Basics of Creating a PowerPoint Presentation

Your personal cheat-sheet

• 1. Decide what you’re trying to communicate. Hint: What overheads would you use? Or if you wished you could use 35 mm slides, what would your presentation look like?
• 2. At minimum, you’ll need a title, an introduction of what you’ll cover, content, and a conclusion/wrap-up. You might want to consider, do I want to close with a question for students to consider?
• 3. When you open PowerPoint, you will be at a new, blank presentation. The first page is automatically a title page. Create a working title; you can always change it later. Click in the spaces provided to enter text.
• 4. Add a new slide; click on “New Slide” on the Home tab. . It will default to a standard slide format as shown below. You can add a title to the slide, and can add text in bullet point form. You can also add pictures (see below for more on that).

Think about what text you want to include.  You can modify your format by clicking on Layout on the home tab.   There are many layouts and if you don’t like one, you can change to another easily.

• 5. Think about what you want your overall presentation to look like. Click on the Design tab, and explore the basic “themes.” Play around until you find one you like. You can always change it later, and can even delete the background for individual slides if you decide you want to.
• 6. What else would you like to add? Pictures? You can cut and paste from other applications. You can also insert quite a number of different media. Click on the appropriate medium shown below and you will be prompted to enter the location for that particular item.
• 7. Bells and whistles you may want to consider include transitions from slide to slide, sounds, and “animation.”

Transitions from slide to slide are on the Animations tab.  You can control speed and associated sounds of transitions here.  Click on the arrow in the lower right-hand corner for many more transition options.
Custom animation, also on the Animations tab, provides many, many effects. Click first on the item you want to “animate,” then on “Custom Animation” on the Animations tab.  When you click on Add Effect, you’ll have many options to choose from.

• 8. Now, test your presentation. The SlideShow tab is where you can most easily control your show. You have many options here. To see the entire show, click on “from beginning.”

Consider:   how will you present your show?  Consider alternatives.  You could link your computer to your TV using a special cable (ask Anthony how to get one).  You could use a projector tied to your computer (sign out from the library).  In a pinch, you can have students crowd around your monitor.
Also, how will you make the presentation available to students who are absent?  Possibilities include Handouts (Print and identify handouts. You can use Preview to see if you’re getting what you want.  Click on “Properties” in the Print dialog (partly shown at left) so that you can select “print color as black and white” for slides that are easier to read.
You can also modify what’s on handouts within the View tab (click on Handout master).
Post to Edline.  Edline can’t accommodate the huge files of PowerPoint, but you can Publish to a Word document (Microsoft Office button, top left-hand corner) and post the Word document to Edline, just as you’d post an assignment sheet.  Note that these files are still large, due to the graphic material included, and will take awhile to load up to Edline, and also for users to download from Edline.