Developing a Presentation Style

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Review Questions

Using PowerPoint you can customize presentations to create a consistent, professional look to your material, helping you to give effective, organized presentations.

Selecting a presentation style - Apply a Design Template

 PowerPoint has many different presentation styles to choose from:

  1. On the Format menu, click Apply Design Template.
    It should open to a preview box that shows you the different design templates available as you click once on their names.
  2. Under Presentation Designs, click and preview several designs.
  3. Click a design you like, and click Apply.

Changing the presentation style

You can change presentation styles to suit changing tastes and needs.

  1. On the View menu, click Slide Sorter.
  2. On the Format menu, click Apply Design.
  3. Double-click a different design than you chose before.

If at any time you select a style that you do not want to use for your presentation, you can easily and quickly change to another style. Or you can try several different styles to find one that fits your presentation.

Undoing or redoing a design choice

  1. On the Edit menu, click Undo Apply Design.
  2. On the Format menu, click Apply Design.
  3. Double-click Zesty.pot.
  4. On the Edit menu, click Undo Apply Design, click Redo Apply Design, and then click Undo Apply Design.

Note Use the following buttons to Undo or Redo your changes.
       

Customizing the Background

Depending on how you use your presentation, a change in the background may make it easier to see and read your information. Customizing the background allows you to change the color behind every slide.

Changing the background color for all slides, or just some.

  1. On the Format menu, click Background.
  2. In the Background dialog box, click the down arrow, and click the red square.
  3. Click Preview to see how the color change will look in your slide.
  4. Click Apply to all to make the change to your entire presentation.
    (Click Apply to only affect the one slide)

Selecting colors and fonts

Changing the color scheme is more dramatic than changing the background color. Completing your color selection is the next step in customizing your presentation. There are two ways to change colors: use a preset color scheme, or customize your own. You can make changes to almost all parts of a presentation including notes and handouts.

Changing the color scheme

  1. On the Format menu, click Slide Color Scheme.
  2. Click any color scheme other than the current one.
  3. Click Apply to All to make the change to your entire presentation, or Apply for just the one slide.

Customizing the color scheme

  1. On the Format menu, click Slide Color Scheme.
  2. Click the Custom tab, and then click the Background color scheme box if it's not already.
  3. Click Change Color, pick a color different from the current one, and then click OK.
  4. Click Preview to see how the color will look.
  5. Change the rest of the options under Scheme colors as desired.
  6. Click Apply to All to make the color changes to the entire presentation.

Replacing fonts in a presentation

Another option in customizing your presentation is to choose different fonts. Whether you have completed a presentation or are working on one, you can easily change some or all of the fonts. With PowerPoint, you can make changes for your entire presentation quickly.

  1. On the Format menu, click Replace Fonts.
  2. In the Replace drop-down box, choose a font that is found in your presentation.  The example is Arial.

     
  3. In the With drop-down box, click Comic Sans, for example.
  4. Click Replace.
    So this is before:

    And this is after:
  5. Click Close when you have finished.

Creating headers and footers in your presentation

Adding page numbers, authors, and creation dates to a presentation

  1. On the View menu, click Header and Footer.
  2. On the Slide tab, under Include on slide, select Date and time and Update automatically.
  3. Select Slide number to print a number on each slide.
  4. Select Footer, and type something appropriate in the Footer text box.
  5. Select Don't show on title slide.
  6. Click Apply to All to make these changes throughout the presentation.

PowerPoint gives you two choices of dates: Update automatically and Fixed. The Update automatically option inserts the current date and then updates the date every time the presentation is opened. The Fixed option freezes the date to whatever date you type. Use Update automatically as you create and modify your presentation to keep track of the most current version. Add the time if you are printing more than one copy of your presentation in a day. Once your presentation is complete, switch over to fixed so you always know when you completed your presentation.

Customizing your slides using the slide master

The slide master allows you to customize the look of each slide and ensure consistency across your presentation. In the slide master , you can change fonts, bullets, and header and footer information.

Changing master text and title styles

  1. On the View menu, position the mouse pointer on Master, and click Slide Master.
  2. Click anywhere in the Click to edit Master title styles text block.
  3. On the Standard toolbar, click the Font down arrow, and click a font other than the current one.
  4. On the Standard toolbar, click the Font Size down arrow, and click a different size than the current one.
  5. Right-click anywhere on Click to edit Master text styles, and click Bullets and Numbering.
  6. Under the Bulleted tab,
  7. Click the arrow in the first column of the last row, and click OK.
  8. On the View menu, click Slide to return to your presentation.
  9. On the File menu, click Save.
  10. On the File menu, click Close.

Remember that the slide master changes every slide in your presentation.

Creating your own presentation style

Opening a new blank presentation

  1. On the File menu, select New.
  2. On the General tab, double-click Blank Presentation.
  3. In the New Slide dialog box, click OK to create a title slide.

Creating a slide master

  1. On the View menu, click Master, and then click Slide Master.
  2. On the Insert menu, position the mouse pointer on Picture, and then click Clip Art.
  3. On the Clip Art tab, click Academic.
  4. Click an interesting clip, and click Insert to place the graphic on the slide master.
  5. Drag the image to the bottom right of the slide master.
  6. Right-mouse click the image, and click Format Picture.
  7. Click the Picture tab, click the Color down-arrow, click Watermark, and then click OK.
  8. Grab the upper-left sizing handle and expand the image to cover most of the body of the slide.
  9. Right-click the image and click Send to Back.
     
  10. On the Slide Master toolbar, click Close.

You can add text, lines, and other graphics to a master. Be careful not to put too much on the slide, or your presentation will have a crowded appearance and be difficult to read.

Work with Objects: text or images.

You can adjust the size, location, and the very existence of an object to make slides unique or special.

Move a text box or image

  1. Open a presentation with text and images on the slides, or create a new one using the AutoContent Wizard,
  2. Click on any object, a text box or an image.
  3. Point to the edge of the text box: you'll know you're in the right place when the cursor changes to an arrow with a four-arrow symbol on the end.
  4. Click and drag the text box around the slide.
  5. If an image, simply click and hold the mouse down in the image and drag it around the screen.

Resize a text box or image

  1. Open a presentation with text and images on the slides, or create a new one using the AutoContent Wizard,
  2. Click on any object, a text box or an image.
  3. Point the cursor to the sizing box on the corner or middle of the side until the cursor changes to a double-ended arrow:
  4. Click and drag that edge of the object inward or outward to make the object smaller or bigger.

    TIP: If you want to change both vertical and horizontal dimensions together, proportionately, use the corners.  Most programs with this sort of feature use the corners as a "connection" with both directions.

Delete an object or objects

  1. Open a presentation with text and images on the slides, or create a new one using the AutoContent Wizard,
  2. Click on any object, a text box or an image.
  3. Click the Delete key twice.

To select more than one object:

  1. Open a presentation with text and images on the slides, or create a new one using the AutoContent Wizard,
  2. Hold the Shift key and click on any object, a text box or an image.
  3. Hold the Shift key and click on another object.
  4. Click the Delete key twice.

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UPDATED 11/14/05