PowerPoint 101:

How to make a basic presentationWhat is PowerPoint | Getting Started | Inserting Pictures & Adding More Slides | Some Buttons You'll Need | Transitions | Animations

What is PowerPoint? PowerPoint is a computer version of a slide show. You create a set of"slides" that have pictures, words, sounds, etc... that appear as you click the mouse. As you giveyour oral presentation, you click through the slides instead of holding up a bunch of posters. Youcan print out the slides so your audience can focus on your presentation instead of furiouslycopying information...You can include digitized video/audio from the Internet (or digitize part ofa VHS tape), and you can use pictures (scanned or copied from a website). DO NOT FORGETTO CITE SOURCES!!! Much of the material on the Internet is copyrighted, but can be used instudent presentations if cited.

Getting Started: When you open PowerPoint, you'll see a window with 4 choices:

Choose "template" and click OK.

You'll see a set of designs to choosefrom. Use the arrow keysor mouse to scroll throughthe choices.

Find one that you like,and double-click.

Be careful---you'll need

high contrast between the background and the words for it to show up well on the TV/projectiondevice.

Then you'll see a set of possible ways to organize information on your slide.

The first choice is usually the best foryour title slide.

Unless you want to add clip art, don'tchoose the slides with the person's headdrawn in a box.

Don't choose one with the boxes to makea map or a graph unless you really knowwhat you're doing.

Once you've chosen a layout for your slide, you just have to click and type.

Insert a Picture: Click on your slide. From the Insert menu, choose Picture --> From File, andfind the picture file on your disk or network folder. Don't try to insert your picture into a clip artbox -- you'll distort your picture.

Add Your Next Slide: From the Insert menu, choose New Slide, or use control-M.

Some buttons you'll need:In the lower left of the screen is a little toolbar with 5 very important buttons:

The middle button lets you see all the slides in your show. You can click and drag to change theorder of the slides. You can click a slide and hit the "delete" key to get rid of a slide. You candouble-click a slide to work on it.

The last button starts the slide show. Click your mouse to advance slides. Use the "esc" key atthe top left of your keyboard to get out of the slide show. Right-clicking on the slides during ashow brings up a menu you can use to skip around in the show or to activate the pen to draw onthe slides.

The first button lets you work on individual slides. Use the scroll bar at the right to scrollthrough slides, like scrolling through a Word document.

Sprucing It UpYou can easily add fancy transitions between your slides. You can also make the text/picturesenter the slide differently.

Transitions:

On the Slide Show menu, choose "Slide Transistions". You'll see a window that lets you choosewhat kind of transition. When you choose different transitions you'll see an example of thetransition as the "dog" slide changes to a "key" slide. You can make it play a sound as the slidechanges. You can also set the slide to change after a certain amount of time instead of on yourmouse click -- not a good idea when you're first learning to use PowerPoint.

Animations:

You can also set the words & pictures to enter the slide differently. On the Slide Show menu,choose "Custom Animation". You'll see a window that lets you set the effects with which eachpiece of text or picture enters the slide. You can also add sounds here.