The menubar:

The File Menu Opening, closing, saving, and printing documents Remember to use "Save As" to change the name of a file Page Setup can be used to change page orientation and presentation format The Edit Menu Used to cut, copy, and paste text Move, copy, and, delete Worksheets Move text around from within PowerPoint Copy tables and charts or copy graphics from other programs Undo can be used to undo the last change to a document (note--the Undo command cannot undo everything) The View Menu Used to change the way the document looks on your screen Outline, slide sorter, presentation mode, etc. The Insert Menu Used to insert: New slides (using autolayout) Files and pre-made graphics The Format Menu Used to change the font (typeface and size) Change the slide layout Color scheme The Tools Menu Use spelling check The Slide Show Menu This is where you can add transitions and animations. The Window and Help Menus The Window Menu allows you to move from one open document to another The Help menu gives you help (obviously)

Creating a Slide Show Presentation Whether your presentation will be in the form of an electronic slide show, 35 mm slides, overheads or just paper print-outs, the process of creating a PowerPoint presentation is basically the same. You can start with a template,a blank presentation, or a design template. To get to these basic forms, there are three options. AutoContent Wizard The AutoContent Wizard is a series of dialog boxes that gets you started with creating a new presentation using a template. You'll start by answering questions about your presentation and end up with the ready-made slides. To activate this on-line guide from the PowerPoint startup dialog box, select AutoContent Wizard and click OK. If PowerPoint is already running, select New from the File menu. On the New Presentation dialog box, click the Presentations tab, click the icon for AutoContent Wizard and click OK. To bypass the wizard, click instead the icon for the template you want and you'll get the slides directly. Blank Presentation The blank presentation template is a design template that uses the default formatting and design. It is useful if you want to decide on another design template after working on the presentation content or if you want to create your own custom formatting and design from scratch. To create a new presentation based on the blank presentation template, select Blank Presentation from the PowerPoint startup dialog box and click OK. With PowerPoint already running, you can (1) select New from the File menu, click the General tab on the New Presentation dialog box, click the Blank Presentation icon and click OK or (2) click the New button on the Standard toolbar. The New Slide dialog box appears. Design Template This is advised for first-time and new PowerPoint users (don't listen to PowerPoint's suggestion for the AutoContent Wizard). After a few presentations on your own, you more than likely will always choose this option so as to have complete control over your presentation. A design template is a presentation that does not contain any slides but includes formatting and design. It is useful for giving your presentations a professional and consistent appearance. You can start to make a presentation by selecting a design template or you can apply a design template to an existing presentation without changing its contents. Once you have chosen the 'template' option, you have several more options in a New Presentation dialog box. General: Gives one the option to begin with a blank template, Presentation Designs: Gives PowerPoint97 templates from which to work, Presentations: A presentation template is a presentation that contains slides with a suggested outline, as well as formatting and design. It is useful if you need assistance with content and organization for certain categories of presentations such as: Training; Selling a Product, Service, or an Idea; Communicating Bad News. When you make a new presentation using a template, you'll get a set of ready-made slides. You replace what's on the slides with your ideas, and insert additional slides as necessary. Web Pages: Allows one to add web presentations and documents from your local or network computer, Office 95 Templates: Contains your favorite PowerPoint templates from Office 95.

Changing Views Click the up and down arrows (or page-up and page-down) to change slides Views Slide view - this is the view in which you edit your individual slides Outline view - gives you an outline of your presentation Slide Sorter view - this shows you a small picture of each slide in your presentation, making it easy to rearrange the order of your slides Notes Pages view - use this if you want to attach some notes to a particular slide (the notes don't show up in the presentation, but you can print them out) Slide Show - this will "run" the presentation, use this view when you want to see what your animations and transitions look like

Creating Slides When you create a new presentation using a template (including the Blank Presentation template), you start with the first slide and then continue to build the presentation by inserting new slides. Inserting New Slides To add a new slide after the current slide in Slide View (note: use the Normal View in PowerPoint 2000) choose New Slide from the Insert menu or click the Insert New Slide button on the Standard toolbar (note: in PowerPoint 2000, click on "New Slide" from the "Common Tasks" drop-down menu.) This brings up the New Slide dialog box. AutoLayouts- These are a bunch of possible layouts, that have provided spaces for pictures, text, etc. You can always add, delete, and move things, so you're not committed to only these layouts. To create a slide, click an AutoLayout icon that matches the layout of the slide you want to make; the name of the selected AutoLayout appears in the lower right side of the dialog box. Then click OK and the new slide appears on the screen. Note: In PowerPoint 2000 the "Slide View" from older Powerpoint applications is incorporated with the "Notes Pages" view and a streamlined "Outline View", where you can reorder slides and add formatted text directly. Deleting a slide - choose "Edit, Delete Slide"

Adding text to slides Using Text Placeholders You can insert text on slides by selecting an AutoLayout with text placeholders. Text placeholders are formatted for titles or bulleted lists. The text formatting, which includes the font, alignment and bullets, depends on the design template you selected. To add text to a slide in Slide View, simply click on a text placeholder (In PowerPoint 2000's Normal View you can simply type in your text next to the numbered slide icon on the left hand screen). The directions on the placeholder will disappear, leaving an empty text box with a flashing insertion point. Begin typing. Text automatically wraps as you reach the right border of the placeholder. When you're done, click anywhere else on the slide. To edit text, move the mouse pointer over the text (note that it becomes an I-beam), click and edit. When making a bulleted list, you automatically create the next bulleted item every time you press Enter. To create sublevels, click the Demote (Indent more) button on the Formatting toolbar. To move up a level, click Promote (Indent less). In PowerPoint 2000 you can demote and promote in the left hand window by using your mouse. Simply click and hold at the left border of the text and drag your mouse to the left (to promote) or to the right (to demote). Your bulleted list can have up to five levels. Using the Text Tool You can use the Text Tool on the Drawing toolbar to add text outside of text placeholders. In Slide View, click the Text Tool and move the mouse pointer to the point on the slide where you want to insert text. Click to make a label/caption or drag to make a text box that will wrap the words. Then begin typing and, when you're done, click anywhere else on the slide.

Adding slide objects You can incorporate elements, such as graphics and even sound and video, into your slides in one of two ways: Select an AutoLayout containing a placeholder for an object. Some placeholders are for specific objects such as clip art, graphs, tables, organizational charts or media clips while other placeholders are for all types of objects. Select the desired object (Clip Art, Picture, Movie, Sound, Microsoft Graph, Microsoft Word Table, Object) from the Insert menu. Clicking on Object... from the Insert menu brings up the Insert Object dialog box which lists all the different types of objects that can be embedded in PowerPoint slides. You create embedded objects using another application while you are working in PowerPoint. (This requires that you have the application installed on your machine.) The object's application menu and toolbars appear on the screen and may temporarily replace the PowerPoint menu and toolbars. When you're finished, click anywhere else on the slide to return to PowerPoint. To edit embedded objects you created, double-click on the object. Again, the object's application menu and toolbars appear. Make the changes and, when you're done, click anywhere else on the slide. Tables To insert a Microsoft Word table on a slide: double-click on a Table placeholder, click on the Word Table Button shown here, or under the Insert menu, choose Picture, then Word Table and specify the number of rows and columns you want. If you click on the Insert Microsoft Word Table button on the Standard toolbar, drag on the cells to select the number of rows and columns. The table appears along with Word's application menu and toolbars. Type the table contents and, when you're finished, click anywhere else on the slide. To edit the table, double-click on it and edit the table using Word tools and menus. Clip Art You can put graphic images from Microsoft ClipArt Gallery on your slides. To add clip art to a slide: double-click on a Clip Art placeholder, under the Insert menu, choose Picture, then Clip Art click the Insert Clip Art button on the Standard toolbar shown here. ClipArt Gallery opens. You can limit your search by choosing a category. Select the picture you want and click Insert. ClipArt Gallery closes and the image you selected appears on the slide. If you want to change the clip art on a slide, double-click on it and ClipArt Gallery opens. Select a different picture and click Insert. Pictures You can put scanned images or art created from other programs on your PowerPoint slides. Select Picture from the Insert menu, choose From Scanner and use the MS Office photo editor after opening the file from your computer. WordArt Object You can add text with special effects in your slides using Microsoft WordArt. There are at least three ways to put word art in your PowerPoint presentation: You can select Insert/Picture/Word Art from the menu, choose Object from the Insert menu, or double-click on an Object placeholder. In the Insert Object dialog box, select Create New and choose the latest version of Microsoft WordArt from the Object Type list. The WordArt dialog box and menus appear. Type the text and click on Update Display. Choose the special effects you want from the WordArt toolbar. When you're done, click anywhere else on the slide.

Additional Features Transitions Transitions are special audiovisual effects that occur when moving from slide to slide during an electronic presentation. To add a transition to a selected slide in Slide Sorter View, click the Slide Transition button on the Slide Sorter toolbar. From the Transition dialog box, you can choose the effect and speed of the transition and a sound to accompany the visual effect. A transition icon appears below the slide miniature of a slide with transition. You can preview the transition on the miniature by clicking on the icon. If you want the same transition on all your slides, choose Select All from the Edit menu and then add the transition. Animations You create a build slide if you want to show paragraphs on a bulleted list one at a time during a slide show. To build the body text of a selected slide, choose an option that appears when you select Preset Animation from the Slide Show menu. If you select an option other than Off, during a slide show the list will appear by first level paragraphs with every mouse click using the particular effect. For more options, use the drop down menu on the slide sorter toolbar labeled Text Preset Animation. On the Animation Settings dialog box, pick a build option, a visual and audio effect, and the text color after a build step. In Slide Sorter View, a build icon appears below the slide miniature of a slide with build but you cannot preview it. For more options, do the following: View your slide in slide view Right click on your slide Choose custom animation You can also animate objects other than text (e.g., pictures). Follow the same basic instructions as those you used for animating text.

Effective Presentations

Some rough guidelines for giving a conference style presentation

An analogy. The process of developing a talk to that of preparing for a backpacking expedition. Plan ahead, review your goals, and plan for emergencies. At some point after you are fully prepared, open the backpack and remove between 1/3 to 1/2 of its contents. Then shoulder the pack and head for the hills - there will be more spring in your step, and it will be easier to recover if you stumble.

Following are descriptions of the types of conference presentations you may do as a graduate student. Presentation types differ among disciplines. For example, those in the humanities typically read their papers aloud at conferences, while social scientists give summary presentations of longer works.


Paper with Respondent. In this type of presentation, a speaker gives a thirty-minute paper. A respondent then gives a fifteen-minute response to the paper. The speaker subsequently gives a fifteen-minute reply to the response.
Panel Presentation. Panel sessions include 3-4 speakers, each of whom talks for 15-20 minutes. Panels may also have a discussant who comments on the papers/presentations individually and as a group.
Roundtable. A roundtable features five or more speakers, each of whom talks for 5-10 minutes.
Workshop. These sessions can vary in length from 90 minutes to one full day. Workshop presenters give short statements before involving the audience in some type of activity.


A typical framework for a 12 min. talk

The talk has an hourglass shape to the structure. Start broad, narrow the focus, then make it broad again at the end.

A. Four to five minute introduction.

1. The mystery, reason for caring, paradox, curiosity.
2. The background.

a) What's been done that's relevant?
b) Limitations of past experiments.
c) How old results raised current questions.

B. The results (about 4 to 5 mins).

1. Experimental design.
2. The experiment.
3. The hypotheses and predictions.

C. Interpretation of results (2 to 4 mins).

1. Explain the important results clearly.

• Avoid or explain jargon.
  
• Avoid tables whenever possible.
  
• Never show data you don't discuss.
  
• Make clear, colorful figures.
  
D. Conclusions

1. Summarize the results that lead to your conclusions
2. What are the 2 or 3 things that you want the audience to take home and remember?
3. A final statement of wrap-up, bring the results & conclusions back to the big picture.


Tips and Suggestions

Preparation This is where you begin to tailor the talk to the situation, and for that reason this stage is very important for a successful presentation. Talk to your host and clarify these points before you spend much preparation time. If the environment and audience are unfamiliar to you, this is a critical stage. You may even want to do a literature search on potential audience members to identify areas of common interest or potential questions which may arise. Begin this stage early - the more lead time you allow yourself, the more time you will have to think up novel approaches to the topic and the more interesting and substantial your presentation will be.
Once you have a general idea of what you want to say, you'll have to decide how to say it. Unlike a conversation or a written document, a talk is a one-shot attempt to make a point. By contrast, a conversation consists of repetitions and clarification's based on questions and immediate feedback, while a written paper allows a reader to puzzle through its contents as often as necessary. It is essential that your talk be well-constructed and tidy, and that your points be presented to the audience both a logical sequence and unambiguously. This all takes a fair amount of preparation. Start early!

• First, learn all you can about your audience and tailor your presentation to them.
• Start preparing far in advance by thinking through what needs to be said. Collect material which may relate to the topic from unusual sources, and sleep on these ideas. The final product will be more fully-developed and interesting.
• Using big letters and a bold pen, write a clear statement of the problem and its importance, and then pin that statement on the wall above your desk Develop this theme into one jargon-free sentence that will catch the attention of the audience. Next, identify the issues you plan to address.
• Arrange these issues in a logical sequence (which may change as you develop the talk). This process is easier if you use index cards to organize your talk, with one idea per card.
• Retention of information by the audience is reduced as a talk proceeds, so if you do want to make a series of points, organize them from the most to the least important. That way, the audience is more likely to remember the important points later. You may even find that the less important points become irrelevant to the focus of the talk as you practice.
• Determine transition elements which will help your audience to follow the link from one issue to the next. These should be logical, and may presented by posing a question, or explaining your own discovery of the link's existence.
• Attempt to identify problems or questions the audience may have and address them in the talk, before the audience has a chance to think of these things themselves.
• Determine which elements would benefit by being presented with visual aids. Spend time working out the best way to present the material. Head on over to the accompanying tutorials for information on presenting material in an effective way using visual aids.
• Remember, the shorter the talk, the more difficult it will be to cover the material clearly and completely. Be strict about including only what is essential information for the presentation, and removing all the non-essential tidbits.
• If you start preparing early, you'll have plenty of time to refine the presentation based on your colleagues' feedback. This is always a useful process.
• Practice your presentation!!!!
  
  • Practice is the single most important factor contributing to a good presentation. Don't be fooled by people who claim to be able to throw together a talk at a moment's notice. Generally, their talks fall into two categories - talks which are disjointed and awkward, and talks which have had the rough edges removed by numerous prior presentations (i.e., dull and unexciting). Be critical!
  • One problem is that you can waste a tremendous amount of time by practicing all the wrong parts of your talk. It is necessary to run through the talk a few times to get an idea of how the talk will flow.
  • Yes, that means running through the talk once or twice isn't enough, particularly if the material is new to you. The presentation is important, treat it that way.
  • Breath slowly and deeply, and speak from your diaphragm; project your voice. Practice making eye contact with your imaginary audience, but don't single out one.
  • Don't procrastinate when you actually are ready to practice. Take two deep breaths, then begin. Avoid looking at your notes when you don't need to do so. Watch your reflection in the mirror as you speak, looking for odd and distracting habits.
  • Work at being relaxed. Stand with feet slightly apart and one foot slightly forward to prevent swaying and weight shifts. Hold your notes in one hand, with the other held naturally at your side. This posture will seem awkward, but looks natural and relaxed. Practice it.
  • Your words will probably be different each time you practice, but do try to stick to the general outline of your notes. Don't attempt to memorize your text; use your notes only as reference points to keep you on track. Think about the ideas, and your words will follow naturally. Speak slowly and clearly, and use gestures.
  • A tape recorder or videotape are the most useful tools for feedback.
  • What you say should be readily understandable by the audience.
  • Listen carefully to the words you use, not to what you think you are saying. Are these the best words for making your point? Are they unambiguous? Avoid using jargon whenever possible. Watch your speed for meaningless interjections (ah, um, well) or nervous coughs, sighs or pauses.
  • Ask a friend or colleague to evaluate your presentation and, if possible, videotape yourself. And use your visual aids!
  • Do you have a clear opening and memorable close? Do you back up statements with credible supporting statistics and data? Does your presentation have energy or will it put your audience to sleep? Rework rough or boring sections and eliminate anything irrelevant.
  • The proper use of gestures, facial expressions and controlled movements will increase audience attention and add interest to your message. Are any of your gestures distracting?
• Familiarize yourself with the environment of the room in which you will speak. Make sure all the equipment works and that you know how to use it.
• Make sure your visual aids are clear. The content of visual aids should support your points, not confuse the audience. Use large type on all visual aids.
• Arm yourself with all the facts. Thorough research will provide you with accurate data, figures, examples, comparisons and analogies that will strengthen your argument and help persuade your audience.
• Try and visualize your presentation as a whole, your thoughts should follow a logical order with smooth transitions from one idea to the next.

Content

By dividing your presentation into three parts: the introduction, the body and the conclusion, you create a logical pattern of organization that will help your audience understand more quickly and retain the information for a longer period of time.

• The Introduction Because your opening remarks will set the tone for what is to follow, the introduction deserves special attention. In just the first few minutes your audience will form an opinion of you and your material. Preview your presentation by stating your objective and outlining the key points. As reinforcement, you may also want to project a visual of your agenda. Provide your audience with a good reason to listen by telling them how they will benefit from your information. Be cautious of opening with a joke as they often backfire. If it makes an appropriate point, doesn't offend anyone, and no one in the audience has heard it before, a joke can be an effective icebreaker. Human interest stories are less risky, but also must be appropriate to your subject matter.
• The Body The body contains the facts, figures and substance of your presentation. Since organization is a key to audience understanding, clearly state each point with explicit transitions from one idea to the next. From time to time, refer to your objective and show how what you said or are bout to say will contribute to your purpose. Do not be afraid to repeat important points as this is necessary for comprehension and retention of your message.
• The Conclusion Finally, your conclusion should close your presentation on a positive note. Summarize the key points, restate your goals and objectives, and emphasize the benefits to your audience. If you've asked your audience to carry out a specific task, make sure they understand how and when it is to be accomplished. Always finish on schedule.
• For your topic, choose a major theme or question that represents a "thin slice" of the field's current debates. Be on the cutting edge.
• On the first page, locate the question in a body of knowledge/literature. Make the theoretical significance of your ideas clear.
• Have a strong, creative research design. Anticipate possible critiques when setting up your research design.
• Use clear terminology, but use as little specialized terminology as possible.
• Consider the paper a legal brief that makes a persuasive case and fits it into a ongoing dialogue.
• Use a "bullet" conclusion. In the final part of the paper, repeat the question posed, then explain how you addressed the question, and why the question is relevant. End with a statement of the larger implications of your question. How much material?
  • Pre-determining the content in relation to length is always a problem. The magnitude of the task will become more obvious as you begin to practice. Remember that when you make allowances for a new setting and being interrupted by questions, the practice talk will be about 20% faster than the real presentation.
  • Two ways people try to reduce the length of a presentation are to speak more quickly and to reduce the number of words used. Both produce a false economy - the practice talk will fit in your time frame, but the final product won't.
  • Try the following suggestions to get into a good ballpark range:
  • Estimate a rate of about 100 words per minute (slow!)
  • Each statement you make will require an average of 12 words
  • Each concept will need to be supported by 3 - 4 statements
  • That means for a 50 minute talk, you should expect to cover only about 90 concepts. One way to facilitate the process is to develop visual aids which illustrate your points clearly

Presentation (The Moment of Truth)

Important Elements
Keeping these elements in mind as you prepare and practice the presentation will reduce the amount of re-working you'll have to do as it evolves, and will result in a more streamlined and effective end product.
• Rate: The optimal rate for a scientific talk is about 100 words per minute. Any faster and the audience can't absorb the additional information. Use pauses, and repeat critical information.
• Opening: The opening should catch the interest and attention of the audience immediately, while avoiding trite filler phrases (Thank you for having me . . .) and technical jargon.
• Transitions: The link between successive elements of the talk should be planned carefully, smooth, and logical. You should make the relation between successive elements clear to the audience.
• Conclusion: Summarize the main concepts you've discussed, and how your work relates to issues you've raised. Aim to help your audience achieve high retention of this final information. Signal that the summary is beginning ("In summary, ..."), but don't begin the summary too soon or else the audience will start to leave before you finish!
• Length: Don't run over! Ever! Shorten your talk by removing details, concepts, and information, not by eliminating words. If it becomes absolutely essential to supply details, supplement your presentation with a handout. Make about 10% more handouts than you think you'll need. Always leave time for a few questions at the end of the talk.