Making Presentations in PowerPoint

General Thoughts on Making Presentations

• Open and test all applications that will be accessed in the presentation before you start the presentation. Particularly, preload websites so that you don’t have to wait for them to load while you are making the presentation. This also assures that your internet connection is working. Learn to use Command-tab to jump among open applications.
• Have the entire presentation running before viewers see the screen (or as best as you can do). There is nothing less entertaining than watching someone try to make his or her computer work on the big screen. Better projectors have a button on the remote that makes the screen go black and then brings the lamp back on instantly. You can accomplish the same thing by putting the projector in Standby mode but it may take a couple of minutes for the lamp to come back out of Standby. On some projectors if you leave to lens cap on to prevent viewing the lens cap can get very hot. I usually set a water bottle or similar object on the table a few inches in front of the lens instead o using the lens cap.
• Turn off the presentation (period and comma keys) if you are talking with viewers about something that isn’t currently being supported by the slides you made.
• End with a black slide. There is a setting for this in PowerPoint/Preferences/View. If you don’t end with a black slide PP jumps out of presentation mode and goes back to editing. This violates the don’t let the viewers see setup idea.
• Practice. It just takes time to get comfortable with all of the possibilities.

Learn Keyboard Shortcuts

• Using the help menu search for Keyboard Shortcuts. Then click on Keys for running a slide show.
• Add a few at a time. You won’t remember them until you use them frequently.

• Particularly:
  Use the left and right arrow keys to advance slides
  Type “.” to make the screen go black. Hit it again to bring the presentation back
  Type “,” to make the screen go white.
  Command-tab brings up the selection of open applications
  Control-click brings up the Presentation tools menu
  Control-H hides the pointer

Remote Controls

• These work best when you don’t have to do any thing other than go through a series of slides.
• Commercial PP remotes cost around $25 to $40.
• A wireless mouse gives you a bit more control although they require a flat surface to do any more than advance slides. Prices can run from $25 to $60 or more.
• The remote that comes with the new Macs is limited but it works. Unfortunately, for the time being it only directly works with Keynote. Open PP presentations in Keynote and they should work fine as long as you don’t have any elaborate animations in the presentation. Alternatively, applications are beginning to appear that allow the Apple remote to do more things. As of today (9/21/06) I am using Remote Buddy (about $12) (http://www.iospirit.com/index.php?mode=view&obj_type=infogroup&obj_id=23)

Highlighting

• Teach yourself to use the progressive reveal tools in PP (On bulleted slides using Custom Animation).
• The best way to highlight is to make an object that appears to point to something or make a new slide that graphically includes the emphasis.
• Use the pen tools in PP by either bringing up the Presentation tools (Control-click) or using the keyboard command (Command-p). The pens are limited and difficult to use without a mouse. Erase pen drawings by hitting the “e” key.
• Applications are appearing that give you more control over highlighting. An example is OmniDazzle ($15) (http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidazzle/).
• For a effective, single command highlighting tool I recommend Mouseposé (free) (http://www.boinx.com/mousepose/). It takes a little practice to set the circle size to what is best for you.

Zooming

• Best to make a second object or new slide with the objects on which you want to zoom larger than the original. This way you can retain a high resolution of the enlarged areas.
• Using the Universal Access control panel (System Preferences/Universal Access) turn on zoom. The first time you do this go to Zoom/Options and set Maximum Zoom (for me about 1.5 is a good setting) and Minimum Zoom (leave at 0). I leave the keyboard command to zoom at the default but you may want to set your own.
• Using Zoom enlarges the whole screen so the resolution gets ugly pretty quickly. This can be reduces a bit by setting the contrast (again in the Universal Access window) to about one notch above normal. Don’t forget to move it back when you are done.

Mirror Displays

• When a projector (or external monitor) is hooked to the computer the system looks to see if the same image should be shown on all connected displays (mirrored) or not. On the Mac go to System Preferences/Displays/Arrangement to find the command to turn mirroring on and off. The Arrangement tab will not appear in the displays dialog box unless an external display is connected to the computer.
• If in System Preferences/Displays you select Shows displays in menu bar an icon will appear in the menu bar from which you can directly turn mirroring on and off. Again, this choice will only be available when an external display is connected.
• Don’t lose the interface adapter (dongle) that came with the Mac computer. I suggest you know where you can get a second one quickly (your co-teacher down the hall?).
• Sometimes you will hook up the projector and be baffled because the presentation is on your computer but not going to the projector—turn mirroring on.

Presentation Tools

• In PP with Mirroring turned off select Slide Show/View Presenter Tools. There are some cool features here but for me the main one is to be able to go directly to any slide in the presentation without having the viewers see that I am doing anything. You may find other features like being able to read notes on each slide more valuable to you. Experiment for yourself. There are times when I don’t use the Presenter Tools screen because it is more to think about than I need.
• The presenter menu (pointer and pen control) will not appear when you are in Presenter Tools mode because you need the pointer to do things in the Presenter Tools screen. If the cursor appears in the presentation just be sure to move it off of the slide image in the Presenter Tools window.
• If Mirroring is turned off and the projector is connected to the computer PP automatically shows the Presenter Tools. This can be frustrating if you don’t want them. Remember to turn mirroring back on to solve this problem

Keyboard Control

• Look for software that will let you set up your own keyboard commands. I’m currently using Spark (free) (http://www.shadowlab.org/Software/software.php?sign=Sprk). It is nice in the middle of a presentation and you realize you have forgotten to open an application a head of time to be able to bring it up from the keyboard. Other wise you have to leave the presentation and go find the application via the finder. And, designing keyboard controls for yourself for the most common things you do will save time in the long run.

Ask if you need help: Jim Carroll (carroll@up.edu)