Many presentations are done using Microsoft PowerPoint. PowerPoint is part of the Microsoft Office suite of office software and is an app that lets you create and display slides to support a presentation. Other platforms are available, but PowerPoint is the most popular. It's been suggested that PowerPoint is installed on over one billion computers and 30 million new PowerPoint presentations are created each day. Your teachers probably use it in class, and you might be expected to use PowerPoint if you have to make a presentation.
To open PowerPoint on your (Windows) device:
When PowerPoint opens, click on New - Blank Presentation
You start with a blank slide but don't be intimidated; it's easier than it looks, honestly! There are design templates that you can use to make your slides more... well, presentable.
In the Home tab of the navigation bar, in the Slides section, select 'New Slide'.
Then, select the layout you want from the options available
Place the cursor inside a text box, and then start to type. To format the text you have typed, select the text, and then select one or more options from the Font section of the Home tab, such as
To create bulleted or numbered lists, select the text, and then select Bullets or Numbering.
The design of your presentation can either help or interfere with your audience's understanding. Unnecessary and distracting elements can confuse them and take away from what you're trying to say.
One of the menu headings in PowerPoint is "Design". Click on that to see some slide templates
Some of these are nice, some aren't. Look to use one that doesn't use too many colours but have a high contrast between them. Alternatively, elsewhere in the Design menu, there is a 'Format Background' option. Click on that to see some options:
Solid fill: change the background from white to another colour
Gradient fill: - background gradually changes from one colour to another
Picture or texture fill: use an image as a background or mimic the look of a natural material (e.g., sand, granite, marble)
Pattern fill: use a repetitive pattern
Hide background graphics: just have a plain white background
Don't spend too much time experimenting however - keep it simple!
Aim for a high contrast between your text and your background, so choose:
Also under the Design menu is 'Design Ideas', which will give you some ideas for the layout of your slides. You might be a graphic design wizard and don't need these ideas, but if you need some assistance, press the button!
If you've used Word or Excel, you should recognise that the arrangement of the navigator bar is similar across Office products. PowerPoint has similar menu options to Word and Excel so PowerPoint shouldn't be totally foreign to you.
