Introduction to Project presentations with PowerPoint Bent Thomsen

What is good about PowerPoint? PowerPoint is fun to watch and fun to make. Used correctly, PowerPoint can accommodate most presenters' needs. It has a spell-check function! Something black boards and overheads lack. PowerPoint is not hard to learn. It should take about one hour to learn the basics.

What’s bad about PowerPoint? Content can sometimes take a back seat to flash. Computers crash, networks go down, and viruses can plague computers. Always have a back-up plan. Overuse can bore your audience and diminish PowerPoint's effectiveness A successful presentation can take several hours to develop.

What is a PowerPoint Presentation? Constructing a presentation is comparable to writing, practicing and performing a theatre play. The presenter, is performing for an audience with a message in words and pictures which should be communicated as convincing as possible. The fundamental in a presentation is the verbal message and the visuals act as supplements to the spoken words A presentation is something in between oral and written communication because it uses both.

What to learn about PowerPoint: the basics Open PowerPoint Start to create a slide show Choose a template for background Choose a layout in which to create your slide Add a headline Add a graphic

What else do you need to know about PowerPoint? Make a bulleted list Create a another slide Choose a layout for the slide Animate text, graphics and word art Create transitions between slides

Getting Started: Planning All presenters plan and prepare in their own way; planning a PowerPoint presentation is no different. You might plan on paper prior to sitting at the computer because you find that more comfortable. Or maybe you sit and compose right at the computer keyboard. You, of course, choose your own way of planning.

Getting Started: More on Planning Even if you are the type of presenter who sits down at the computer and composes there, it is helpful to look at planning on paper. Always carefully plan prior to actually creating your presentations.

Getting Started: What’s Your Topic? In PowerPoint, start by going "blank" -- meaning get the meat happening before you decide what sort of "decoration," style, or animation to include/insert.

Getting Started: What’s Your Topic? What do you want to cover? Outline it in one-sentence form. What are the major points or activities associated with each of these topical sentences? List them with each sentence.

Getting Started: Using Your Outline This sentence outline, with its supporting points, forms your basic slide structure. Open a new presentation. Your outline "pictures" what sort of presentation you need, so you can create each slide -- blank -- to match your presentation's needs.

Getting Started: Identify Your True Subject Start with your cover slide -- identify yourself as author, the topic you're covering, and the occasion for which the presentation is created. After you’ve created the sentence outline, you might find that your “true subject” is not the zippy three-word caption you’d originally thought. Revise if necessary.

Creating Your Presentation Each slide contains a sentence from your outline and its supporting points or major details. What does this accomplish? –Lecture note guidelines for you and your audience –Clarity of tone and topic

Planning a PowerPoint Presentation PowerPoint Presentation Design Tips –Always remember that the slides are to reinforce what the presenter says –Consistency and simplicity in design are of key importance –Keep your message focused –Use one topic per screen

Planning a PowerPoint Presentation Text –No more than 25 words per slide (e.g. five lines, five words each) –Use key words or phrases – not sentences –Avoid the use of punctuation –Do not use ALL CAPITAL, underlining or italics –For high impact change the color of the text –Be sure and check the spelling

Planning a PowerPoint Presentation Colors –Use colors carefully –Make sure there is good contrast between the text and background –Use light on dark or dark on light –Remember the color blind and avoid combinations such as red and green

Planning a PowerPoint Presentation No contrast =hard to see High contrast = easy to see

Planning a PowerPoint Presentation Graphics –Keep graphics simple and clean –Visuals are for support, interest and emphasis, make sure they are appropriate to the content –Same with Transitions

Support? To support the presentation you can generate the following: –Black and white or color handouts with 2, 3, 4, 6 or 9 slides per page –Outlines of slide titles and main points –Speaker and viewer notes

How do I find the extra stuff my presentation needs? First, be wary of glitz and/or overkill. Lots of folks new to PowerPoint use every bell and whistle, often to overwhelmingly unhelpful effect. Use clipart, wordart, charts, diagrams,.. Next go to Google and research your topic.Google

What did you find? Any cool images? Any great audio files you can link to? Any extra articles or research pieces your audience might find helpful? You can link to these within your presentation. –Type in the URL and annotation, highlight the URL, and click the globe in your toolbar (the one with the recycling arrows beneath).

After the outline and research, what next? Return to the storyboard idea. Your sentence outline tells the story of this topic, a sort of sketchy narrative for the ideas you want to present in this lesson. Your images, links, and extra articles flesh out some of the narrative. But now remember what happens when you have presented this topic before.

What No One Tells You About PowerPoint You don't need to waste your money on a book to learn PowerPoint. The program comes with a complete tutorial. You can access this by clicking on the help portion of the tool bar.

More of what they don’t tell you There are plenty of sites on the web that allow you to access many types of different media (pictures, sounds, movies, etc.) for free.

Do you know about PowerPoint Viewer? Microsoft has made available a free PowerPoint viewer that allows you to show presentations on any computer made in the last five years. You can find download an area by visiting and typing "PowerPoint Viewer" into their search engine.

PowerPoint web presentations? You bet PowerPoint makes it easy to convert any presentation into a web page. You just have to save your presentation as HTML. This is the commonly accepted wisdom. But I actually never do the HTML conversion; rather, I just upload the presentation as is to a website.

PowerPoint presentation in project exam Use one computer for all group members Use one presentation for all group members Or at least use the same style for each member Test that all works on the day of the exam Use KISS (Keep it simple stupid) principle Use Q&A approach –What is this project about –What is the problem we attack –Why is this a problem worth solving –How did we attack it –Did we solve it or …