1. Microsoft Powerpoint Tools and Tips Created by William Yearling
Created for the Hillsdale County Intermediate School District by William Yearling
Hillsdale County ISD Technology Department extension 400
Created by William Yearling

2. Microsoft Office Ribbon
Contains the Office Button as well as the tabs to select common tools and design elements
Each tab (Home, Insert, Design, etc.) contains a set of tools that will modify your presentation

3. Microsoft Office Help
Clicking the “?” in the upper right corner or hitting F1 will bring up the help menu
The help menu is an excellent resource for finding how any tools or design elements are used

4. Home Tab
The Home tab contains the controls for the Clipboard, Slides, Font styles, Paragraph styles, Drawing, Text and Objects
The Slide controls allow you to add a new slide as well as determine how it is laid out on the page
The Font and Paragraph controls in PowerPoint are similar to Microsoft Word

5. Insert Tab
The Insert Tab on the Office Ribbon allows you to add Charts, Tables, Text objects, Pictures, Sounds, or Videos
When adding a sound or video clip to a presentation, small files are saved inside the presentation file, larger files remain independent, but need to be accessible to run
The sound and video files must also be used for PowerPoint, be certain to preview them before presenting

6. Design Tab
Allows you to pick a theme that will be consistent throughout your presentation or for a single slide
You can alter the color, fonts, or effect throughout the slideshow as well
Background styles can also be applied in addition to the theme

7. Animations Tab
The Animations tab allows you to select how the page appears
Animations can also be applied to bullet points, images or other objects
Sounds can be applied to animations
Slides can also be set to automatically advance after a set period of time

8. Slide Show Tab The slide show tab allows you to view you slideshow
Your presentation can be selected to begin from the start or the current slide for review in full screen
Timing can be created for each slide for a more rehearsed and time conscientious presentation

9. General Tips Less is More – Stick to one topic per slide
Use the bullet points for short talking points or single sentences
If your slide consists of several paragraphs, consider breaking each paragraph into its own slide, or create an outline slide and speak from notes
A PowerPoint is a supplement for a high detail paper, not a substitute

10. General Tips Continued
Select a style or color scheme that is easy to read from a distance
Create a “Part 2” or “Continued” slide if you run out of room on a slide for a single topic
Preview your content in full screen and make sure any animations, pictures, sounds and videos play as you expect
When in doubt, check the help documents for additional details on what you are trying to accomplish