How to prepare a PowerPoint presentation

First, launch PowerPoint

The Project Gallery window should

open. Make sure Blank Document is highlighted in the Groups column at the left and click OK If the Project Gallery window does not open, go to the File menu and choose New Presentation

Next steps...
You will have a presentation with one

slide. You can change the layout of this slide by going under the Format menu and down to Slide Layout. Choose a layout that you like and click on Apply Type the title of your presentation and whatever else you want on your first slide

Changing templates and format

If you dont like this template, you can change

it. Go to the Format menu and select Slide Design. Make sure the design you choose has a DARK BACKGROUND with LIGHT FONT. For example, a dark blue background with bright yellow font looks good. For coherence in group presentations, all members should use the same design.

Adding new slides

To add more slides, go to the Insert

Menu and select new slide Type the information youd like on your second slide Continue adding slides as necessary

Adding graphics
Important: only add graphics that will

enhance your presentation!! Go to the Insert menu, down to Picture and select picture from file. Find the image file you want, open it and click insert.

Clip

Adding graphics
Choose a new slide

with a graph format In the area for the chart, double click to input the data for your chart. When you do this a new program called Graph will open.

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Qtr Qtr Qtr Qtr

East West North

Adding graphics
Enter the data for your

chart in the spreadsheet that opens. Practice doing this by double clicking on the chart at the right. Make some changes to the chart. When you are finished go the the Graph menu and select Quit and Return to

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Qtr Qtr Qtr Qtr

East West North

Animating text
This is how you make each bulleted point of

your slide appear on the screen one at a time when you click the mouse during the presentation First, go to the Slide Show menu and down to Preset Animations Next, where you see Off, scroll until you see the animation style you want e.g. fly in

Viewing Animations
You can see the effect of animations by

choosing Animation Preview under the Slide Show menu Try a few different animations to see which one you think is most effective

Important Note about Sounds

PowerPoint sound effects are very distracting.

DO NOT USE THEM. To turn off the sound effects, go under the Slide Show menu and choose Custom Animation. In the Animation order window, choose the effect and click on Effect Option In the Sound menu scroll up to [No Sound]

Notes
When your slides are finished, you can add

notes under each slide These notes are the points you want to make during your presentation while the audience views the slide on the screen You can see the notes on the computer by choosing Notes Page under the View menu Look at the notes for this slide now Print your slides with the notes and you wont have to look at the screen during your presentation. Instead you can look at your audience and just refer to your notes occasionally.

Thats really all you need to get started!

The best way to learn a program is to use it, so experiment for yourselves but remember: simple is best!