view, select the Outline tab to work with the outline format. Once you switch to
the outline, the buttons that work well with the outlining function like the Font and Paragraph are
made available.
But to display commands specifically for use with the Outline tab, right click on the outline pane, the
commands that let you increase or decrease text indents, collapse and expand content, and show or
hide text formatting as you work will be shown. You can use the Promote or Demote to move the
selected text up or down one level.
To preview only the headings of your presentation, you can choose the Collapse all option. This will
give you an overview of the outline or the main points that you to want to make in a presentation. To
preview the outline in its entirety, you choose the Expand all option to expand the entire outline.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
Creating slides
PowerPoint makes it easy to create consistent, attractive slides that
uses standard preset. PowerPoint identifies the slide areas that you
can fill by placing some sample text in them.
Select the Home tab and click on New Slide to add a new slide. A
New Slide popup menu with many slide layouts will appear. A slide
layout is a layout guide that tells PowerPoint what placeholder boxes
to use on a particular slide and where to position them.
Select the kind of slide layout you want to add and enter text into the
pre-set text areas. Edit the slides by clicking the text you want to
change, and then you can delete, add or change text.
Managing Slides
You can navigate from slide to slide using the slide pane, the outline
tab, the slides tab or in the slide sorter view. To move to a particular
slide:
1.
2.
3.
4.
On the Slides tab, select the thumbnail of that slide.
On the Outline tab, click the icon of that slide.
On the Slide pane, use the vertical scroll bar to move to the next slide.
On the slide sorter view, double-click on the slide.
To copy or duplicate a slide, the Duplicate Selected Slides command can be used.
1. First select the slide you want to copy. Now, the New Slide popup menu, choose the
Duplicate Selected Slides.
2. To copy multiple selected slides, use the slide sorter view to select the slides and then click
on Duplicate Selected Slides.
If you like to use a slide that you have created earlier in other presentations, then
1. Use the Reuse Slides option in the New Slide popup
menu.
2. Once selected the Reuse slides task pane will be
displayed.
3. Click Browse to find the source file containing the slide to
be copied. Choose Browse File from the menu.
4. Find and select the file you want and click Open.
5. The Reuse Slides task pane will contain thumbnails of the
presentation.
6. Make sure your cursor is placed at the location you want to
insert the slide, now click on the slide that you would like to insert.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
Adding bullets or numbering to text
1. In the pane that contains the Outline and Slides tabs, click a slide thumbnail. On the slide, select
the lines of text in a text placeholder or table that you want to add bullets or numbering to.
2. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Bullets or Numbering.
3. To create an indented (subordinate) list within the list, place the insertion point at the start of the
line you want to indent and on the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Increase Indent
.
4. If you want to move text back to a less indented level in the list, click Decrease Indent
.
Adding notes
1. Use the scroll bar in the Slide pane to move to the first slide in the presentation.
2. Click in the Notes pane.
3. Type in the Notes for the first slide.
4. Continue to add notes to each slide by selecting the slide with the scroll bar, clicking in the
Notes pane, and then typing the notes.
5. Save your work, by selecting save from the File Button.
Changing the design
1. Click the Design tab to view a thumbnail list of Design themes that you can apply to your
slides.
2. Hover your mouse over any of the design themes displayed, the design is reflected
immediately on your slide.
3. Once you have decided on the theme, click on the chosen design to apply the design to your
presentation.
4. If you want to change the themes on only some of the slides, then select only those slides
and apply the design theme.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
Using Theme Colours
By changing theme colours you can change the tone of a presentation from casual to formal, or vice
versa. Theme colours have 12 colour slots.
The first four colours are for text and backgrounds, the next
six are accent colours that are always visible over the four
potential background colours and the last two colours are for
hyperlinks. The themes are so designed that you can switch
colours at any time and all your content will remain legible
and still look good.
1. Using the Design tab, from the Themes group, click
Colors.
2. The Theme Colors gallery displays all the color sets
from the built-in themes. The colours represent the
accent and hyperlink colours for that theme.
3. Select the one that best suits you, the colours of the
presentation will be updated accordingly.
To create your own custom theme colours, in the Themes group, click Colors, and then click Create
New Theme Colors.
Using Theme Fonts
To make your presentation professional it is best to use a single font face for the entire presentation.
Two fonts are a better choice, when used carefully for contrast. Each theme defines two fonts — one
for headings and one for body text. Changing the theme fonts updates all of the title and bullet text in
your presentation. In previous versions of PowerPoint, you had to make this kind of global change on
a slide master.
1. Click Fonts from the Themes group.
2. The names of the heading font and body text font that are used for each theme font appear
below the theme name.
3. Select the one that best suits you.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
The Create New Theme Fonts dialog box will show the current theme fonts that are in use. Change
the fonts for the Heading font and Body font using the drop-down list of fonts, key in a name to
identify your theme and click on Save.
Customising the background style
Changing the background colour is not as dramatic as changing the colour scheme. If you change the
background style of a presentation that has a theme already assigned, the design elements from the
theme will still remain – only the background colour or the shading changes. It is always a best
practice to use a colour that matches the lighting in the room you are presenting.

Dark Blue is excellent for showing a
presentation in a darkened smaller
rooms, while

A lighter background is better for
lighted big auditoriums.
1. If you want only some of the slides changed,
select the ones to which you want to apply a
background style.
2. In the Design tab, from the Background
group, click Background styles; a menu of
styles will be displayed.
3. Hover your mouse over any of the styles
displayed, the slides in the presentation will
reflect the selection.
4. When you have found the style you prefer, click on it to change all the slides. You can rightclick on the thumbnail, and choose Apply to Selected Slides to change only the selected
slide(s).
Navigating through your presentation
Presentation view is a way of displaying your presentation on-screen. PowerPoint comes with several
views, because at different times during the creation process, it is helpful to look at the presentation in
different ways.
1. Normal view is the main (default) editing view and is a combination of three resizable panes:
•
a side pane containing the Slides and the Outline tabs.
•
on the right is the slide pane which displays a large view of the current slide. You can
add text, insert pictures, tables, charts, drawing objects, text boxes, movies, sounds,
hyperlinks, and animations to the current slide.
•
on the bottom is the notes pane. You can add notes that relate to each slide's content.
You can use them to refer to as you give your presentation, or create notes that you want
your audience to see either in printed form or on a Web page.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
Slides tab
Outline tab
2. Slide sorter view is a miniature representation of all your slides in a presentation displaying the
slides as thumbnails. When you have finished creating and editing your presentation, slide sorter
view gives you an overall picture. This view is excellent to reorder, copy, add, or delete slides as
well as to preview your transition and animation effects.
3. Notes Page view is a view with the slide at the top of the page and a text box below it for typed
notes.
4. Slide Show view is used to show the presentation on-screen. In this full-screen view, you see
your presentation the way your audience will. Use this view to help you rehearse. You can see
how your graphics, timings, movies, animated elements, and transition effects will look during the
actual presentation. It removes all of the PowerPoint screen clutter and places a small icon in the
lower-left corner of the screen which enables a menu to pop up with a multitude of helpful options.
The pen option allows you to write or draw temporary lines on the screen, emphasising as you
talk. To navigate through the presentation, the arrow keys can be used.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
Working with graphics (illustrations)
Adding graphical elements can help create eye-catching slides for a presentation. PowerPoint gives
you the option of adding:
• Pictures,
• Clipart,
• Shapes,
• SmartArt, and
• Charts and tables
The illustration icons are found in the Insert tab of the ribbon.
Inserting a clipart
1. On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click Clip Art.
2. In the Clip Art task pane, in the Search for text box, type a
word or phrase that describes the clip art that you want, or type
all or some of the file name of the clip art.
3. Click Go.
4. From the list of thumbnail pictures, click the clip art to insert it.
5. To narrow your search, do one or both of the following:
o
To limit the search results to a specific collection of clip
art, in the Search in list, select the check box next to
each collection that you want to search.
o
The media file type of the clip (clipart or photographs)
can be specified in the Results should be: section of
the task pane.
Working with pictures/photos
The proper size and resolution for an image placed in PowerPoint is determined primarily by the
resolution of the output device, that is, the data projector that will be used to view the presentation.
Almost all data projectors have a resolution of 1024 pixels by 768 pixels. PowerPoint does think in
terms of physical size, so if you have the option create your images at 10 x 7.5 inches at 100 dpi
which translates into 1000 x 750 pixels–close enough to the ideal that you’ll never notice. This may
save you a step or two when importing pictures.
1. On the Insert tab, in Illustrations group, click on Picture.
2. Locate the folder that contains the picture that you want to insert.
3. Select the picture from the Insert Picture dialog box and click on Insert.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
4. Once the picture is inserted, the options to edit the picture setting, effects or size are
available.
5. Under Picture Tools, on the Format tab, you will find Adjust group, the Picture Styles group,
the Arrange and the Size group to manipulate the picture.
6. Once you have loaded the pictures, always compress the pictures that you have inserted.
7. Select the picture that you want to compress and under Picture Tools, on the Format tab, in
the Adjust group, click Compress Pictures.
8. To compress the selected picture only and not all of the pictures in the document, select the
Apply to only to this pictures check box. But it is always a good idea to compress all the
pictures, so leave that box unchecked.
9. Choose the Screen option under the Target Output to decrease the file size.
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Creating a digital photo album
PowerPoint allows you to create photo albums in presentations. Instead of adding photos one by one,
with the photo album feature you can add you digital photos in one go to create a nice photo tale.
1. On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click the Photo Album button.
2. The Photo Album dialog box opens.
3. Click the File/Disk button.
4. In the Insert New Pictures dialog box, navigate to the folder on your hard disk containing the
photos you want to include in the album. Select the necessary images, and then click Insert.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
5. In the Photo Album dialog box, the Pictures In Album list includes the graphics you
selected. You can select each picture in turn to view it. You can change the order in which the
pictures will appear in the album by clicking the picture you want to move and then clicking
the Move Up or Move Down button. You can also adjust the rotation, contrast, and
brightness of each picture.
6. Under Album Layout, click the Picture layout arrow, and then in the list, choose the
preferred layout.
7. Click the Frame shape arrow, and in the list, click Rounded Rectangle. Then click Create.
PowerPoint creates a presentation titled Photo Album that contains a title slide and slides
containing your selected pictures in your desired layout.
8. On Slide 1, select the words Photo Album, and then type the title you want for your album. In
our example, we titled our album “Memories of Singapore”. On Slide 2, click the title
placeholder, and then type the title for this slide if you had selected a layout with a title.
If you wish to edit the album after it has been created, then
1. On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click the Photo Album arrow, and then click
Edit Photo Album.
2. In the Edit Photo Album dialog box, under Picture Options, select the Captions below ALL
pictures check box, and then click Update.
3. Replace the file names below each photograph with suitable captions, and then click a blank
area of the slide.
4. On the Design tab, in the Themes group, display the Themes gallery, and select a theme
that showcases the pictures.
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Inserting Shapes
The Shapes menu includes several categories of shapes: lines,
rectangles, basic shapes, block arrows, equation shapes, flowchart
elements, stars and banners, callouts, and action buttons.
Shapes can be resized, rotated, flipped, coloured, and combined to
make more complex shapes. Text can be added to some shapes. The
text then becomes part of the shape— if you rotate or flip the shape, the
text rotates or flips with it.
1. On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click Shapes.
2. A drop-down list of various shapes in categories appears.
3. Click the shape that you want, click anywhere in the document,
and then drag to place the shape. To create a perfect square or
circle or to constrain the dimensions of other shapes, press and
hold SHIFT while you drag.
4. If you want to add text to a particular shape, just click the shape
and then type in your text. The text that you add becomes part of
the shape — if you rotate or flip the shape, the text rotates or
flips also.
5.
To resize the shape, click it, and then drag its sizing handles.
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Inserting SmartArt
1. On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click SmartArt.
2. The Choose a SmartArt Graphic gallery opens. It has a tri-pane view that makes exploring
and choosing your options a quick, three-step process.
3. Choose from any of the categories that you want to use. The categories are formed by
placing the graphic variants into logical types like List, Process, Cycle, Hierarchy,
Relationship, Matrix, and Pyramid.
4. The centre pane shows you all the variants available under a particular category.
5. The last pane shows you a larger preview of the selected SmartArt along with a very helpful
description.
6. When you have selected the SmartArt you want to use, click the OK button to place it.
7. Depending on the layout that you choose, each bullet in the Text pane is represented in the
SmartArt graphic as either a new shape or a bullet inside a shape. The Text pane works like
an outline or a bulleted list that maps information directly to your SmartArt graphic. For
example, notice how the mapping works in the image shown below.
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Applying transition effects
Slide transitions are the animation-like effects that occur in Slide Show view when you move from one
slide to the next during an on-screen presentation. The normal way to move from slide to slide is
simply to cut to the new slide. PowerPoint enables you to assign any of more than 50 different special
effects to each slide transition. You can control the speed of each slide transition effect. Though many
options are available, it does not mean that all should be used in a single presentation.
You can choose a simple transition and apply it to all the slides in your presentation or to apply them
between different sections when your presentation is rather long. But the best solution would be not to
use them at all.
1. On the Transition tab, click a slide transition effect.
2. To see more transition effects, in the Quick Styles list, click the More button,
.
3. To set the slide transition speed between the current slide and the next slide, in the Transition
To This Slide group, click the arrow next to Transition Speed, and then select the speed that
you want.
More button
4. In the Transition To This Slide group, click Apply to All.
5. Use the Preview button to preview the transition effect or you can click on Slide Show button
to see the effects.
Creating animations
Animation is a set of effects that can be applied to object(s) in PowerPoint so as to animate the
objects during playback. The Animation feature is grouped into four categories – Entrance, Emphasis,
Exit and Motion Paths.Entrance effects can be set to objects so that they enter with animations during
Slide Show. Emphasis effects animate the objects on the spot. Exit effects allow objects to leave the
Slide Show with animations. Motion Paths allow objects to move around the Slide Show.
The Animation Pane task pane allows you to see, at a glance, important information about the
animation effects on a slide, including the type of animation effect, the order of the animations in
relation to each other, plus a portion of the title of the animated item.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
1. Select the object you want to animate.
2. On the Animations tab, select any animation from the Animations group.
Ordering of animation effects
As animation effects are applied to items on a slide, they are added to the list in the Custom
Animation task pane as shown above. The sequence is initially determined by the order in which you
create the animation effects. To change the sequence of the events, you can drag animation effects
up and down the animation list, or use the Re-Order buttons at the bottom of the pane.
Select the Play button to preview the change. Previewing displays a faster version of the slide show
and automatically plays the sequence without stopping for mouse clicks.
Timing options for animation affects
Timing gives meaning to movement. Proper timing is critical to making ideas readable. In addition to
the basic order of animation effects on a slide, the Custom Animation task pane gives you control
over the timing of the effect.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
Effects can include some or all of the following:
1. How to begin the effect:
-
On click (on a mouse click);
-
With previous (play at the same time as
the previous event in the list); and
-
After previous (play immediately
after/following the previous event in the
list).
2. Delay, gives further control on when the effect
will begin;
3. Speed , sets the rate of the execution of the
effect;
4. Looping, sets the number of times to repeat
the effect;
5. Triggers are animation effects that play only
when one or more designated objects are
clicked during a slide show.
Printing your presentation
Preview before you print
1. From the File button, select Print to display the preview
window.
2. To check out a specific view, pull down the menu beside
the Print All Slides and make your selection. Choose from
•
Slides,
•
Notes Pages
•
Outline View
3. To check how colours in your slides translate to a blackand-white printer, from the Options, select Color and
choose from the pop-up menu.
4. If you are satisfied with the selection, click Print.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
Guidelines to Remember
1. Clear message
Starting from the first slide, you need to convey to your audience the reason for giving
the presentation and the central message that you want them to get from it.
2. Logical flow
Place your slides in an order that makes sense to your audience. Give simple summaries at
the beginning and expand on topics in that order. Use the “Outline” view to help you check the
presentation flow. Use the “Slide Sorter” view to check your presentation for both readability
and visual variety.
3. Keep It Simple
Each slide should have a single point. Once you address this point you should move on to the
next slide. If you find yourself pausing or changing topics in the middle of a slide, you should
split this information into two (or more) slides. As with any design, cut the clutter. No more
than one graphic image or chart per slide is another good rule.
4. Combine speech, text, and visuals
Bullet point after bullet point after bullet point will eventually make your presentation boring. If
every slide is all text and a similar format there will not be enough visual variety to keep
everyone’s attention. Try not to use too much text on the slides. Short phrases, diagrams,
graphs, photographs and other graphic images provide more visual variety and don’t distract
your audience from what you are saying. The best alternative to text is a picture. This gives
you something to talk about (rather than read) and gives the audience something to ponder
while you talk (rather than read). Select images that directly relate to the topic, theme, or
emotion you want the audience to consider while you talk. It is possible to create an entire
presentation made entirely of images without text. In these presentations, the images provide
a backdrop for the speaker.
5. Say more than you show
Each slide should be an introduction to what you are saying about that topic. Use images or
short phrases as a starting point and expand on the visual message with what you are saying.
Never read your slides to your audience. Once your audience realize that you are just reading
your slides, they will tune you out. Avoid replicating your lecture notes on your slides as bullet
lists. This merely leads to the accursed act of “reading your slides to the audience”. If you
need lecture notes, use the “Notes” view or keep the slides to yourself and don’t project them.
5. Enthusiasm: Genuine enthusiasm accounts for 90% of your success
6. Voice Control: Slowing down would be a good remedy for most problems. At the same time,
it is very important to speak loudly. Do not speak in a monotone voice; Place emphasis by
modulating the volume and intonation of your voice; show excitement regarding your research
results. Occasionally use the pause for emphasis. Use microphone when available. When
using a microphone avoid talking directly into and then away from the microphone; this can
cause very annoying variations in the loudness of your voice. Nervous hurried speech leads
to inaccurate articulation
7. Eye Contact: Talk to the audience, and not just “in front of” the audience. Be aware of
effective eye contact. Try to engage individuals located at every point in the room. When
presenting to a large audience, identify five individuals located at the near right and left,
middle, and far right and left. By subsequently remembering to establish good eye contact
with these five individuals, you will be aware of maintaining good eye contact everywhere in
the room. Articulation and eye contact are two most important components.
8. Posture is crucial to charisma and presence. Avoid mannerisms, talking to the screen and
turning away from audience.
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Classroom Presentations using PowerPoint
References
1. Help for PowerPoint 2007. Retrieved Oct 10, 2010, from http://office.microsoft.com/enus/powerpoint/FX100648951033.aspx?CTT=96&Origin=CL100626991033 .
2. Office On-line Templates. Retrieved Oct 10, 2010, from
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT101172721033.aspx.
3. Felder, R. M. And R Brent. (2005). Death by PowerPoint.
http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Columns/PowerPoint.pdf
4. Pat R. Graves (2008) Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007: A professional approach, Amie
Mayhall. Boston : McGraw-Hill.
5. Wempen, Faithe. (2007). Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Bible, Imprint Indianapolis, IN: Wiley
Technology Publication.
6. A Bit Better Corporation. (2009). PowerPoint Resources.
from http://www.bitbetter.com/powerlinks.htm .
Retrieved Oct 10, 2010,
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