Controlling your PowerPoint presentation

Pausing your PowerPoint Presentation

                Suppose you want to stop your presentation for awhile, and you don’t want your students to be staring at the same old slide, getting bored and antsy.

                Press the “B” key, for black.  The screen goes black and the students are more likely to look at you (where you want their attention right now.)

                When you want to return to the presentation, press the “B” key again.

                Or you can use the “W” key to switch the screen to white, and then back again.

Moving back to a previous slide

                Suppose you were clicking along and went right past a slide you wanted to show.  Do you need to go back and start over?  No.

                Right click on the slide, and you’ll be given a number of options for moving around your presentation:

• Previous slide
• Next slide
• Last viewed
• Go to slide – click on this and you’ll see the titles of all your slides, so you can pick one
• End presentation

Wouldn’t this be handy when students ask questions after your presentation?  But you must be in the presentation for this to work.  If you have ended the presentation, just restart it and right-click.

Making your PowerPoints more Active  by using a Virtual Felt Tip Pen

                Do you wish you could add more variety to your PowerPoint presentations?  Do you wish you could add answers as if you were writing on the blackboard or on an overhead?  Well you can.  Here’s how:

• 1. While in the Slide Show view (when you’re presenting your presentation), right click on your slide. Then click on Pointer Options, and then Ballpoint Pen, Felt Tip Pen, or Highlighter.
• 2. Your cursor is now a pen, and you can use it for writing, underlining, circling, and all those things you do on the blackboard (or with an overhead projector).
• 3. You can change the color of your pen by right clicking again; click on Pointer options and then Ink Color, then on the color you want.
• 4. When you’re done with the presentation, you’ll be asked if you want to keep all your markups (so they show the next time you give the presentation). Probably, your answer is “No.”