Introductory Guide to Microsoft Power Point

Microsoft Power Point is a program that may be used to create electronic presentations. It is extremely easy to develop a simple presentation. This page is meant to introduce you to some of Power Point's basic features. To learn more about specific features of Power Point, I recommend taking the workshops offered in the Electronic Media Center or one of the Office of Information Technology's Computer Short Courses.

I have xeroxed copies of the Computer Short Courses' guide to Introductory and Intermediate Power Point and left these in faculty mailboxes. If you have not received one and would like a copy, please contact me at etobey@wam.umd.edu. These guides were designed for learning Power Point on a PC; my guide below is for learning Power Point on a Mac, but both versions of the program are similiar.

Table of Contents:

Power Point versus other Presentation Tools:

With the increasing use of computers in the lecture hall, it is possible to project almost any application on a computer onto a screen. It is therefore possible to create a simple presentation in a word processing program such as Microsoft Word, although it is difficult to manipulate and format the layout of images.

Some people prefer to design presentations in a web editor such as Dreamweaver or Netscape Composer. If your presentation is text-based, Dreamweaver might be a suitable option. The advantages of using a web editor for presentations is that these pages can later be posted on the Web without having to change anything about their formatting. However, there are some distinct drawbacks. Whenever you insert images into a web editor, these images have be on a server or link to images already on a server (such as Caprina), so you must have a live Internet connection in the classroom in which you show your presentation. The disadvantages to using a web editor for presentations is that if the server is down or the connection is slow, it could serious compromise your presentation.

The advantage of Power Point is that it is specifically designed with presentations in mind, has built-in clip art and graphics features, does not rely on an Internet connection, and allows you to resize and position images easily.

Finding Power Point and Creating a New Presentation:

  1. Go to the Launcher (this can be found under the Apple menu under Control Panels) and click on Applications. Click on the icon for Microsoft Power Point. On other computers you may find Power Point in Microsoft Office, under Applications on the hard drive.
  2. A dialog box will appear allowing you the options to create a new presentation or open an existing one. You can create a new presentation using the Auto Content Wizard (which will take you through step-by-step how to make a simple presentation), using a Template, or using a Blank Presentation.
  3. To create a presentation using a template, select the button for Template and click OK. This will bring up a screen that will allow you to select a template. By clicking on the icons on the left hand side, you may select a Template. On the right hand side is a window that shows what each template will look like. Select a template and click OK. Power Point will apply that template to each slide in your presentation.
  4. To create a presentation using a Blank Presentation, select Blank Presentation and click OK.
Formatting Your Presentation:
  1. Power Point constructs presentations using "slides," individual screens that can arranged and re-arranged in a particular presenting order. You will be prompted to select an Auto Format for a new slide. Since you will probably start your presentation with a title slide, select the Title Slide format by clicking on the title slide icon in the upper left hand corner of the selection window. Then click on OK.
  2. A Title Slide will appear. Click in the title box and enter a title for your presentation. Then click in the box below and enter a sub-title or your name.
  3. You can format the appearance of your slide. Go to Format and select Format Color Scheme. This will open up a selection box. In the Standard Format tab, you can select pre-set color schemes. Click on the icon on the left of the scheme you want. By clicking on Apply, you apply this scheme to this one particular slide. If you click Apply to All, you can apply this scheme to every slide in the entire presentation. Power Point advises that you use a light background for overhead presentations and a dark background for screen presentations.
  4. By selecting the Custom Format tab, you can specify the colors and styles you wish to apply to your presentation. On the left hand side are thumbnails showing the Scheme Colors for the background, text and lines, shadows, title, fills (colors used to fill drawn shapes), accents, and links. Power Point pre-sets certain colors. To change any of these, click on the box of the color you wish to change, and click on the button Change Color. You may select a color from the polygonal palette under Standard Colors, or you may click on the Custom color tab and click anywhere in the color spectrum. A swatch on the right will show you the color you have selected. By moving the arrow along the grayscale to the right of the spectrum, you can change the hue/tint of the color selected. Click on OK when you've found the color you want.
Formatting Tips:

It is always a good idea to use contrasting text and background colors so that your presentation will be legible. PowerPoint recommends that you use a light text against a dark background for screen presentations. However, if you plan to use your presentation both in the lecture hall and on the web, it is best to design it with a white background and a dark text.

Changing Appearance of Text:

  1. You can change the appearance of the text you've typed. Using the cursor, highlight the text to select it. Go to Format and Font. At the top of the Font dialog box, you will see fields specifying the name of the font, it's style, and the point size. From the lists below each you can scroll down and select another font, style, or point size.
  2. Remember, when selecting font, style, and point size, think of whether what you've selected will be easily legible on an overhead or screen. 44 or larger is a good point size for titles, while 36 or 40 is a good size for normal slide text.
  3. By clicking on the arrow to the right of the color box, you can select the color of the font. By clicking on More Colors, you can select a custom color.
  4. In the Effects section of the box, you can check off various selections to underline, outline, shadow, or emboss text. You can also choose to subscript or superscript the text.
  5. By checking off the box "Default for new objects," you will apply these font style selections to all new text in your presentation.
  6. By clicking on the Preview button, you can see what your selections will look like.
  7. Click on OK to apply your selections.
  8. Remember to save your presentation as you add to it/make changes.
Creating New Slides and Organizing Slides:
  1. To insert a new slide into the presentation, go to Insert and select New Slide. Select the format of the slide that you wish to apply and click OK.
  2. In the lower left hand corner of your screen, you will find icons indicating the selected view of your presentation.
Creating, Inserting, and Formatting Auto Shapes:
  1. You can insert and/or draw various lines and shapes. Go to the toolbar at the bottom of your screen and click where you see the word Auto Shapes. This will bring up a pull-up menu from which you can select various shapes.
  2. Drawing a line: Go to Auto Shape and Line. Select the icon for the type of line you want.
  1. Drawing a shape: Go to Auto Shape and select Basic Shapes. Select the shape you want to draw. Position the cursor in your slide and drag it until the shape is the size and shape that you want. Release the mouse to end the shape.
  2. Formatting color and appearance of a line or shape: To edit the color or appearance of a drawn line or shape, click on the link or shape to select it. You will see selection boxes appear on the line or shape.
Inserting Clip Art:
  1. Go to Insert, Pictures, and select Clip Art. This will open up the Clip Art box. In Clip Art, select the type of object you want to insert by clicking on the appropriate tab. You can select Clip Art (graphics), Pictures (Photographs), Sounds (audio clips), and Videos (video clips or animations). The dialog box on the left allows you to scroll through and highlight categories for each type of object, and on the right are displayed illustrations or descriptions of the objects in this categorie. Click on the object to select it, and click Insert to insert it into your slide.
  2. Once the clip is inserted into your slide, click on the object to select it. By pointing to any of the corner boxes and dragging this box, you can reduce or enlarge the size of the object. If you drag any of the boxes on the sides of the object, you will distort the object. You can also format the object by going to Format and Object.
  1. You can move an object by clicking on its center with the cursor and dragging it to where you want it on the screen.
Inserting Photographs:
  1. You can insert photographs from a file. Although some recommend that the photographs you insert have a resolution of 150 dpi (dots-per-inch), it's preferable to insert jpeg or gif files with a resolution of 72 dpi, so that if you ever post your presentation to the web, you will not need to change the resolution of your images.
  2. Go to Insert and select Picture, From File. Select a file to insert into your slide. Follow the instructions under item 2 in "Inserting Clip Art" for formatting tips.
Inserting a Text Box:
  1. You can insert a text box into your slide. Go to Insert and select Text Box. Then click in the slide where you want to insert your text box, and click and drag with your cursor to draw the text box. Release the mouse to end drawing the text box.
  2. You can change the size and shape of the text box by clicking and dragging on its selection boxes.
  3. Enter text in the box by positioning the cursor within the box.
  4. You can edit the entered text by highlighting it and changing the font and style in the selection toolbar at the top of the screen, or by going to Format, Text Box.
Inserting Word Art:
  1. Word Art is specially-formatted text. To insert Word Art, go to Insert, Picture, Word Art.
  2. A dialog box will ask you to select a style of the Word Art text. Click the cursor on the style you want, and click OK.
  3. This will open another dialog box, which has a place at the bottom where you enter the text you want inserted. The toolbars in the upper part of the box allow you to select a font, style and size. Click OK to insert.
  4. The corner selection boxes allow you to make the Word Art text larger or smaller by dragging the box with your cursor.
  5. The side selection boxes will distort the appearance of your text.
  6. Clicking on the yellow selection box and dragging it will straighten or bend the shape of the words.
  7. By clicking on the Word Art to select, and by going to Format and Word Art, you can change the color, position, and size of the Word Art, just as you can manipulate the color, position, and size of a Clip Art image.
  8. You can move the Word Art but holding you cursor in the middle of the text and dragging it to where you want it on the slide.
Inserting Sound and Video Clips:

Although I will not go into this feature in detail, it is possible to insert sound and video clips. Go to Insert and Movies and Sounds. You can either insert a sound or video from your computer or insert a sound or video clip from the Clip Gallery.

Keep in mind that the more sound and video clips you include in your presentation, the greater memory it will occupy on your disk and/or desktop, and there is a greater risk of a presentation loading too slowly or crashing. Keep sound and video clips to a minimum.

Hyperlinks:

You may insert hyperlinks to other slides in the presentation. to web pages on the Internet, and to documents.

  1. Highlight the text, picture, or graphic you want to serve as the link.
  2. To link to a web page, type in the full address of the link in the uppermost box in the dialog box. For example, to create a link to the Classics site, type in /clas/.
  3. To link to a document, click on the Select button to select a file from your desktop or from a zip disk. When you run this presentation, you must be sure that you have the correct version of the program that created this file on the hard drive of the presenting computer.
  4. To link to a specific slide within the presentation, go to the box marked "Named location in file (optional):" and use the Select button to select and highlight the title of the slide to which you wish to link.
  5. These links will not work when you are composing the presentation. They will only work in presentation mode.
  6. When giving your presentation, be aware that it may take some time to link from your PowerPoint presentation to the web or to another application. It is best to open these programs before starting your presentation to minimize the link time.
Setting Up Your Presentation:

Setting up the Show:

  1. Go to Slide Show, and Set Up Show.
  2. Select "Presented by an individual" if you plan to give the presentation yourself.
  3. Specify the numbers of the slides to be included in the presentation if you are not showing all slides in the presentation.
  4. Select whether to advance slides manually or with timer settings.
  5. If you plan to draw on your slide with an electronic pen during your presentation, select a pen color.
  6. Click on OK.
Slide Transition:
  1. Go to Slide Show, and Slide Transition.
  2. If you want the slides to exhibit a particular type of transition (checkerboard, dissolve), select it from the pulldown menu. A preview of the selected transition will appear in the preview window.
  3. Select the speed of the transition (slow, medium, fast).
  4. Select whether to advance the slides manually or automatically after a specified number of seconds.
  5. If you want a sound to be played when there is a transition from one slide to the next, select a sound from the pulldown menu.
  6. Click on Apply to apply to only the slide you have currently selected. Click on Apply to All to apply to all slides in your presentation.
Hiding a Slide:

If you wish to omit a slide(s) from your presentation, select a slide in Slide Sorter view, go to Slide Show, and check Hide a Slide. Uncheck this if you want the slide to appear.

Animation and Sounds:

You can add animation and sounds to your presentation. Keep in mind when inserting sounds whether or not the room in which you're presenting has an audio system capable of playing audio from a laptop computer.

  1. Select the slide in Slide View where you want to insert the animation/sound.
  2. Click on the element you wish to animate and go to Slide Show and Preset Animation. Select the animation from the list.
  3. If you wish to customize animation, or specify animation of different elements of the slide in a certain order, go to Slide Show and Custom Animation.
  4. The Custom Animation window has a box on the left which lists the elements selected for Animation and the order in which they will occur. On the right is a screen showing the slide and the elements to be animated. Below are tabs specifying features and timing of the animation.
  5. Go first to the Timing tab. Under this tab you can specify in which order you want the elements on the slide to appear, and whether or not you wish to animate these elements. At the bottom of the screen is a box listing the 'Slide Objects Without Animation.' If you wish to animate these, highlight them, and then in the box on the right hand side, check the animation button. Also select whether you want the object to appear on mouse click or automatically after a certain number of seconds.

  6. The objects you've selected to animate appear listed in the box in the upper left hand screen in the order in which they will appear during the presentation. You can rearrange the order of animation by highlighting an object in the list to select it, and then use the arrow keys to move it within the list.
  7. For each element indicated by the selection boxes, go to the tab marked Effects.
  1. You can use the Chart Effects tab to animate a chart or bar graph. These tools are most often used in business presentations for presenting percentages and financial information - you will probably not need to use this feature in your presentations, but charts are more extensively described in the OIT handout.
Previewing Animations: You can preview the animation of a particular slide by going to Slide Show and Animation Preview. A thumbnail preview of the animation will appear in a pop-up box.

Custom Shows:

If you want to present your presentation using only certain slides, you can set up a custom show. Go to Slide Show and Select Custom Show. Click on the "New" button to create a new custom show. This will open up a dialog box. Enter a title for your custom show. Below are two boxes: the one on the left lists the titles of the slides in your existing presentation. On the right is a box for placing slides in the custom presentation. Click on the slides which you wish to include in your custom presentation, and use the Add button to add it to your custom presentation. Click on OK to save the custom presentation, and then click on Close to close the dialog boxes.

Action Buttons: You can insert action buttons into your slides, which can be clicked on during your presentation to advance to the next or previous slide, or to return to a particular slide within your presentation. Action buttons can also be used to play sounds or movies. Remember that these buttons will only work when you are actually presenting the show.

Giving the Presentation:

Saving the Show: Always save any changes to your presentation by going to File and Save. You should always save a copy of your presentation on a Zip disk.

"Pack and Go": It is best to give your presentation using the same computer that you used to develop your presentation, in order to minimize any compatibility problems. This is where a laptop computer comes in handy. You should also make sure that the computer from which you are presenting has installed on it all the applications which might be used in your presentation. For example, if your presentation has a link to a Microsoft Word document, you must have Microsoft Word installed on that computer. If you have a hyperlink to a website, you must make sure that the computer on which you're presenting has web browsing software as well as a direct internet connection.

Some versions of PowerPoint have a "Pack and Go" command that allows you to copy your presentation, along with the presenting software that allows you to view (though not edit) your presentation as well as any auxiliary programs, onto a floppy disk, Zip disk, or laptop.

The Presentation Environment:

Presenting the Show:
  1. You should always preview your show before presenting it. To give the presentation, go to Slide Show and View Show, or click on the Slide Show icon at the far right of the toolbar in the lower left hand side of the screen.
  2. If you have selected mouse click as the way of advancing your slides, just click on your mouse to advance the slides and to bring up any animated elements.
  3. There is an embossed arrow action button in the lower left hand corner of the screen. By clicking on this button, you can bring up a pull-up menu:
Printing Out Handouts, Transparencies, and Notes:

Handouts:

  1. Go to View, Master, and Handout Master to see the Handout template.
  2. Go to View, Toolbars, Handout Master to activate the Handout Master toolbar.
  3. From the Handout Master toolbar, select the format you want. You can print out pages showing 2 slides per page, 3 slides per page with the note text, or 6 slides a page without notes. The last selection on the toolbar is to print out just note text.
  4. You may enter header and/or footer information in the Handout Master template you select.
  5. Go to File and Print. In the pulldown menu, change from "General" to "Microsoft PowerPoint." In the next pulldown menu, select the type of handout you would like to print.
Transparencies: It is possible to print out your PowerPoint presentation slides as transparencies, although you need special printing equipment and supplies. The Office of Information Technology's Visualization and Presentation Lab can print out transparencies for you, but contact them in advance so that they can lend you a copy of printer drivers to install on your own computer to help prepare your presentation. Their number is 405-7325. Once the presentation is prepared, it can be brought on disk to the Lab to print out.

Notes:

  1. Go to View, Master, and Notes Master to see the Notes template.
  2. You can edit the format of the notes in the template.
  3. Go to File and Print. In the pulldown menu, change from "General" to "Microsoft PowerPoint." In the next pulldown menu, select Notes Pages and click on Print.
Putting Your Presentation on the Web:

Luckily, it is possible to put a version of your PowerPoint presentation on the web. This involves creating a folder containing all the files (text, images, and graphics) used in your presentation. This folder can be uploaded to a web server using a File Transfer Protocol program (FTP) or can be loaded, file by file, into a directory in WebSpinner.

First, you must save your HTML presentation for the Web. There is a built-in Wizard in PowerPoint which allows you to save a version to the web:

  1. Go to File, and Save As HTML.
  2. This will open up a Wizard which will take you step-by-step through a number of design choices. Click on Next to move onto the next choice, and Finish to end. Among the things the Wizard will ask you to choose are:
I have placed a test presentation on our website which shows what a PowerPoint presentation can look like when put up on the Web. You may notice that the web-based presentation looks quite different from the way the presentation looks during a normal presentation. Using the mouse, you may click on the action buttons to advance from slide to slide. You may notice that the animations and sounds are missing. In the most recent versions of PowerPoint, it is possible to upload the files for the animations and sounds. But again, you must keep your audience in mind, for not all browsers or machines have the programs that can read these features.