Information Point

Features of a Presentation

Features of a PresentationThere are a number of things you should consider when making your Information Points.

You should consider what features you will need to use in PowerPoint that suite your audience and its purpose.

For example, if writing an Information Point for a room full of business professionals, you are unlikely to add this (click to move forward).

Also, when you have moved further into this one slide you can see exactly how much information there is.

It does not help that the font size is actually quite small. If this information came in a paragraph at a time, it would have given you a lot longer to focus on each point.

If giving this presentation slide to a classroom full of children it wouldn’t hold their interest very long.

Further more, the frog (although it would make the children laugh) does not add anything to the slide.

It is very surprising how much information you can get on one slide. Without actually realising it.

Would you believe, that the last time you clicked (when the frog disappeared) we didn’t change to the next slide, we are still on the first one!

Doesn’t look like it does it? Make the most of your page and the features PowerPoint has to offer.

Also, the use of language used in this slide is awful!

Do not hyphenate words or miss-spell them!

Always re-read your work to check that the content is correct, spelt properly and reads suitably to your audience.

Features of a PresentationThe following features are displayed in this guide, it is up to you to use them where you think they will be appropriate. Most of them you will have used before, but it is really important to use them effectively – you only have 5 slides!

Please remember: If you want to return to this slide at any time; press the home button.

HyperlinksMore often than not, you will see hyperlinks used by your teachers to link from a presentation slide to: A webpage, a YouTube video, a piece of work they want you to complete, etc. However, they can be used for so much more!

Tip 1: Make use of the buttons that are already created for you!

These are under the Insert tab, click on Shapes.

An example of which is the button with the house on it. The use of this button was described on the previous page!

Tip 2: Be consistent – do not change the button you use for back, you do not want to confuse your audience.

Making them look for something they should spot easily is not “considering your audience needs”

Tip 3: In the description of the task it says “Students must be able to select different screens using a mouse”, you might want to consider if you will be using one back button or a menu on each slide.

Click on the item you want to make a link.

Go to the Insert tab and click on the Hyperlink button.

Change this box to say “Place in This Document”

Click on the slide you want to link to. Note: This is made easier if you are using the title box.

Check the preview and click ok

TransitionsThis tends to be the part that we forget about, but when moving from one slide to another it does not have to be a harsh shift of slides.

Slide transition affects the way the slide appears on the screen.

Click on the Transitions tab. Click here to see more options.

When you click on a transition it automatically previews, however, you can click on the Preview button to see it again.

You can apply to one of your slides or all of them, however, think of consistency when making that decision! Also, too many transitions can give the viewer a motion sickness feel.

Note: Here is where they have moved whether the screen moves on by click or by timing.

For this task you will want to consider it carefully, you need to “change screens using a mouse” not automatically change screens.

Adding SoundsSounds! This has, and will always be, a tricky decision to make. Sounds can make a presentation – or – break it! Firstly, the sound has to match what you are doing – just like images – they have to relate! Also, due to Copyright it is very difficult to use the sounds you might want to. Most often you will have to rely on the pre-made sounds or record your own.

You can add sounds to Transitions. Under the Transition tab there is a drop down of Microsoft supplied sounds. Note: If you use sounds from this library they must be placed in your sources table.

You can also add sounds to your slides, e.g. munching on the Eat Well slide.

To do this click on the Insert tab and select the Audio button.• Audio from file – if you have a pre-recorded sound file.• Clip Art Audio – if you want to search for sounds provided.• Record Audio – if you have access to a microphone and which

to record your own audio (perhaps for visually impaired)

AnimationLet’s face it, most of us have used one type of animation or another in the past (even if it was just to make this next bit of text come in as if it were part of a magical typewriter)

Magical Typewriter text!

Or even to make something fly onto the screen!

Using Custom Animations subtly will save us space and look very professional.

They can also be used to allow images/text to change, giving the user something additional to look at.

ALWAYS make your animations consistent!

Select the object (or group of objects) that you wish to animate and click on the Animations tab.Hover over any of the animations and they will automatically preview.

Tip: Using the Animation Pane will help you keep track of the animations you have on your slide including the order they play in.

Tip: Too many animations, or inconsistent ones is bad! Distracting the reader.

Tip: If adding more than one animation to an object, you have to use this button to select the additional animation(s).

Most animations will default to start On Click, this requires the user to click the screen in order for the animation to play.

With Previous will play the animation at the same time as the last, great if you want an image to appear at the same time as a new paragraph.

After Previous will play the animation once the previous animation has finished playing. Useful if you want to reveal a paragraph at a time.

Running your presentation on a loopWhen those using your information point reach the end of the presentation, you do not want them to see this screen:

Click on the Slide Show tab

Click on the Set Up Slide Show button

Tick this box.

By ticking this box you will no longer see the End of Show screen once the user comes to the end of the slide show. Now they will go back to the first slide, in a loop.