1 Presentation software for UNESCO-IOC-IODE-OceanTeacher and for UNESCO-IOC-IODE-ODINAFRICA training...

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Presentation softwarefor UNESCO-IOC-IODE-OceanTeacher

and for UNESCO-IOC-IODE-ODINAFRICA training

version dated 2003-05

by Paul Nieuwenhuysen, VUB, Belgium

A more comprehensive presentation with slides is available from

http://www.vub.ac.be/BIBLIO/nieuwenhuysen/courses/chapters/

(note: BIBLIO and not biblio)

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CONTENTS:

1. Presenting information is an important skill

2. Introduction and general guidelines for developers of presentations

3. Specialised presentation software (and Microsoft PowerPoint in particular)

4. Presentations through the WWW or through an intranet

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Presentation software

Presenting information is an important skill

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Why are presentations and presentation skills important?

• To present / report activities or findings or suggestions to superiors or colleagues

• To educate / train / teach people (for instance in science, use of information, applications of computers…)

• To explain your ideas / work / activities / projects

• To convince other people of the value of your ideas

• To ask for opinions

• To ask for support / co-operation / contributions / …

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Presentation software

Introduction and general guidelines for developers of presentations

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Media for presentation: overview

• Overhead projection of transparencies

• Slide shows (using classical, hard copy 35 mm slides)

• Direct computer-controlled projection

• ...

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Media for presentation: transparencies

There are various types of plastic transparencies for overhead projection:

• For writing with suitable pencils

• For Xerox machines (can resist the heat in the machine)For laser printers (can resist the heat in the machine)

• For ink-jet printers (ink sticks well on the rough side; see that the printer prints on the suitable, rough side!)

Price goes up!

!? Question !? Task !? Problem !?

Which types of transparencies do you know?

Can you distinguish them?

How much do they cost in comparison with each other?

Which types of transparencies do you know?

Can you distinguish them?

How much do they cost in comparison with each other?

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Planning an oral presentation: a brief check list (Part 1)

• What is the aim of the presentation?

• What are my main points?

• What are my sub-points?

• What is my conclusion?

• What is the summary?

• Which questions from the audience can I expect and which answers should I give?

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Planning an oral presentation: a brief check list (Part 2)

• Who will be my audience?

• What size will be my audience?

• Which kind of visual aids will be useful?

• What handouts will be useful?

• Which is the appropriate language and terminology for my audience?

• Where will I do the presentation?

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Planning an oral presentation: a brief check list (Part 3)

• Will the following be available in the room:

»a whiteboard,

»a flipchart,

»an overhead projector,

»a slide projector,

»equipment for projection directly from a computer,… ?

• Can the room be darkened well enough for projection?

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Planning an oral presentation: a brief check list (Part 4)

• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse,…

• Test also on the pc that you will actually use in the real presentation (when this is not your own pc) to avoid

»lost images

»wrong fonts

»…

• Be totally familiar with your introduction.

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Live presentations: some tips (Part 1)

• Show confidence.

• Know that to feel nervous is to be human.

• Channel your adrenaline into positive energy.

• Breathe deeply before you start your presentation.

• Look at the audience and pause before you start to speak

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Live presentations: some tips (Part 2)

• Concentrate on your message, not on yourself.

• Stand erect.

• Begin with a powerful introductionor with an agenda/summary slide that lists the key-points of your presentation .

• S p e a k c l e a r l y.

• Speak with authority.

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Live presentations: some tips (Part 3)

• Use some silent pauses.

• Look at everyone.

• Deliver the message with dynamism.Use movement to maintain attention.

• End with a powerful conclusion, challenge or appeal.

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Software packages that are useful for presentations

• To create transparencies:

»(Word processing programs)

»Presentation software packages!

• To create hard-copy slides:

»Presentation software packages!

• For direct computer-controlled projections:

»(Word processing programs)

»(Hypertext editors + WWW browsers)

»Presentation software packages!

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Some tips for developers of presentation slides: readability (1)

• Keep texts short.

• Use less than 10 lines of texts on a slide, because people hate reading long texts and listening at the same time.

• Use maximum 3 levels of headings per slide.

»Like this heading at level 2 for instance

—And like this and the next heading at level 3

—This is just another example of level 3

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Some tips for developers of presentation slides: readability (2)

• Use bullets to start each item in a text list; use a contrasting colour for the bullets if possible.

• Create your slides so that they are well readable even when printed or copied

»smaller and

»in black and white only.

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Some tips for developers of presentation slides: typography (1)

• Use fonts that are present on most computers, so that the slides can also be shown with the right, appropriate, correct fonts, using the fonts on almost any computer.

• Use large characters, so that the people in the back

of the room can also read your message.

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Some tips for developers of presentation slides: typography (2)

• Bold text is better readable in slides than normal text. (This is certainly so in the case of light characters or lines on a dark background.)

• Avoid a lot of italic text, because it is less well readable.

• Use maximum 2 fonts per slide.

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Some tips for developers of presentation slides: contrast

Foreground and background colours need high contrast for visibility.

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Some tips for developers of presentation slides: contrast demo

Examples

•Light characters on a very dark background•Light, bold characters on a very dark background

•Light characters on a light background•Light, bold characters on a light background

•Dark characters on a very light background•Dark, bold characters on a very light background

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Some tips for developers of presentation slides: tables

• Use tables whenever possible, for instance when comparing systems.

• Use small tables; avoid detailed, big tables with small characters and numbers, because nobody will be able to read them.

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Some tips for developers of presentation slides: enhancements

Instead of text, try to use whenever possible:

»flow charts,

»schemes,

»charts (pie charts or others),

»pictograms such as arrows to indicate a sequence,

and

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Some tips for developers of presentation slides: titles

• Make the title stand out clearly from the body text lines.

• Do not use the same title on several slides, because this may confuse your audience.Instead, use

»variations

»or subtitles

»or insert terms like “continued” or “cont.” or “part 1” / “part 2” / …

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Some tips for developers of presentation slides: the final slide

• Use the last slide well, for example:

»To repeat an important message or address

»To thank the audience

»To ask for something (for instance: a participation or a contribution or an approval or a comment)

• In other words: do NOT show an empty or meaningless or confusing or distracting screen during the final part of your presentation.

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Thank you for Thank you for your attentionyour attention

Any questions?Any questions?

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Presentation software

Specialized presentation software

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Presentation software packages for Windows

Presentation software strictu sensu:

• (Harvard Graphics)

• Lotus Freelance (part of the Lotus Office software suite)

• Microsoft PowerPoint 95, 97, 2000, XP=2002... (part of the Microsoft Office 95, 97, 2000, XP=2002 … software suites)

• the module for presentations in Open Office,an office software suite that is developed further by Sun

• …

Examples

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Presentation software packages: learning to use them (Part 1)

Ways to learn using presentation software:

• computer-assisted introduction / tutorial / instruction coming with the software package!!

• in-context hypertext help built into the software package!

• books or chapters of books, about the software package

• manual and documentation for the software package

…

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Presentation software packages: learning to use them (Part 2)

• computer-assisted introduction / tutorial / instruction available online

• Usenet groups about the program:for instance, about Microsoft PowerPoint: news:microsoft.public.powerpoint

Task

Have a look at the computer-based tutorial for the presentation software that you will use.

For instance a tutorial about PowerPoint is available from http://www.vub.ac.be/BIBLIO/nieuwenhuysen/courses/overview.pps

(in the form of a PowerPoint show file),

Have a look at the computer-based tutorial for the presentation software that you will use.

For instance a tutorial about PowerPoint is available from http://www.vub.ac.be/BIBLIO/nieuwenhuysen/courses/overview.pps

(in the form of a PowerPoint show file),

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Task

If you are not satisfied with other methods to learn PowerPoint,

you can have a look at a tutorial about PowerPoint that is available free of charge

through the WWW:

http://www.uwec.edu/Help/

If you are not satisfied with other methods to learn PowerPoint,

you can have a look at a tutorial about PowerPoint that is available free of charge

through the WWW:

http://www.uwec.edu/Help/

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Task

If you are not satisfied with other methods to learn PowerPoint,

you can study a book such as How to use Microsoft PowerPoint 2000.

(Visually in full colour)

by Daffron, Susan C.

Indianapolis : SAMS, 1999, 290 pp.

If you are not satisfied with other methods to learn PowerPoint,

you can study a book such as How to use Microsoft PowerPoint 2000.

(Visually in full colour)

by Daffron, Susan C.

Indianapolis : SAMS, 1999, 290 pp.

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Tips for developers of presentation slides: icons and logos

• Try to insert a logo or small image (icon) on each of your slides, that symbolizes / summarizes the contents of the presentation.

• Insert a logo at least in your title slide.

• Note: use an existing, official logo as it is; in other words: do not change its colours, shape…

Task

Learn to select clip art and to insert it in a slide.Learn to select clip art and to insert it in a slide.

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Tips for developers of slides: frames

• Avoid unnecessary frames/borders on the slide, even when these are suggested by the program that you use, because the border of the slide already serves as a frame for your message.

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Tips for developers of slides: frames demo

• This slide shows/demonstrates that a frame on a slide eats up space that cannot be used anymore to show your message and text.

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Tips for developers of slides: images

• Use images or photos instead of text, or together with text, whenever possible.

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Tips for developers of slides: image example

Example of a photo + text in a suitable colour, inserted in a slide:

Example

Fishes on the market

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Tips for developers of slides: templates for slides = slide masters

• Try to avoid modifying the formatting of each individual slide in a presentation.Better: improve the template slide = slide master, on which your presentation is based

• Advantages:

»Less work for you

»More uniform / consistent formatting

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Tips for developers of slides: working with a slide master

• Improve the layout of the slide master if required in View | Master | …

• (Do NOT edit the contents of your slides in this view.)

• Edit the contents of your slides in View | Normal.

• (Avoid editing the layout of your slides in this view.)

Slide show !

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Tips for developers of slides: motion and transitions

• Effects are possible:

»Motions / animations can be added to the contents of a slide.

»Transitions from one slide to the next can be animated.

»A sound can be added to slide transition.

• Keep all these effects to a minimum; use them efficiently and effectively only.

Example of a poor-design-slide

Example 44

• The slide title is not placed well.

• A colour background may result in too much gray when printed.

• There is not enough space in front of the text on this slide.

• There is no margin on 1 side of this slide, so that text falls off this slide.

• There is no logo on this slide.

• Animation effects can be distracting!

Another example of poor-design-slide

Example 45

• This following lines can be improved:

»This line is in a different colour, without reason.

»This line does not end with a full stop, but all other lines do

»The size of the characters in this line is different.»The character font in this line is different, without reason.

»Italic text is not well readable in this line.

Task

Create a slide show for direct projection from a computer,

using a presentation program.

Create a slide show for direct projection from a computer,

using a presentation program.

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Task

When you have created a slide show, print an audience handout for every person

in your audience.

When you have created a slide show, print an audience handout for every person

in your audience.

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!? Question !?

What is the difference between the file formats created by Microsoft PowerPoint,

that have the file name extensions .PPT and .PPS?

What is the difference between the file formats created by Microsoft PowerPoint,

that have the file name extensions .PPT and .PPS?

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!? Task !? Problem !?

•Activate a .PPT file directly from the operating system (NOT using the program Microsoft PowerPoint)

•Do the same for a .PPS file.

•Observe the difference.

•Activate a .PPT file directly from the operating system (NOT using the program Microsoft PowerPoint)

•Do the same for a .PPS file.

•Observe the difference.

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Task

Practice using a .PPS file for your presentation. (That is better than

starting your presentation in editing mode with a .PPT file.)

Practice using a .PPS file for your presentation. (That is better than

starting your presentation in editing mode with a .PPT file.)

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Presentation software

Presentations through the WWW or through an intranet

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Making presentations available through a web: introduction

• A presentation in the form of a series of slides made by a presentation software package like Microsoft PowerPoint can be made available (can be published)

»through a local web (an intranet) or

»through the WWW

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Making presentations available through a web: how does it work?

• The software package allows you to save (convert) a presentation file in a more suitable format for this method of publishing: HTML files + linked graphics files + linked multimedia files +…

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Presentations through a web with PowerPoint 97: how?

• Microsoft PowerPoint 97 allows saving a presentation as an HTML file, with each complete slide in the form of an image that is stored as a GIF or as a JPG file, with a high fidelity.

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Presentations for a web with PowerPoint 97: advantages

• The user does not need the full PowerPoint program of a program to view a PowerPoint file, but can view the presentation with any web browser!

• A table of contents is provided automatically in a frame to the web browser.

• Graphical user interface elements are offered to the user automatically such as a button for: Show next slide.

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Presentations for a web with PowerPoint 97: far from perfect (1)

• When users save slides as JPG file, the characters become less sharp.

• Slides with PowerPoint animations can NOT be saved and hinder saving of slides further in the presentation file.

• The resulting presentation take more disk space than the original presentation, as text is converted to images in GIF or JPG format.

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Presentations for a web with PowerPoint 97: far from perfect (2)

• Images or parts of the text on a slide can NOT be copied and pasted from the web browser window to another document.

• The full text of the slides is available for indexing by search engines. When a search engine has indexed the text of a presentation, the slides can be retrieved by using that search engine, even through the WWW, BUT ONLY in a text version without graphics, which can be confusing.

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Presentations for a web with PowerPoint 97: far from perfect (3)

• The saved web version can NOT be saved back in the original PowerPoint file format.

• Working hyperlinks can NOT be incorporated in the slides.

• …

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Presentations through a web with PowerPoint 2000 or 2002: how?

• Microsoft PowerPoint 2000and more recent versions allow saving a presentation as a set of HTML/XML files, using one of various methods, to be selected in the program.

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Presentations through a web with PowerPoint 2000 or 2002: options

• A screen capture of the various options for saving/converting/publishing:

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Presentations through a web with PowerPoint 2000 or 2002: advantages

• The user does not need the full PowerPoint program or a program to view a PowerPoint file, but can view the presentation with a web browser!

• The resulting slides are resized together with the window of the web browser! (if the appropriate option has been chosen before saving the slides in HTML/XML format)

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Presentations through a web with PowerPoint 2000 or 2002: advantages

• The slide show can be seen with a browser in full screen mode, that is without distracting window frame and buttons of the browser!

• A table of contents is provided automatically in a frame to the web browser.

• Graphical user interface elements are offered to the user automatically for

»Show next slide,

»Show full screen,…

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Presentations through a web with PowerPoint 2000 or 2002: advantages

• Downloading and viewing a large presentation with slides in HTML/XML format is less difficult than downloading the corresponding file in the classical PowerPoint file format, when a small network bandwidth is a problem. The reason is that the HTML version consists of many files that are each smaller than the single corresponding file in PowerPoint format.

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Presentations through a web with PowerPoint 2000 or 2002: advantages

• Notes added to slides by the author of the presentation can be shown in the web browser window under each slide.

• Parts of the text or images on a slide can be copied and pasted from the web browser window to another document.

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Presentations through a web with PowerPoint 2000 or 2002: advantages

• Working, active hyperlinks can be incorporated in the slides.+ Broken links can be detected with Microsoft FrontPage working with the slides that form part of a FrontPage web.

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Presentations through a web with PowerPoint 2000 or 2002: advantages

• The full text of the slides is available for indexing by search engines that index html files. So when a search engine has indexed the text of a presentation, each slide can be retrieved by using that search engine, even through the WWW!

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Presentations through a web with PowerPoint 2000 or 2002: advantages

• Summarized: When you work in this way, you use PowerPoint as an advanced program for the creation of web documents.

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Presentations through a web with

PowerPoint 2000 or 2002: limitations

In our experience, making a presentation available through the WWW or an intranet offers a high and acceptable fidelity, when the option is chosen to save in a format that is only suitable for the Internet browsers Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 or higher.

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Presentations through a web with

PowerPoint 2000 or 2002: limitations

• Saving for other browsers than Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 or higher, for instance for Netscape browsers, results in slides that can indeed be viewed with Netscape, but in which text and pictures are placed in a different way in comparison to the original PowerPoint presentation.This should be avoided in most cases.

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Presentations through a web with

PowerPoint 2000 or 2002: limitations

• Even when an acceptable method is used, the result is not ideal. For instance:

»When the window occupied by the browser is small, the characters take too much space and they are not well integrated in the slide.

»The relative sizes of characters can be distorted (for instance the size of the characters in the title can show up smaller than those in the body of the slide).

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Presentations through a web with

PowerPoint 2000 or 2002: limitations

»A computer works slower with the web version of a presentation than with the proprietary, normal, classical Microsoft PowerPoint PPT or PPS file formats.

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Presentations through a web with PowerPoint: tip on file sizes

• When images, sounds, videos… are part of the presentation, then keep their file size small, so that downloads through the Internet / WWW are fast.

• More concretely for images: use appropriate file formats like

»GIF

»JPG with an appropriate degree of compression, taking into account that more compression gives lower quality

• (This is not important in a live presentation directly from a computer without download from a server.)

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Presentations through a web: conclusions

• Powerful method

»to make series of presentation slides available

»to create web pages that are adapted well to the limited size of a video display

• Not simple to achieve acceptable results;not yet perfect.