PowerPoint Practice 1
Prefer to watch and learn? Check out this video tutorial:
Complete the following Practice Activity.
We will use PowerPoint to create a presentation that welcomes new students to Paradise Valley Community College. As a Peer Leader, you have been asked to present at New Student Orientation, where new students are introduced to college life at PVCC. We will build upon this presentation over the next 4 practice assignments. Key skills in this practice include creating a new presentation, entering text, presentation views, presentation themes, speaker notes, adding and formatting pictures, printing a presentation, and Header and Footer options.
- Start PowerPoint, notice how it opens in Backstage View. Under Themes, select the Facet theme. If the Facet theme is not visible, use the search to locate it. Select the second color variant, the blue one, and then select Create. If PowerPoint does not open in Backstage View, select the file button to show Backstage View, and then select blank presentation. Then, on the Design tab, select the theme as indicated above.
- Select File, Save As, Browse, and then navigate to your NSCC OneDrive or other location where you save your files. Name the presentation as Yourlastname_Yourfirstname_PowerPoint_Practice_1.
- Take a moment to view the PowerPoint window:
- Notice that the layout of slide 1 is Title and Content. This is a common layout for the Title Slide. All text, graphics, videos, or anything that is on a slide must be in a placeholder. In the Click to add title placeholder, type “Welcome Pumas!” In the subtitle placeholder type “Fall New Student Orientation”.
- On the Design tab, in the Themes group, ensure under Variants, Blue colors are selected.
- Although we only have our title slide added, most presentations have several slides. When creating your presentation, keep in mind the attention span of your audience, and the allotted amount of time. For this presentation, we have been allotted 10 minutes, and will create 5 slides.
- On the View tab, in the Presentation Views, notice that Normal view is selected. This is the most common view when creating your presentation. Other views are:
- Outline View
- Slide Sorter
- Notes Pages
- Reading View
- Slide Show
- On the Home tab, in the Slides group, select the arrow next to New Slide and selected Title and Content. In the Click to add title placeholder type Student Life.
- With slide 2 still active, on the Home Tab, in the Slides Group, select the arrow next to Layout and select Two Content. Notice how the layout of slide 2 changed.
- In the first content placeholder on the left, type the following, pressing Enter after each line:
- Get involved with Student Life and Leadership!
- Connect with fellow students
- Discover empowerment
- Make a difference
- Format the text as a bulleted list, with the default bullet. Change the font size of the text to 28.
- In the second placeholder, use the placeholder shortcut to insert an online picture. In the Insert Pictures dialog box, use the Bing image search to search for a picture of students. Choose any picture of college students, and insert it into the placeholder.
- With slide 2 displayed, in the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen, click Notes. Notice that the Notes Pane displays below the Slide Pane. In the Notes pane type: We sponsor numerous campus events and opportunities for you to participate in our dynamic learning environment. Through Student Life, students engage in educational relationships that inspire positive social change, contributing to a richer and more fulfilling college experience. Not only that, students build leadership and professional skills that carry on through life.
- On the Home tab, in the Slides Group, select New Slide and choose the Title and Content layout. For the title type Athletics. In the Content Placeholder, type the following bulleted list:
- Soccer
- Golf
- Tennis
- Cross Country
- Track and Field
- Baseball
- Softball
- Resize the text to 28 pt and use the default bullet.
- With slide 3 still active, on the Insert tab in the Illustration group, select the arrow next to Shapes, under Stars and Banners add the Explosion 1 shape to the right of the bulleted list. Click and drag the shape onto the slide.
- Inside the shape, double click, then type Find us on Social Media @Puma Athletics
- Use the Sizing handle to turn the Explosion shape slightly to the left, and move it so that it is in line with the text. Use the guides to align the image.
- With the Explosion graphic still selected, on the Drawing Tools Format tab, in the Shape Styles group, select the Colored Fill-Blue, Accent 2 shape style.
- On the Home tab, in the Slides Group, select New Slide and choose Picture with Caption Layout. In the picture placeholder, click to add a picture. Browse to your data files, and insert the image PowerPoint_Practice_1. On the Picture Tools Format tab, in the Size group select the arrow under Crop and select Fit.
- Select the placeholder below the image and enter the following title: It is great to be a Puma! In the placeholder below that, type: Welcome to PVCC! Change the font size of the second text placeholder to 36.
- With slide 4 still active, ensure the Notes Pane displays. In the notes section, add the following speaker notes: Explain the Puma Commitment and the support available to students.
- On the Home tab, in the Slides Group, select New Slide and choose Blank Layout. Ensure slide 5 is active
- On the Insert tab, in the Text Group, select the arrow under WordArt, and select Word Art in the second row, second column Gradient Fill Green Accent Color 5; Reflection (if you cannot find this exact one, choose one close to it in color). Type the text: Any Questions?
- Change the font size of the WordArt to 72.
- Display slide 1. On the Insert tab, in the Text Group, select Header & Footer to display the Header and Footer Dialog Box. Notice there are two tabs: Slide and Notes and Handouts. On the Notes and Handouts tab, check the box next to Data and Time. Ensure the check box next to Page Number is also selected. Click Apply to All.
- Select the File tab to display backstage view. Select Print to view the Print Options. Although PowerPoint slides are meant for presentations, there is the option to print slides for the presenter and participants. Click Full Page Slides to then choose Notes Pages. Scroll through the slides and notice that slides 2 and 4 are displaying the Notes.
- Select Notes Pages, and choose 6 slides Horizontal. Notice how the data and page number displays on the slide in Print Preview.
- Save your presentation, and take note of where it is located. There should be a total of 5 slides in your slide deck. Compare your presentation to the image below, and make any modifications if needed. Close out of PowerPoint and submit your entire presentation per your instructor’s instructions.
Media Attributions
Practice It Icon by Jessica Parsons is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license