WHAT'S IN YOUR TOOLBOX THIS TIME?
Powerpoint s a little different from of the other Office in that some Programs you don t start with a blank document. Instead, PowerPoint starts by displaying a dialog box, similar to a wizard, asking what you want to do. You select whether to create a new presentation (and how) or to edit an existing presentation. Depending on what you choose, you will be prompted to make other selections. The section "Ready, Set, Go" covers how to get started with the program and also provides an overview of the different tools available in PowerPoint.
T I P: A wizard is an automated method for creating a particular type of document. The program prompts you to make selections and then helps you create the document.
You'll learn about working with slides later. For now, take a look at some of the tools in the PowerPoint program window. As in other program windows, you see the title bar and menu bar at the top of the window. PowerPoint also includes several toolbars. the Standard and Formatting toolbars. In addition, the PowerPoint window includes a Common Tasks toolbar. The commands in this toolbar are pretty self-explanatory. You'll learn how to use them in this and the next two chapters.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Now that you are familiar with what’s available, you should think about your presentation. Powerpoint includes a few ways to create a new presentation and several different slide types. If you just sit down and get started, you may feel over whelmed with all the choices. You may get halfwya through and realize that there’s a better way . Avoid all these mistakes by taking a look at this section, which gives you an overview of the different elements to consider before you create a new presentation.
What's the Message?
If you have a good idea of what you want to do, you can then pick the tools most suited for accomplishing that goal. So think about your overall presentation and content. Ask yourself these questions:
v What is the goal or message of the presentation? To inform? Persuade? Teach? Sell? Recommend? You should have one clearly defined goal in mind.
v Who's the audience for your message? Peers? Students? Bosses? Coworkers? Potential investors? Anyone that will listen? What will they be thinking? What is their background? You should have a good idea of the audience and of audience members' various perspectives.
v How can you convey your particular message to your particular audience? Do you need to explain a lot of stuff?. Do you need financial information? Do you need tables of information? Do you need to show charts? What exactly will convince your audience to "buy" what you are "selling"?
Once you answer these questions, you can think about how to put together the actual presentation. On to planning step 2. What's the best way to create the presentation?
WAYS TO CREATE A PRESENTATION
When you start PowerPoint, you are given three choices as to how to create a new presentation (besides the choice of opening an existing presentation):
v Use the AutoContent Wizard. With this option, PowerPoint leads you step-by-step through the process of creating a presentation. You select the presentation type, output options, presentation style, and presentation options. You can select from many different types, including project overview, status, financial overview, marketing plan, and so on.
v PowerPoint adds some typical slides with sample data. Replace the sample data with your own to create a presentation. This option is helpful for users who are new to creating presentations and may need some help in deciding the content of a presentation.
v If you don't like the idea of replacing sample data with your own but do want some initial help in selecting the look of the presentation, you can use a template. A template defines the colors, font, text placement, and other formatting features of a presentation. You can then add the slides you want.
v If you don't choose to mess with someone else's design, you can start with a blank presentation. You can then add the slides you want and select formatting options such as color scheme and special effects to your slides.
The section "Ready, Set, Go" covers how to start a presentation using each of these three methods.
TYPES OF SLIDES YOU CAN INCLUDE
A presentation is a collection of slides, and those slides convey the information to your audience. When you planned your presentation, you should have thought about how best to convey your message. Now you can see the different ways to put your thoughts before your audience. You can select from several basic slide layouts. Take a look at Table 18-3 for a general idea of each slide lay. out as well as a description.
The rest covers how to create these slides and add them to a new presentation.
TITLE
This slide includes text placeholders for a title and a subtitle. Most presentations start with a title slide that defines the name or purpose of the presentation.
BULLETED LIST
This slide includes a title and an area for a bulleted list. Use this slide to present a series of points, such as an agenda, a summary of accomplishments, or a list of goals.
COLUMN TEXT
This slide includes a title and two columns of text. Use this to present text in two columns.
TABLE
This slide includes a title and a table. You can present numerical data or other tabular data on this slide.
TEXT & CHART
This slide includes a table, an area for text, and an area for a chart.
CHART & TEXT
This slide, similar to the preceding one, includes an area for a title, text, and a chart.
ORGANIZATION CHART
This slide includes a title as well as an area for an organization chart.
CHART
This slide includes a title as well as a place for a chart.
TEXT & CLIP ART
This slide includes a title, a text area, and an area for a picture.
CLIP ART & TEXT
This is similar to the preceding slide layout.
TITLE ONLY
This is a title chart with iust one title.
BLANK
This is a blank slide. You can add text, charts, pictures, or other elements anywhere you want.
READY, SET, GO
Now that all that background information is stored solidly in your mind,
you can get to the fun stuff- actually creating a new presentation. Follow these steps to start PowerPoint and start a new presentation:
1. Click the Start button, select button, and then select “Microsoft Powerpoint”
The program is started, and you see the PowerPoint dialog box, which prompts you to select how to cream a new presentation.
To open a new presentation, select Open an existing presentation and then select the one you want to work on. See Chapter 3 for more information on opening Office documents.
2. Select a method to create a new presentation -- using the AutoContent wizard, a template, or a blank presentation -- and then click the OK button. The rest of this section describes each method, so go to the selection you made and follow the remaining steps.
If you selected the AutoContent Wizard to create a new presentation, you see the first dialog box for this wizard. This dialog box gives you an overview of the process.
Follow these steps to complete the setup:
1. Review the initial screen and then click the Next button: You are prompted to select the type of presentation. By default, PowerPoint lists all of the presentation types, you can narrow the list by selecting a category in the dialog box.
2. Select the type of presentation and click the Next button. You are prompted to select the output options.
3. Select Presentations, info: presentation. Or select In Click the Next button.
4. Select the type of output. You can choose to present the presentation on a computer screen, as black and white overheads, as color overheads or as a slide show. You can also choose whether you want handouts. After you make your choices, click Next button. You are prompted for information for the title slide.
5. Type your presentation title, your name, and any additional information you want to include on the tide slide. Click the Finish button.
PowerPoint creates the presentation and some sample slides for that specific type of presentation. For example, a Company Meeting presentation. You can then edit each slide in the presentation. You may want to turn to that chapter next. You can also use the information in the rest of this chapter to learn how to add other new slides to this presentation.
USING A TEMPLATE
If you chose to create a new presentation based on a template, you see the New Presentation dialog box. You also see this same dialog box if you use the File- New command to create a new presentation once you’ve started Powerpoint. The following are steps to select a template.
1. In the New Presentation dialog box, select the presentation template you like. If you aren’t sue what they look like, select the template and then view a preview in the dialog box.
2. Click the OK button. Powerpoint sets up a new presentation using the design style from the template and displays the New Slide dialog box so that you can select the first slide in the presentation
3. Turn to the section "Show ME Slides”
CREATING A BLANK PRESENTATION
If you chose to create a blank presentation, you see the New slide dialog box. Here you can select the first slide to add to your presentation. This topic is covered next.
SLIDING FOR HOME
When you create a presentation based on a template or a blank presentation, you see the New Slide dialog box. The first step in adding a new slide -- whether it's the first or last -- is to select the type of slide you want.
From this dialog box, select the type of slide you want to add and then click the OK button. PowerPoint adds the slide and includes placeholders for each element included on that slide type. For example, if you've added a title slide, you see placeholders for the title and the subtitle. If you added a bulleted list, you see placeholders for the title and the bulleted list. The next sections describe how to create each type of element on the slide.
To add another slide to the presentation, click the New Slide command in the Common Tasks toolbar, select the insert - New Slide command. Again, you see the New Slide dialog box where you can select the type of slide you want to add. The new slide is added after the current one.
Continue adding new slides and creating the slides until you complete the presentation.
GET YOUR TEXT HERE!
Several slide layouts contain slide, you have placeholders You can simply replace the layouts contain mostly text.
1. Click the placeholder.
2. Type the new text.
3. Click outside the placeholder.
When you are working with text, you can make any changes you need. The same editing techniques you use in Word or Excel apply.
v As you type, you can press enter to insert a paragraph break. Pressing Enter on a tile placeholders does not move you to the next placeholder. You must click in the next chart area to move there.
v If you added a bulleted slide, pressing Enter ends the paragraph and inserts a new bullet
v To edit text, start by moving the insertion point. You can use the mouse to point and click or you can use the arrow keys.
v To select text, drag across it much like you do in Word.
v To delete text to the left of the insertion point, press Backspace. To delete text to the right of the insertion point, press Del. If you have a lot of text to delete, drag across the text to select it and then press Del.
v To copy or cut text, select the text first. Then use the Copy, Cut, and Paste buttons or commands.
v If you make a mistake when editing text, use the Undo button or command to undo the change.
v If you add a table chart, you see an area for the table. Double-click that area and then select the number of columns and rows you want. The table is added to the slide. Type each entry in the table cells and use Tab to move to the next one. Be sure to save your presentation as you add new slides.
v When you're done adding slides, check the spelling of the text using the Spelling button. The command works much like the spell-check feature in Word or Excel
SHOW ME SLIDES
In addition to text slides, you can include slides with charts. For instance, in a sales meeting, you may want to chart sales performance for each quarter. For a company meeting, you might show annual profit by year. For a new product launch, you might show projected income.
Creating a chart in PowerPoint is a lot like creating a chart in Excel. You can select from similar chart types, and you enter data in a mini worksheet. This section covers how to set up a chart.
You can use charts or data from Excel in your PowerPoint presentation.
DISPLAYING THE CHART TOOLS
When you select a slide layout that includes a chart, you see an icon for the chart area . To get started, double-click the Chart icon. PowerPoint displays the datasheet with sample data and the chart.
ENTERING DATA
The datasheet is just like a mini worksheet -- that is, a grid of rows and columns. The sample data give you an idea of how the data should be entered. You replace the sample column and row headings with the data you want to chart. You also replace the numerical data with the data appropriate to your chart.
To select a cell for editing, click it or use the arrow keys (just as you move around in Excel). Type the new entry and press Enter to replace the current entry. If the chart you want to create includes more columns or headings than the sample data, simply enter the data in the appropriate row and column. If the chart contains less data, be sure to delete the inappropriate sample data. To delete data, select the range (drag across the cells to highlight them) and then press Del.