Simple PowerPoint

This is a short presentation that will show you a very simple way to make a set of PowerPoint presentation slides.

Don't expect to have a sophisticated PowerPoint presentation.  That's not the goal here.

General Objectives

The type of PowerPoint presentation that we'll be building here will only have words on the slides. There won't be any graphic images.  This means that the presentation will look like an outline.  There will be one slide for each main point.  The details will appear as text lines on each slide.

Look at this slide.  This is the sort of appearance that we'll be building.

The title is at the top.  In this case it is "General Objectives."

Below the title are the "bullet points."  These are the details that relates to the subject described by the title.  Notice how each of the lines on this slide have a "bullet" at the front.  The purpose of the bullet is to show you where to start reading and to let you quickly count the number of items.

Each of the slides will have this same general appearance.  This is a standard PowerPoint layout.

Finally, the approach that is described here is very efficient.  You'll see that you can compose your ideas relatively quickly with the strategy we'll be following.

Alternative 1: A New File

Start PowerPoint and you'll either be presented with an empty work area or a menu.

If you get the empty work area, you get started by clicking on the File menu and selecting New.  This will lead you to the alternative starting point.

Alternative 2: Blank Presentation

When you are presented with a menu that gives you several choices of the way to get started building your presentation, choose the "blank presentation" alternative. 

The appearance of this menu varies between PowerPoint versions.  The important thing is to start with a blank presentation.

Add a Title Slide

The next menu to appear lets you select the general appearance of the slide you will be building.  There are a number of choices, each shown by an icon.

We want to use the "title slide" format.  This choice is always in the upper left corner and is most likely to be the default format.  Click "OK" to get started with the title slide format.

Switch to Outline View

There are different ways to view your PowerPoint presentation as you build it.  The alternatives are given at the bottom of the screen on the left.  Look for the icons shown here.

We'll choose the outline icon.  It is a set of lines (which represent lines of text).  Click on the outline icon to change to this view.

Type in the Slide Information

Now you can start typing in the content for your slides.

Remember that each slide will have a title and most will also have a set of bullet points.

Right now, just start typing without regard for what is a title, and what is a bullet point.  The only important thing is that the order is correct.

Don't type too may items right now.  You can come back and add to this list later.  You want to get the content for the first two or three slides into your outline now.

Change Levels for Bullet Lists

The way that you distinguish between a title in your outline and the bullet points, is to "demote" the bullet points.

You demote a line of text by clicking anywhere in the text, then click on the "demote" icon (it is an arrow that points to the right).  You'll see the change right away.

Adjusted Levels

When you demote a line of text, it changes from the title to the bullet level.

You can make the change in levels to several lines at the same time simply by selecting the lines you want to demote.

Also, note that if you accidentally demote line you can "promote" it to get it back to the correct level.

Choose a Color Scheme

You might want to add a color theme to all your slides.  It is quite simple.

Click on the "Format" menu and choose "Slide Color Scheme...".  This opens a menu with a set of colored examples.  Choose the one you want and click on "Apply to All."

If you don't like this choice, you can always go through this process and change all the colors to a different set.

Save the File

You'll want to save your presentation.  This is the standard saving process.

Click on the "File" menu and choose "Save as...".  Follow the dialog boxes by choosing your folder and typing a file name.

Run the Presentation

Now that your presentation is safely saves, you should see how it looks.

You can start your presentation several ways.  Perhaps the easiest is to return to the View icons (in the lower left corner of the screen).  Choose the icon that looks like a projection screen. 

When you click on the projection screen icon, the display changes to a "full screen" mode and your presentation starts from the slide that you were last viewing.

Alternatively (with PowerPoint 2000), you can start your presentation by pressing the F5 function key.  In this case, your presentation starts with the first slide.