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1 Title Advanced PowerPoint Date July 31, 2012 Presented by Melody Pickle Welcome to the Advanced PowerPoint workshop from the Kaplan University Writing Center. I am Melody Pickle the Writing Center Specialist for the Writing Across the Curriculum program at Kaplan University. To view this recorded workshop, please click the link: 1

2 Today we will discuss how to use design features to better engage your audience with a PowerPoint. We will discuss how to insert various graphics and pictures as well as how to use slide layouts and templates to easily create an effective PowerPoint. Creating a slide Master is an often unknown skill that can really give you a design edge, and we will discuss what you can do with a PowerPoint. 2

3 This month in the KUWC, we also offered a Basic PowerPoint workshop. You can view the recording of this workshop by visiting the Writing Workshops webpage: /WritingWorkshops.aspx This very important workshop can help you get started if you are new to PowerPoint. Today we are going to cover some medium and advanced skills in PowerPoint, and we will try to answer your questions. 3

4 Before we talk about how and when to use templates, let s discuss the idea behind designing a PowerPoint. With a PowerPoint you want to visually demonstrate the ideas about which you are speaking or writing. PowerPoint can be a good way to energize content and help your audience visualize your key concepts. A predesigned template can be a great place to start. If nothing else, looking at templates can give you ideas as well as a pattern for design. To find templates, go to File ->New. You will see that you have the option of picking a blank template or searching for a template theme. For example, if you know you are talking about your marketing presentation, you can search for Marketing templates. There are many templates to be found within Microsoft Office and on the Internet. 4

5 When you are in PowerPoint itself, you can pick one of the template themes along the top of the page under the Design tab. When you pick a theme design, it comes complete with a palette of colors. A palette of colors is helpful because it makes sure that your colors go together and are pleasing to the eye. You can, of course, opt to start with a blank template and add pictures and designs yourself. 5

6 The term layout refers to where the pieces of information and the objects are placed on each individual slide. PowerPoint comes complete with some preset layouts from which to choose. The benefit of varying your layouts is the ability to change how the slides look by changing the places you put words and objects or pictures. Also, utilizing the layout feature also means you have easy access to features such as inserting a picture. Let s look at these features and how to use them. 6

7 Here are the icons that appear in most layout boxes. Some layout boxes may only have one or two options. This is based on the layout design you chose for that slide. Clicking on one of these icons will enable you to insert a table, graph, smart art, a picture, clipart, or a movie. The icons are self-explanatory. Inserting these various types of visuals, improves your ability to communicate your desired message to your audience. It can also help keep the attention of your audience by making slides more visually appealing. You want to avoid slides that are simply filled with a bunch of text. 7

8 Creating a Master Slide is often a design technique that even people who use PowerPoint a lot do not utilize. Designing a Master Slide is one way to carry themes across multiple slide layouts without having to add features such as page numbers to each slide. You can find the Slide Master icon under the View tab. 8

9 Here is the Slide Master for the PowerPoint you are currently viewing. You can see here that each of the different slide layouts has the same blue footer with the page number, the Kaplan logo, and the words, Kaplan University Writing Center. I only had to add the words Kaplan University Writing Center to the Slide Master for it to appear on each of my slide layouts. This saved a lot of time. When I create a new slide for a PowerPoint, those elements are uniform on each slide. 9

10 Now, let s go back to our icons. This icon with the three bars is the visual for creating graphs. When you click this icon, an Excel file will open. You can insert your data into the Excel file, and it will then appear on the graph of your choice. These graphs are designed to be used with data. This feature will take your data and place it in a line graph, a bar graph, a pie graph, etc. 10

11 Now, if you don t have hard data you want to relate to your audience, you can use Smart Art to show the relationship between ideas. Just looking at the various predesigned Smart Art visuals can give you examples for visually relating your ideas. There are pyramids, circles, and places for you to add words and photos to some of the visuals. It is a really great way to demonstrate key concepts. 11

12 However, you don t want to go crazy with the Smart Art or the graphs. Usually, one per page is plenty. Remember, you only want to give your audience useful information that is visually appealing. Putting too many icons and graphics on one page may actually make your ideas harder to understand because each graphic competes for the visual attention of your viewer. Therefore, pick your graphics wisely! 12

13 Sometimes, you may design a slide and then think, No. That will go better at the end. The good news is you can easily move your slides. You can drag and drop them in either the Slide view or the Outline view. See the images on this slide for clarification. The default setting is for you to see the Slide view in PowerPoint, which is represented by the images on the right. The Outline view is represented here on the left. The Outline view is also helpful for you to be able to see the notes on each slide. 13

14 We have talked about how to use certain graphics in our slides. Now, let s talk about using photographs. Pictures can send strong messages, and they can also supply visual appeal. We will discuss how to not only insert photos, but also how to resize them, crop them, and compress them. But, as you can see here, the same design principles apply. Too many pictures make for a very busy and confusing slide. 14

15 Here is a photo you will see several times in the next few slides. I am using the same photo so you can see the changes we make to the photograph. Use the Insert icon to insert your photo on to your slides. Once it is in your slide, you will likely need to edit your photo to make it fit and for maximum visual appeal. Let s look at some different ways to adjust your photo. 15

16 To resize a photo, or make it bigger or smaller, you can drag one of the circles on the edge of the photo. If you drag from one of the corners, the picture will maintain it s aspect ratio. In other words, if you have a pictures of people, they will not get fatter or skinnier if you drag the corners. However, if you drag from the side, the folks in your picture will seemingly gain or lose weight accordingly. You can also rotate the picture by clicking the green button in the center at the top. Now, let s talk about how and why to compress a photo. What do you think it means to compress a photo? It means to make the file size smaller. This can be really important if you need to a PowerPoint or upload it somewhere that sets file size limits. Now compressing a photo can change the clarity or sharpness of the photo. But, this is only really likely if you started with a photo of limited quality. The quality of the photo is also more important if you are planning to print the PowerPoint. To compress the photo, click the picture icon that has the arrow at each corner. It should say, Compress Pictures. You have the option of compressing individual pictures or compressing all the photos in a PowerPoint. 16

17 Cropping a photo means to actually cut away parts of the photograph. The crop icon can be seen on this slide on the right. It looks like the photo icon but with black lines forming a type of square to the right of it. To crop a photo, click on the photo, then drag one of the dark lines. In the picture above, the area that is grey is the area that will be removed. You can see that area has been removed in the bottom photo. Cropping is another way to change a photo to make it fit both conceptually and physically into your PowerPoint. There is another feature called remove the background that allows you to, as the name suggests, remove the background of the photo. I recommend playing with that feature if you have time. By removing the distracting background of a photo, you can help your audience focus on one particular area of a photograph. 17

18 We have only begun to touch the surface of the PowerPoint features. You can also save your PowerPoint as a movie and then play it. In order to do this, you have to be sure to change the time increments on your slide. The default time on the slides is 5 seconds. You can also broadcast your PowerPoint to others for free using a Windows Live ID. There are of course other ways to share a PowerPoint like we are doing here in the Adobe Connect room. Additionally, you can add animation. Animation means the ability to make things move on the screen. You can make your clipart move across the screen in various patterns. You can make things flash on and off on your screen. There are many options with animations. You can also embed movies and link movies inside your PowerPoint. See the Addition Resources slide at the end of this presentation for Microsoft tutorials on how to perform the above mentioned functions. 18

19 Many of the features that I just mentioned, I am not showing you today. Part of using technology effectively is knowing how it will look and work in the environment in which you plan to use your PowerPoint. In this Adobe Connect room, with the current version of Adobe Connect, I cannot show you animations or embedded movies. I could share my screen and show you some of the details, but we will save that for a future KUWC PowerPoint presentation. It is important to understand how the features you are using in your PowerPoint will work for you. You always want to test your PowerPoint in the environment in which you will be using it if possible. That is how you will know exactly how your PowerPoint will work and function. PowerPoint is a great tool if you use it well. 19

20 The best time to do a paper review in the Kaplan University Writing Center is after you have written your first draft. When you come to us early, we can help you the most by helping you with the structure of your paper. Many students send papers at the last minute because they want us to simply proofread their paper. However, KUWC writing tutors do not simply proofread the paper for you; we want to help you learn to write and proofread your own papers. Since you can come to the Writing Center 6 times a term, you can submit a first draft, then submit a later draft if you need further help on an assignment. If you need help before you write the first draft, you can use live tutoring. During live tutoring, you can ask questions and brainstorm with a tutor. Live tutors can help you with other stages in the paper writing process as well. Come visit us. We can be found under the My Studies tab, then under Academic Support Center. 20

21 On the main Academic Support Center page, you will see the Writing Center links. These include Live Tutoring, Paper Review Service, the Writing Reference Library, Citation Guidelines, Workshops, English Language Learner, and Fundamental writing help. Notice, you can access the Kaplan Guide to Successful Writing on the right hand side in both print and audio form. Come visit us. 21

22 Workshops are recorded and recording links, with an accompanying PowerPoint or a handout, are posted on the Writing Center Workshops page 1-2 business days after a workshop has taken place. For information about the Writing Center workshop series or this workshop, please contact Melody Pickle mpickle@kaplan.edu 22

23 Office PowerPoint Blog Microsoft Office Tutorials 23