A Brief Introduction to PowerPoint

Transcription

1 A Brief Introduction to PowerPoint How to make a PowerPoint presentation 1 How to view a PowerPoint presentation 4 How to print a PowerPoint presentation 5 Adding the bells and whistles Change fonts 6 Change formatting 6 Insert pictures 9 Insert movies and sound 13 Insert chart 15 Insert table 16 Insert hyperlink 16 Add effects and animations 17 Recording sound using Sound Forge 19

2 Making a PowerPoint Presentation At this point I ll be outlining the steps needed to create a very basic PowerPoint presentation. Once I ve described how to create the slides and view the slide show, I ll go into more detail on the various things you can do to add increasing levels of complexity to your presentation. First things first: Open the PowerPoint program. You will be confronted with a box that will ask if you want to start a new project or open an existing project. If you choose to open an existing project, either select the project through the list, or navigate through your file system until you have located it. If you are starting a new project you have several options to choose from. You can use the AutoContent wizard to create the presentation, you can use a Template, or you can open a Blank Presentation and start from scratch. We will be proceeding as though you have chosen to use a template. All of the functions that will be discussed will work exactly the same if you choose to start with a blank presentation, but the advantage to the template is that the background and colour schemes have already been assembled. [Note: don t worry that by using a template your presentation will lack a degree of uniqueness. I ll outline further on how you can change the template in order to make it more original. Additionally, the templates are often advantageous because they set the tone for the presentation.] In the dialogue box that appeared when you opened the program, select the Design Template and click OK. 1

3 You will then be asked to select a template. As you click on each file in the list, a preview of the template can be seen to the right (see graphic below). Once you have found one you feel comfortable with, click OK. You will now be asked to select the format of the first slide. There are 12 to choose from. Click on the one that you want to use, and click OK. This slide will not be the default as you proceed you will be able to select different formats as your work through your presentation in order to avoid monotony. Your PowerPoint screen will now resemble the one pictured below (although with the template and first screen you selected). 2

4 You re ready to get started. The template indicates where you can add text. Just move your mouse into the appropriate box and start typing. You don t have to worry about fonts, formats, and other visual aspects at first because your template will take care of them. For instance, if you choose to add a bulleted list you will not have to select a bullet format it s already preset. You can t tell in the graphic above, but the bullets appear in the presentation in different colours. 3

5 After you have completed the first slide it is time to add the second one. Select the Insert menu and choose the New Slide option. The slide selection box will open again. You can also insert a new slide using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + m. Select the format of your next slide and click OK to continue. Note that in some of the slides you can chose features such as a chart or a graph. You will be prompted on how to add these features as you go along. For example, if you select a slide with a chart, the blank slide directs you to Click to add a chart. Then a chart opens that you can customize by adding your own data and choosing a new chart type, if necessary. If you have inserted and formatted a chart in Word than this procedure will be familiar to you. After you have added your slides (information on the more advanced features to follow), you can view your slide show. To View the Slide Show: You can click on the View menu and select Side Show, or you can simply press the F5 button. Click your mouse to change from one slide to the next. To Finalize the Show: When you have added all of your information on a slide, formatted things as desired, and you are ready to go there is one final step. If you click on Slide Show and then choose Set up show the box shown below will open. This allows you to select a variety of options, such as whether or not the show should fill an entire screen, if you should use preset timings or advance the show manually, and the range of slides that should be included. Click OK to apply your selections. 4

6 To Print the Presentation: You can print out your PowerPoint presentations in a variety of ways: one slide per page, as a hand out with several slides per page, or as an outline. One of the more popular options is to print out the presentation in a handout format with three slides per page. These slides are positioned on the left side of the page, and audience members can take notes in empty space on the right side of the page. To achieve this format you will need to make some selections in your Print dialogue box. First, go to File and select Print from the menu. In the dialogue box, select All in the Print Range in order to print the entire presentation. Then, using the drop-down menu under the Print What: option, select Handouts. In the Handouts box to the right of the drop-down menu, select 3 as the number of slides per page. You will see that there is a small graphic that provides a preview of the format you have selected. (These options have been selected in the screenshot below.) You can then make choices, based on personal preference as to whether to print in grayscale or black and white and whether or not to frame the slides. 5

7 Click OK when you have made your selections in order to print the presentation for distribution to your audience. Adding the Bells and Whistles: Change fonts The template that you have selected has a preset font. If you want to change the fonts, simply highlight the text you want to change, and select a new font from the dropdown menu on your toolbar. You can also select a new size using the drop down size menu. For a PowerPoint presentation you should remember to keep the font large enough that someone sitting in an audience would be able to read it, without crossing the line and making it too big. Change formatting If you click on Format and open the menu you will see that there are a large number of things you can change about your project. You can change the alignment of the text, you can change the line spacing, and you can change the text from lower to uppercase and vice versa. You can also make some changes to the appearance of the template. The next three items are in the Format menu. 6

8 Slide Layout: It could happen that you are three quarters of the way through a slide and realize that a different format would have better suited the information. Rather than deleting the slide and retyping the information, you can choose to change the slide layout. Click Format and select Slide Layout. The following, now familiar, box opens. Select a new slide format from the box and click OK. Depending on which slide you are switching to and from, you may have to do some minor readjustments to the appearance of the information. Slide Color Scheme: Your selected template has the colours for the background, text, and charts preset. However, if you are tired of seeing the same template in presentation after presentation, you can change the colour scheme of a slide, or off all your slides, in order to give your presentation a unique flair. Click on Format and select Slide Color Scheme. The box below appears. 7

9 On the Standard tab are several alternative colour combinations that you can select. After selecting a combination you can click Apply to put the new colours on just one slide, or you can click Apply to All to change the colors throughout your entire presentation. If you aren t happy with any of the color combinations and would prefer to create one of your own, select the Custom tab of the color scheme box (see below). Select the element of the slide that you wish to change, and then click on the Change Color button. A color palette opens and you can select a new color. Click OK to select your color and close the palette. Click Apply to change the colors on the slide you are currently working on or click Apply to All to change the colors throughout your presentation. Background: What if you are happy with all the colours on your template, but you d prefer a different coloured background. Maybe your template came with a blue background, and you d like white. Or it came with boring white and you want to spice it up a little. Click Format and then select Background. Click the drop down arrow (seen in the graphic below) and select a new colour. Click Apply to change the background of the slide you are currently working on, or click Apply to All to change the background colour throughout your entire presentation. 8

10 Apply Design Template: You ve been working on your presentation for the better part of the morning. Maybe you ve decided you re sick of your chosen template. Maybe your supervisor has walked by and suggested that Dad s Tie would be a better choice than Checkers. You don t have to start over just change the template. Click on Format and select Apply Design Template. Choose a new template from the list and click Apply. Insert pictures Adding a picture to a PowerPoint presentation is much like adding a picture or graphic into a Word document. You can add a piece of clip art, a graphic from your files, Autoshapes, or WordArt. You can additionally add an Organizational chart and a Word table. Inserting a Graphic: To insert a graphic, click Insert and then select Picture. This will open the submenu seen to the right. 9

11 From Clip Art: If you choose to insert Clip Art, a box opens that contains the supplied clip art images. You can choose a category and then choose an image, or you can choose to look for clips online. When you make the selection to look for clips online, the Microsoft clip art gallery opens. Images you select from the online site will be stored in your clip art files in the category Downloaded Clips for future use. From file: If you choose to insert a picture from file, a box will open that will prompt you to navigate through your system to the location of the picture. At that point you simply select the file and click Insert. From AutoShapes: When you choose the AutoShapes option, a small toolbar opens. On the toolbar, you click on the type of shape you are interested in, and a submenu opens, from which you can select a shape. 10

12 Once you have selected the shape you can use your mouse to change the size, and you can use the AutoShapes (also called the Drawing Toolbar) toolbar (which has opened at the bottom of your screen) to add words and colours. Organization Chart: When you choose to insert an organizational chart, a box opens in which you will construct your chart. You can click in the boxes to add your data, and then select new boxes from the list across the top of the box. When you have finished creating your chart, click the File menu of the box, and choose the option that says Update Presentation1 (Note: It will provide the name of your file, not the word Presentation1.) This will place your chart on the PowerPoint slide. You can then close the box. To make changes to your chart after it has been placed on the slide, just double click on the chart and the box will reopen. 11

13 NOTE: This is the same procedure that you will need to do if you select the Slide Layout that contains an organizational chart. In that case you will be prompted on the slide to double-click to open the box. You can then proceed with the formatting of your chart in the same way. From WordArt: If you have selected the WordArt option, the following box will open. From this selection you can chose the style you want to use, and click OK. After clicking OK, the following box opens. In this box you can type in what you want your WordArt to say, what font you want to use, change the size, and apply the bold and/or italic formatting if necessary. Click OK when you are done. Sample of WordArt: 12

14 Once your WordArt has been inserted, a formatting toolbar opens that allows you to make additional changes to colour, and you can adjust the length and height of the image, as well as the orientation and the character spacing. Microsoft Word Table: Please see the notes below for inserting a table. Insert movies and sound Movie from File: To insert a movie file or a sound file, click Insert and select Movies and Sounds from the menu. A submenu opens. Movie from Gallery: If you select the Movie from Gallery option, a dialogue box similar to the ClipArt dialogue box opens. If you have installed or downloaded any motion clips into the gallery, you can then select the clip and insert it into the program. It is probably more likely that you will be inserting a movie that you have filed elsewhere in the computer (see below). If you select the Movie from File option, a box opens that will allow you to navigate through your file system in order to locate the clip you want to include. After selecting the movie file, the box pictured below will appear. If you want the movie to begin playing as soon as the slide appears during the presentation, then click Yes. If you would rather have the control to click on the movie file and start it when it is convenient for you within the course of your presentation, then click No. 13

15 Sound from Gallery: If you select the Sound from Gallery option, a dialogue box similar to the ClipArt dialogue box opens. If you have installed or downloaded any sound clips into the gallery, you can then select the clip and insert it into the program. It is probably more likely that you will be inserting an audio file that you have filed elsewhere in the computer (see below). Sound from File: If you select the Sound from File option, a box opens that will allow you to navigate through your file system in order to locate the clip you want to include. After selecting the audio file, the box pictured below will appear. If you want the clip to begin playing as soon as the slide appears during the presentation, then click Yes. If you would rather have the control to click on the audio file and start it when it is convenient for you within the course of your presentation, then click No. Play CD Audio Track: By selecting this option you can set up a constant soundtrack to run through the presentation. A consideration, though, must be applied it may be that someone in the audience will ask you a question that will pause your presentation, thus causing the music to be out of sync with what you had planned. A way to avoid this is to use a regular CD player that can be paused while the presentation stops for questions, comments, and clarifications. Record Sound: If you have the capability to record sound on your computer (Please see the section entitled Recording Sound at the end of this document.) you can record short sound clips by clicking on Insert and then Insert Movies or Sound, and then Record Sound. 14

16 Insert chart You have two methods available to use to insert a chart into your presentation. You can click on Insert and select Chart from the list, or you can select a slide that has a chart in the basic format. Either way, you will be presented with the graphic, or a graphic similar to it, that can be seen below. Much like inserting a chart into a Word document, you can add as much information as you need to in the Datasheet. Then you can right-click on various areas on the graphical representation of your information to select a new chart type, new legend colours, etc. 15

17 Insert table You have three methods available to use to insert a table into your presentation. You can click on Insert and select Chart from the list You can select a slide that has a chart in the basic format You can click on Insert and select Picture and then choose Microsoft Word Table from the submenu Either way, you will be presented with the dialogue box seen below. Indicate how many columns and rows your table needs and click OK. A table will be inserted on your slide. Formatting options for this table are more limited than in Word. Insert hyperlink You can insert a link into your presentation so that when you click on it, your Internet browser will open to that page. Click on Insert and select Hyperlink from the list. The box shown below will open. If the web site you want to link to use is in the list, then click on it once to select it. If it is not, click the browse button on the right in order to locate the link. If you know the URL, you can simply type it into the field. The first field in the box is the Text to Display field. In this field enter the words that you want to have linked in your presentation. For example, if you are linking to the UWO 16

18 web page, in the Text to Display field you might want to put University of Western Ontario. You can add further detail by clicking the ScreenTip button. Into the small box that opens you can type in some text that will appear when you mouse over the linked words. You can use the mouse over text as a reminder to yourself as to what you will be opening or to provide additional information. Add effects and animations Effects and animations are, perhaps, what PowerPoint is best known for: the sound of an old typewriter as letters appear on the screen, a fancy screen dissolve as you move from one screen to the next. The effects and animations can be used to provide emphasis and effect, but should not be over-used. Too many effects will detract from your presentation. Highlight the text to which you want to add the effect/animation. Click on SlideShow. In the menu that opens there are three options that will add effects and animations: Action Settings, Preset Animation, and Custom Animation. Action Settings: Using this box you can set up various actions to be performed automatically on both the mouse-click and the mouse-over. For instance, you can customize the program to open another program in order to allow you to perform a demonstration, when you click on the word to which the action has been assigned. 17

19 Preset Animation: The Preset Animation menu provides the actions that most people are used to seeing used in a PowerPoint presentation. When you click on the Preset Animation option, a submenu opens. From this sub menu you can choose to have the selected text assigned any of a wide variety of actions, from flying onto the screen to appearing as though typed one letter at a time to flying in from the top. Custom Animation: When you select the Custom Animation option, the following dialogue box opens. This box gives you the ability to apply animations similar to the Preset Animations, but to customize them a great deal more. You can have a different effect/animation on your title and on your text. You can select an entry animation for the text from the drop down menu, and then choose a direction from which the text will enter. You can apply a sound. You can select an action to take place after the text has appeared for example, the text might change colour, fade to dim, or disappear. Click Preview to see what you have selected, or click OK to apply your changes to the presentation. 18

20 Recording sound It is possible to record sound into the computer, save it as a file, and then insert that sound file into the presentation (as detailed above). At the Faculty of Education there is a program in the Multimedia Lab (Room 2011) that will allow you to record sound. Using Sound Forge: Double click the Sound Forge icon to open the program. If a Tip of the Day box opens with a suggestion on how to use the program, you can close the tip. Click on the red record button (the small red circle to the right of the Prepare button) to open the work environment. Set the characteristics of the sound file you are creating by clicking the New button. This will open a new window. To make a voice recording you should set the following information in the dialogue window: Channel: Mono, Size: 16-bit, and Rate: 22,050. This will provide a high quality recording while keeping the size of the file relatively small. Click OK to close the window and apply your changes. 19

21 Click in the small box next to the word Monitor there should be a checkmark in that box. When you speak into the microphone at this point you will see an indicator of the range of the file in the two green bars in the Record dialogue box. Ideally, for the voice to be in the correct range you will want to get a reading of between 9 and 3 (near the top of the indicator bars). If you are not getting a reading between 9 and 3, then you will need to perform the following steps. 1. Open the Volume Control in your desktop taskbar by right-clicking on the speaker icon. Select Open Volume Control from the menu. 2. If you are looking at the play back settings (see screen shot below), choose Options, then Properties. 20

22 3. When the Properties dialogue box opens, select Recording, and make sure that Microphone is selected in the option list. Click OK to apply your changes. 4. Your recording control dialogue box should now resemble the one shown below. Ensure that the Microphone control is selected by placing a check mark in the box. Increase the Volume slider. 21

23 5. You can now toggle back to the Sound Forge program and test your voice through the microphone again. Continue to increase the slider in the Microphone control until the indicators in Sound Forge show that you are reaching the optimum level. (You can leave your volume control options open while working in Sound Forge.) Now that you have fixed your settings, you are ready to record a sound file. Click the Record button. Speak into the microphone. Press the Stop button. Your file will now visually represent the sound file you just recorded. The vertical axis of the sound represents the volume of the file, while the horizontal axis represents the length of the file. You can click the play button in the lower left corner of this box to replay the sound. You can now edit the sound file that you have recorded. By clicking and dragging your mouse over a portion of the recorded sound, you can highlight a segment. 22

24 If you press play now, only the highlighted portion will be heard. While this segment is highlighted, you can delete it by simply pressing the delete button on the keyboard. Normalizing the file: Normalizing your sound file will increase the volume to the maximum amount possible without distorting the quality of sound. All of your sound files should be normalized. The benefit of this is that once normalized, all your files will play back at the same volume level, even if perhaps you didn t speak as loudly for one as for the others. To normalize your file click on the Process menu in the main menu bar across the top. Then select Normalize. In the Normalize dialogue box, make sure that the slider is at the top of the bar. Then click OK. 23

25 Saving your sound file: If you ve been working in the Multimedia lab, you will not be able to save your file to the C drive as these computers are available for use by anyone. Please save your files to your N drive. You can select the N drive as the save location by using the Save As option to save your file. For organizational file management reasons, it makes sense to have a folder in your N drive devoted entirely to your presentation and you should save your sound files in that folder. 24