A presentation is a collection of slides displayed one after another on a screen to present information to an audience. Presentation software is an application used to create these slideshows with text, pictures, charts, animations and sound. Microsoft PowerPoint is the most popular presentation program, and other examples include Google Slides and LibreOffice Impress. A presentation file is called a presentation and is saved with the extension .pptx. A single screen in a presentation is called a slide.
Presentations are used in schools for projects, in offices for meetings, and at conferences for sharing ideas. A good presentation is clear, simple and attractive, with large readable text and helpful images. This chapter explains the PowerPoint window, creating a presentation, working with slides, adding text and media, transitions and animations, running the slideshow, and the rules for making a good presentation.
When PowerPoint opens, it shows a slide pane in the middle, where the current slide is displayed and edited. On the left is the slides pane (or thumbnail pane) listing all the slides of the presentation. The Ribbon at the top contains the tabs such as Home, Insert, Design, Transitions, Animations and Slide Show. The Quick Access Toolbar holds frequently used commands like Save and Undo. The status bar at the bottom shows the slide number, and the view buttons at the bottom right switch between Normal, Outline, Slide Sorter and Slide Show views. A placeholder is a dotted box on a slide that tells us where to type text or insert content.
To create a presentation, we start with a blank presentation or choose a template, which is a ready-made design. We can also apply a theme, which is a set of colours, fonts and effects that gives the whole presentation a consistent look. Each slide uses a layout, which is the arrangement of placeholders on the slide, such as Title Slide, Title and Content, or Two Content. New slides are added from the Home tab by clicking New Slide and choosing the layout. A presentation usually begins with a title slide showing the topic, followed by slides for each point, and ends with a thank-you or conclusion slide.
We can add, delete, duplicate, rearrange and hide slides. To add a slide we click New Slide; to delete one we right-click the slide and choose Delete; to move a slide we drag its thumbnail to a new position in the slides pane. A slide sorter view shows all the slides together as small pictures, which makes it easy to rearrange them. To change the design of the whole presentation, we choose a new theme or background from the Design tab. Every slide can have its own background colour or picture.
Text is typed inside placeholders or in text boxes that we can add from the Insert tab. We can format text with font, size, colour, bold and alignment. Pictures, clip art, shapes, smart art and Word Art can be inserted to make slides attractive. Tables and charts can also be added. Audio and video clips can be inserted from the Insert tab so that the presentation can include sound and film. All these elements should support the message of the slide and should not crowd it.
A transition is the special effect that appears when one slide changes to the next during a slideshow. Examples are fade, push, wipe and dissolve. A transition can be applied to one slide or to all slides, and its speed and sound can be set. An animation is an effect applied to an element on a slide, such as text or a picture, to make it move, appear or disappear. Animations can be entrance effects, exit effects or emphasis effects. While transitions affect whole slides, animations affect individual objects within a slide.
The presentation is shown to the audience using the Slide Show mode, started from the Slide Show tab or with the F5 function key. In slide show view, the slides fill the whole screen, one at a time. We can move to the next slide with the mouse click or the Enter key, and go back with the Backspace key or the arrow keys. A pointer can be used to draw on the slides during the show. We can also set the presentation to run automatically by setting the timing for each slide. To end the show early, we press the Escape key.
A good presentation follows a few simple rules. Use short bullet points instead of long paragraphs, keep the font large enough to be read from the back of the room, and use few colours that match. Use pictures and charts to support the words, but do not crowd a slide. Keep the number of slides small, follow a clear order of introduction, body and conclusion, and practise the talk before presenting. Remember that the speaker is the main attraction; slides only support the speaker.
| View | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Normal | Editing the slide with the slides pane |
| Outline | Text outline of all slides |
| Slide Sorter | Viewing all slides as thumbnails |
| Slide Show | Showing the presentation full screen |
| Feature | Transition | Animation |
|---|---|---|
| Applied to | Whole slide | Individual object |
| When it happens | Between slides | Within a slide |
| Examples | Fade, push, wipe | Entrance, exit, emphasis |
Presentation software is used to create slideshows that communicate ideas clearly to an audience. PowerPoint provides a slide pane for editing, a slides pane for managing slides, and ribbons for design, transitions and animations. A good presentation uses short bullets, large fonts, few colours and supportive pictures, and follows an order of introduction, body and conclusion. Transitions bring movement between slides, animations bring life to objects, and the F5 key runs the show. With text, media and rules of design, presentations complete the office suite, after which we move to the Internet and communication.