presentation features in powerpoint

How-To Geek

8 tips to make the best powerpoint presentations.

Want to make your PowerPoint presentations really shine? Here's how to impress and engage your audience.

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Table of contents, start with a goal, less is more, consider your typeface, make bullet points count, limit the use of transitions, skip text where possible, think in color, take a look from the top down, bonus: start with templates.

Slideshows are an intuitive way to share complex ideas with an audience, although they're dull and frustrating when poorly executed. Here are some tips to make your Microsoft PowerPoint presentations sing while avoiding common pitfalls.

It all starts with identifying what we're trying to achieve with the presentation. Is it informative, a showcase of data in an easy-to-understand medium? Or is it more of a pitch, something meant to persuade and convince an audience and lead them to a particular outcome?

It's here where the majority of these presentations go wrong with the inability to identify the talking points that best support our goal. Always start with a goal in mind: to entertain, to inform, or to share data in a way that's easy to understand. Use facts, figures, and images to support your conclusion while keeping structure in mind (Where are we now and where are we going?).

I've found that it's helpful to start with the ending. Once I know how to end a presentation, I know how best to get to that point. I start by identifying the takeaway---that one nugget that I want to implant before thanking everyone for their time---and I work in reverse to figure out how best to get there.

Your mileage, of course, may vary. But it's always going to be a good idea to put in the time in the beginning stages so that you aren't reworking large portions of the presentation later. And that starts with a defined goal.

A slideshow isn't supposed to include everything. It's an introduction to a topic, one that we can elaborate on with speech. Anything unnecessary is a distraction. It makes the presentation less visually appealing and less interesting, and it makes you look bad as a presenter.

This goes for text as well as images. There's nothing worse, in fact, than a series of slides where the presenter just reads them as they appear. Your audience is capable of reading, and chances are they'll be done with the slide, and browsing Reddit, long before you finish. Avoid putting the literal text on the screen, and your audience will thank you.

Related: How to Burn Your PowerPoint to DVD

Right off the bat, we're just going to come out and say that Papyrus and Comic Sans should be banned from all PowerPoint presentations, permanently. Beyond that, it's worth considering the typeface you're using and what it's saying about you, the presenter, and the presentation itself.

Consider choosing readability over aesthetics, and avoid fancy fonts that could prove to be more of a distraction than anything else. A good presentation needs two fonts: a serif and sans-serif. Use one for the headlines and one for body text, lists, and the like. Keep it simple. Veranda, Helvetica, Arial, and even Times New Roman are safe choices. Stick with the classics and it's hard to botch this one too badly.

There reaches a point where bullet points become less of a visual aid and more of a visual examination.

Bullet points should support the speaker, not overwhelm his audience. The best slides have little or no text at all, in fact. As a presenter, it's our job to talk through complex issues, but that doesn't mean that we need to highlight every talking point.

Instead, think about how you can break up large lists into three or four bullet points. Carefully consider whether you need to use more bullet points, or if you can combine multiple topics into a single point instead. And if you can't, remember that there's no one limiting the number of slides you can have in a presentation. It's always possible to break a list of 12 points down into three pages of four points each.

Animation, when used correctly, is a good idea. It breaks up slow-moving parts of a presentation and adds action to elements that require it. But it should be used judiciously.

Adding a transition that wipes left to right between every slide or that animates each bullet point in a list, for example, starts to grow taxing on those forced to endure the presentation. Viewers get bored quickly, and animations that are meant to highlight specific elements quickly become taxing.

That's not to say that you can't use animations and transitions, just that you need to pick your spots. Aim for no more than a handful of these transitions for each presentation. And use them in spots where they'll add to the demonstration, not detract from it.

Sometimes images tell a better story than text can. And as a presenter, your goal is to describe points in detail without making users do a lot of reading. In these cases, a well-designed visual, like a chart, might better convey the information you're trying to share.

The right image adds visual appeal and serves to break up longer, text-heavy sections of the presentation---but only if you're using the right images. A single high-quality image can make all the difference between a success and a dud when you're driving a specific point home.

When considering text, don't think solely in terms of bullet points and paragraphs. Tables, for example, are often unnecessary. Ask yourself whether you could present the same data in a bar or line chart instead.

Color is interesting. It evokes certain feelings and adds visual appeal to your presentation as a whole. Studies show that color also improves interest, comprehension, and retention. It should be a careful consideration, not an afterthought.

You don't have to be a graphic designer to use color well in a presentation. What I do is look for palettes I like, and then find ways to use them in the presentation. There are a number of tools for this, like Adobe Color , Coolors , and ColorHunt , just to name a few. After finding a palette you enjoy, consider how it works with the presentation you're about to give. Pastels, for example, evoke feelings of freedom and light, so they probably aren't the best choice when you're presenting quarterly earnings that missed the mark.

It's also worth mentioning that you don't need to use every color in the palette. Often, you can get by with just two or three, though you should really think through how they all work together and how readable they'll be when layered. A simple rule of thumb here is that contrast is your friend. Dark colors work well on light backgrounds, and light colors work best on dark backgrounds.

Spend some time in the Slide Sorter before you finish your presentation. By clicking the four squares at the bottom left of the presentation, you can take a look at multiple slides at once and consider how each works together. Alternatively, you can click "View" on the ribbon and select "Slide Sorter."

Are you presenting too much text at once? Move an image in. Could a series of slides benefit from a chart or summary before you move on to another point?

It's here that we have the opportunity to view the presentation from beyond the single-slide viewpoint and think in terms of how each slide fits, or if it fits at all. From this view, you can rearrange slides, add additional ones, or delete them entirely if you find that they don't advance the presentation.

The difference between a good presentation and a bad one is really all about preparation and execution. Those that respect the process and plan carefully---not only the presentation as a whole, but each slide within it---are the ones who will succeed.

This brings me to my last (half) point: When in doubt, just buy a template and use it. You can find these all over the web, though Creative Market and GraphicRiver are probably the two most popular marketplaces for this kind of thing. Not all of us are blessed with the skills needed to design and deliver an effective presentation. And while a pre-made PowerPoint template isn't going to make you a better presenter, it will ease the anxiety of creating a visually appealing slide deck.

9 Advanced Microsoft PowerPoint Features You Must Know

Are you a PowerPoint user? Here are some advanced features that can take your presentations to the next level and impress your audience.

Microsoft PowerPoint is one of the most popular tools for creating presentations and slide shows. While PowerPoint dominates the presentation software category, you may not know its most valuable features yet.

Let's look at the most notable Microsoft PowerPoint features that you might not be using but definitely should.

1. Co-Authoring

As its name suggests, co-authoring allows you and your colleagues to work on a PowerPoint presentation collectively. It comes in handy when you're part of a team and want to collaborate on a PowerPoint presentation. Here are the detailed steps to use co-authoring in PowerPoint:

• Click the Share button in the top right corner of Microsoft PowerPoint.
• If you have your team member's email, enter that in the Send Link box.
• Once you are ready to share, click the Send button.

That's all you need to do. The next time someone joins the presentation, you'll see their changes in real time.

Microsoft offers you endless opportunities to customize the PPT sharing settings. You can click the pencil icon and then Sharing settings to access them.

2. PowerPoint Designer

The PowerPoint's AI-driven feature, called PowerPoint Designer, helps you transform your PPT's appearance. When you add a new slide or change the content of an existing slide, the Designer analyzes the content. It then starts suggesting design ideas that match the content of your PPT.

If you often lack design inspirations, you should learn to use PowerPoint's Designer feature for help. Follow these steps to get started with PowerPoint Designer:

• Create a new slide in PowerPoint.
• You can click on any design ideas that will apply to your current slide.

Want to see the real magic? Create some more slides and add enough content to them. Open the Designer sidebar again to see some related designs (applicable to all of your slides).

3. PowerPoint Add-Ins

You may not know that PowerPoint allows you to install third-party add-ins in one click. There are many different PowerPoint add-ins to transform your presentations completely. Once you know which add-ins to install, you can follow these steps to install them:

• On your presentation screen, go to the Insert tab.
• This will open the Office Add-ins window. You can search for and install your favorite add-ons for PowerPoint.

4. Presenter Coach

If enhancing your presentation skills is your goal, then Presenter Coach is the perfect option for you. It provides you with real-time feedback on your presentation skills.

It first analyzes all the words you speak. Then, by using artificial intelligence, it suggests how you can improve further. Here is how you can enable Presenter Coach in Microsoft PowerPoint:

• Click Start Rehearsing to start the AI coach. Now you can start presenting, and the Presenter Coach will provide feedback on your pacing, tone, and language.
• If you want to stop, you can click the mute icon and resume the session by clicking it again.

But how can you view the feedback or results of the Presenter Coach? To view your results, you have to exit the slide first. A popup will appear then, reflecting your rehearsal report and summary of your performance. If you're a beginner, you must read our guide on using Presenter Coach for help.

5. 3D Models

Everything in 3D looks much better than in 2D, right? This is why you can make your presentations much better than others by using 3D models.

Microsoft PowerPoint has a vast collection of 3D models in various categories. The major categories for 3D models include animals, emojis, avatars, shapes, electronics, and gadgets.

To start, click the Insert tab at the top and select the 3D Models option. You can open any category you want and then click on any 3D model you wish to insert into your slide. Once you are ready, click the Insert button.

The best thing that sets this feature apart is that you can even import your self-made 3D models. Once you insert a 3D model into your slide, you can adjust its position, size, and rotation. You can also use 3D models to showcase products, visualize concepts, or add a creative element to your PPT.

6. Morph Transition

By adding Morph transitions, you can animate different aspects of your slides. You can animate different objects, slides, and even texts as you like.

We will demonstrate the use of Morph transitions with the help of the 3D models discussed above.

To use a Morph transition, follow these steps:

• Insert any 3D model in your first slide. We are going to use a laptop model for this tutorial.
• You have to duplicate the object you selected in the first slide, or you can re-insert the same in the next slide.
• Run or present your slides to experience a smooth transition between the two slides.

That's it. You will see that your object will transition between two positions.

If you're finding it difficult, there are many websites for animated PowerPoint slides to make your work much easier. You can download a pre-designed template and start customizing it.

7. Remove the Photo Background

From PowerPoint 2016 onwards, you can remove photo backgrounds with one click in PowerPoint. You don't need to go to another website or install a third-party application to do this simple task.

To start with it, insert any image into your slide and then click Remove Background from the Format tab. PowerPoint will then detect the background and remove it.

If you want more control, you can adjust the selection by clicking on the parts of the image you want to keep or remove. So now that you know the steps, you can create custom images that blend with your presentation's design.

8. Insert Object

By inserting Office files, such as Word or Excel, your slides can get the benefits of both applications. You can add charts, tables, or even Word documents without the headache of copy-pasting. The below steps will guide you on inserting an object in PowerPoint:

• Go to the Insert tab, and under the Text group, click on Object .
• But, if you're looking to insert a saved file, click Create from File .
• Select the required object you want to insert under Object type. It may be an Excel file, chart, or anything else.

Once inserted, you can customize the object's appearance and position on the slide. If you want to edit the object's content, double-click on it to open and edit it in its native application.

9. Slide Master

While preparing a presentation, sometimes the flow or consistency breaks for any reason. For example, you may use a bigger font on the first slide and a different font for the rest.

Whatever the situation is, it makes your presentation look unstructured. In such cases, Slide Master comes into play. Slide Master is a helpful feature that helps you master your slides' "consistency" element. It lets you set the same font, heading size, design, and much more for all your slides.

Follow these steps to enable and start using Slide Master:

• Go to the View tab and click on Slide Master .
• Once you've made your changes, click the Close Master View button. This will apply the defined template to all the slides in your presentation.

The best thing about using it is that you don't need to open every slide and waste your precious time tweaking them. You can create a template using Slide Master that includes font choices, color schemes, and other elements. Then, let the Slide Master handle your presentations.

Take Your Presentations to the Next Level

No one likes a plain presentation nowadays. So, you should be one step ahead and add creativity and modern looks to your slides. While the Designer will help you with designs, transitions, and 3D models, they will help you with other visual aspects.

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Top 9 Features of PowerPoint: A Complete Guide for Beginners

Discover the power of effective communication with our blog on the top Features of PowerPoint. Uncover essential tools and functions that make your presentations shine. From dynamic slide transitions to data visualisation, learn how these Features of PowerPoint can elevate your storytelling and captivate your audience.

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According to Glassdoor , a PowerPoint specialist's average salary in the United Kingdom is £36,715 annually. In this blog, you will learn about the top nine Features of PowerPoint and how you can use them to get the most out of your presentation.  

Table of Contents       

1)Top Features of PowerPoint  

    a) Slide design and layout  

    b) Multimedia integration  

    c) Animations and transitions  

    d) SmartArt and charts  

    e) Collaboration and sharing  

    f) Presenter tools and notes  

   g) Customisation options  

   h) Slide master and layouts  

   i) Presenter view and slide show options  

2) Conclusion       

Top Features of PowerPoint  

PowerPoint, a popular presentation software, offers a range of features that enhance the creation and delivery of impactful presentations. Here are some of the Top Features of PowerPoint: 

Slide design and layout    

Slide design and layout are essential for visually appealing and effective presentations. PowerPoint offers customisable design themes and layouts that allow you to create professional-looking slides with ease.   

Choose a design theme that suits your presentation's tone and purpose and customise slide layouts to accommodate different content types. Format text with appropriate fonts, sizes, and styles, keeping it clear and readable. Incorporate visual elements like images and diagrams to enhance your slides.   

Multimedia integration   

Incorporating multimedia elements into your PowerPoint Presentations can enhance engagement and make your content more dynamic. PowerPoint allows seamless integration of images, videos, and audio files to support and enhance your message.   

You can easily insert relevant visuals to illustrate your points, embed videos for demonstrations or storytelling, and add background music or narration to create a richer presentation experience.   

By leveraging multimedia integration in PowerPoint, you can captivate your audience and make your presentations more interactive and impactful. Here's how you can achieve that:  

1) Remember to choose multimedia elements that are relevant to your content and align with your message.  

2) Use visuals sparingly and purposefully to avoid overwhelming your audience.   

3) Also, ensure that any multimedia files you include are customised in terms of file size and format to maintain smooth playback and compatibility.  

Animations and transitions   

Animations and transitions in PowerPoint can bring your slides to life and make your presentation more dynamic and engaging. Let's explore how these features can enhance your delivery:  

1) Highlight key points and draw attention to important information 

2) Guide the audience's focus and create a visual hierarchy on your slides 

3) Make text appear or transition smoothly to enhance readability 

4) Add entrance or motion effects to bring visuals into view 

5) Animate chart elements to showcase data in a more dynamic way 

6) Set the animation timing to align with your presentation flow 

7) Adjust the duration of animations to maintain a balanced pace 

8) Avoid overwhelming the audience with excessive animations 

9) Ensure animations are purposeful and enhance the overall message 

By leveraging animations effectively, you can create a visually engaging and dynamic presentation that captures and maintains audience attention.  

2) Transitions : Transitions are effects that occur when moving from one slide to another. PowerPoint provides a variety of transition options, such as fades, slides, or flips. Transitions add smooth visual effects, creating seamless transitions between slides and keeping your audience engaged. By choosing appropriate transitions that complement your content, you can ensure a cohesive and polished presentation flow.  

When using animations and transitions, it's important to strike a balance. Avoid overusing or using overly complex effects, as they can be distracting. Instead, use animations and transitions purposefully to enhance your message and maintain audience attention.  

SmartArt and charts   

PowerPoint offers powerful tools for visually presenting complex concepts and data through SmartArt and charts. Let's explore how these features can enhance your presentations:  

1) SmartArt : SmartArt allows you to create visually stunning diagrams and organisational charts with just a few clicks. It offers a wide variety of pre-designed graphics, such as process diagrams, hierarchy charts, and cycle diagrams. By selecting the appropriate SmartArt graphic and entering your content, you can effectively convey relationships, structures, and concepts in an engaging and easily understandable way.  

2) Charts : Charts are invaluable for presenting data and statistics in a visual format. PowerPoint provides various chart types, including bar charts, pie charts, line charts, and more. You can input your data into the chart and customise its appearance to suit your needs. With the ability to label axes, add titles, and format data points, you can create clear and impactful visuals that effectively communicate your data-driven insights.  

Incorporating SmartArt and charts in your PowerPoint Presentations adds visual interest and clarity, making it easier for your audience to grasp complex information. Whether you're showcasing processes, organisational structures, or data analysis, these features provide a dynamic and engaging way to present your content.  

Unleash your presentation prowess with our exclusive Microsoft PowerPoint Masterclass. Sign up now!   

Collaboration and sharing   

PowerPoint provides robust collaboration and sharing features, making it easy to work with others and share your presentations. You can collaborate in real-time with colleagues or teammates, allowing multiple people to work on the same presentation simultaneously. Co-authoring enables seamless teamwork, as you can see changes made by others in real-time and leave comments or suggestions.   

Additionally, PowerPoint offers convenient sharing options, allowing you to send your presentation via email or share it through cloud storage platforms. This ensures that your audience can access and view your presentation easily.  

When collaborating and sharing, ensure that you have a reliable internet connection to sync changes effectively. It's also essential to maintain version control and communicate with your collaborators to avoid conflicts or duplication of work. Embracing collaboration and sharing features in PowerPoint enhances teamwork and simplifies the process of creating and delivering presentations.  

1) Presenter tools and notes : PowerPoint offers valuable tools and features to assist presenters during their presentations. Let's explore two of these tools: Speaker notes and cue cards.  

2) Speaker notes : Speaker notes are a helpful feature that allows you to add additional information, key points, or reminders for each slide. These notes are visible only to you, providing a handy reference during your presentation.  Speaker notes enable you to stay on track, elaborate on important details, and ensure you cover all key points effectively. They serve as a personal guide, helping you maintain a smooth and well-organised delivery.  

3) Cue cards : Cue cards are compact notes that can be printed or displayed separately from your slides. They serve as prompts or reminders for your presentation content, allowing you to glance at key points or transitions. Cue cards provide a convenient way to keep important information easily accessible, ensuring you deliver your presentation confidently and seamlessly.   

Whether it's a quick reference for important statistics or a reminder for a specific slide, cue cards are a valuable tool to support your presentation delivery.  

You can enhance your presentation preparation and delivery by utilising speaker notes and cue cards, ensuring a polished and engaging performance.   

Customisation options   

1) Slide size and orientation : PowerPoint allows you to adjust the size and orientation of your slides. You can select from standard dimensions or create a customised size to fit your specific requirements. This flexibility ensures that your presentation is perfectly tailored to your intended output.  

2) Layout selection: Selecting the right slide layout is crucial for effective content presentation. PowerPoint offers a variety of layout options, including title slides, content slides, and section headers. By choosing appropriate layouts for each slide, you can ensure a logical flow and visual organisation.  

3) Formatting consistency: Consistency in formatting plays a vital role in creating a polished presentation. PowerPoint enables you to apply consistent formatting to your text, such as font type, size, and colour. By maintaining uniformity, you enhance readability and ensure visual coherence throughout your slides.  

4) Visual customisation: PowerPoint provides numerous options for visual customisation. You can adjust the formatting of images, shapes, and other visual elements to align with your design preferences. This customisation allows you to create a visually engaging and cohesive presentation.  

5) Slide reordering : Rearranging slides is a breeze in PowerPoint. You can easily change the order of your slides, helping you structure your presentation and present your content in the most effective way possible.  

By leveraging these customisation options, you can create a visually captivating and personalised PowerPoint Presentation that effectively communicates your message.  

Slide master and layouts   

PowerPoint's Slide Master feature and slide layouts offer powerful customisation options for your presentations. The Slide Master allows you to define the overall design and formatting for your slides, ensuring consistency throughout your presentation. By modifying the Slide Master, you can apply changes to all slides, such as fonts, colours, backgrounds, and placeholders.  

1) Choosing and customising slide layouts :  

Slide layouts in PowerPoint provide pre-designed templates for different types of content. You can choose from various layout options, such as title slides, content slides, and section headers. Customise the layout by adding text, images, charts, or multimedia elements.  

2) Ensuring consistency and efficiency : 

By utilising the Slide Master and slide layouts effectively, you can ensure a consistent design and save time when creating and maintaining your presentation. The Slide Master allows you to apply changes to all slides at once, while the layouts provide structure and organisation for your content. Incorporating the Slide master and layouts in your PowerPoint Presentations enhances the overall visual appeal and professionalism. It ensures a cohesive look and streamlines the design process.  

Presenter view and slide show options   

In order to assist presenters in delivering effective presentations, PowerPoint provides useful features such as Presenter View and Slide Show options. Let's explore how these features enhance your presentation experience:  

1) Presenter view : Presenter View is a powerful PowerPoint feature that allows you to have a private view of your slides, speaker notes, and upcoming slides while presenting. With Presenter View, you can easily navigate through slides, view your speaking notes, and monitor the timing of your presentation. This feature ensures a seamless and professional delivery while keeping you prepared and focused.  

2) Slide show options : PowerPoint offers various slide show options that allow you to customise the display of your presentation. You can set up automatic timings for each slide, control slide transitions, and even include narrations or laser pointer functionality. These options give you flexibility in delivering your content, ensuring smooth transitions and engaging visuals. By leveraging Slide Show options, you can tailor the presentation experience to your specific needs and captivate your audience effectively.  

By utilising these Features of PowerPoint, you can elevate your PowerPoint Presentation delivery, maintain control, and engage your audience with impactful visuals and seamless transitions.  

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Conclusion       

We hope you read this blog and understand the Features of PowerPoint. PowerPoint provides powerful features for creating visually appealing and engaging presentations. Customisation options, SmartArt, animations, transitions, presenter tools, and collaboration features enhance the overall delivery, making your presentations impactful and effective.  

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How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation (Step-by-Step)

• PowerPoint Tutorials
• Presentation Design
• January 22, 2024

In this beginner’s guide, you will learn step-by-step how to make a PowerPoint presentation from scratch.

While PowerPoint is designed to be intuitive and accessible, it can be overwhelming if you’ve never gotten any training on it before. As you progress through this guide, you’ll will learn how to move from blank slides to PowerPoint slides that look like these.

Table of Contents

Additionally, as you create your presentation, you’ll also learn tricks for working more efficiently in PowerPoint, including how to:

• Change the slide order
• Reset your layout
• Change the slide dimensions
• Use PowerPoint Designer
• Format text
• Format objects
• Play a presentation (slide show)

With this knowledge under your belt, you’ll be ready to start creating PowerPoint presentations. Moreover, you’ll have taken your skills from beginner to proficient in no time at all. I will also include links to more advanced PowerPoint topics.

Ready to start learning how to make a PowerPoint presentation?

Take your PPT skills to the next level

Start with a blank presentation.

Note: Before you open PowerPoint and start creating your presentation, make sure you’ve collected your thoughts. If you’re going to make your slides compelling, you need to spend some time brainstorming.

For help with this, see our article with tips for nailing your business presentation  here .

The first thing you’ll need to do is to open PowerPoint. When you do, you are shown the Start Menu , with the Home tab open.

This is where you can choose either a blank theme (1) or a pre-built theme (2). You can also choose to open an existing presentation (3).

For now, go ahead and click on the  Blank Presentation (1)  thumbnail.

Doing so launches a brand new and blank presentation for you to work with. Before you start adding content to your presentation, let’s first familiarize ourselves with the PowerPoint interface.

The PowerPoint interface

Here is how the program is laid out:

• The Application Header
• The Ribbon (including the Ribbon tabs)
• The Quick Access Toolbar (either above or below the Ribbon)
• The Slides Pane (slide thumbnails)

The Slide Area

The notes pane.

• The Status Bar (including the View Buttons)

Each one of these areas has options for viewing certain parts of the PowerPoint environment and formatting your presentation.

Below are the important things to know about certain elements of the PowerPoint interface.

The PowerPoint Ribbon

The Ribbon is contextual. That means that it will adapt to what you’re doing in the program.

For example, the Font, Paragraph and Drawing options are greyed out until you select something that has text in it, as in the example below (A).

Furthermore, if you start manipulating certain objects, the Ribbon will display additional tabs, as seen above (B), with more commands and features to help you work with those objects. The following objects have their own additional tabs in the Ribbon which are hidden until you select them:

• Online Pictures
• Screenshots
• Screen Recording

The Slides Pane

This is where you can preview and rearrange all the slides in your presentation.

Right-clicking on a slide  in the pane gives you additional options on the slide level that you won’t find on the Ribbon, such as  Duplicate Slide ,  Delete Slide , and  Hide Slide .

In addition, you can add sections to your presentation by  right-clicking anywhere in this Pane  and selecting  Add Section . Sections are extremely helpful in large presentations, as they allow you to organize your slides into chunks that you can then rearrange, print or display differently from other slides.

The Slide Area (A) is where you will build out your slides. Anything within the bounds of this area will be visible when you present or print your presentation.

Anything outside of this area (B) will be hidden from view. This means that you can place things here, such as instructions for each slide, without worrying about them being shown to your audience.

The  Notes Pane  is the space beneath the Slide Area where you can type in the speaker notes for each slide. It’s designed as a fast way to add and edit your slides’ talking points.

To expand your knowledge and learn more about adding, printing, and exporting your PowerPoint speaker notes, read our guide here .

Your speaker notes are visible when you print your slides using the Notes Pages option and when you use the Presenter View . To expand your knowledge and learn the ins and outs of using the Presenter View , read our guide here .

You can resize the  Notes Pane  by clicking on its edge and dragging it up or down (A). You can also minimize or reopen it by clicking on the Notes button in the Status Bar (B).

Note:  Not all text formatting displays in the Notes Pane, even though it will show up when printing your speaker notes. To learn more about printing PowerPoint with notes, read our guide here .

Now that you have a basic grasp of the PowerPoint interface at your disposal, it’s time to make your presentation.

Adding Content to Your PowerPoint Presentation

Notice that in the Slide Area , there are two rectangles with dotted outlines. These are called  Placeholders  and they’re set on the template in the Slide Master View .

To expand your knowledge and learn how to create a PowerPoint template of your own (which is no small task), read our guide here .

As the prompt text suggests, you can click into each placeholder and start typing text. These types of placeholder prompts are customizable too. That means that if you are using a company template, it might say something different, but the functionality is the same.

Note:  For the purposes of this example, I will create a presentation based on the content in the Starbucks 2018 Global Social Impact Report, which is available to the public on their website.

If you type in more text than there is room for, PowerPoint will automatically reduce its font size. You can stop this behavior by clicking on the  Autofit Options  icon to the left of the placeholder and selecting  Stop Fitting Text to this Placeholder .

Next, you can make formatting adjustments to your text by selecting the commands in the Font area and the  Paragraph area  of the  Home  tab of the Ribbon.

The Reset Command:  If you make any changes to your title and decide you want to go back to how it was originally, you can use the Reset button up in the Home tab .

Insert More Slides into Your Presentation

Now that you have your title slide filled in, it’s time to add more slides. To do that, simply go up to the  Home tab  and click on  New Slide . This inserts a new slide in your presentation right after the one you were on.

You can alternatively hit Ctrl+M on your keyboard to insert a new blank slide in PowerPoint. To learn more about this shortcut, see my guide on using Ctrl+M in PowerPoint .

Instead of clicking the New Slide command, you can also open the New Slide dropdown to see all the slide layouts in your PowerPoint template. Depending on who created your template, your layouts in this dropdown can be radically different.

If you insert a layout and later want to change it to a different layout, you can use the Layout dropdown instead of the New Slide dropdown.

After inserting a few different slide layouts, your presentation might look like the following picture. Don’t worry that it looks blank, next we will start adding content to your presentation.

If you want to follow along exactly with me, your five slides should be as follows:

• Title Slide
• Title and Content
• Section Header
• Two Content
• Picture with Caption

Adding Content to Your Slides

Now let’s go into each slide and start adding our content. You’ll notice some new types of placeholders.

On slide 2 we have a  Content Placeholder , which allows you to add any kind of content. That includes:

• A SmartArt graphic,
• A 3D object,
• A picture from the web,
• Or an icon.

To insert text, simply type it in or hit  Ctrl+C to Copy  and Ctrl+V to Paste  from elsewhere. To insert any of the other objects, click on the appropriate icon and follow the steps to insert it.

For my example, I’ll simply type in some text as you can see in the picture below.

Slides 3 and 4 only have text placeholders, so I’ll go ahead and add in my text into each one.

On slide 5 we have a Picture Placeholder . That means that the only elements that can go into it are:

• A picture from the web

To insert a picture into the picture placeholder, simply:

• Click on the  Picture  icon
• Find  a picture on your computer and select it
• Click on  Insert

Alternatively, if you already have a picture open somewhere else, you can select the placeholder and paste in (shortcut: Ctrl+V ) the picture. You can also drag the picture in from a file explorer window.

If you do not like the background of the picture you inserted onto your slide, you can remove the background here in PowerPoint. To see how to do this, read my guide here .

Placeholders aren’t the only way to add content to your slides. At any point, you can use the Insert tab to add elements to your slides.

You can use either the Title Only  or the  Blank  slide layout to create slides for content that’s different. For example, a three-layout content slide, or a single picture divider slide, as shown below.

In the first example above, I’ve inserted 6 text boxes, 3 icons, and 3 circles to create this layout. In the second example, I’ve inserted a full-sized picture and then 2 shapes and 2 text boxes.

The Reset Command:  Because these slides are built with shapes and text boxes (and not placeholders), hitting the  Reset button up in the  Home tab  won’t do anything.

That is a good thing if you don’t want your layouts to adjust. However, it does mean that it falls on you to make sure everything is aligned and positioned correctly.

For more on how to add and manipulate the different objects in PowerPoint, check out our step-by-step articles here:

• Using graphics in PowerPoint
• Inserting icons onto slides
• Adding pictures to your PowerPoint
• How to embed a video in PowerPoint
• How to add music to your presentation

Using Designer to generate more layouts ideas

If you have Office 365, your version of PowerPoint comes with a new feature called Designer (or Design Ideas). This is a feature that generates slide layout ideas for you. The coolest thing about this feature is that it uses the content you already have.

To use Designer , simply navigate to the  Design tab  in your Ribbon, and click on  Design Ideas .

NOTE: If the PowerPoint Designer is not working for you (it is grey out), see my troubleshooting guide for Designer .

Change the Overall Design (optional)

When you make a PowerPoint presentation, you’ll want to think about the overall design. Now that you have some content in your presentation, you can use the Design tab to change the look and feel of your slides.

For additional help thinking through the design of your presentation,  read my guide here .

A. Picking your PowerPoint slide size

If you have PowerPoint 2013 or later, when you create a blank document in PowerPoint, you automatically start with a widescreen layout with a 16:9 ratio. These dimensions are suitable for most presentations as they match the screens of most computers and projectors.

However, you do have the option to change the dimensions.

For example, your presentation might not be presented, but instead converted into a PDF or printed and distributed. In that case, you can easily switch to the standard dimensions with a 4:3 ratio by selecting from the dropdown (A).

You can also choose a custom slide size or change the slide orientation from landscape to portrait in the Custom Slide Size dialog box (B).

To learn all about the different PowerPoint slide sizes, and some of the issues you will face when changing the slide size of a non-blank presentation,  read my guide here .

 B. Selecting a PowerPoint theme

The next thing you can do is change the theme of your presentation to a pre-built one. For a detailed explanation of what a PowerPoint theme is, and how to best use it,  read my article here .

In the beginning of this tutorial, we started with a blank presentation, which uses the default Office theme as you can see in the picture below.

That gives you the most flexibility because it has a blank background and quite simple layouts that work for most presentations. However, it also means that it’s your responsibility to enhance the design.

If you’re comfortable with this, you can stay with the default theme or create your own custom theme ( read my guide here ). But if you would rather not have to think about design, then you can choose a pre-designed theme.

Microsoft provides 46 other pre-built themes, which include slide layouts, color variants and palettes, and fonts. Each one varies quite significantly, so make sure you look through them carefully.

To select a different theme, go to the  Design tab  in the Ribbon, and click on the  dropdown arrow  in the  Themes section .

For this tutorial, let’s select the  Frame  theme and then choose the third Variant in the theme. Doing so changes the layout, colors, and fonts of your presentation.

Note: The theme dropdown area is also where you can import or save custom themes. To see my favorite places to find professional PowerPoint templates and themes (and recommendations for why I like them), read my guide here .

C. How to change a slide background in PowerPoint

The next thing to decide is how you want your background to look for the entire presentation. In the  Variants area, you can see four background options.

For this example, we want our presentation to have a dark background, so let’s select Style 3. When you do so, you’ll notice that:

• The background color automatically changes across all slides
• The color of the text on most of the slides automatically changes to white so that it’s visible on the dark background
• The colors of the objects on slides #6 and #7 also adjust, in a way we may not want (we’ll likely have to make some manual adjustments to these slides)

Note: If you want to change the slide background for just that one slide, don’t left-click the style. Instead, right-click it and select Apply to Selected Slides .

After you change the background for your entire presentation, you can easily adjust the background for an individual slide.

Inside the Format Background pane, you can see you have the following options:

• Gradient fill
• Picture or texture fill
• Pattern fill
• Hide background

You can explore these options to find the PowerPoint background that best fits your presentation.

D. How to change your color palette in PowerPoint

Another thing you may want to adjust in your presentation, is the color scheme. In the picture below you can see the Theme Colors we are currently using for this presentation.

Each PowerPoint theme comes with its own color palette. By default, the Office theme includes the Office color palette. This affects the colors you are presented with when you format any element within your presentation (text, shapes, SmartArt, etc.).

The good news is that the colors here are easy to change. To switch color palettes, simply:

• Go to the  Design tab in the Ribbon
• In the Variants area, click on the  dropdown arrow  and select  Colors
• Select  the color palette (or theme colors) you want

You can choose among the pre-built color palettes from Office, or you can customize them to create your own.

As you build your presentation, make sure you use the colors from your theme to format objects. That way, changing the color palette adjusts all the colors in your presentation automatically.

E. How to change your fonts in PowerPoint

Just as we changed the color palette, you can do the same for the fonts.

Each PowerPoint theme comes with its own font combination. By default, the Office theme includes the Office font pairing. This affects the fonts that are automatically assigned to all text in your presentation.

The good news is that the font pairings are easy to change. To switch your Theme Fonts, simply:

• Go to the  Design tab  in the Ribbon
• Click on the  dropdown arrow  in the  Variants  area
• Select  Fonts
• Select  the font pairing you want

You can choose among the pre-built fonts from Office, or you can customize them to create your own.

If you are working with PowerPoint presentations on both Mac and PC computers, make sure you choose a safe PowerPoint font. To see a list of the safest PowerPoint fonts, read our guide here .

If you receive a PowerPoint presentation and the wrong fonts were used, you can use the Replace Fonts dialog box to change the fonts across your entire presentation. For details, read our guide here .

Adding Animations & Transitions (optional)

The final step to make a PowerPoint presentation compelling, is to consider using animations and transitions. These are by no means necessary to a good presentation, but they may be helpful in your situation.

A. Adding PowerPoint animations

PowerPoint has an incredibly robust animations engine designed to power your creativity. That being said, it’s also easy to get started with basic animations.

Animations are movements that you can apply to individual objects on your slide.

To add a PowerPoint animation to an element of your slide, simply:

• Select the  element
• Go to the  Animations tab in the Ribbon
• Click on the  dropdown arrow  to view your options
• Select the  animation  you want

You can add animations to multiple objects at one time by selecting them all first and then applying the animation.

B. How to preview a PowerPoint animation

There are three ways to preview a PowerPoint animation:

• Click on the Preview button in the Animations tab
• Click on the little star  next to the slide
• Play the slide in Slide Show Mode

To learn other ways to run your slide show, see our guide on presenting a PowerPoint slide show with shortcuts .

To adjust the settings of your animations, explore the options in the  Effect Options ,  Advanced Animation  and the  Timing  areas of the  Animation tab .

Note:  To see how to make objects appear and disappear in your slides by clicking a button,  read our guide here .

C. How to manage your animations in PowerPoint

The best way to manage lots of animations on your slide is with the Animation Pane . To open it, simply:

• Navigate to the  Animations tab
• Select the  Animation Pane

Inside the Animation Pane, you’ll see all of the different animations that have been applied to objects on your slide, with their numbers marked as pictured above.

Note: To see examples of PowerPoint animations that can use in PowerPoint, see our list of PowerPoint animation tutorials here .

D. How to add transitions to your PowerPoint presentation

PowerPoint has an incredibly robust transition engine so that you can dictate how your slides change from one to the other. It is also extremely easy to add transitions to your slides.

In PowerPoint, transitions are the movements (or effects) you see as you move between two slides.

To add a transition to a PowerPoint slide, simply:

• Select the  slide
• Go to the  Transitions tab in the Ribbon
• In the Transitions to This Slide area, click on the  dropdown arrow  to view your options
• Select the  transition  you want

To adjust the settings of the transition, explore the options in the  Timing  area of the Transitions tab.

You can also add the same transition to multiple slides. To do that, select them in the  Slides Pane  and apply the transition.

E. How to preview a transition in PowerPoint

There are three ways to preview your PowerPoint transitions (just like your animations):

• Click on the Preview  button in the Transitions tab
• Click on the little star  beneath the slide number in the thumbnail view

Note:  In 2016, PowerPoint added a cool new transition, called Morph. It operates a bit differently from other transitions. For a detailed tutorial on how to use the cool Morph transition,  see our step-by-step article here .

Save Your PowerPoint Presentation

After you’ve built your presentation and made all the adjustments to your slides, you’ll want to save your presentation. YOu can do this several different ways.

To save a PowerPoint presentation using your Ribbon, simply:

• Navigate to the  File tab
•  Select  Save As  on the left
• Choose  where you want to save your presentation
• Name  your presentation and/or adjust your file type settings
• Click  Save

You can alternatively use the  Ctrl+S keyboard shortcut to save your presentation. I recommend using this shortcut frequently as you build your presentation to make sure you don’t lose any of your work.

This is the standard way to save a presentation. However, there may be a situation where you want to save your presentation as a different file type.

To learn how to save your presentation as a PDF, see our guide on converting PowerPoint to a PDF .

How to save your PowerPoint presentation as a template

Once you’ve created a presentation that you like, you may want to turn it into a template. The easiest – but not technically correct – way, is to simply create a copy of your current presentation and then change the content.

But be careful! A PowerPoint template is a special type of document and it has its own parameters and behaviors.

If you’re interested in learning about how to create your own PowerPoint template from scratch, see our guide on how to create a PowerPoint template .

Printing Your PowerPoint Presentation

After finishing your PowerPoint presentation, you may want to print it out on paper. Printing your slides is relatively easy.

To open the Print dialog box, you can either:

• Hit Ctrl+P on your keyboard
• Or go to the Ribbon and click on File and then Print

Inside the Print dialog box, you can choose from the various printing settings:

• Printer: Select a printer to use (or print to PDF or OneNote)
• Slides: Choose which slides you want to print
• Layout: Determine how many slides you want per page (this is where you can print the notes, outline, and handouts)
• Collated or uncollated (learn what collated printing means here )
• Color: Choose to print in color, grayscale or black & white

There are many more options for printing your PowerPoint presentations. Here are links to more in-depth articles:

• How to print multiple slides per page
• How to print your speaker notes in PowerPoint
• How to save PowerPoint as a picture presentation

So that’s how to create a PowerPoint presentation if you are brand new to it. We’ve also included a ton of links to helpful resources to boost your PowerPoint skills further.

When you are creating your presentation, it is critical to first focus on the content (what you are trying to say) before getting lost inserting and playing with elements. The clearer you are on what you want to present, the easier it will be to build it out in PowerPoint.

If you enjoyed this article, you can learn more about our PowerPoint training courses and other presentation resources by  visiting us here .

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New Features of Microsoft PowerPoint 2021

Oct 2, 2021 | Articles , How-To

Microsoft has announced that they are going to add some new features in their one of the most popular and commonly used products, PowerPoint. PowerPoint was first released on April 20, 1987, and was initially available for Mac. Later on, it was acquired by Microsoft for USD 14 million, and the acquisition happened after three months of its release. After quite some time, It became an integral component of the Microsoft Office suite.

It was developed to design and provide visual presentations and graphics for business presentations, but with time it has been utilized in other fields. Right now, PowerPoint is available on several platforms and devices, including Mac, Android, iOS, etc.

In the recent announcement made by Microsoft, apart from the existing features in PowerPoint, which is now a part of Microsoft Office, some new features have been added in PowerPoint 2021. The new features include changing the reading order for more accessibility and recording the presenter videos. Let us look at the newly added features of Microsoft PowerPoint 2021.

Reading Sequence for Screen Readers

To help visually impaired people read more comfortably, Microsoft has introduced a screen reading sequence. Normally people with visual impairment use screen readers to read and understand the content. If the slides of the presentation are arranged logically using the screen readers, these users can understand the content more efficiently.

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• Government Exam Articles

An Introduction To MS PowerPoint

MS PowerPoint is a program that is included in the Microsoft Office suite. It is used to make presentations for personal and professional purposes.

In this article, we shall discuss in detail the functions and features of a PowerPoint presentation, followed by some sample questions based on this topic for the upcoming competitive exams. 

To learn more about the different programs under Microsoft Office , visit the linked article. 

Given below are a few important things that one must know about the development and introduction of Microsoft PowerPoint:

• The program was created in a software company named Forethought, Inc. by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin. 
• It was released on April 20, 1987, and after 3 months of its creation, it was acquired by Microsoft.
• The first version of this program, when introduced by Microsoft was MS PowerPoint 2.0 (1990).
• It is a presentation-based program that uses graphics, videos, etc. to make a presentation more interactive and interesting.
• The file extension of a saved Powerpoint presentation is “.ppt”.
• A PowerPoint presentation comprising slides and other features is also known as PPT.

Gradually, with each version, the program was more creative and more interactive. Various other features were added in PowerPoint which massively increased the requirement and use of this MS Office program.

From the examination point of view, MS PowerPoint happens to be a very important topic. Candidates who are preparing for the various Government exams can visit the Computer Knowledge page and get a list of topics included in the syllabus and prepare themselves accordingly. 

Basics of MS PowerPoint

Discussed below are a few questions that one must be aware of while discussing the basics of MS PowerPoint. Once this is understood, using the program and analysing how to use it more creatively shall become easier.

Question: What is MS PowerPoint?

Answer: PowerPoint (PPT) is a powerful, easy-to-use presentation graphics software  program that allows you to create professional-looking electronic slide  shows. 

The image given below shows the main page of MS PowerPoint, where a person lands when the program is opened on a computer system:

Question: How to open MS PowerPoint on a personal computer?

Answer: Follow the steps below to open MS PowerPoint on a personal computer:

• Click on the start button
• Then choose “All Programs”
• Next step is to select “MS Office”
• Under MS Office, click on the “MS PowerPoint” 

A blank presentation is open on the screen. According to the requirement, a person can modify the template for a presentation and start using the program.

Question: What is a PowerPoint presentation or PPT?

Answer: A combination of various slides depicting a graphical and visual interpretation of data, to present information in a more creative and interactive manner is called a PowerPoint presentation or PPT.

Question: What is a slide show in a PowerPoint presentation?

Answer: When all the slides of a PowerPoint presentation are set in series and then presented to a group of people, where each slide appears one after the other, is a set pattern, this is known as a PowerPoint slide show. 

Question: What all elements can be added to a slide?

Answer: The following elements can be added to a Powerpoint slide:

• Photographs
• Media Clips

All these elements are mainly used to enhance presentation skills and make the slide more interactive.

To learn more about the Fundamentals of Computer , visit the linked article. 

For a better understanding of the Microsoft PowerPoint and its operations, functions and usage, refer to the video given below:

Features of MS PowerPoint

There are multiple features that are available in MS PowerPoint which can customise and optimise a presentation. The same have been discussed below.

• Slide Layout

Multiple options and layouts are available based on which a presentation can be created. This option is available under the “Home” section and one can select from the multiple layout options provided.

The image below shows the different slide layout options which are available for use:

• Insert – Clipart, Video, Audio, etc.

Under the “Insert” category, multiple options are available where one can choose what feature they want to insert in their presentation. This may include images, audio, video, header, footer, symbols, shapes, etc. 

The image below shows the features which can be inserted:

• Slide Design

MS PowerPoint has various themes using which background colour and designs or textures can be added to a slide. This makes the presentation more colourful and attracts the attention of the people looking at it.

This feature can be added using the “Design” category mentioned on the homepage of MS PowerPoint. Although there are existing design templates available, in case someone wants to add some new texture or colour, the option to customise the design is also available. Apart from this, slide designs can also be downloaded online.

Refer to the below for slide design:

During the slide show, the slides appear on the screen one after the other. In case, one wants to add some animations to the way in which a slide presents itself, they can refer to the “Animations” category. 

The different animation styles available on PowerPoint are:

Apart from all these options; font size, font style, font colour, word art, date and time, etc. can also be added to a PPT.

Also, there are various other subjects that are included in the exam syllabus for various competitive exams. Candidates can check the detailed section-wise syllabus in the links given below:

Uses of PowerPoint Presentation

PowerPoint presentations are useful for both personal and professional usage. Given below are a few of the major fields where PPT is extremely useful:

• Education – With e-learning and smart classes being chosen as a common mode of education today, PowerPoint presentations can help in making education more interactive and attract students towards the modified version of studying
• Marketing – In the field of marketing, PowerPoint presentations can be extremely important. Using graphs and charts, numbers can be shown more evidently and clearly which may be ignored by the viewer if being read
• Business – To invite investors or to show the increase or decrease in profits, MS PowerPoint can be used
• Creating Resumes – Digital resumes can be formed using MS PowerPoint. Different patterns, photograph, etc. can be added to the resume
• Depicting Growth – Since both graphics and text can be added in a presentation, depicting the growth of a company, business, student’s marks, etc. is easier using PPT

Government exam aspirants can upgrade their preparation with the help of the links given below:

Sample MS PowerPoint Questions and Answers

As discussed earlier in this article, Computer Awareness is included in the syllabus for many competitive exams. Thus, to understand the program from the examination point of view is also a must. 

Given below are a few sample questions based on MS PowerPoint.

Q 1. How many maximum slides can be added to a PowerPoint presentation?

• No fixed number

Answer: (3) No fixed number

Q 2. Slide Sorter view can be selected under which of the following categories?

Answer: (4) View

Q 3. The combination of which keyboard keys can be used as a shortcut to add a new slide in MS PowerPoint?

Answer: (3) ctrl+M

Q 4. Header and Footer option is available under which of the following categories?

Answer: (1) Insert

Q 5. Which of the following is not included in the “Insert” category in MS PowerPoint?

Answer: (4) Animation

Similar types of MS PowerPoint Questions may be asked based on the features or usage of the program. Thus, one must carefully go through the elements and aspects of PPT. 

For any further assistance related to the upcoming Government exams, candidates can check the Preparation Strategy for Competitive Exams page. 

Get the latest exam information, study material and other information related to the major Government exams conducted in the country, at BYJU’S.

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Create a standout UGC pitch deck in PowerPoint

march 22, 2024

by Kate Shewaga

If you're a content creator looking to take your user-generated content (UGC) game to the next level, you're in the right place. In this post, I'll share my secrets for creating a customized Microsoft PowerPoint pitch deck that will help you connect with brands and businesses like a pro.

Why customization matters

In the booming world of UGC, it's essential to stand out from the crowd. One fantastic way to do this is by creating a tailored pitch deck that showcases your unique skills and style. Customization is key, and I'll walk you through the process using a template from Microsoft Create .

Choose your template

Start with a template so you can hit the ground running with a clean, polished design. Visit Microsoft Create and explore their PowerPoint templates and pitch deck templates . When you find a design you like, download it.

For this tutorial, I used the Light sales pitch presentation template. This sleek and professional template is the perfect starting point for your UGC pitch deck.

Personalize the cover page

First impressions matter, so make sure your cover page is on point. I always include the name of the brand I'm pitching to show that I've created this presentation specifically for them. It's a small detail that goes a long way in demonstrating your dedication and professionalism.

Customize colors and images

Next, it's time to make the template your own. I customize the colors to match my personal brand and incorporate professional photos I've taken myself. This helps the pitch deck feel authentic and shows off my unique style.

Showcase your work

To give brands a taste of what you can do, include a few concept ideas and sample videos you've created in their niche. I like to add multiple pages with videos of my recent work to highlight my skills and experience. Just remember to watermark any videos featuring products that brands haven't purchased yet!

Include testimonials and analytics

Social proof is powerful, so don't be afraid to include testimonials or analytics from your previous high-performing content. This demonstrates your track record of success and helps build trust with potential brand partners.

Wrapping up

Creating a short, informative PowerPoint pitch deck can be the secret sauce that makes your UGC pitch unforgettable. By customizing a professional template with your own colors, images, and work samples, you'll be well on your way to landing those coveted brand deals.

Head to Microsoft Create and start crafting your standout UGC pitch deck today!

Related topics

Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Presentations > How to create an educational presentation

How to create an educational presentation

Using presentations can be an effective way to teach lessons and ensure that your audience can retain new facts. With visual aids, video and animated clips, and even interactive quizzes, you can use presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint to dazzle your students.

The advantages of PowerPoint presentations in education

Students have different learning styles : some are visual learners, who retain images and videos more effectively than speech. Some take to audio and sound more easily. Others prefer to interact with their lessons—which usually refers to holding physical objects but can also be directly related to guessing answers and responding to questions.

Fortunately, PowerPoint’s versatility means that it can appeal to all of these diverse learning styles. You can embed multimedia elements such as videos, audio clips, and interactive graphics, creating a multi-sensory experience. PowerPoint can also be helpful when considering any visual impairments that your audience members may have so that you can present with different forms of media to cater to all learning styles.

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Powerpoint empowers you to develop well-designed content across all your devices

Before diving into PowerPoint, consider the following factors to help your audience retain as much information as possible:

• Define lesson objectives: Set a goal for what kind of lesson you want to impart to your audience. What do you want students to learn? You can answer this question by outlining your lesson objectives and clearly defining your goals, which will also guide the structure and content of your presentation.
• Organize your content: Divide your lesson into key points and organize them into a logical sequence that builds in complexity. Start with basic points or even a review of previous concepts before diving into more intricate or complicated aspects of your lesson. Each point should be presented on a separate slide to maintain clarity and focus.
• Use visuals effectively: Enhance your presentation with relevant visuals such as images, videos, audio clips, or interactive simulations to cater to different learning preferences and keep the presentation engaging. These can convey complex information more efficiently than text alone. At the same time, it can be easy to be carried away by inundating your audience with too many visual elements, so ensuring smooth flow and transitions is key.
• Encourage interaction: Foster active participation by including interactive elements like quizzes, polls, or discussion prompts to prompt student engagement. After you introduce a new concept in your lesson, these interactive elements can reinforce them and make them stick.
• Practice delivery: Public speaking isn’t always easy. One of the most effective ways to sound confident is to practice delivering your presentation before the day of your lesson. Familiarize yourself with the content and also the way that it’s presented: pacing, transitions, and interactive elements. This preparation will boost your confidence, ensure a smooth flow, and help you address any potential challenges during the actual presentation.

Staid lessons can be livened up thanks to the power of presentation! No matter what you’re teaching—the ABCs to a kindergarten class, or nuclear physics to a graduate department—you can check out more tips for effective presenting such as how to create compelling presentation designs , using the 10-20-30 rule for presenting, or discovering the history of PowerPoint .

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PowerPoint zoom to slide feature doesnt zoom to the slide

PowerPoint zoom to slide feature doesnt zoom to the slide. I have tried it as both slide and section zooms, I can see the zoom is setup as when i run the presentation i see the hand cursor above the zoom image but if i click on it nothing happens.

I checked the File\Advanced\Options section to enable zoom but there is no option or mention of zoom in this area.

Any help pls.

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• Microsoft Agent |

Dear James,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft community. We are delighted to offer our assistance.

I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with the zoom feature in PowerPoint. Here are a few troubleshooting steps you can try:

1. Try resetting the zoom feature. To do this, go to the View tab and click on the Zoom button. In the Zoom dialog box, click on the Reset button.

2. Check your mouse settings. Sometimes, the zoom feature may not work if your mouse settings are not configured correctly. Go to Control Panel > Mouse and make sure that the "Scroll wheel" option is set to "Multiple lines at a time".

3. Try repairing your Office installation. Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features, select Microsoft Office, and click on the Change button. In the Office setup wizard, select the "Repair" option and follow the prompts.

Let me know if this issue persists on your side, we will help you figure it out.

Have a great day.

Sean | Microsoft Community Moderator

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5 Better Alternatives To Google Slides

I f you're looking to create a compelling presentation to showcase a new idea or persuade others, Google Slides may be the first option that comes to mind. But with few built-in templates, basic themes, and a limited graphics collection, you'll likely have a hard time making your presentation stand out against others.

If you want to make your presentation truly stand out, there are several alternatives to Google Slides that offer extra perks and features to give your presentations an edge. While Google focuses on integrating Slides with its other work-based apps like Sheets and Docs, other presentation apps focus more on design elements, transitions, and themes to help you convey your brand or personal image throughout your presentation.

We've tested these Google Slide alternatives to give you an idea of other available options to deliver impactful presentations. If you're looking for a way to make boring information more fun and engaging, here are the best presentation apps to replace Google Slides.

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Microsoft PowerPoint

There's a reason so many businesses around the globe use Microsoft PowerPoint. Building its reputation as the go-to option for delivering high-quality presentations, the software generated $100 million in annual sales only three years after its initial release in 1990.

Microsoft PowerPoint may be Google Slides' largest competitor, but there are plenty of unique features that can add an extra flourish to your slides. PowerPoint excels in its impressive library of custom animations and slide transitions, which are fairly limited in Google Slides. Another unique feature is its AI-powered Designer tool. This provides professional design schemes that mirror the words used in your slides. For instance, if your title slide is named "Basketball Team 2024," Designer will automatically suggest pictures and slide layouts associated with basketball.

As PowerPoint has been in development longer than Google Slides, it naturally offers more nuanced features if you're looking for something specific. For example, you can save individual slides as an image file (using .png or .jpeg formats) or as a separate presentation file. There's also a large library of free PowerPoint templates designed to speed up your workflow. Moreover, PowerPoint integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Teams with its PowerPoint Live function, allowing you to easily share your presentation with your co-workers.

Prezi offers an innovative approach to showing presentations with its unique canvas feature. Unlike traditional presentation software, Prezi lets you zoom and pan around a flexible canvas. The canvas may feel distant to something of a presentation program, but there is still some linear order provided thanks to the Timeline view.

Finding ways to visualize data is one of the biggest challenges when dealing with presentation software. Prezi resolves this struggle with the help of its Story Blocks: a series of infographics available in multiple designs to visually represent data. You can easily edit infographics and even add animations to individual shapes. This can help add a story to your presentation and help you emphasize key points.

To further enhance your presentation visually, Prezi offers several topic path settings, which let you change how Prezi transitions from one topic to another. These options include subtopics, which are super helpful for breaking large chunks of information down. If you're looking for a unique, modern approach to presenting information, Prezi is a top pick.

If you're looking to create a professional presentation to convince potential clients about your business idea, Slidebean is a popular choice among professionals with plenty of customization options. One of the issues with Google Slides is its fairly limited template library, which is filled mostly with basic designs. Slidebean offers a better alternative with a broad selection of innovative templates split into categories for convenience.

The app's user interface is easy to navigate so that you can create slides in less time. Each slide has a dedicated Design and Outline tab. You can use the Outline tab to quickly edit the information on each slide without being distracted by all the visual elements. Another productivity-enhancing feature is the ability to generate a presentation theme from your website. Simply enter your URL, and Slidebean will automatically apply the theming to your presentation.

Slidebean is another presentation app to take advantage of AI. Using the Auto-Design feature, you can generate recommended slide layouts based on your existing content. It also features AI text suggestions designed to suit different industries. Overall, Slidebean offers a quicker, more efficient method for creating stunning presentations compared to Google Slides.

Canva is a well-known app among graphic designers, but it's also capable of making stunning presentations. The app also has mobile editions, so you can easily create and edit presentations on your Android phone , iOS device, or tablet. As long as you have an internet connection, you can modify your designs wherever you are.

To get started, head to Canva's online presentation maker . Canva offers a vast range of templates categorized by topic, which easily surpasses the simple templates in Google Slides . While some of the templates are only available to Canva Pro members, there is an ample amount of free templates to help you get started. You'll also find a large selection of stock photos, shapes, and illustrations to create beautiful customized slides.

Because Canva is built for graphic designers, you can access several features to give your presentation consistent theming. These include color palettes, font sets, and even a brand kit that allows you to add your company's fonts (available to Pro members only). One time-saving feature is Canva's Uploads tab, which lets you access recently uploaded media files. This offers a convenient way to copy content between different presentations.

Visme is a powerful visual design tool able to create videos, infographics, and presentations. One of the perks of using Visme is the company's free educational content, which offers advice on how to create impactful content to boost your brand. After signing up, the company also asks whether you're using Visme for your business, education purposes, or personal use to offer personalized tips.

In terms of charts and graphs, Visme offers some of the most impressive features we've seen from a presentation app, so you can effortlessly convey important statistics. From the Data tab, you can access dozens of graph styles to visually represent your data. Then, simply double-click a chart inside your presentation to edit the values instantly in a simple table format.

Another area that Visme excels in is collaboration. You can either generate a link to publish your presentation on the web or share your presentation privately with others. For each team member, you can choose who can view, edit, and comment slides for a seamless workflow. There's also a Slack integration that lets you receive messages whenever changes are made to your presentation. Visme is free for all users, with limited features available in its premium plans.

Read the original article on SlashGear .