What is Microsoft PowerPoint? Why Would I Want to Use PowerPoint?

What is Microsoft PowerPoint?
Why Would I Want to Use
PowerPoint?
PowerPoint is a presentation software program that
is part of the Microsoft Office group of programs.
Many people have seen a PowerPoint presentation before but don’t even
realize it. PowerPoint presentations use pictures and text to help illustrate
what you’re talking about. PowerPoint is usually used with a projector so that
everyone in the room can see your presentation at the same time.
PowerPoint is widely used in business and classrooms and is an effective tool
when used for training purposes. A PowerPoint presentation is sometimes
called a slideshow. While you are talking, a slideshow gives listeners
something to look at. The text and pictures in a slideshow can help listeners
better understand and remember what you’re talking about.
Presentations made with PowerPoint can be simple or elaborate. If you are a
beginner or don’t have a lot of time you might want to use a PowerPoint
template. Templates are presentations that already include beautiful
backgrounds and fonts. You only need to add the text and pictures that relate
to your presentation. On the other hand, you can create presentations from
scratch without the help of the computer. You can add animation, sound, and
even video.
So, why would you use PowerPoint? It is easy to use and offers attractive
designs. Having something to look at during your presentation can help your
listeners understand and remember the content. All in all, PowerPoint is a
useful program for anyone who gives frequent presentations.
Microsoft PowerPoint: Exercise 1
Creating a PowerPoint Presentation
In this exercise, you will create a presentation about yourself. You will show your
presentation to the class.
As you type your information, think about what you will say when you present. You should
NOT read exactly what you have typed. You should type short sentences or phrases that you
will talk about during your presentation.
To start, follow the step-by-step instructions.
1. Open MICROSOFT POWERPOINT from the Start menu.
SLIDE 1
2. You will see a blank first slide. It has two text boxes. Click in the top box and Type your name.
In 2007 this is
called a MENU
BANNER
This WINDOW
will show your
slides as you
create them
The big white
rectangle is
called a SLIDE
This is
called a
TEXT BOX
3. Click in the bottom box and Type a title for your presentation. You are now finished with your first
slide.
SLIDE 2
2. Click on the lower portion of the NEW SLIDE button in the
Menu banner. The button has two parts: the upper part will
add a default Title and Content slide to the presentation; the
lower part is the drop down box which will give you other
choices for slide layouts.
3. Click on the Two Content slide choice. A blank slide with
three text boxes will appear in your presentation.
4. Click in the top box and Type the words About My Family.
5. Click in the bottom left text box and Type any information
about your family that you would like to include. Between
each piece of information, Press the ENTER key. When the
left text box fills up, Click in the right text box and continue
to type information about your family
SLIDE 3
6. Click on the drop down menu of the NEW SLIDE button.
7. You will see the NEW SLIDE options. Click on the slide
called Content with Caption. A blank side will be added to
the presentation with three text boxes. In one of the text
boxes you can also add graphics, Clip Art, or Photos.
8. Click in the box in the upper left corner and Type the words
My Work History.
9. Click in box below it and Type any information about your
work history that you would like to include. Between each
piece of information, Press the ENTER key.
10. Save your work to your named folder.
11. Now it’s time to put a picture in the presentation. On the My Work History slide Click in the large
box to the right of your previous work. Slide your cursor slowly over the six symbols in the center of
the box.
12. There are three ways you can add a picture. Chose one of the three boxes below and follow the
directions.
Using a Picture on File
1. Click on the Picture icon.
2.
3.
Using Microsoft Clip Art
1. Click on the Clip Art icon.
2. Type a word in the search
box that best describes the
kind of picture for which you
are looking.
3. Press the ENTER key or
Click the GO button.
4. Once you find a picture you
like, Click on the picture.
Using Internet Images
1. Open INTERNET EXPLORER,
but do not close PowerPoint.
2. Go to www.google.com
3. Click on the IMAGES link.
4. In the Search Box Type a word
that best describes the picture for
which you are looking.
5. Click on the picture you like.
6. Click on See Full Size Image
7. Right click on the picture that you
like
8. Click on COPY.
9. Return to the PowerPoint
presentation.
10. Click on the box (not in the box)
where you want to put the picture.
11. Click on the PASTE button.
13. Save your work. Remember you have already saved the
document to your named folder so you only need click the
SAVE button on the toolbar.
Here is a sample of what the titles and picture to your presentation might look like. (Sulin Tamu is a
fictional character.)
SLIDE 4
14. Click on the drop down menu of the NEW SLIDE button.
15. Click on the slide called Content with Caption. A blank
side will be added to the presentation with three text boxes.
In one of the text boxes you can also add graphics, Clip Art,
or Photos.
16. Click in the box in the upper left corner and Type the words
My Interests.
17. Click in box below it and Type any information about your
interests that you would like to include. Between each piece
of information, Press the ENTER key.
18. Add a picture in the clip art box. (Instructions are on the
previous page.)
SLIDE 5
19. Click on the drop down menu of the NEW SLIDE button.
20. Click on the slide called Content with Caption. A blank
side will be added to the presentation with three text boxes.
In one of the text boxes you can also add graphics, Clip Art,
or Photos.
21. Click in the box in the upper left corner and Type the words
Goals for the Future.
22. Click in box below it and Type any information about your
interests that you would like to include. Between each piece
of information, Press the ENTER key.
23. Insert a picture in the clip art box.
24. Save your work: Click the SAVE button.
SLIDE 6
25. Click on the drop down menu of the NEW SLIDE button.
26. Choose any layout from the drop down box.
27. Choose your own topic for this slide, and Type the topic in
the top box.
28. Add text and images to the slide.
29. Click on the SPELLING and GRAMMAR CHECK button.
(Reminder: it is found by clicking Review on the menu
banner.)
30. Complete the spelling and grammar check.
31. Read the presentation again to look for other mistakes.
32. Save your work: Click the SAVE button.
33. Ask a teacher to check your work. Your teacher will sign in the boxes below.
Presentation has at least 6 slides.
Presentation has at least 2 images.
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adapt this work provided that this use is of a non-commercial nature, that any subsequent adaptations of the work are placed under a similar license,
and that appropriate attribution is provided where possible.
Microsoft PowerPoint: Exercise 2
Adding Images to a Presentation
Spelling and Grammar Check
1. Open your Present1. This step will also open Microsoft PowerPoint. (From the
START menu, Click on My Documents, Find your named folder, Double-click to
open it, Find your file: firstnamelastinitial Present1. Double-click to open it.)
2.
Complete a SPELLING and GRAMMAR check. Use one of the options below to
begin:
a. Click on the Review Tab. In the Proofing Toolbox, Click on the SPELLING
button.
b. Use the Quick Access Toolbar. If the SPELLING button is not already there,
Add it by using the drop down menu and Clicking next to Spelling. Then Click
the SPELLING button.
3.
Once the spell check is complete, Read the presentation again to look for other
mistakes.
Maximize and Minimize Windows
4.
Minimize the PowerPoint window so that you
can see the Desktop. To do this Click the
Minimize button in the upper right corner of
the screen. It is the first button.
Minimiz
e
5.
Look at the Taskbar at the bottom on your screen. You should see a bar on it
that has an icon and begins “Microsoft PowerPoint…” That is your
presentation. (The image below is split into 2 for enlargement purposes.)
6.
On the Desktop Open Internet Explorer. Now there should be at least two
boxes on the Taskbar.
7.
To Maximize PowerPoint again, Click on the PowerPoint bar on the
Taskbar. You should still have at least two boxes on the Taskbar, but your
presentation should be visible on the screen.
8.
As you continue with the exercise, Use the buttons on the Taskbar to go back
and forth between PowerPoint and the Internet.
Adding Images
Now it’s time to add images to your presentation. These can be in the form of graphics or
photos. There are this can be done by adding clip art or by adding images from the Internet.
Using Microsoft Clip Art
5. Place the blinking cursor where you want the
image to be added to the presentation.
6. Click on the Insert tab.
7. Click on the Clip Art button in the Illustrations
toolbox. A Clip Art window will appear on the
right side of the screen.
8. In the Search For field, Type a word that best
describes the kind of picture for which you are
looking.
9. Press the ENTER key or Click the Go button.
10. Once you Find a picture you like, Click on the
picture.
9.
Using Internet Images
12. Go to INTERNET EXPLORER
13. Go to www.google.com
14. Click on the IMAGES link.
15. In the Search Box Type a word that best
describes the picture for which you are looking.
16. Click on the picture you like.
17. Click on See Full Size Image
18. Right click on the picture that you like
19. Click on COPY.
20. Return to the PowerPoint presentation.
21. Click on the box (not in the box) where you
want to put the picture.
22. Click on the PASTE button.
Add images to at least 4 slides. Using the instructions above, add some from
Clip Art and some from the Internet.
10. Save your presentation.
11. Ask a teacher to check your work.
(At least 5 slides. All have text.)
The teacher will sign in the box.
This work was created by Neighborhood House.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. You are free to copy, distribute, transmit, and
adapt this work provided that this use is of a non-commercial nature, that any subsequent adaptations of the work are placed under a similar license,
and that appropriate attribution is provided where possible.
Microsoft PowerPoint: Exercise 3
Formatting a Presentation
9.
Open your Present1. This step will also open Microsoft PowerPoint. (From the START
menu, Click on My Documents, Find your named folder, Double-click to open it, Find
your file: firstnamelastinitial Present1. Double-click to open it.)
10. Click on the Design tab.
11. We will be looking at and working with the Themes toolbox in this exercise. The
First box always represents the Current Theme of the presentation.
What other Toolboxes are on this ribbon? ________________________________
12. Now, Click on any of the theme examples to see how it looks on your
presentation. See also that the first box changes to whatever theme you clicked on.
13. Use the scroll buttons to see more options.
Just the top two arrows are the scroll buttons;
the bottom arrow is the drop down menu.
14. Select the design you like most.
Notice how all the slides in your presentation change by looking at the Slides tab
in the Side pane.
15. Let’s format the text of the presentation. Click on the picture of Slide 1 in the
Slides tab.
16. Click on the Colors arrow to get a look at the drop down
box of color palettes available.
Note: The highlighted panel of colors tells you what palette
you current have displayed in the presentation.
17. Slide your cursor arrow slowly across the panels and look at
the changes in the presentation.
18. Click the Colors arrow again to close the drop down box.
19. Click on a different Theme and then Click the Colors drop
down box again. Repeat step 9 above.
20. Choose and Click on one of the color palettes.
21. Use the UNDO button if you like your previous choice
better.
22. We will look at the Built-in font selection in this exercise.
Click on the drop down arrow next to Fonts. (Note: The
highlighted panel showing the current fonts being used in
the presentation.)
23. Slide your cursor arrow slowly across the fonts and look at
the changes in the presentation. Be sure to use the scroll
bar to see all your choices.
24. Choose and Click on one of the font choices.
25. Use the Page Up and Page Down keys on the keyboard to
see how your choice affects each slide.
26. In the Slides tab of the Side pane, Click on the first slide.
27. Then Use the Page Down key, moving from the first slide
to the end. Then Use the Home key on the keyboard to
return to the first slide. (The End key will take you to the
last slide in the presentation.)
28. Save your work. Remember, since it has already been saved to your named folder,
you only need to Click the SAVE button.
29. Ask a teacher to check your work.
The teacher will sign in the box.
Vocabulary
Palette the particular set of colors a painter uses.
This work was created by Neighborhood House.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. You are free to copy, distribute, transmit, and
adapt this work provided that this use is of a non-commercial nature, that any subsequent adaptations of the work are placed under a similar license,
and that appropriate attribution is provided where possible.
Microsoft PowerPoint: Exercise 4
Adding Transitions to a Presentation
Transitions are little animations added to a slide that will give it a special effect when you
present it to an audience in a Slide Show.
30. Open your Present1. This step will also open Microsoft PowerPoint. (From the START
menu, Click on My Documents, Find your named folder, Double-click to open it, Find
your file: firstnamelastinitial Present1. Double-click to open it.)
31. Click on the Animations tab.
32. What the three Toolboxes are on this ribbon?
__________________________________________________________________
33. Let’s take a closer look at the Transition to This Slide toolbox. Like the color
palette we looked at in the last exercise, the highlight marks the transition for each
slide. The first choice in the toolbox is “no transition”. Each of the other buttons
illustrate or show how to transition or move from one slide to the next.
And like the Themes toolbox, there is a scroll bar on the right to show you more
choices.
Slide your cursor arrow slowly across the different transitions and look at the
changes in slide 1.
34. Choose an animation transition for each slide. You
must have each slide in the Slide pane or work area
to add the transition correctly.
35. Notice how all the slides in your presentation
change by looking at the Slides tab in the Side
pane. There is now a little star beneath each
slide number. This shows you that the slide has a
transition added to it.
36. Save your work. Remember, since it has already been saved to your named folder,
you only need to Click the SAVE button.
37. Now let’s see how the presentation will look when you show it to the class. Click
on the Slide Show tab.
What are the three Toolboxes on this ribbon?
______________________________________________________________________
38. In the Start Slide Show toolbox, Click the From Beginning button.
39. Use the spacebar or Click the mouse to show the next piece of information.
40. Watch the entire presentation.
41. Correct any mistakes that you saw.
42. Save your changes.
43. Ask a teacher to check your work.
The teacher will sign in the box.
This work was created by Neighborhood House.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. You are free to copy, distribute, transmit, and
adapt this work provided that this use is of a non-commercial nature, that any subsequent adaptations of the work are placed under a similar license,
and that appropriate attribution is provided where possible.
Microsoft PowerPoint: Exercise 5
Adding Animation to a Presentation
To give the presentation even more special effects when showing it to the audience, we can
animate the text.
44. Open your Present1. This step will also open Microsoft PowerPoint. (From the START
menu, Click on My Documents, Find your named folder, Double-click to open it, Find
your file: firstnamelastinitial Present1. Double-click to open it.)
45. Click on the Animations tab.
46. Let’s take a closer look at the Animations toolbox. There are only two options in
this toolbox. One of them is “grayed” out which means that it is not active in its
current mode. This is the tool we are going to work with in this exercise.
Click on the Title text box in Slide 1. In order to select the box, you must click on
the title and then click on the outline surrounding it. It will turn the dotted line
into a solid line.
47. Now you will see that the Animation tool is active
and says that there is “No Animation” on the
portion of the text you have selected.
Click on the drop down arrow to see the menu.
48. In Bold you will see a list of choices. Below each
of those is a further breakdown of how your text
will appear on the slide. Slowly move your cursor
over the choices to see the different effects. Since
we are dealing with only one line of text, Select a
style that you like and Click on “All At Once”.
49. Repeat this step for each slide. When you have more than one line of text in a
box, you can choose “All At Once” or “By 1st Level Paragraphs” to animate one
group at a time.
50. Save your presentation to save the changes you have made.
51. Now let’s see how the presentation will look when you show it to the class. Click
on the Slide Show tab.
52. In the Start Slide Show toolbox, Click the From Beginning button.
53. Use the spacebar or Click the mouse to show the next piece of information.
54. Watch the entire presentation.
55. Correct any mistakes that you saw.
56. Save your changes.
57. Ask a teacher to check your work.
The teacher will sign in the box.
This work was created by Neighborhood House.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. You are free to copy, distribute, transmit, and
adapt this work provided that this use is of a non-commercial nature, that any subsequent adaptations of the work are placed under a similar license,
and that appropriate attribution is provided where possible.
Microsoft PowerPoint: Exercise 6
Adding Custom Animation to a Presentation
Making your pictures move
Custom animation added to a slide can give special effects to words and pictures. In this
exercise we will concentrate our efforts on just the images in the presentation.
58. Open your Present1. This step will also open Microsoft PowerPoint. (From the START
menu, Click on My Documents, Find your named folder, Double-click to open it, Find
your file: firstnamelastinitial Present1. Double-click to open it.)
59. Click on the Animations tab.
60. Let’s take a closer look at the Animations toolbox. There are only two options in
this toolbox. The second tool listed is Custom Animation. This is the tool we will
work with in this exercise.
61. Click on the Custom Animation button. On the
right side of the screen the Custom Animation
window will appear.
62. Using the Side pane and the Slides tab, Click on
the first slide with an image.
63. Click on the image.
Notice that in the animation window the “Add
Effect” button becomes active.
64. Click the button to see the drop down menu. This
is where things can get fancy and complicated. We
are going to keep them simple for this presentation,
using the Entrance menu only.
65. Place the cursor over the word “Entrance”
on the menu. This will reveal the 5 basic
ways to create an effect for your picture.
You will also notice at the bottom of the
menu it says “More Effects…”.
66. Click on “More Effects…”. An Add
Entrance Effect dialog box will open. Here
you will find categories called Basic, Subtle,
Moderate, and Exciting. Using this box, you
can also “Preview” the effect without
actually applying it to the presentaton.
67. In Basic Click the effect called “Wheel”.
Watch the picture.
68. Click the effect called “Random Bars”.
Watch the picture.
69. Scroll down. In Moderate Click the effect
called “Grow & Turn”.
70. In Exciting Click the effect called
“Boomerang”
71. Try out a few others on your own. Finally Choose one and Click the OK button.
This will add the effect to that image, and you will See a notation made in the
Custom Animation window.
72. Add a Custom Effect to each image in the presentation. You will need to have
each slide with the chosen image in the Slide pane or work area in order to do this.
73. Save your presentation to save the changes you have made.
74. Now let’s see how the presentation will look when you show it to the class. Click
on the Slide Show tab.
75. In the Start Slide Show toolbox, Click the From Beginning button.
76. Use the spacebar or Click the mouse to show the next piece of information.
77. Watch the entire presentation.
78. Make any changes you want by removing an effect and then adding a new one.
Remove an effect by Selecting the image you want to change and Clicking on the
Remove button in the Custom Animation window. You can then add a new effect
to that image. Ask a teacher for help if you need it.
79. Save your changes.
80. Ask a teacher to check your work by
showing the teacher the slide show.
The teacher will sign in the box.
This work was created by Neighborhood House.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. You are free to copy, distribute, transmit, and
adapt this work provided that this use is of a non-commercial nature, that any subsequent adaptations of the work are placed under a similar license,
and that appropriate attribution is provided where possible.
Microsoft PowerPoint: Exercise 7
Printing a Presentation Handout
Handouts of a presentation can be printed several different ways. Clicking on the print
button on the quick access toolbar will print each slide individually. For this class we will
not do that. We will print more than one slide on a page.
81. Open your Present1. This step will also open Microsoft PowerPoint. (From the START
menu, Click on My Documents, Find your named folder, Double-click to open it, Find
your file: firstnamelastinitial Present1. Double-click to open it.)
82. Click on the Office button.
83. In the drop down menu Click on Print.
This will open the Print Dialog Box for
PowerPoint. It will look a bit different than
some of the others you may have seen.
84. Normally we would look at
the Print range if we were
just going to print one or two
slides/pages. But we are
going to print a handout to
be posted. The Handouts
section of the box is not
currently available for
selection.
85. Click on the “Print what”
drop down arrow.
86. Click on Handouts.
87. Now the Handouts section is
available for use. If
necessary, Click on the drop
down arrow next to the
“Slides per page” and
choose 6.
Since we have a total of 5
slides, this will put them all
on one page.
88. You will also see that we can
print them veritically or
horizontally. Make sure the
Horizontal is selected.
89. To save on color ink we can
also change the way we look
at the presentation. Click on
the drop down box next to
“Color/grayscale”.
90. Click on Grayscale.
91. Click OK.
T
his work was created by Neighborhood House.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. You are free to copy, distribute, transmit, and
adapt this work provided that this use is of a non-commercial nature, that any subsequent adaptations of the work are placed under a similar license,
and that appropriate attribution is provided where possible.