Part One

PowerPoint is a high-powered software tool used for presenting information in a dynamic slide show format. Text, charts, graphs, sound effects and video are just some of the elements PowerPoint can incorporate into your presentations with ease. Whether it's a classroom lesson, a parents' group meeting, a seminar etc.. PowerPoint shows you how to make a powerful impression on your audience.

Creating Slides When you start up many options are available for creating your presentations: creating blank slides, using a template, photo album and Auto content Wizard.

1- Blank Presentation: It's the building block of a presentation. Title slide is the layout presented for your first slide. To change the layout go to the Format menu and select Slide Layout. You may select a different layout by clicking on a suitable one. Several types of layout are illustrated. Click in the title area to enter the title of your show. Then click in the subtitle area to enter a subtitle.

Adding another slide

There are two ways to add a new slide to your show: Click the New Slide button on the Common Tasks toolbar. get a new one by clicking the New button on the Formatting Toolbar. In each case, you have to select the appropriate slide layout Note: With the exception of the title slide, any text you add will be formatted as a bullet point.

2- Template A template, lets you create a presentation without worrying about design elements. The template defines the colour, background, and font of the slides. PowerPoint has many templates. You can customize the templates as much as you wish. You have two options to consider, write your show as a blank presentation and then select a slide design template, or select a design template before starting to write your show.

Changing the Slide Design If you have entered the content in your slide show, and you want to apply a design template. Go to the Format menu and select Slide Design.You may apply a design to the entire show, or to single slides. After applying a design, go back through each slide. You may need to make adjustments on text size or placement.

The AutoContent Wizard is a good option for creating a presentation if you are a beginner. It offers suggestions for templates to use and types of content to put in. This option is also good if you are in hurry and want to create a presentation quickly. In the Presentations list, click the AutoContent Wizard, and then the wizard will start. The AutoContent Wizard will guide you through some simple steps.

3- AutoContent Wizard

2. Read the information on the start screen, then click Next. 3. In the next dialog box, select the type of presentation you want to give, then click Next to advance to the next dialog box. 4. Continue entering options until you reach the Finish step.

The AutoContent Wizard will display your presentation in Outline View. The outline is made up of sample slides, each of which has a suggestion for the type of information that should be entered in the slide so you only have to enter your data in the appropriate fields. You can customize the information in the slides.

4- Photo AlbumUsed for pictures presentations. In a photo album we can also add a text box on the slide.

You have to select the target of the pictures you d like to show.Several options are available in this presentation type: - We can control brightness, direction, black & white pictures. - The album layout where we can show pictures with title or add many pictures in one slide. - Choose pictures frame shape

Applying backgrounds In PowerPoint it's easy to change the background of the slide you are working on.

Click the Format menu, then click Background. The Background dialog box will appear. (or simply from the right click menu) In the Background fill section, click the arrow on the list box to open it. Click More colours to open the Colours dialog box if you want to apply colour as a background.

For applying patterns, textures or pictures click the fill effect box.

Click the Preview button to see a preview of the background to be applied. Then click the apply button.

Part Two

Inserting an image into a slideAdding clip art You can add clip art to any slide using the Insert Clip Art button on the Standard Toolbar. Once you have made a selection a database of clip art images will be built. The selected image can be inserted into the slide by double-clicking on it, or by clicking on the Insert button.

Inserting an image other than clip artSelect the Insert menu from the top of the screen. Move the cursor down to Picture, and then over to From File. PowerPoint displays the following window: Resizing and moving the image are allowed.- Images are organized by categories.

find the folder where the artwork is located, select the file then click the Insert button (or just click Enter).

Layering imagesTry these steps: 1. Click the orange square to select it. 2. On the drawing toolbar, click the Draw button. The Draw menu appears. 3. Point to Order, and then click Send to Back.

Switching to Slide Sorter View

When you go to Slide Sorter View, you see miniatures of all the slides in the presentation, complete with text and graphics. This view is useful for rearranging slides, and for adding transitions to slides. There are two ways to switch to Slide Sorter View: 1- Click the Slide Sorter View button in the lower left corner of the PowerPoint window. 2- Or, you can click the View menu, then click Slide Sorter.

Moving slides around:The Slide Sorter View is the easiest place to rearrange the order of your slides. Let's say you have four slides in your presentation, and you decide that Slide 2 should really appear after Slide 3. Here's what you do to move the slides around: 1. Click Slide 2 and hold down the mouse button. A small gray rectangle appears on the pointer. 2. Drag the pointer to the slide's new position after Slide 3. A vertical line should appear after Slide 3.

Adding a Transition

A transition is a special effect used to introduce a slide during a slide show. These are the steps used to add a transition to a slide:1. In Slide Sorter View, click the slide you want to add the transition to. 2. Click the Slide Show menu, then click Slide Transition. A Slide Transition dialog box will appear.

If you want the same transition to apply to all the slides in your presentation, click the Apply to All button in the Slide Transition dialog box .

Decide what kind of transition you wantSelect a speed for the transitionA sound may accompany the transition from one slide to another. Try to make sure that you have a real need for the sound to accompany your slides.

If your show is going to run by itself, select automatically and enter a number of seconds. On the other hand, if you are speaking as you present the slides you may prefer the mouse click option.

Always test your presentation before showing it. What sounded like such a good choice while you were writing, may not work out as well as you thought.

Creating a complex animationyou can animate images or texts (specially titles), by adding special visual or sound effects to it. Construct the slide. While still in Slide view, go to the Slide Show menu and select Custom Animation.

Select the object you like to animate then click on the add Effect tab and apply an animation.

Making changes to the animation effect : After selecting an animation effect, a new icon is added to the Custom Animation pane. The icon includes a mouse, green star, and the item animated; text, chart, or image. At the right end of this icon you will see a down pointing arrow. Click on this arrow to display the menu of possible changes you can make to the animation effect.

Entry animation and sound: Click on effect options and you will see the list of effects available. The same is true with the sound. This sound will play as each element is presented. After animation: Dimming means changing the colour of the previous points so the new point presented will stand out. You may also choose to hide the previous points so that only your new point is displayed.

Animating the text: You may introduce the text in one of three ways: 1- All at once: This shows the entire line of text, all at once. For most presentations this would be the preferred setting. 2- By word: Each word that you typed shows up one at a time. If you are doing a presentation for children this might be fun for one slide. I can not imagine sitting through a presentation where this effect is used on each slide, especially with accompanying sound. 3- By letter: If you have a really good use for this effect.

N.B. Before you leave the Custom Animation window, click on the Preview button to see, and hear, what your effect will look, and sound, like.

Slide showIn a Slide Show, all the slides of your presentation are displayed in sequence. The Slide Show is controlled either automatically or manually. Your slides have been created. Transitions and animations have been selected. It is time to work on your entire show. Go to the slide sorter view so you can get a visual overview. You can start a show by clicking on the Slide Show button at the bottom of the window . You may also go to either the View menu or the Slide Show menu at the top of the screen and select Slide Show. You may also begin a show by pressing the F5 button. Either of these options will allow you to see your show. If you are working on a slide and want to test your show starting from any slide other than slide 1, use the Slide Show button at the bottom of the window. The other methods all begin your show with slide 1.

This choice allows control over several parameters. The principal use of this window will be to cause the show to loop continuously until you hit the esc key. Even though timings are specified, you could choose to advance slides manually. You can also select the slide you'd like to preview.

There is an option which gives you more control on your slide show. Go to the Slide Show menu, and select Set Up Show.

Stopping the Slide Show : Move the pointer on the screen and wait for the button to appear in the lower, left- hand corner of the screen, click this button, and then click End Show. The show stops.

Remember : The purpose of a PowerPoint slide show is to communicate information, not to show off your animation skills.