Introduction

to

Microsoft

PowerPoint

www.ascension.lib.la.us/apl

Introduction to Microsoft PowerPoint

Getting Started
PowerPoint allows you to create professional presentations that can include text, graphics, charts,
sound, photographs, and video. When you start PowerPoint, you will see the New Presentation
Task Pane on the right side of the screen.
The Design Template button accesses slide
templates to help create a consistent, professional
look for your slide presentation. The AutoContent
wizard will lead you through the creation of the
presentation by asking you a series of questions
about your intended finished product. The existing
presentation lets you continue to work on a
presentation that youve already created.
Choose Blank Presentation if you want to start
from scratch. This method is sometimes
preferred because it provides the most
flexibility and lets you focus on content first
rather than appearance.
After you choose Blank Presentation, select the
layout of your slides from the Slide Layout
dialog box. Choose from slides with titles only,
titles and bullets, titles and graphs, titles and
clip art, and other options:

Exploring PowerPoint
PowerPoint is similar in many ways to other Microsoft Office products but it also has several
unique elements, identified in the figure below.

Standard Toolbar
Formatting
Toolbar
Text Outline
Slide Outline

Change Slide Views

Drawing Toolbar

PowerPoint Views
PowerPoint has five different views.
Normal View displays only one slide on the screen at a time with speaker notes and outline.
Slide Sorter View displays all of your slides and lets you change their order in the presentation.
Slide Show View displays slides, as they would look in a slide show.
You can use the Slide View buttons at the lower left of the window or the View menu to switch
between different views.

Creating a Presentation
Adding Text
After youve chosen the layout for your slide you can then enter text. Click on the text box on the
slide. A cursor will appear and you can begin entering text.

Formatting Text
Format text as you would in a word processor. Highlight the text and make the desired
formatting changes. Formatting text can easily be done in the Outline View.

Adding a New Slide

You can add a new slide by clicking on the new slide button on the Formatting toolbar.

Applying a Design Template to a Presentation

A template is a PowerPoint presentation that defines how your text and slide background will
look. A plain presentation is simply black text on a white background. A template might include
a blue background with bold yellow letters and a graphic.
To apply a template to your presentation, choose Slide Design from the Format menu.
When you have chosen a template, simply click on it and all of you slides will have that design.

Applying a Background Color

If you dont want to use a template you can also apply a custom background. Click on
Background in the Format menu. Then click on the color rectangle near the bottom of the
dialog box and choose either More Colors or Fill Effects.

In the Colors and Fill Effects dialog boxes you can change the color, gradient, texture or pattern,
or you can use a picture for a background. Once youve selected your background click either
Apply to change the current slide or Apply to all to change all of your slides.

Inserting Clip Art and Objects

PowerPoint has a collection of clip art that you can use in your presentation.
Select the slide you want the clip art on, and choose Picture/Clip Art from the Insert menu.
Search the category you want or search them all and click a clip art image. You can also specify
the type of media file to search.
You can also use the Copy and Paste procedures described earlier to paste clip art into
PowerPoint from other programs. For example, if you have created your own logo in Adobe
Illustrator, you can copy the image and paste it into a PowerPoint presentation.
PowerPoint also lets you insert Microsoft Excel charts, Microsoft Word tables, pictures in
separate files and other objects.

Adding Animation
You can animate text and objects by using the Custom Animation
option on the Slide Show menu. Select the object you wish to
animate on an individual slide and you can select the type of effect,
set how to start it, the property of the effect, its speed and the order
in which the animation takes place. You can also preview the
animation.

Transitions
For on-screen slide presentations, you might want to use transition
effects when moving from one slide to another. Apply transition
effects in Slide Sorter View or by selecting the Slide Transition
command on the Slide Show menu. The Slide Transition dialog box
lets you preview what each transition will look like. You can select
a transition, its speed, whether or not it will have sound, and how
the slide will be advanced. The Transition command sets a
transition for only the selected slides, or you can click on the Apply
to All Slides button to set the selected transition to all the slides.

Page Setup and Printing

Before you print your slide presentation, make sure the slide size and orientation are correct.
Also, decide whether you want to print in color or black and white. Change these settings using
the Page Setup and Print commands on the File menu.

Page Setup
The Page Setup dialog box has controls for slide size and orientation. Choose the appropriate
slide size and orientation before you do significant formatting in your presentation. Changing
slide orientation from portrait to landscape or vice versa may require editing and reformatting
slides.

Printing
To print your slide presentation, choose Print from the File menu, or click the Print button on the
toolbar. In the Print dialog box you can choose how many copies you want to print. Use the Print
What: drop-down list to select whether you want to print just the slides, notes, or handouts with
multiple slides per page.

Viewing Your Slide Show

Click the Slide Show tool at the bottom of the screen or choose Slide Show from the View menu
to preview your slide show. Click the mouse or press the down arrow key on the keyboard to
advance to the next slide. To move back to the previous slide, press the Backspace key or up
arrow key (PC) or the Delete key (Mac). To exit the slide show, press the Escape key.

PowerPoint Resources
The following list of books and websites can provide you with additional information and
training on PowerPoint. A video is also included. The books and video are owned by Ascension
Parish Library and may be found using the call number and location provided. You may also
request that books and videos be sent the Ascension Parish Library location closest to you. You
can also search our catalog for additional resources. Visit us at www.ascension.lib.la.us and click
on Search The Catalog.

Easy Microsoft PowerPoint 2000: see it done, do it yourself / Laura Stewart 006.6869 STE
(Gonzales)
Easy Microsoft PowerPoint 97 / Jennifer Fulton 006.6 FUL (Gonzales)
Easy Microsoft PowerPoint 97 / Laura Monsen 006.6 MON (Donaldsonville, Gonzales)
How to Do Everything With Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 / Ellen Finkelstein
006.6869 FIN (Donaldsonville, Galvez, Gonzales)
Learn Microsoft Office 2000: Covers: Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher,
FrontPage / Michael Busby and Russell A. Stultz 005.369 BUS (Donaldsonville, Gonzales)
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Learning PowerPoint XP Essentials Beginning (video) V 006.6869 LEA (Donaldsonville)

Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 Fast & Easy / Lois Lowe 006.686 LOW
(Donaldsonville, Galvez, Gonzales)
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 QuickSteps / Carole B. Matthews (Donaldsonville,
Galvez, Gonzales)
PowerPoint 2000: fast & easy / Coletta Witherspoon 006.6869 WIT (Donaldsonville,
Galvez, Gonzales)
PowerPoint 2000 professional results / Ellen Finkelstein 006.6869 FIN (Gonzales)
Quick Course in Microsoft 2002 / 006.686 QUI (Donaldsonville)

PowerPoint Web Sites

http://www.microsoft.com/office/powerpoint
http://www.actden.com/pp/
http://www.fgcu.edu/support/office2000/ppt/index.html
http://www.bcschools.net/staff/PowerPointHelp.htm

Introduction to
Microsoft PowerPoint

Uses of PowerPoint

What is PowerPoint?
Presentation Software
Text
Charts
Diagrams
Graphics
Photographs

Things to Consider

Sales Presentations
to Clients
Business
Presentations to
Investors
Classroom
Presentations to
Students

Content

Content
Design

Focus
Who is the audience?

Focus
Structure

Formal or informal presentation

Students, Colleagues, or Clients

Be concise
Slides should contain only the
main idea.
Place additional information in
speaker notes.

Structure
Use Title Slides to introduce
the major sections of your
presentation.
Transition smoothly from
topic to topic.
At the end of each section
summarize the main points
presented.

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Design Tips
x Uppercase
versus Mixed
Case
x Sans Serif
versus Serif
x Using Color
Effectively

UPPERCASE vs Mixed Case

IT WILL TAKE YOUR
AUDIENCE LONGER TO
READ SLIDES THAT ARE IN
ALL UPPERCASE.
Instead, only use uppercase
to EMPHASIZE specific text
in your slides. Or better still,
use bold or italic instead.

Sans Serif vs Serif

Choosing the Right Colors

Sans Serif fonts are best for

presentation slides. Arial is a
Sans Serif font.
Serif fonts are more difficult to
read from the back of a large
room. Times New Roman is a
Serif Font.

Avoid using similar colors for

background and text, such as
black with blue, or yellow
with white.

One of the Most Common

Mistakes - Cluttered Slides
Too many objects
can make your slides
difficult to interpret
by the audience.
Lengthy text and
picture clips are
usually the culprits.
Less is more.

Animation Overkill
To much animation distracts the
audience from your message.
It can also be annoying.

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Library Services

Ascension Parish Library

Libraries Change Lives

Library Services (cont.)

Programs
Meeting Rooms
Study Rooms
Tours
Special Events

Books
Videos
Audios
Magazines
Genealogy
Reference Services
Computer Services

The Numbers

Annual Library Attendance - 205,052

Library Programs - 343
Annual Circulation - 259,523
Annual Meeting Room Use - 662
Annual Reference Questions - 48,984

Patrons
Registered Library
Patrons - 28,600
Juvenile - 7,300
Young Adult - 4,300
Adult - 17,000

Ascension Parish Library

Serving the Community
Since 1960

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For Further Practiceat Home or in the Library

Using this handout and the information below, create a PowerPoint presentation. Include clip art
on at least 3 slides.
What is the Internet?
A global collection of computers and computer networks that exchange information.
How Information Travels On The Internet
When you receive information from another computer on the Internet you are downloading; when
you send information you are uploading.
Information travels over phone lines and high speed data lines.
The information is broken down into smaller pieces, called packets.
What the Internet Offers
Electronic Mail (E-Mail)
Information
Computer Programs
Entertainment
Discussion Groups & Chat Rooms
Online Shopping
Connecting to the Internet
You need specific equipment and programs to connect to the Internet.
Computer
Modem
Communication Software
Browser
Internet Service Provider or Commercial Online Service
What is the World Wide Web?
The WWW is the most popular part of the Internet.
It consists of a huge collection of documents stored on computers around the world.
It can include colors, graphic images, sound and video clips, and animation.
Web Pages
A Web page is a document on the Web.
A Web site is a collection of Web pages maintained by a college, government agency, company or
individual.
Hypertext
Web pages are hypertext documents.
A hypertext document is one that contains highlighted text or links that connect to other pages on the
Web.
By clicking on the hypertext link you can go to another Web page on the same computer, or a Web
page on a computer across the world.
Web Addresses
Each Web page has a unique address called the Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
The URL tells the computer how and where to look for a document.
http://www.cnn.com/world/index.html
Web Browsers
A Web browser is a program that lets you view and explore information on the Web.
Netscape Navigator
Microsoft Internet Explorer

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