This is a short tutorial to help you get started on PowerPoint slide presentations. To learn the program and all its features well, you will need to spend time practicing and experimenting in one of the laboratories or on your home computer.

Double-click on the PowerPoint Icon or name from the folder on the desktop.

You will be presented with a Tip of the Day screen which you should read, then click on OK to proceed.

After reading the tip, click OK and the next screen appears, allowing you create a new presentation. You may choose from a Blank presentation, a background Template, or a Wizard.

The AutoContent Wizard is an easy way to get started, but let's choose Blank Presentation so you can learn more features. Click on the Blank Presentation radio button and type OK.

The next step is to choose an AutoLayout which will govern the look of your slide.

Click on the Title Slide in the upper-left corner to choose the slide with a title and sub-title on it then click OK.

When your blank slide is shown, you should also see several Toolbars which you will use to assist in developing your PowerPoint slide show. These may not all appear, or may be laid out differently, but they can be made to appear by bringing down the View Menu and clicking on Toolbars. . .

The standard toolbar provides quick ways to perform certain basic actions such as cutting, pasting,

The formatting menu provides a convenient way to choose the font size and style, centering of items, bullets, and indenting.

The shape and position of these toolbars may be different than shown here snce they can be customized depending on where you wish to put them on your monitor.

The Drawing toolbar provides the means to be creative and produce your own logos, drawings, and other items to add to your slides.

Optionally, you can view a Drawing Plus Toolbar which provides additional shortcuts to producing your own pictures.

Clicking near any of these icons will bring up an explanation of what each does.

First, click on the PowerPoint Quick Preview and go through the slide show describing how PowerPoint works.

You can then bring up PowerPoint Cue Cards from the Help Menu to provide you with a step-by-step aide in shaping the look of your presentation.

1. Use the Pick a Look Wizard when opening a New Presentation, or choose it after you've opened a New Presentation from the Format, to build the look of your slides easily.

Just go through the nine steps, choosing the look you want for your slides. When you finish selecting the nine steps a blank slide will appear, ready to have the content added.

1. If you already have an outline of your presentation, you can enter the information on your outline after you click on View Outline from the View Menu or after you click on the Outline View bar at the lower-left corner of the slide.

You can go back and forth between the Outline and Slides to change whatever you wish.

2. If you're starting without an outline, you can view a slide and add your information directly to the slide. (It will automatically be added to the outline, though you won't see this until you select View Outline.

3. Adding, moving, or changing type.

a. Click on the box which includes the title, Type the words you wish to include.

b. Click on one of the lines outlining the text box and slide the box around to where you want it.

c. To change the font size, or style, choose Font from the Format Menu.

4. Inserting, moving, or changing size of Clip Art

a. Click on Insert Menu and drag down to Clip Art. Your computer may take quite a while to load in the clip art before you can select it. Be patient.

b. Choose the clip art you wish to add to your slide. Then click OK.

c. To move the clip art, click and drag on one of the lines outlining the box around the clip art.

d. To change the size of the clip art, click on one of the tiny corner squares and drag until the clip art is the size you want. Clicking and dragging on one of the tiny center squares will cause the clip art to be distorted (which you may wish to do on occasion).

5. Inserting Pictures, Sounds, Tables, and Other Objects. These are added in a similar way to Clip Art by clicking on the selection from the Insert Menu and then locating the item on your disk.

6. Making a Drawing and Changing its Size.

a. View the Draw Tools.

b. Select the tool you wish to use. This picture shows the selection of the AutoShapes Tool.

c. From the AutoShapes select the shape you want to use and draw it on your slide.

7. Inserting a Graph and Changing its Size.

a. From the Insert Menu choose Graph

b. Graph will open and a spreadsheet will be shown. Choose Select All and Clear to Blank out the screen

c. Enter your data in the spreadsheet (Datasheet) the way you would in Excel or Lotus.

d. Choose an appropriate graph style from the Chart Icon on the Toolbar. The graph will appear on the PowerPoint Slide. To view the Datasheet, click on the graph and from the View Menu select Datasheet.

Now, create this slide.

1. Select the template from the nine-step Pick A Look Wizard.

2. Type the Title and SubTitle.

3. Use the Draw Tools to select the bubble and the Draw Menu to Move the Bubble to the back, underneath the words

3. Slide the titles to the places shown,

4. Insert the clip art, move it, and resize it as shown.

As a bonus, more advanced users should draw this First Prize Seal to add to their slide in the blank space in the lower right-hand part of the slide.

It's easy to Save on the Macintosh, but it's easy to Save in the wrong place. So follow these instructions carefully. Save Early and Often. For important work, save it in two or more places (two floppies, your own hard drive and a floppy, etc.).

a. From the File Menu, click and drag down to Save. When the dialog box is shown, be sure to change the active disk by clicking on Desktop and then your disk. The name of your disk will show in the top of the dialog box.

b. Give the presentation a distinctive name.

c. Click on the Save button or tap the Return Key.

When you are certain your slide looks the way you want it, you can print it.

a. Choose Print... from the File Menu.

b. Choose Slides from the Print What Item in the Printer Box and One copy.

c. Click on the Print Button or Press Return. Slides with clip art or graphs will take longer than printing plain text, so be patient.

This short tutorial covers only a few of the many features of PowerPoint. To learn more, you may wish to take a class or purchase a handout from the Multimedia Design Center or books from your local bookstore. If you install PowerPoint on your own computer you will have instruction manuals to assist you. But, it takes a certain amount of practice in making presentations before you will get all the power out of the program that it will allow.