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What is PowerPoint: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners

What is PowerPoint? This blog provides the essence of PowerPoint, a versatile presentation software by Microsoft. Discover its features, uses, and the art of crafting compelling slideshows. Whether you're a student, professional, or simply curious, explore the power of PowerPoint and learn how to create impactful presentations effortlessly.

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According to Glassdoor , a PowerPoint designer's average salary in the UK is about £37,811 annually. In this blog, you will learn What is PowerPoint, its key features, its benefits, and how to use it, as well as learn some tips for creating effective presentations.   

Table of contents       

1)  What is PowerPoint?  

2)  Understanding the PowerPoint Interface  

3)  Key Features of PowerPoint 

4)  How to use PowerPoint to create a presentation? 

5)  Benefits of PowerPoint  

6)  Tips for Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations 

7)  Conclusion      

What is PowerPoint?   

PowerPoint is a versatile and popular presentation software developed by Microsoft (MS). It is a part of the Microsoft Office Suite and offers various features and tools to create visually appealing and engaging presentations. MS PowerPoint allows users to combine text, graphics, multimedia elements, and animations to convey information effectively .   

Evolution of PowerPoint   

Understanding the PowerPoint Interface   

The PowerPoint interface provides a user-friendly environment for creating and editing presentations. Familiarising yourself with its essential components will help you navigate the software efficiently. Here's a breakdown of the MS PowerPoint interface:   

1)  Ribbon : The Ribbon is located at the top of the MS PowerPoint window and consists of multiple tabs, such as Home, Insert, Design, Transitions, and more.    

2) Slides pane : The Slides pane is on the left side of the PowerPoint window. It displays thumbnail images of your presentation slides, allowing you to navigate and rearrange them easily. You can add, delete, duplicate, or hide slides from this pane.   

3)   Notes pane : The Notes pane is located below the Slides pane. It provides space for adding speaker notes or additional information related to each slide.    

4)  Slide area : The Slide area occupies the central part of the PowerPoint window. It displays the selected slide, where you can add and arrange content such as text, images, charts, and multimedia elements .    

5)  Task panes : Task panes are additional panels on the PowerPoint window's right side. They offer various functionalities such as formatting options, slide layouts, animations, etc. Task panes can be opened or closed based on your specific needs.   

Understanding the MS PowerPoint interface will help you navigate the software effectively and make the most of its features. Whether you are creating slides, adding content, or applying formatting, having a good grasp of the interface ensures a smooth and productive experience .  

Key Features of PowerPoint  

When it comes to creating captivating and professional presentations, MS PowerPoint stands out as versatile and feature-rich software. Its array of tools and functionalities enables users to bring their imagination and ideas to life. Moreover, it also helps engage their audience effectively .    

1) Slide Templates : PowerPoint provides a collection of pre-designed templates that make it easy to create visually appealing slides.   

2)  Slide Master : The Slide Master feature allows users to define the overall layout, font styles, and colour scheme for the entire presentation .   

3)  Animations and transitions : PowerPoint offers various animation effects and slide transitions to add visual interest and captivate the audience .   

4)  Multimedia integration : Users can embed images, videos, and audio files directly into their presentations, enhancing the overall impact .   

5)   Collaboration tools : MS PowerPoint allows multiple users to work on a presentation simultaneously, making it ideal for team projects and remote collaboration .   

6) Presenter View : The Presenter View feature gives presenters access to speaker notes, a timer, and a preview of upcoming slides, enabling a seamless presentation experience .   

These features collectively contribute to PowerPoint's versatility and make it a powerful tool for developing engaging and impactful presentations.  

How to use PowerPoint to create a presentation?   

Creating a presentation in PowerPoint is a straightforward process. Whether it's simple animations or explainer videos learning H ow to use PowerPoint is an extremely valuable skill. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to create a presentation:   

1)  Launch PowerPoint and choose a template or start with a blank slide. 

2)  Add slides by clicking "New Slide" or using the shortcut key (Ctrl + M). 

3) Customise slide content by entering text and inserting visuals.  

4)  Rearrange slides for a logical flow by dragging them in the slide navigation pane.  

5)  Apply slide transitions for visual effects in the "Transitions" tab.  

6)  Add animations to objects in the "Animations" tab.  

7)  Preview your presentation by clicking "Slide Show".   

8)  Save your presentation and choose a format (.pptx or .pdf).  

9)  Share your presentation via email, cloud storage, or collaboration tools.   

By following these steps, you can create a well-structured and visually appealing presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint. Remember to keep your content concise, use engaging visuals, and practice your presentation skills to deliver an impactful presentation .   

Benefits of PowerPoint   

1) Visual appeal : Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to create visually appealing presentations with its wide range of design tools and features. You can use templates, themes, and customisable layouts to make your slides visually engaging and professional .   

2)  Easy to use : PowerPoint has a user-friendly interface, making it accessible to users of all levels. The intuitive tools and straightforward navigation make it easy to create, edit, and deliver presentations efficiently .   

3)   Flexibility : PowerPoint provides flexibility in terms of content creation. You can include various types of content, such as text, images, charts, graphs, videos, and audio files, to enhance your message and engage your audience effectively.   

4)   Organisation and structure : PowerPoint offers features to help you organise and structure your content. You can create multiple slides, use slide masters for consistent formatting, and arrange the sequence of slides to create a logical flow .   

5)  Presenter tools : PowerPoint includes built-in presenter tools that aid in delivering presentations smoothly. You can use presenter view to see your notes and upcoming slides while your audience sees only the presentation. Additionally, features like slide transitions and animations add visual interest and help you control the flow of information .   

6)  Collaboration and sharing : PowerPoint allows for easy collaboration and sharing of presentations. Several users can simultaneously work on the same presentation, making it convenient for team projects. You can also share your presentations via email, cloud storage, or online platforms, ensuring easy access for viewers .   

7)   Integration with other tools : PowerPoint can seamlessly integrate with other Microsoft Office applications, such as Word and Excel. You can import data and charts from Excel or copy and paste content between different Office applications, saving time and effort .  

8)   Presenter-audience interaction : PowerPoint provides features that facilitate interaction between the presenter and the audience. You can include interactive elements like hyperlinks, buttons, and quizzes to engage your audience and make your presentations more dynamic.   

9)   Portable and accessible : PowerPoint presentations can be saved in various formats, such as .pptx or .pdf, making them easily accessible on different devices. This portability allows you to deliver presentations on laptops, tablets, or even projectors without compatibility issues .   

10)  Time and effort savings : PowerPoint simplifies the process of creating presentations, saving you time and effort. The pre-designed templates, slide layouts, and formatting options enable you to create professional-looking presentations efficiently .   

Unleash your creativity to deliver captivating presentations that leave a lasting impact with our Microsoft PowerPoint Masterclass – Sign up now!   

Tips for Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations   

1) Simplicity is key : Keep your slides clean and uncluttered. Use concise bullet points and simple visuals to convey your message effectively .   

2)  Visuals matter : Incorporate relevant, high-quality visuals such as images, charts, and diagrams to enhance understanding and engagement .   

3)  Limit text : Avoid overwhelming your audience with excessive text on slides. Use brief phrases or keywords to communicate key points .   

4)  Choose legible fonts : Opt for clear and readable fonts that are easy to read, even from a distance. Maintain consistency in font styles throughout your presentation .   

5)  Consistent design : Maintain a consistent design theme, including colours, fonts, and layout, to create a visually appealing and professional presentation.   

6)  Emphasise important points : Use visual hierarchy techniques, such as font size, colour, and formatting, to draw attention to essential information .   

7)  Use transitions and animations sparingly : Incorporate slide transitions and animations thoughtfully, focusing on enhancing content and transitions without distracting the audience .   

8)  S lide notes for guidance : Utilise the slide notes feature to include additional details, explanations, or reminders for a well-prepared and confident presentation.   

9)  Practice and time yourself : Rehearse your presentation to ensure smooth delivery and stay within the allocated time. Practice helps you refine your content and delivery.   

10)  Engage the audience : Encourage audience participation through interactive elements, questions, or discussions to foster engagement and make your presentation more memorable.   

By implementing these tips, you can create effective MS PowerPoint presentations that capture attention, communicate information clearly, and engage your audience effectively.  

Conclusion      

We hope this blog has helped you understand What is PowerPoint and how it can help you. It offers powerful features with a user-friendly interface for creating visually appealing presentations. With its tools for organising information, incorporating text and visuals, and delivering impactful content, PowerPoint is a valuable tool for beginners to communicate their ideas effectively .   

Master the art of effective communication and productivity and unlock your potential with our comprehensive Microsoft Office Training – Sign up now!  

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How to Structure a PowerPoint Presentation

Table of Contents

This is the main part of your presentation, which should keep the promises you made in the introduction. This is where you explain your topic and present all your information. 

Depending on the nature of your presentation, divide it into segments/points. Arrange your points in a logical order and then provide information to support each of them. There are many different ways to organize your key points, for example:

• Number your points according to their priority (1, 2, 3, …)
• Place the points in a time frame (past, present, future)
• Use narration (tell a story from beginning to end)
• Present the points with a problem-solution dynamic (state a problem, describe its impact, offer ways to solve the issue)

A good conclusion summarizes the key points you made or highlights what the audience should have learned. It clarifies the general purpose of your presentation and reinforces the reason for viewing it. Here are the slides you may want to include:

• Summary. List what goals your audience have achieved, what knowledge they got, and how this information can help them in the future.
• Conclusion. Here you can thank your audience for viewing the presentation.

Tips for Structuring a Presentation in PowerPoint

Now that you know which parts a typical presentation should consist of, let’s see how to structure it in PowerPoint. 

1. Combine slides into sections

When working with a large PowerPoint presentation (PPT), you can create sections that can be collapsed and expanded. This will help you keep presentation slides organized and facilitate navigation in editing mode. To do that, follow these steps:

• To shift a section, right-click on its name and use the Move Section Up and Move Section Down options.
• To collapse or expand a certain section, click on the collapse icon to the left of the section name. You can also minimize and maximize all sections at once by right-clicking on the section name and choosing Collapse All or Expand All .

As well, you can access these settings by choosing Slide Sorter under the VIEW tab.

This kind of segmentation is a great way to overview the logical flow of your slides all at once and see if there are any changes required. For example, you may decide to break one slide into two or three, or the other way around.

2. Use the Outline View

One other way to structure a PowerPoint presentation in the editing mode is to use Outline View . You can choose it from the VIEW tab.

This view doesn’t display sections, but it shows the title and main text of each slide, which can give you a quick overview of the presentation contents. Here you can go through the entire text and edit it instantly. You can also work with text (on the left) and slides (on the right) simultaneously, as the latter is shown on the right side of your screen.

Note that, to be displayed in an outline, text needs to be typed in a text placeholder, not a text box . A text placeholder is a box with the words “Click to add text” or “Click to add title”, and it appears when you choose a standard layout.

You can also use Outline View to promote bullet text to titles and the other way around. To do that, right-click on a relevant title or text and select the Promote or Demote options.

Be attentive about demoting a title, as this will delete the original slide and move its title and text to the adjacent slide.

PowerPoint only allows users to promote and demote text, not entire slides. Therefore, there’s no possibility to change the hierarchical order of slides.

3. Create a table of contents

All the aforementioned tips help you organize a presentation when formatting it. However, it’s crucial that your viewers can easily navigate through entire presentation too. One sure way to provide them with this opportunity is to create an interactive and structured table of contents.

Though there’s no native automatic outline in PowerPoint, it can be created manually:

• Press Ctrl+A to select all the names, and Ctrl+C to copy them. 
• Then Press Ctrl+V to paste the copied titles on the desired slide. In case there are too many titles and they don’t fit onto a single page, you can divide the table of contents into two columns or place it on two slides.

You’ll need to repeat this procedure to link all the chapters to corresponding slides. For more information, read this step-by-step guide on how to add a hyperlink in PowerPoint .

Now all the chapters can be accessed from a single table of contents, which is very convenient. However, you will also need to link them back to that unifying page. You can do this by inserting an Action Button on every slide of your presentation in Slide Master mode:

Now there is a single page from which all the other pages can be easily accessed. As well, it’s possible to go back to the table of contents at any time with the intuitive Home button.

Depending on the size of your presentation, the time it takes to create an interactive outline may vary, as you will need to add hyperlinks to every chapter manually. Be aware that if you rename a slide or simply delete it, these changes will not be automatically registered in the table of contents. For example, if you delete a slide, its title will still be displayed in the table of contents, but clicking on it won’t lead the viewer to another point in the presentation.

This is what our sample presentation looks like:

A Better Way to Structure a PowerPoint Presentation

Creating a table of contents manually might be fine for a small presentation, but if you have 122 slides, it would require too much time and energy to do so. That’s why, instead of manually creating a table of contents, we took advantage of iSpring Suite and simply enabled the automatic outline.  

iSpring Suite

Fully-stocked eLearning authoring toolkit for PowerPoint. No training required to start!

Note: iSpring Suite turns slides into HTML5 format, so your audience can view them online, right in their browsers. 

As you can see, the new presentation has a pop-up outline and a navigation panel, which make it possible to move to any slide at any time without leaving the slide show mode. 

How to set up navigation

To create navigation in your presentation, follow these simple steps:

• Get a free trial of iSpring Suite.

• When you’ve configured the Slide Properties settings, click on Save & Close in the upper-left corner.

How to configure an outline

Whereas PowerPoint requires the outline to be designed manually, iSpring Suite has already prepared it for you. At the same time, you don’t have to stick with the standard outline template, as you can easily customize the player’s final look and feel:

We recommend leaving Enable Search marked, as this will allow viewers to search for any content at any time, including the texts on the slides. This is especially useful for large presentations with a lot of text.

If you have previously arranged slides into multiple levels in the Slide Properties, then leave Multilevel outline marked. That way, the outline will display the nesting structure of the presentation, facilitating navigation. You can learn more about the other outline options here .

• When you have finished configuring the player, click on Apply & Close in the upper-left corner.
• Now you can publish your enhanced presentation either to HTML5, to make it easily accessible via browser on any device, or MP4 video format. If you’re going to upload your presentation to an LMS, you can publish it to any eLearning format: SCORM, AICC, Tin Can, or cmi5. 

While a standard PowerPoint slideshow is straightforward and limited, iSpring Suite saves viewers from having to follow a strict slide order. An interactive and searchable outline allows non-linear navigation, where any information can be accessed at any time at a glance.

Also read : → How to Convert PowerPoint to MP4 Video

Also read : →  How To Record Presentations With Audio

Another perk

iSpring Suite comes with Content Library , which provides a great collection of presentation templates and allows you to create professional-looking presentations in a matter of minutes. Each template includes basic course elements: a title slide, a table of contents, chapters, a timeline, and info slides. Organize them in the order you prefer, populate them with your texts and images, and your presentation is ready to go.

We hope this article will help you develop an ideal structure for your PowerPoint presentation and do this quickly and easily. Captivate your audience with a powerful and persuasive presentation!

Do you have any other insights on how to simplify PowerPoint slides design? Please share them in the comment section. We’d like to hear from you. 

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Content creator:

Helen Colman

She enjoys combining in-depth research with expert knowledge of the industry. If you have eLearning insights that you’d like to share, please get in touch .

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PowerPoint 2010  - Slide Basics

Powerpoint 2010  -, slide basics, powerpoint 2010 slide basics.

PowerPoint 2010: Slide Basics

Lesson 2: slide basics.

/en/powerpoint2010/getting-started-with-powerpoint/content/

Introduction

PowerPoint includes all of the features you need to produce professional-looking presentations. When you create a PowerPoint presentation, it is made up of a series of slides . The slides contain the information you want to communicate with your audience. This information can include text, pictures, charts, video, and sound. Before you begin adding information to slides, you'll need to know the basics of working with slides. In this lesson, you will learn how to insert new slides, modify a layout , and change your presentation view .

Slide basics

Every PowerPoint presentation is composed of a series of slides . To begin creating a slide show, you'll need to know the basics of working with slides. You'll need to feel comfortable with tasks such as inserting a new slide, changing the layout of a slide, arranging existing slides, changing slide view , and adding notes to a slide.

Optional: You can download this example for extra practice.

About slides

Slides contain placeholders , which are areas on the slide that are enclosed by dotted borders. Placeholders can contain many different items, including text, pictures, and charts. Some placeholders have placeholder text , or text you can replace. They also have thumbnail-sized icons that represent specific commands such as Insert Picture , Insert Chart , and Insert ClipArt . In PowerPoint, hover over each icon to see the type of content you can insert in a placeholder.

About slide layouts

Placeholders are arranged in different layouts that can be applied to existing slides or chosen when you insert a new slide . A slide layout arranges your content using different types of placeholders, depending on what information you might want to include in your presentation.

In the example above, the layout is called Title and Content and includes title and content placeholders. While each layout has a descriptive name, you can also tell from the image of the layout how the placeholders will be arranged.

Customizing slide layouts

To change the layout of an existing slide:.

To delete a placeholder:

You can easily customize your layout by deleting unwanted—or extra—placeholders from any slide.

• Press Backspace or Delete on your keyboard. The placeholder will be removed from the slide.

To add a text box:

Text boxes allow you to add to your current layout, so you can place text wherever you want on your slide.

Explore our Text Basics lesson to learn more about inserting and using text boxes in PowerPoint 2010.

To use a blank slide:

For more control over your content, you may prefer a blank slide—a slide without placeholders—over one of the existing layouts. Blank slides can be customized by adding your own text boxes, pictures, charts, and more.

Working with slides

To insert a new slide:.

• A new slide will be added your presentation.

To instantly add a slide that uses the same layout as the one you have selected, click the top half of the New Slide command.

To copy and paste a slide:

• On the Slides tab in the left pane, select the slide you want to copy.

To select multiple slides, press and hold Ctrl on your keyboard and click the slides you want to select.

To duplicate a slide:

An alternative to copying and pasting, duplicating slides copies the selected slide and—in one step—pastes it directly underneath. This feature does not allow you to choose the location of the copied slide, nor does it offer Paste Options for advanced users, so it's more convenient for quickly inserting similar slides.

• Select the slide you want to duplicate.
• Click the New Slide command.

To delete a slide:

• Select the slide you want to delete.
• Press the Delete or Backspace key on your keyboard.

To move a slide:

• Select the slide you want to move.

• Release the mouse button. The slide will appear in the new location.

Managing slides and presentations

As you add slides to your presentation, PowerPoint offers a variety of views and tools to help you organize and prepare your slide show.

About slide views

It's important to be able to access the different slide views and use them for various tasks. The slide view commands are located on the bottom-right of the PowerPoint window in Normal view.

Normal view : This is the default view where you create and edit your slides. You can also move slides in the Slides tab in the pane on the left.

Slide Sorter view : In this view, miniature slides are arranged on the screen. You can drag and drop slides to easily reorder them and to see more slides at one time. This is a good view to use to confirm that you have all the needed slides and that none have been deleted.

Reading view : This view fills most of the computer screen with a preview of your presentation. Unlike Slide Show view, it includes easily accessible buttons for navigation, located at the bottom-right.

Slide Show view : This view completely fills the computer screen and is what the audience will see when they view the presentation. Slide Show view has an additional menu that appears when you hover over it, allowing you to navigate slides and access other features you can use during a presentation.

Use the keys on your keyboard—including the arrow keys, Page Up and Page Down keys, spacebar, and Enter key—to move through the slides in Slide Show view. Press the Esc key to end the slide show.

To view an outline of your presentation:

The Outline tab shows your slide text in outline form. This allows you to quickly edit your slide text and view the contents of multiple slides at once.

• An outline of your slide text appears.

To organize slides into sections:

You can organize your slides into sections to make your presentation easier to navigate. Sections can be collapsed or expanded in the left pane and named for easy reference. In this example, we will add two sections: one for dogs that are available for adoption, and another for cats and other pets.

• Select the slide you want to begin your first section.
• From the Home tab, click the Section command.

• Repeat to add as many sections as you want.

Adding notes to slides

PowerPoint gives you the ability to add notes to your slides—often called speaker notes —to help you deliver or prepare for your presentation. You can enter and view your speaker notes using the Notes pane or the Notes Page view.

To use the Notes pane:

• Locate the Notes pane at the bottom of the screen, directly below the Slide pane.

To use Notes Page view:

• Go to the View tab.

• Open an existing PowerPoint presentation . If you want, you can use this example .
• Change the layout of a slide. If you are using the example, change the layout of slide 3 to Section Header .
• Add a new blank slide, then insert a text box .
• Copy and paste a slide, then move it to a new location.
• View your presentation in Normal view, Slide Sorter view, Reading view, and Slide Show view.
• View an outline of your presentation in the left pane.
• Divide your presentation into at least two sections , and try collapsing and expanding them. If you are using the example, create one section for dogs and another for cats and other pets.
• Experiment with adding speaker notes to your presentation using the Notes pane and the Notes Page view .

/en/powerpoint2010/text-basics/content/

Blog > How to structure a good PowerPoint Presentation

How to structure a good PowerPoint Presentation

08.09.21   •  #powerpoint #tips.

When creating presentations, it is particularly important that they are well organized and have a consistent structure.

A logical structure helps the audience to follow you and to remember the core information as best as possible. It is also important for the presenter, as a good presentation structure helps to keep calm, to stay on the topic and to avoid awkward pauses.

But what does such a structure actually look like? Here we show you how to best organize your presentation and what a good structure looks like.

Plan your presentation

Before you start creating your presentation, you should always brainstorm. Think about the topic and write all your ideas down. Then think about the message you want to communicate, what your goal is and what you want your audience to remember at the end.

Think about who your audience is so that you can address them in the best possible way. One possibility is to start your presentation with a few polls to get to know your audience better. Based on the results, you can then adapt your presentation a little. Use the poll function of SlideLizard and have all the answers at a glance. SlideLizard makes it possible to integrate the polls directly into your PowerPoint presentation which helps you to avoid annoying switching between presentation and interaction tool. You can keep an eye on the results while the votes come in and then decide whether you want to share them or not.

• an informative
• an entertaining
• an inspiring
• or a persuasive presentation?

Typical Presentation Structure

The basic structure of a presentation is actually always the same and should consist of:

Introduction

Make sure that the structure of your presentation is not too complicated. The simpler it is, the better the audience can follow.

Personal Introduction

It is best to start your presentation by briefly introducing yourself which helps to build a connection with your audience right away.

Introduce the topic

Then introduce the topic, state the purpose of the presentation and provide a brief outline of the main points you will be addressing.

Mention the length

In the introduction, mention the approximate length of the talk and then also make sure you stick to it.

The introduction should be no longer than two slides and provide a good overview of the topic.

Icebreaker Polls

According to studies, people in the audience only have an average attention span of 10 minutes, which is why it is important to increase their attention right at the beginning and to arouse the audience's interest. You could make a good start with a few icebreaker polls for example. They lighten the mood right at the beginning and you can secure your audience's attention from the start.

For example, you could use SlideLizard to have all the answers at a glance and share them with your audience. In addition, the audience can try out how the polls work and already know how it works if you include more polls in the main part.

Get to know your audience

As mentioned earlier, it is always useful to think about who your audience actually is. Ask them questions at the beginning about how well they already know the topic of your presentation. Use SlideLizard for this so that you have a clear overview about the answers. You can use both single- and multiple-choice questions or also open questions and display their results as a WordCloud in your presentation, for example.

Include a quote

To make the beginning (or the end) of your presentation more exciting, it is always a good idea to include a quote. We have selected some powerful quotes for PowerPoint presentations for you.

Present your topic

The main part of a presentation should explain the topic well, state facts, justify them and give examples. Keep all the promises you made earlier in the introduction.

Length and Structure

The main part should make up about 70% of the presentation and also include a clear structure. Explain your ideas in detail and build them up logically. It should be organized chronologically, by priority or by topic. There should be a smooth transition between the individual issues. However, it is also important to use phrases that make it clear that a new topic is starting. We have listed some useful phrases for presentations here.

Visualize data and statistics and show pictures to underline facts. If you are still looking for good images, we have selected 5 sources of free images for you here.

Focus on the essentials

Focus on what is most important and summarize a bit. You don't have to say everything about a topic because your audience won’t remember everything either. Avoid complicated sentence structure, because if the audience does not understand something, they will not be able to read it again.

Make your presentation interactive

Make your presentation interactive to keep the attention of your audience. Use SlideLizard to include polls in your presentation, where your audience can vote directly from their smartphone and discuss the answers as soon as you received all votes. Here you can also find more tips for increasing audience engagement.

Repeat the main points

The conclusion should contain a summary of the most important key points. Repeat the main points you have made, summarize what the audience should have learned and explain how the new information can help in the future.

Include a Q&A part

Include a Q&A part at the end to make sure you don't leave any questions open. It's a good idea to use tools like SlideLizard for it. Your audience can ask anonymous questions and if there is not enough time, you can give them the answers afterwards. You can read more about the right way to do a question slide in PowerPoint here.

Get Feedback

It is also important to get feedback on your presentation at the end to keep improving. With SlideLizard you can ask your audience for anonymous feedback through star ratings, number ratings or open texts directly after your presentation. You can then export the responses and analyse them later in Excel.

Presentation style

Depending on the type of presentation you give, the structure will always be slightly different. We have selected a few different presentation styles and their structure for you.

Short Presentation

If you are one of many presenters on the day, you will only have a very limited time to present your idea and to convince your audience. It is very important to stand out with your presentation.

So you need to summarize your ideas as briefly as possible and probably should not need more than 3-5 slides.

Problem Solving Presentation

Start your presentation by explaining a problem and giving a short overview of it.

Then go into the problem a little more, providing both intellectual and emotional arguments for the seriousness of the problem. You should spend about the first 25% of your presentation on the problem.

After that, you should spend about 50% of your presentation proposing a solution and explaining it in detail.

In the last 25%, describe what benefits this solution will bring to your audience and ask them to take a simple but relevant action that relates to the problem being discussed.

Tell a Story

A great way to build an emotional connection with the audience is to structure a presentation like a story.

In the introduction, introduce a character who has to deal with a conflict. In the main part, tell how he tries to solve his problem but fails again and again. In the end, he manages to find a solution and wins.

Stories have the power to win customers, align colleagues and motivate employees. They’re the most compelling platform we have for managing imaginations. - Nancy Duarte / HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations

Make a demonstration

Use the demonstration structure to show how a product works. First talk about a need or a problem that has to be solved.

Then explain how the product will help solve the problem and try to convince your audience of the need for your product.

Spend the end clarifying where and when the product can be purchased.

Chronological structure

When you have something historical to tell, it is always good to use a chronological structure. You always have to ask yourself what happens next.

To make it more interesting and exciting, it is a good idea to start by telling the end of something and after that you explain how you got there. This way you make the audience curious and you can gain their attention faster.

Nancy Duarte TED Talk

Nancy Duarte is a speaker and presentation design expert. She gives speeches all over the world, trying to improve the power of public presentations.

In her famous TED Talk "The Secret Structure of Great Talks" she dissects famous speeches such as Steve Jobs' iPhone launch speech and Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. In doing so, she found out that each presentation is made up of 4 parts:

• What could be
• A moment to remember
• Promise of “New Bliss”

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About the author.

Helena Reitinger

Helena supports the SlideLizard team in marketing and design. She loves to express her creativity in texts and graphics.

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The big SlideLizard presentation glossary

A podcast is an audio or video contribution that can be listened to or viewed via the Internet. Podcasts can be used for information on specific topics but also for entertainment.

Slide Master

To create your own Template in PowerPoint it is best to use the Slide Master. After updating the Slide Master with your design, all slides (fonts, colours, images, …) adapt to those of the Slide Master.

Slide Layouts

PowerPoint has different types of Slide Layouts. Depending on which type of presentation you make, you will use more or less different slide layouts. Some Slide Types are: title slides, section heading slides, picture with caption slides, blank slides.

Eulogy Speech

A eulogy speech is given at a funeral. It is given by familiy members or friends of the deceased. The aim is to say goodbye and pay tribute to the person who has passed away.

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Anatomy of a PowerPoint Presentation

The basic building block of a PowerPoint presentation is the slide a block of content the size of a computer screen that typically contains a title, some text, and perhaps a picture or chart. A PowerPoint presentation typically contains many slides.

Figure 1 illustrates a PowerPoint presentation made up of 30 slides. The default (Normal) view includes notes attached to the current slide, and a navigation panel on the left side that allows you to switch between a text outline and slide thumbnails.

Figure 1. PowerPoint's Normal view includes most of the information you need to assemble a presentation.

A fully loaded slide (see Figure 2 ) includes at most six parts:

Figure 2. All the components of a PowerPoint slide are shown here, with slide thumbnails in place of a text outline.

The title, which usually sits at the top of the slide.

Body text, the main part of the slide. More often than not, the text on a slide consists of a series of bulleted or numbered items. However, you can enter any kind of text in this part of a slide bullets and numbers are not required.

Some slides contain content in addition to text. You can add charts, tables, pictures, diagrams, and video clips to help illuminate your presentation.

Text and content sit inside resizable and movable containers called placeholders, which you can see if you click the text or graphic in the slide pane. PowerPoint help screens sometimes refer to the placeholder and the text or content it contains as a "text object" or a "graphic object."

If you choose to display the date and time, these items appear at the lower-left corner by default.

The footer, another optional element, appears by default at the bottom of the slide, in the middle.

Finally, you can choose to display a slide number; its default position is in the lower-right corner.

Most presentations begin with a title slide, which typically includes the title of the presentation, the speaker's name, and other introductory details. If you're planning a presentation as a class project, you might include the class name and number Sociology 101, for instance; for a presentation to a business or civic group, you might include your name and the name of the organization you represent. Other slides in a presentation can also be title slides you might use a title slide to introduce different portions of a long presentation, for example but in most cases, you'll have just one title slide in a presentation, and it will serve as the first slide.

Don't be confused by the terminology. A title slide is, in most cases, a slide that introduces a presentation. A slide title, on the other hand, is usually the first line on a slide.

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PowerPoint Slide Elements: Best Practices and Tips

• December 27, 2022
• 12 Comments

The Learning Hour* – Week 11 : PowerPoint Slide Elements

Posted by  Ashish Agarwal

A PowerPoint slide is the fundamental building block of a Presentation. A PowerPoint presentation is simply a collection of different slides arranged in a logical manner to effectively communicate a story.

So then, what are the main components of building a slide?  We look at the 5 most important elements which needs to be there on any slide.

1.  Slide Title

Always start creating a powerpoint slide with the Slide Title. Think of it as the key message or insight that you would like to present on the slide. Ideally , there should be only 1 main message on each slide. The slide title should be crisp and concise to effectively communicate the key message. It should be written in a powerful way such that the audience understands the message without having to read the main content of the slide. The slide title should present the slide synthesis of the main so what from the content on the slide. Remember, not a summary regurgitating the same facts which are on the slide but helping the audience move from facts to the most important so what from that single slide.

2. Charts/Graphs

There are a number of data related PowerPoint charts that is in-built to represent numerical information. Use them extensively to illustrate numbers and quantitative information. You can choose from a number of chart options like Line Chart, Pie Chart, Waterfall chart, Bubble Chart, etc. Be careful to use the right chart for the right data. Using the right charts for financial data helps to enhance the visual communication of the powerpoint slide. 

3. TEXT 

Gone are the days where you would use a PowerPoint slide to put lots of text on it. No one reads those slides anymore. Instead, use TEXT comments sparingly to only indicate the main point. Choose a big font size of at least 24 to ensure your audience can easily read the slides. If you must use bullets, not more than 3-5 bullets on a slide. You can also use Smart-Arts to represent text based information on the slide. Ensure you follow basic presentation tips that will make the reader engaged with reading the information on your slide.

4. Images/Icons

Use Images and Icons to reinforce a point and not just to jazz up the powerpoint slide. Images are a great way to capture the attention and effectively communicate with the audience. There are a number of websites that allow you to download high quality images and icons. So, make the most of them. Sometimes you many need a paid subscription to access these images but there are lots of free websites as well that will allow you stock images for free. 

5. Footnotes/Source:

Be sure to add any important footnotes or source on the slide. Footnotes and source complete a slide with any extra information that the audience should be aware of. If there is a source of information that you would want to call out on a slide, footnotes are the best place to put it. They serve to improve the authenticity of the presentation with the right attribution provided.

So as you can see, the above 5 elements are extremely crucial to make a slide in PowerPoint. These 5 elements are part of any slide and if we do each of them well, the overall slide looks compelling and helps us to convey the right piece of information to the audience.

What else do you use? Put your thoughts in the comments below.

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• 7 steps to building a compelling PowerPoint presentation
• Content hub

7 min read — by Amos Wong

How many times have you sat through a PowerPoint presentation that raised more questions than it answered? For instance, just look at the image shown above. Or how often have you seen slides so packed with information that you can’t even read them before the presenter has moved onto the next slide? If you have been in such situations, this blog is for you.

Avoiding these problems isn’t as simple as it seems when you’re creating a presentation from scratch and have a lot of information to present. The trick is to break it down into manageable pieces, starting with the broad overview and then circling in on the details. To help you do it, this article examines a 7-step process for building a compelling PowerPoint presentation, including how to structure it, lay out slides and create charts that support your message.

Learn more about how to build a better slide deck with our free eBook on PowerPoint best practices

1. Determine your presentation type

The first step in building your PowerPoint presentation is determining which type of presentation you’re giving. This helps clarify your overarching goal, while also influencing how you structure your slides.

Presentations typically fall under one or more of the following categories representing a continuum from light to heavy content:

• Key message presentations: This type of presentation is usually lighter in content and tells a persuasive story, such as a TED talk or pitch deck.
• Recurring reports: Recurring reports include more repetitive presentations like monthly reports or slide decks for team meetings. They often include more detail to document results, trends or activities.
• Insights and research outcomes: Presentations such as survey data or market trend reports distill information from large datasets into high-level conclusions.
• Documentation: This type of presentation provides detailed summaries of findings, typically with many charts and limited commentary depending on the audience.

2. Build your story

Your next step is to ask what message or story you want the audience to walk away with. With your top-level message in hand, you can then begin to structure your slide deck around it.

This is the essence of the Pyramid Principle , a strategy for creating effective business communications ubiquitous in the consulting world. With the Pyramid Principle, you lead with your most important idea, followed by supporting ideas and facts. If your conclusion is that Acme Company should enter a new market, say it up front. Then go through each supporting argument in order of relative strength.

An important corollary to the above is the MECE Principle , which stands for mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive.

Compared with presenting a laundry list of ideas, MECE is a way to group them in a way that covers all relevant points without overlap. Using MECE to organize and group your ideas ensures a logically sound argument, while making the information easier for your audience to absorb.

3. Write your action titles

Once you have a defined structure for your PowerPoint presentation, you can get down to creating your slides. One of the most important things to remember as you do this is that each slide should present exactly one idea summarized in a single action title. All information presented on the slide must support the action title, including any charts. It is also important to avoid including any visual or textual elements that may convey or imply a different or conflicting message apart from the one in the action title.

One common strategy is to first write action titles for each slide to ensure they tell a complete story on their own. From there, you can go back to each slide and add details such as bullet points and charts.

4. Use a clean layout and formatting

When creating slides, it is crucial to avoid overcrowding them with excessive information or elements that can create visual confusion. One way to approach this is to visualize your slide as a table, laying out elements in columns and rows. Commonly used slide layouts consist of either two to three or four quadrants, depending on the nature of the content and the desired visual representation. You’ll also want to consider:

• The rule of thirds: Placing elements at one-third or two-thirds from the edge of the slide, and particularly where these gridlines intersect, is a universal rule for building a visually appealing slide.
• White space: Resist the temptation to pack too much into your slides. Leaving sufficient white space is essential for readability and helping the audience take in each slide’s main point.
• Presentation type: Key message presentations will have less content on each slide, compared with documentation presentations that include more detail.
• Fonts: Use the same font color and size for titles and body text throughout your slide deck, ideally in a sans serif font like Arial. Titles should be 20 to 24 point size, with body text 12 to 18 point based on the amount of content on the slides.

5. Organize your bullet points

A long list of bullet points is confusing and hard for audiences to digest. Instead, stick to three or five bullets, with a maximum of seven. Again, avoid packing in too much information, and all text should support the action title.

To improve clarity, write bullet points using parallel structure. In other words, if one bullet is a sentence, all of them should be in sentence form. The same goes for using sentence fragments or individual words. Each bullet should start with the same part of speech (e.g., noun, verb, adjective).

6. Choose the right chart

All chart data should be relevant to the slide’s action title. Say It with charts by Gene Zelazny offers a useful approach to choosing your chart in three steps:

• Identify which aspect of the data your chart will highlight
• Determine what you’re comparing, whether it’s components, change over time or correlation
• Select your chart according to the comparison you’re trying to make

7. Format your chart

Once you create a basic chart, you’ll want to format and annotate it in a way that conveys your message without confusion. This means:

• Including a chart title that summarizes the data and aligns with the slide’s action title
• Labeling both the x-axis and the y-axis with measurement units
• Using color sparingly to highlight the chart’s conclusion, for example using muted tones with one key vertical bar highlighted in a bolder color
• Adding trendlines to charts that can visually indicate patterns or trends in the data, for example, CAGRs
• Displaying legends to help viewers understand the meaning of different colors, symbols, or patterns used in the chart

A PowerPoint add-in like think-cell can help you create better slide decks and charts faster. Dynamic charts, process flows, annotations and text boxes all help organize complex information into visually sophisticated presentations, so you can spend less time struggling with formatting and more time on building a compelling story.

Building a PowerPoint presentation from scratch can seem like a tall order. By breaking it down into manageable steps, however, you can streamline the process while ensuring your audience leaves with a clear understanding of your message.

How to apply the MECE principle to PowerPoint presentations

Learn about the MECE principle and examples of how to apply it, plus how to use it to create stronger PowerPoint presentations faster.

May 17, 2023 | 11 min read

Using the Pyramid Principle to build better PowerPoint presentations

Learn how to use the Pyramid Principle to create more effective PowerPoint presentations, including how to organize ideas, present data and clarify your message.

February 07, 2023 | 6 min read

Why you should change the way you think about PowerPoint

Presentations shape the conversations and decisions that move business forward. And by approaching them this way, you can accelerate your growth.

February 07, 2023 | 3 min read

Role of data visualization in business decision-making

Understanding the rapid processing of visual information by the brain has significant implications in the business world, particularly for decision makers. In this blog, we will delve into the pivotal role data visualization plays in business decision-making.

July 25, 2023 | 8 min read

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7.3: Preparing a Microsoft PowerPoint Collection for Presentation

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Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Add transitions to a presentation
• Add animations to objects and text boxes
• Use the tools in the Media command group
• Finalize your presentation for viewing
• Understand the hardware components of effective presentations
• Prepare for different types of presentations (in person, virtual, or hybrid)

You learned the basic workings of PowerPoint in Preparing Presentations. Now it’s time to learn how to turn those basic slides into a presentation that not only informs but also engages the audience. You want to create a presentation that’s seamless and easy to present from. For example, if you are giving an in-person presentation, you don’t want to have to stand by the computer and manually advance the slides. Also, since the My Life in a Snapshot presentation is a presentation about yourself, you want to convey that you are competent with PowerPoint.

Your supervisor told you today that you will need to record the presentation so that it can be shared with others at WorldCorp’s international office locations. In this section, you will acquire the skills to virtually automate your presentation while also including the key information you will need to keep you on track as you present in front of an audience.

Finally, you hope to be able to provide printed handouts to the participants in case they need the information later on. Integral to that is learning about other tabs in PowerPoint—namely, the Transitions, Animations, Slide Show, Record, and Review functions.

Transitions

The term transitions refers to the way one slide changes to the next slide. As you can see on the Transitions tab in Figure 7.20, there are many ways to move between slides. The Transition to the Slide command group contains options such as Fade, Split, and Shape. You can use the Timing command group tools to determine the duration of the slide on the screen, or how quickly the slides move (transition) from one to the next. A sound can be used as the slide transitions, or you can simply move to the next slide using a mouse click.

There are many transitions to choose from (Figure 7.21). For example, you can have a slide fade into the next slide or push one slide out of the way for the next one. You can have a slide zoom in from one side when moving to the next slide. But keep in mind that not all the options available are necessary or even professional. Overuse of distracting transitions can take away from the professionalism of a presentation. Choose a transition that works for your content and one that is not going to be too distracting to those viewing the slideshow and that is not irritating to you as the presenter. Look at the available options for slide transitions and see what they do when you advance to the next slide.

Practice with the transitions before you present in front of an audience. If a transition seems to take too much time or seems to stand out more than what you are discussing, you should select a different one. You can always choose to have no transition between the slides. This simply means when you advance the slide it will move fully to the next slide, with no special effects. You must apply the transition to each slide individually. Whatever you choose will not affect the entire presentation. To apply a transition to the current slide, simply click on the desired transition. The Preview command on the far left allows you to see how the transition works on the slide.

Stay focused on the message you are conveying, not on the way one slide transitions to the next. Always remember that just because you can do something does not mean you should. With transitions, follow the principle that less is more if you want to maintain a professional business look.

You will notice that the Transitions pane is organized by transition effect. For instance, the first command group, titled Subtle, contains Morph, Fade, Push, Wipe, Split, Reveal, and Cut. (It contains more options, but these are the most used.) A description of each is in Table 7.2. There are two other transition command groups: Exciting and Dynamic Content. These transitions are more animated and may not be appropriate for all presentations. But for certain types of presentations, such as sports media or sharing family photos in a slideshow, these transitions might work.

For our title slide in My Life in a Snapshot , let’s choose the Wipe transition. Notice in Figure 7.22 that when you choose a transition (other than “None”), the Preview tool will be available, as well as an Effect Options menu. Again, Preview allows you to see the transition in action. The Effect Options gives you additional modifications to the transition that you can apply to the slide. Keep in mind, any modifications are only on the current slide. You will need to apply the transition and the modification to all slides if you want it to be consistent throughout the presentation.

The last command group on the Transitions tab is Timing . Timing is where you can add sound to your slideshow, as well as choose how many seconds to move from one slide to the next. The arrow gives you many choices of prerecorded audio sounds, such as Applause, Explosion, and Wind, or you can choose a sound file from your computer. When selecting a sound, consider the audience, the presentation environment, as well as the intent: Is the sound relevant to the presentation? Does it enhance the presentation, or is it a distraction? You can apply the sound to the whole slide or to an object on the slide. For example, perhaps your slideshow was created to announce the winner of a competition. You can place a picture of the winner on a slide, and as it is revealed, it is accompanied by a round of applause. Again, use this option with caution, as your audience is not expecting to hear sudden sounds. This command group lets you set the duration of the sound as well. Additionally, you can set the way the slideshow advances, by clicking the mouse or automatically after a set amount of time.

Slides and presentations as a whole can also be enhanced with the addition of animations. An animation is a special effect added to objects and elements on a slide. They will apply only to that object, shape, or other element, not the entire slide. For example, you could choose to have a picture slowly fade away or come into view during the presentation when you are discussing a current slide. This could be impactful if you want to bring the audience’s attention to a particular element on a slide. As with other additions, keep in mind that these special effects should have a purpose and be used to enhance or draw attention to something in a presentation. They should not be overused to the extent of being distracting and taking away from the key message you are trying to convey on a slide.

Let’s look at the Animations tab in more detail to see the options you can use for elements on a slide. Figure 7.23 shows the choices available. The first command group is Preview. Click on this and you can see in advance the animations you have implemented. The second command group is Animation. Six choices are shown, including None. Click on the More arrow and thirteen additional movements appear, as well as some emphasis animations.

By scrolling down, you will also see other animation options, including Exit Effects and Motion Paths (Figure 7.24).

To add an animation to your presentation, click on a text box or an object, and then choose an animation from the menu. Next, in the Timing command group, click the drop-down arrow for Start. You can leave it at Start on Click, or you can choose Start With Previous or Start After Previous. You need to choose when the animation will start.

Not all animations need to be dramatic or used for emphasis. For example, you can make a bullet list appear one bullet at a time, as opposed to having the whole list appear at once. You can have the first bullet appear, talk about it, and when you are ready, click the mouse again to have the second bullet appear, and so on. This can help you control the flow of the discussion by limiting what your audience sees on the screen. For consistency, you should use the same animation for each of the bullet points in the list.

We can use this approach to add animations to the bulleted list in our My Life in a Snapshot presentation. We used a bulleted list in the Strengths & Skills slide; let’s apply an animation there.

To begin, click on the bulleted list to select it. Then go the Animations tab and choose an appropriate animation. For this example, let’s choose Appear, so that the bullet will simply appear based on the settings you choose in the Timings command group (see Figure 7.25). Notice when an animation is added to an object or text box, the Preview tool is available on the left of the screen, as is a numbered list to the left of each item in the bulleted list. These numbers allow you to adjust the settings for each of the bullet points in the list. When you add an animation, there are also adjustments that can be made through the Effect Options drop-down list. The list can appear as one object, all at once, or by paragraph.

You need to adjust the settings for each bullet so that one will follow the other. You can choose to have the bullet appear after a certain amount of time or when you click. For now, let’s set it up so that the bullet points will appear when you click, because you are not yet sure how long to talk about each one. For the first bullet point, “Situational awareness,” the animation will start On Click, which you choose from the drop-down menu in the Timing command group as shown in Figure 7.26. This will be the setting for each bullet. Selecting the small number to the left of the bullet allows you to change the settings for each animation individually.

The other options in the Timing command group allow you to set the timing for the animation and the delay as you move from one animation to the next. For this example, we left those at their default values and will simply use either the mouse or the Enter key to click when we want to have the next bullet appear. Use the Preview tool to make sure the animation is working.

The remaining command groups on the Animations tab are Advanced Animations and Timing (Figure 7.27). In the Advanced Animations command group, you can control the Trigger for when slides transition. It could be a click of the mouse or after a certain amount of time. In a presentation where you might be in a large room and not close to the laptop or computer, having slides automatically advance might be helpful, although you will need to be aware of how much time you have for each slide and make sure that you do not expect interruptions until the end of the presentation. In this case, you will want to ask the audience to hold all questions until you are finished with the presentation. Finally, if you are one presenter of several during a session and you have very strict time requirements, the timing tools can help keep you on track.

Clicking on the first command, Add Animation, opens the same window that you see when you click on More in the Animations group. At the bottom of the animation illustrations is a list. You can click on More Entrance Effects, More Emphasis Effects, More Exit Effects, or More Motion Paths.

Another command in this Advanced group is Animation Pane. When you select this tool, a pane opens on the right side of the screen that lists all the animations on the slide. Here you can play the animations or make changes. The other commands include Trigger and Animation Painter. Trigger governs when an animation begins, while Animation Painter is similar to Format Painter in that it copies an animation to another object.

The timer on the Animations tab refers to the timing options available for animations applied to objects or elements on a slide. The timer allows you to control when and how the animations occur during a slideshow presentation. On the far right of the Animations tab, you will find the Timing group. Select an object or element on a slide and apply an animation to it. Once selected, you can access the timer options to specify the timing and duration of the animation. Table 7.3 summarizes the options.

By adjusting these timer options, you can precisely control the timing and behavior of animations on your slides, ensuring they align with your desired presentation flow and visual effects.

While it may be fun to animate all kinds of things in your presentation, remember that it is your message that matters. Audiences can easily get distracted or fascinated by animations and not pay attention to the substance of the presentation. Therefore, it is important to use animations judiciously and purposefully to enhance, rather than distract from, your content. Animations in PowerPoint can be effective tools for emphasizing key points, guiding the audience’s focus, or adding visual interest. However, it is essential to strike a balance between engaging animations and maintaining the clarity and effectiveness of your message. Here are a few best practices to consider:

• Keep it relevant: Only use animations that directly support or enhance the content of your presentation. Avoid using excessive or flashy animations that serve no real purpose, as they can overshadow your message.
• Enhance comprehension: Use animations to aid in the understanding of complex concepts or processes. For example, you can use animations to sequentially reveal steps or demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships.
• Use sparingly: Don’t apply animations to every element on every slide. Selectively choose elements that truly benefit from animation to avoid overwhelming the audience or diluting the impact of your message.
• Prioritize readability: Ensure that animated text or objects remain easily readable and don’t become distorted or hard to follow. Consider the size, font, and colors used in your animations to maintain legibility.
• Practice timing: Fine-tune the timing of your animations to maintain a smooth flow throughout the presentation. Avoid animations that are too fast or too slow, as they can disrupt the natural pace of your delivery.
• Rehearse and gather feedback: Before delivering your presentation, rehearse with the animations to ensure they enhance your overall delivery. Seek feedback from trusted colleagues or friends to gauge if the animations effectively support your message or if they become distractions.

Remember, the primary goal of your presentation is to convey a clear and impactful message. While animations can be engaging, they should never overshadow or detract from the substance of your content. Strive for a harmonious balance between captivating visuals and a compelling message to create a memorable and effective presentation.

Media Command Group

The Media command group is used to add audio or video media to the presentation. There might be instances where you would want to add a short clip of a video or audio to enhance the presentation of a topic. For example, in your role in the marketing department at WorldCorp, you might want to share a clip of a new radio ad campaign, or a short video showing some concepts for new ads to be placed on the website for a new line of products. You can do this by embedding various media types into a slideshow presentation. The Media command group is located all the way on the right side of the Insert ribbon tab. You have three options to choose from, as shown in Figure 7.28: video, audio, and screen recording. The screen recording option will allow you to record your computer screen and insert it into your presentation.

Let’s add a video to our kayaking slide. We have the option of adding a video that we have created ourselves, a stock video that is already available in PowerPoint, or a video that is available online, such as from YouTube. You will want to consider the source of your media, as well as how you will be presenting this material. For instance, is the media file linked to the internet? If so, you will want to ensure you have internet connectivity in order to play the video. For this example, let’s search stock videos for a kayaking video to insert into the slide. As a word of caution: do not overuse these tools. Consider only the additions that will enhance the presentation content. Not every slide should include media, and not all presentations are appropriate for media.

To add media to a slide, select the slide for the addition. In this case, insert the video on the Background slide. Go to the Insert tab and click on the Media command group. Select Video, then select Stock Videos from the menu (Figure 7.29). In the search bar, type “kayak” to locate a kayaking video to insert onto the slide. Once the video is on your slide, you have the option to resize it (Figure 7.30).

Once the video is inserted into the slide, it will automatically play when you get to that slide in the presentation. However, you can change this through the Playback tab that becomes available on the ribbon when the video is selected (Figure 7.31). It is important to preview the video before presenting or sending the presentation to others. Previewing the video in your presentation ensures that it meets your expectations, enhances your message, and delivers a seamless viewing experience to your audience. It allows you to proactively address any issues, improve the overall quality, and ensure a successful presentation. Notice there are several options available on the Playback tab. Experiment with the settings to see which ones appeal to you most and give the slides a professional appearance.

Finalizing Your Slideshow

Before you complete your presentation, you should give it a final review so you can see exactly how it will appear to your audience. It is also important to practice your presentation and consider the other, nondigital elements involved in a presentation, such as monitoring the length of your presentation and interacting with the audience.

By accessing the Slide Show tab, as shown in Figure 7.32, you can view the complete presentation from start to finish. The first command group in this tab is called Start Slide Show, and you can choose From Beginning or From Current Slide, and the presentation will do just that. This is a wonderful way to preview all the transitions and animations you have added, as they will appear to the audience. Next, you can choose the option to Present in Teams, which we covered in Essentials of Software Applications for Business. You need to be logged into your Microsoft account to use this option. The next command is Custom Slide Show, which allows you to choose the slides to use in the show. This is a helpful option should you need to shorten the presentation.

Next you can choose the Rehearse with Coach tool, which allows you to practice the presentation and get feedback in real time. This tool will listen for things such as using “uh” or “um” in the presentation as well as how fast you are speaking. Not only will the tool give you a summary of items related to your speaking skills, but it will also provide you with some strategies for improvement. You will need to have the microphone enabled on your computer to use this feature. This is a helpful tool as you work to develop your skills presenting in front of a group.

The next set of commands is in the Set Up command group. Rehearsing the timing, playing narration, and other options are controlled through the tools in this command group. These tools allow you to fine-tune your presentation options. Clicking on the Set Up Slide Show button, for example, opens a menu with a number of different settings, as shown in Figure 7.33.

As you can see, you can set the Show type as either presented by a speaker in full screen mode, browsed by an individual in window mode, or browsed at a kiosk in full screen mode. The default setting is presenting full screen, where you can click through the slides as you present them. The window mode setting allows you to present with the slides in a resizable window rather than in full screen. Finally, the kiosk setting is used when you want to run the presentation continuously, such as at a company event. For example, suppose you want to have a new marketing campaign available for employees to view at an internal conference. By choosing the kiosk setting, the slideshow could run automatically and continuously until you turn it off.

The Set Up Slide Show tool also gives you the option to Hide a slide, Rehearse the timing, or Record the slideshow. Other options in this window require just checking the appropriate boxes, such as Keep Slides Updated, Play Narration, and so on.

The last command group on the Slide Show tab is Captions & Subtitles. The tools here allow you to turn on and modify the captions and/or subtitles in your slideshow. You can determine where you would like the subtitles to be placed—for example, at the top of the slide.

When adjusting the caption and subtitle preferences on a Mac, you will be directed to your operating system’s Accessibility settings.

If you need to record the presentation to send to others or even for your own viewing, you will find the tools you need in the Record tab (Figure 7.34). This feature in PowerPoint allows you to capture your presentation, either from the beginning or starting from a specific slide, and customize the recording options (Figure 7.35).

In Recording Options, you can choose whether to record the entire presentation from the beginning or start recording from a specific slide. This flexibility is helpful if you want to focus on specific sections or if you have already recorded part of the presentation and want to continue from where you left off. PowerPoint allows you to record audio along with your presentation. You can use a microphone to narrate your slides and explain concepts, making the recording more engaging and informative. This feature is particularly useful for online training sessions, narrated presentations, or self-paced learning materials.

In addition to audio recording, PowerPoint offers screen recording functionality. This enables you to capture actions on your screen, such as demonstrating software usage, showcasing a website, or walking through a step-by-step process. Screen recording can enhance the clarity and understanding of your presentation, especially when visual demonstrations are involved. After you complete the recording, you can export it as a video file. This video can be shared with others, uploaded to video hosting platforms, or embedded in websites or learning management systems. Exporting the recording as a video makes it more accessible and shareable across different devices and platforms. During the recording process, you can add private notes to your slides to help guide you through the presentation. These notes are only visible to you and serve as personal reminders or prompts while delivering the presentation. They are not included in the recorded presentation itself.

The Review tab, as shown in Figure 7.36, is used primarily when you are collaborating on a presentation with someone else or incorporating feedback on your draft slides. However, this tab still offers valuable resources if you are creating your presentation on your own. The first command group in this tab is Proofing. As with any document you produce, it is essential that you proofread everything, including text, figure captions, and any handouts you may have for the participants.

The presentation and handouts should reflect your professionalism and attention to detail. But, you should not rely solely on the spell check tool to find all the errors. Among other things, spell check often does not identify spelling errors in proper names or words that are spelled correctly but used incorrectly. Additionally, errors will be much more noticeable when they are displayed on a large-format screen. It’s easy to overlook errors in our own work, so be sure to have a friend or coworker review the slides to look for errors.

All of the proofing options can be set before you begin writing. This is done by choosing File, Options, and then Proofing. These options are similar to what we covered in Essentials of Software Applications for Business.

Link to Learning

Proofreading a presentation can be much different from proofreading a document. This article on the importance of proofreading presentations addresses how to effectively proofread PowerPoint presentations.

The Thesaurus tool is helpful when you write the dialog that will accompany the slideshow, as it will offer alternatives to the words you have used in the presentation. For example, we used the word “hometown” in our background slide. When we click on that word and choose Thesaurus from the Review tab, a pane will open on the right offering alternative words that are similar to “hometown” (Figure 7.36). This tool can come in handy if you find yourself using the same words multiple times in a presentation. You can vary the words used and still convey the same message.

On Mac, this command is found in the PowerPoint menu, then Preferences, then Proofing.

As in other Microsoft products, the Review tab is also where you can find tools for collaboration and commenting. (PowerPoint does not allow users to track changes.) We discuss a workaround for this in the Compare section. When working with others to produce a presentation, your colleagues have the option of adding comments to it. To do this, open the Review tab, then click on a word in the place where you want the comment to appear, and then click on New Comment. As you can see in the example slide in Figure 7.37, the Comments pane opens to the right. After you type the comment and click Enter, a reply text box becomes available. You, or anyone else with permission to work on the presentation, can enter a reply to the comment here.

Notice that a callout symbol opens in the place where you want the comment to apply. You can move the callout symbol around on the slide without affecting the content of the comment.

Unlike Word, PowerPoint does not offer a tracking function. However, you can use the Compare command, also found under the Review tab, as a workaround to tracking changes. To use this tool, you will need to have different versions of the presentation saved. The Compare command then will look for differences between the two files, and you can either decide one by one to accept (or reject) each change or accept (or reject) all the changes/differences between the two files.

To see how the Compare command works, let’s use the presentation we created in the previous chapter, along with the updated version we have created thus far in this chapter. Here we have saved the previous chapter presentation as “version 1” and the current presentation as “version 2.” Note that the different versions of the presentations must have different names. To begin, choose the Compare command from the Review tab and find the “version 1” file you are going to use to compare to the current version (Figure 7.38). Then click Open, and you will notice that you now have access to other tools available in the Compare command group on the Review tab. You can use the tools and the pane on the right of the screen to scroll through the differences between the two files and determine if you want to accept or reject the changes. You can choose to accept or reject the changes for each individual slide, or you can accept or reject them for the entire presentation as you move through the comparisons (Figure 7.39).

Printing a Presentation

Sometimes, as a presenter, you may wish to print your presentation as a handout for the audience. You could provide the slides as a handout prior to the presentation so that the participants can take their own notes on the information, or offer them to participants as they exit the presentation. PowerPoint gives you many options for accomplishing this. On the File menu, click Print, and you will see a familiar pop-up menu, as shown in Figure 7.40 and Figure 7.41.

The Print All Slides option allows you to print the whole presentation, to print just the current slide on the screen, or to selectively print only the slides you want. The Print Full Page Slides option brings up a menu of layouts so you can print anywhere from two to nine slides to a page and can indicate whether you want them to appear in a horizontal or vertical format. You may also choose to print the Notes page and the outline. These can be helpful as you rehearse your presentation.

Other Considerations Before Presenting

In addition to the practical aspects of your slideshow—such as how the slides appear to your audience, what media to include, and how to print your slides—there are other, less tangible things to consider before showing your slide collection to an audience. These include the length of your presentation, audience interaction, notetaking, and accessibility.

Presentation Length

When constructing and preparing for a presentation, you need to know how much time is allotted for the talk. Is your presentation the main component of the meeting, or will several others also be presenting? Knowing how much time you have to present will dictate how much information and, in turn, how many slides you will have in the slideshow. Keep in mind that you should not overuse slides. You are the main part of the presentation. The slides are there to enhance and support what you are saying by keeping the audience engaged and conveying the main points you want to get across. They should not contain all the content you are sharing. The optimal number of slides depends on the content you are sharing. For example, if you are sharing complicated data in an informational presentation, you will need more slides to break up the material. If you are giving an inspirational presentation, you may need fewer slides, most of which should be images rather than text.

A good strategy is to use allotted time to determine the number of slides. As a rule of thumb, each slide should be on the screen for about a minute, so a ten-minute presentation would have about ten slides. Of course, this can vary based on the type of information contained on the slides. The audience might need more than a minute to digest and understand data and graphs on a slide, whereas they may need only fifteen or twenty seconds to get the full effect of a slide consisting entirely of pictures. Practice your presentation; you may want to have someone track the time, or you can simply set a timer on your phone. You could use the timer to gauge how long you need to spend on each slide. You may even want to have this timer displayed on your laptop screen close to your speaker’s notes so it will be in your line of sight. If you run out of time before you have discussed all of the slides, you will know that you have too many slides. At that point, you can consider either removing some slides altogether or merging information on two or more slides onto a single slide.

Audience Interaction and Questions

When you give a presentation, it is likely that there will be questions from the audience (Figure 7.42). During your preparation phase, brainstorm a list of questions that might be asked or areas where you think more clarification will be needed.

Consider creating a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page to distribute to the audience for questions that you feel are likely to be asked. You might even have a friend or family member listen to the presentation and ask you tough questions. This exercise will not only help prepare you to answer tough questions but can also help you maintain your composure if someone challenges you in front of the group. If that happens, you should remain professional and not respond defensively to questions or challenges from participants. You may even want to encourage interaction and questions from the audience. Take a bit of time to plan ahead for how you will interact with the audience and address questions from participants. You can certainly ask the audience to hold all questions until the end of the presentation, but be aware that this often reduces engagement, and you may find that you have no questions at all at the end of the presentation—only silence. If you want to hold questions until the presentation is over, you might ask a colleague or friend to be prepared to ask a question that will get the conversation started. Sometimes participants will be more engaged after the first question, so having a “plant” in the audience to ask the first question can get things moving.

Also consider a strategy where you have audience interaction from the beginning and encourage questions during the presentation. One effective way to set the stage for having a dialog with the audience during the presentation is to start by posing a question to participants. This can be very general—“How is everyone this morning?”—or it can be something specific related to the presentation you are about to give. Amir’s introduction presentation for WorldCorp conveys his leadership skills and his passion for kayaking, so he might start by asking who in the audience enjoys water sports or what characteristics make a good leader. All of these ideas will set the stage for a more interactive presentation. Figure 7.43 outlines some other tips and strategies for handling audience questions.

Speaker’s Notes

You can convey a more professional and well-prepared appearance in front of a group if you present without holding note cards or note pages during the presentation. However, it may be helpful for you to have a few notes visible to keep you on track during the presentation or to capture details such as sales figures that you want to be sure to quote exactly. This is where speaker’s notes can come into play. In Normal view, you can see the space for notes at the bottom of the slide (Figure 7.44). If you do not see the Notes section at the bottom of the slide, you can click on the Notes button from the View tab. When you add your notes, they will appear as shown below the slide (Figure 7.45). Click to add the details and click Save.

When you present your slideshow, do so using Presenter’s View . Make sure you check the box found on the Slide Show ribbon. Your notes will appear on your laptop but not on the projection screen. Your audience will not see your notes.

Accessibility and Languages

An additional consideration when preparing a slide presentation is making sure the information and format of the presentation can be understood by all of your viewers. The Check Accessibility tool in PowerPoint functions in the same way that it does in Word. This feature can be set to continue running while you are creating the presentation. It will look for items that might cause accessibility issues, such as color contrast and font size, and offer suggestions for correcting the issues. For example, the tool might find that there is not enough contrast between the background color and the text color, making the text hard to read. Or it may flag text in a table as being unreadable due to it being too small. The Accessibility tool will also indicate if images have appropriate alt tags associated with them.

You may also have speakers of other languages in your audience. The Translate tool, found in the Review tab, can be helpful if you need to make the material available in a language other than the one you wrote the slideshow in. The Translate tool can be used to translate the entire presentation or just the current slide. (If you speak a language other than English yourself, you can also set the default language to be different from English when typing in content to the slides.) A word of caution for relying solely on the Translate tool: like the spell check tool, it may not be completely accurate and should be reviewed by a person. It would be beneficial to have a proficient speaker of the language review the translation for accuracy before you share the presentation. As WorldCorp operates globally, this tool can be useful when sharing information with the company’s international divisions.

Room Setup and Technology

You will likely be presenting with several types of technology, including the laptop on which you created the slideshow, monitors, audio equipment, and others. As part of your preparation process, make sure you understand the environment in which you will be presenting. If you can, visit the physical space in advance and see how the room will be set up. This may mean you will need to make time to come to the room on a day prior to your presentation or to show up early on the same day to familiarize yourself with the room and technology.

When you are there, you should be looking at how the audience will be arranged in relation to you as the speaker, as well as the setup of the technology. You will also want to know what the “speaker space” looks like. Will you have space at the front of the room to walk back and forth a bit, or will you be restricted to standing behind a podium or sitting at a computer terminal? You will also want to test the acoustics in the room. You will want to know if your voice level will be appropriate or if a microphone will be needed. Another item to consider is how you will manage printed handouts for the audience if you have incorporated these into the presentation. Will the room setup give you easy access so you can distribute the handouts, or will you need to have them available as participants enter the space? You may want to consider asking a colleague to be responsible for passing out the materials.

The point is to be prepared and know the space before giving your presentation. This will not only set your mind at ease if you are nervous, but it will convey a level of professionalism during the presentation. Coming unprepared for the layout of the room can add an unnecessary layer of stress and confusion when giving an important presentation.

It is even more advantageous if you can view your slideshow in the space you will be presenting in. Put your slides up on the display screen and go to the back of the room to see how they look. Often, how slides appear on the computer or laptop screen may not be how they show up on a large projector screen or a large monitor. By previewing the slides from the back of the room, you can determine if changes are needed to color schemes or font sizes to make the slides more readable from that distance.

Being prepared for the various technologies you will encounter is also important. Some technologies you can provide yourself, such as a slide clicker. A slide clicker , or presentation remote, is a tool that can pair with your laptop and allow you to click through your slides from a distance. Some remotes also include laser pointers , so you can point to things on your slides from a distance. If the slide clicker has a laser pointer included, make sure you know how to use the pointer and think about how you might incorporate it into your presentation. You may also have several audio options available to you. Using a lapel microphone , or a mic that clips onto your shirt, will allow you to move freely about the room. However, some spaces may only have a microphone at a podium, so you will need to stand in one place to use it. Your approach to the presentation will likely change if you have to click the slides at the computer and be at a podium for the microphone. There is more flexibility to move about the room when giving a presentation if you have a slide clicker and lapel microphone.

It is also a good idea to test each piece of equipment to make sure it is functional and that you know how to use the technology. It can be embarrassing to be in a situation where the technology is not working or you do not know how to use the devices. Many venues and companies will have a person assigned to address technology issues during presentations. This could be someone from the information technology department or someone else who is familiar with the room and the technology. It is a good idea to find out if that person will be in the room during your presentation or available quickly if needed.

Some additional technology considerations include issues of compatibility between your file and the computer available in the room. We see this often when going from a Mac to a Windows environment. Make sure your file is saved in a format that will be universally accessible. Often, saving your file in PDF format ensures it can be accessed on a variety of platforms. (You can review how to do this in Essentials of Software Applications for Business.) It is also a good idea to have your presentation file saved in multiple locations, for example, on the hard drive of your laptop, in One Drive, and on an external storage device such as a flash drive, in case the internet is inaccessible. You may also want to email yourself a copy of the file so that you can access it that way if necessary.

There is no expectation that you are a computer expert, but preparing and having a backup plan in place can help ease your mind and reduce some stress associated with giving a big presentation. Also, if you know you will have challenges with technology, be sure to let the meeting organizer know so they can be prepared to help or have someone who can assist if needed.

Types of Presentations

With the technology available today, it is likely that you will be a part of a meeting that has virtual participants. Many meetings will still be conducted fully in person with all participants in the same room, but it is becoming more common for meetings to be either fully virtual or hybrid, with some in-person participants and some online participants. Your preparation for such a meeting can vary based on the type of presentation you will be giving. Most of our discussion so far has been centered on fully in-person presentations with the speaker and the audience in the same physical space. If you will be part of a meeting where some or all will be participating virtually, there are other items to consider.

Fully Virtual Meetings

Let’s first consider a fully virtual meeting, where you as the speaker as well as the participants are online. Virtual presentations can be even more impactful and beneficial due to various web conferencing tools that can enhance the presentation, like polls and other tools. This could be using a program such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams . Each participant will join the meeting space via the internet and while being physically in their own space. If you have had online courses, you may have already experienced such a meeting and may have a good idea about some of the potential challenges and benefits. For example, a fully virtual meeting can be accessible for everyone who has the technology needed to attend. In some cases, you can also share more content in a virtual meeting than in an in-person meeting through the chat feature and other document sharing options. The chat feature also allows a bit more audience interaction, as all participants can post questions and comments in the chat. Finally, you may find an online presentation less stressful than an in-person event because you do not have to stand in front of a crowd but can be in a familiar, comfortable space such as your own office.

However, virtual presentation s also pose numerous challenges. First, it is much harder to keep the audience engaged, especially if participants do not have their cameras on. You can politely request participants keep their cameras on during the presentation, but that does not automatically mean they are more engaged or that they will comply. And this can be hard to manage as the speaker if there is a large audience. Think about times that you have participated in an online class or meeting. You may be doing other things such as checking email or dealing with issues at home during the meeting/class. One way to combat this in an online meeting is to set up breakout sessions/groups where the participants interact with one another in a small group setting. You can also use the chat feature or conduct a live poll to encourage audience participation. As the speaker, you will need to make an active effort to engage participants. This can start even before the actual presentation begins.

For example, you might send participants a questionnaire beforehand and address those questions during the presentation. Or you can survey participants to identify key topics they would like you to address. Finally, if you ask participants to pre-register, you will have a list of their names if you want to address them individually during the presentation.

Preparing for a virtual presentation is the same in many ways as preparing for a fully in-person talk. For example, preparing your slides is the same, but you may be able to include a bit more text on each slide because participants will have the slides right in front of them. You will still need to prepare and practice with the technology. Be sure you know how to mute and unmute participants and how to share your screen with the audience so they can see the slides. These settings may be different depending on the software you are using to present, whether it is Zoom, Google Meet, Webex, or another program. You need to make sure your online connectivity is dependable and that you have good sound quality as you are speaking. You will need to test the camera on your computer in the space that you will be in. Look at the lighting in the room and see how it looks on the screen. Keep your camera at eye level and examine how you are spaced in the video screen. You do not want to be either too close to the camera or too far away; either will make it harder to hear what you are saying. To reduce distractions, turn off on-screen notifications for any apps installed on your computer. (For example, make sure that participants won’t hear a “ding” every time you get an email.) Make sure your presentation environment is a quiet, professional space, with minimal distractions. You probably do not want unwanted guests, such as your cat or dog, making their appearance during the presentation. Look at the background the audience will see behind you. Many virtual presentation platforms have tools that allow you to blur and change the background for a more professional appearance. Make sure you are focused on the camera and the presentation. You do not want to give the impression that you too are distracted and not engaged, especially when you are the speaker.

Additionally, consider setting expectations for the audience at the very beginning of the presentation. Do you want participants to put their questions in the chat, or would you like them to use features such as the “raise hand” icon to indicate they have a question? Will you have breakout sessions during the talk? Ask participants to turn on their cameras and mute themselves, and then let them know if the session is being recorded. Addressing these items at the beginning of the presentation will help avoid distractions later.

Finally, decide how you are going to monitor the chat during the presentation. Will you be answering questions and comments while you are speaking? It may be a better idea to ask a colleague to be responsible for monitoring the chat and the participants for relevant questions and comments. That way, you can focus on presenting without the added stress of keeping track of the chat.

Hybrid Presentations

Hybrid presentations, where some participants are in-person and others are virtual, pose additional challenges. As much as possible, try to set the stage so that all participants have a similar experience and walk away with the same information. However, you cannot control all the nuances of a hybrid presentation , starting with the risk that online participants will feel left out of the conversation. Extra care will be needed to make sure the virtual participants are fully engaged. At the beginning of the session, acknowledge and welcome those who are online. When you are speaking to a hybrid group of participants, it is important to make eye contact with both groups. Make sure to focus attention on the virtual participants on the screen as much as those who are in the room. Again, asking participants to keep their cameras on will help keep them engaged in the meeting. Remind yourself (or a helper) to check regularly for raised hands and chat comments during the presentation. When a comment is posed in the chat by a virtual participant, read the comment aloud for the in-person audience. If you are using breakout rooms during the session, include virtual participants in the activity and combine groups so there is interaction between both in-person and virtual participants. Consider displaying the virtual participants on a large screen so the in-person audience can see them.

It is impossible to anticipate all the hiccups that can happen during a presentation. With careful planning beforehand, however, you can be prepared for many of the likely issues and feel less anxiety when speaking in front of a group, whether in person or virtual.

Creating a real-time poll during your presentation can help increase engagement during a virtual or hybrid presentation. Instructions on how to create a poll in Zoom are given on the Zoom platform.

Slide Layouts in PowerPoint – Everything You Need to Know!

By: Author Shrot Katewa

If you want to make great presentations, and you are not a design wizard, slide layouts can come in really handy! It is a great place to start designing your presentation. If you are beginning your journey with PowerPoint, you may wonder, what is slide layout in PowerPoint?

Slide Layouts in PowerPoint are pre-created slide designs that allow you to quickly and easily add text, headings, images, tables, etc. By default, PowerPoint provides 9 slide layouts (including a blank slide). PowerPoint also allows you to easily add, edit and delete slide layouts.

So, where can you find these slide layouts? How do you format them? Well, in this article, I will share with you all the basic details that you need to know in order to get started with using and understanding the slide layouts in PowerPoint!

So, let’s get started!

1. What is a Slide Layout in PowerPoint? 

A slide on PowerPoint can contain several elements including text, shapes, tables, images, headers, footers. In fact, there may be more than one same type of element present on a single slide. When you start creating a presentation, you are basically using some of these elements to share an inspiring story or an important piece of information.

However, the aesthetics of the slide are determined by how well you lay out these elements on the slide. If you have fairly good design skills, you will easily be able to create an aesthetically pleasing slide! For the rest of us, slide layouts are the way to go!

In Microsoft PowerPoint, a “Slide Layout” refers to the way certain elements (such as text box, image, table, etc) are arranged on the slide. A slide layout is a pre-designed slide format with placeholders that allow you to add text, images, and other elements quickly to the slide.

Using slide layout and master slides, you can also control the color scheme of the presentation, type of fonts, effects, background, headers, footers, and other aspects of presentation design.

This functionality in PowerPoint that allows various pre-created designs to be added to a presentation is often leveraged by corporations. Organizations often create templates and not only control the way presentations look and feel, but also save time for their employees by providing them with various slide design options out of the box!

Pre-set slide layouts are amazing as they allow you to create or use PowerPoint presentation templates. These are pre-designed slide bundles that not only look great on a presentation even when used by a non-designer but also save time for the user of these templates.

For this article, I will be using one of the presentation templates from Envato Elements . With Envato Elements, you get access to thousands of presentation designs with unlimited downloads so you never run out of options again. Plus, you get free previews so you know exactly what you’re getting before buying! It is also very affordable.

2. Where is the Slide Layout in PowerPoint? 

To get quick access to the different layouts of your PowerPoint presentation, click on the ‘Layout’ button in the ‘Slides’ section of the ‘Home’ tab . By clicking on the ‘Layout’ button you will see the various slide layouts present in your presentation.

How to Access Slide Layouts in PowerPoint?

To get complete access to all the Slide Layouts in your PowerPoint so that you can edit them, you have to go to the ‘Master Views’ section under the ‘View’ tab. The whole process is described in the steps mentioned below.

Step-1: Go to the ‘View’ Tab

The first step is to go to the ‘View’ tab which is the second to last tab in the ribbon of your PowerPoint.

Step-2: Go to the ‘Slide Master’ view

In the next step, all you have to do is click on the ‘Slide Master’ view option in the ‘Master Views’ section which is located in the ‘Views’ tab.

By clicking on the ‘Slide Master’ viewing option, you will be taken to the Slide Layout view of the PowerPoint presentation.

Related Article – Slide View Options in PowerPoint! [A Complete Guide!]

Here, you will notice that the menu options change. Furthermore, you now have access to the different shape, image and text placeholders present on the slide. You will be able to move these placeholders and get complete access to the slide layout.

3. How to Change the Slide Layout in PowerPoint? 

You can change the Slide Layout of a slide in your PowerPoint presentation by using the Quick access ‘Layout’ option in the ‘Home’ tab of the ribbon. The process is described in 2 easy steps below.

Step-1: Select the Slide first

At first, you have to go to the slide you want to change the layout of and then click on the ‘Layout’ button in the ‘Slides’ section of the ‘Home’ tab. This will open a drop-down menu of all the slide layouts in your presentation.

Step-2: Click on Layout and Select a Different Layout

After clicking on the ‘Layout’ button, from the drop-down menu, simply select the layout that you want the slide to change into and the layout of that slide will be changed instantly.

4. How to Apply Slide Layout to All Slides? 

Applying slide layout to all slides could mean a couple of things –

• You want to make a change that applies to all slide layouts OR
• You want a specific slide layout to be applied to all slides.

Whatever the case may be, we shall understand both in greater detail below –

4.1 How to Make a Change that Applies to All Slide Layouts

There are certain changes that you sometimes need to apply to all slides. For instance, adding a slide number, adding a company disclaimer, or a company logo.

To apply a change to all slide layout, you will have to edit the ‘Master Slide’ .

You will first need to access the “ Master Slides ” using the “ Slide Master View “. To do that, simply click on “ View “, then click on “ Slide Master “. (as described in the previous sections)

It is the first slide in the ‘Slide Master’ view option which you can find, as discussed earlier, in the ‘Views’ tab.

By applying a change to the ‘Master Slide’ the change will be added to all the other slides in the presentation as well. After going to the ‘Slide Master’ views, follow the simple steps described below.

In the following example, I’m going to add a “Star” (that shall act as a logo) to the top-right corner of the master slide.

Step-1: Apply the change in the ‘Master Slide’ layout.

To apply slide layout to all the slides, make the change that you want to have on the ‘Master Slide’ . In this case I have added a star on the top right corner of the Slide.

Step-2: Send the applied changes to the background

To keep the change, you have made on the background of every slide as a layout, ‘Right click’ on the objects and click on the ‘Send to back’ option from the drop-down menu.

That way, the object will be applied to the background of all the slides and the texts will be visible on top of the logo or the element added.

4.2 How to Apply Specific Slide Layout to All Slides?

If you want to apply a particular slide layout to all slides, follow the below mentioned steps –

Step 1 – Select All Slides

The first step is to select all the slides. To do that, first click on any one slide. Then, press the “ Ctrl+A ” (Cmd+A for Mac) key combination on your keyboard to select all slides.

Step 2 – Change the Slide Layout

The next step is simply choosing the layout that you want to apply to all slides. To do that, first click on “Home”. Then, click on “Layouts” and choose a layout from the array of slide layouts presented by PowerPoint.

As soon as you select a slide layout, PowerPoint will apply it to all slides.

5. What is the Default PowerPoint Slide Layout? 

The default PowerPoint Slide Layout is the style of layout that the Microsoft PowerPoint software provides you out-of-the-box when you open a new PowerPoint file.

The default layout consists of 9 styles of slides which are:

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

6. How to Edit Slide Layout in PowerPoint? 

To edit a slide Layout, you have to use the ‘Slide Master’ view as discussed earlier in the article and follow the simple steps given below.

Step-1: Go to the layout you want to change in the ‘Master Slides’ view

The first step is to go to the ‘Slide Master’ view in the ‘View’ tab and click on the Layout that you want to edit.

Step-2: Make the preferred edits to the layout

Now, all you have to do is make the preferred edits in the selected layout. After making the edits, the element of the layout will be changed accordingly in the ‘Layout’ option in the ‘Slides’ section of the ‘Home’ tab and all the slides that are using that layout.

Related Article – How to Edit Background Graphics Using Slide Master in PowerPoint!

7. How to Create a New Slide Layout in PowerPoint? 

To create a new slide layout in PowerPoint, go to the ‘Slide Master’ view in the ‘Views’ tab in the ribbon and follow the 2 easy steps described below.

Step-1: Click on the position where you want to add the new slide layout

At first you have to click on the position where you want to add the new slide layout in the ‘Slide Navigation’ bar.

Step-2: ‘Insert Layout’ button at the ‘Edit Master’ section.

After you have clicked on the position where you want to add the new slide layout, all you have to do is click on the ‘Insert layout’ button located in the ‘Edit Master’ section of the ‘Slide Master’ view.

7b. How to Insert a Blank Slide Layout in PowerPoint? 

To insert a blank slide layout in PowerPoint, add a new layout and follow the simple steps given below.

Step-1: Select all the elements in the new slide layout

After inserting a new slide layout, select all the elements that are on the slide layout. You can do that by holding the ‘Left’ mouse button at one corner of the slide and dragging the selector cursor over all the elements of the slide.

Alternatively, you can also ‘left click’ on the elements one by one while holding the ‘Ctrl’ button on your keyboard or click on one of the elements in the slide layout and press the ‘ Ctrl + A ’ buttons on the keyboard of your computer.

Step-2: Delete the elements or object present on the slide

Finally, delete all the elements that you have selected on the new slide layout. You can do that by clicking on the ‘Backspace’ button or the ‘Delete’ button on the keyboard of your computer while keeping all the elements of the new slide layout selected. That way, the new slide layout will be blank.

Step-3: Rename the Slide Layout and Exit Slide Master

The last step is to rename the slide master so that you can easily identify the newly created slide layout in the layout menu. Once that’s done, simply click on “ Close Master View ” to exit the slide master.

8. How Many Types of Slide Layouts are There in PowerPoint?

In PowerPoint, there are 16 different types of slide layouts that you can apply to your presentation. All 16 of these layouts are divided into 4 categories. The categories and types of slide layouts is listed below.

• Title and Text
• Title and 2 Column Text
• Blank 
• Content 
• Title, Text, and Content
• Title and Text over Content
• Title and Content over Text
• Title, Text, and ClipArt
• Title, Text, and Chart
• Title, Text, and Media Clip
• Title and Table
• Title and Diagram or Organization Chart
• Title and Chart

More PowerPoint Related Topics

• How to Use a Presentation Clicker to Deliver Presentations Effectively!
• How to Crop a Picture in PowerPoint? [Complete Step-by-Step Tutorial!]
• How to Give a Presentation on Zoom? A Helpful Resource!
• How to Convert a PowerPoint to PDF? [A Simple Guide!]
• PowerPoint vs Google Slides: Which is Better? [ULTIMATE Test!]
• How to Change Bullet Style in PowerPoint? A Complete Guide

Credit to psh.vector (on Freepik) for the Featured Image of this Article

The Definition of a Slide (or Slides) in a PowerPoint Presentation

A PowerPoint slide is a single page or screen within a presentation. A presentation consists of multiple slides arranged in a sequence. Each slide typically focuses on one key point and contains related visuals and text.

What is a Slide?

A slide is the basic building block of a PowerPoint presentation. It is a single page that you view during a slideshow. Collectively, all the slides together form the presentation.

Some key things to know about slides:

• A slide contains visual elements like text, images, charts, and more to communicate information to your audience.
• You typically have one key message or talking point per slide.
• Slides appear one at a time during the presentation. You can transition between them manually or automatically.

Types of Slides

There are a few common slide types you’ll use in most presentations:

Title Slide

The title slide introduces your presentation and yourself. It includes:

• Presentation title
• Your name and contact info
• Company name or logo

Agenda Slide

The agenda outlines what you will cover in the presentation. It helps the audience know what to expect.

Content Slides

Content slides make up the bulk of your presentation. They deliver the key information to your audience. Text, images, charts, and other visuals support your verbal presentation.

Summary Slide

The summary slide recaps the key takeaways you want your audience to remember. It reinforces the core message.

Thank You Slide

The thank you slide wraps up your presentation and provides contact details for follow up.

Anatomy of a Slide

Though content varies widely, most slides contain some standard elements:

Slide Layout

Slide layouts in PowerPoint contain placeholders for things like titles, text, images, charts and more. They provide structure.

The theme applies color schemes, fonts, and effects consistently across all the slides.

Titles clearly state the main point of the slide. They are short phrases or sentences.

Visuals like images, charts, diagrams, and icons reinforce your verbal message.

Text gives essential details and context to support the title and visuals. Use concise bullet points rather than paragraphs.

The footer can display useful details like slide numbers, date, branding, etc.

Creating Slides in PowerPoint

PowerPoint makes creating professional slides simple. Here is the basic process:

• Open PowerPoint and select a template Templates contain pre-designed slide layouts, themes, and sample content. They give you a running start on your presentation.
• Add a new slide Click the “New Slide” button on the Home tab. Choose a layout that suits your content.
• Modify the slide layout and theme Customize the theme colors, fonts, and effects. Adjust layout element positions if needed.
• Insert titles, text, and visuals Type in short, descriptive titles. Add concise text and supporting visuals like charts, tables, or images.
• Add slide transitions Transitions create motion effects as you move between slides. They should be simple and consistent.

Presentation Slides vs Presentation Decks

The terms “slide” and “deck” are sometimes used interchangeably, but there is a difference:

• Slide – A single page within a presentation.
• Deck – The entire collection of slides that make up a presentation.

So a presentation deck consists of individual slides, just like a deck of playing cards is made up of separate cards.

Key Takeaways

• A PowerPoint slide is an individual screen within a presentation containing visuals and text to present one key point.
• Several slides make up a complete presentation deck.
• There are common slide types like title, agenda, content, summary, and thank you slides.
• Slides typically have elements such as titles, text, visuals, themes, and layouts.
• PowerPoint makes it simple to create professional, branded slides using templates, themes, and layouts.

Using well-designed slides helps you effectively convey information to your audience during a presentation. Mastering slide creation is an essential presentation skill for any professional.

About The Author

Vegaslide staff, related posts.

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• Subject Guides

A practical guide to presentations

• Basic slide design
• Presentations
• Tools & content
• Text & images
• Animation, sound, & video
• Delivering a presentation

Having chosen our tool, it's time to consider some basics: First we take a look at five golden rules of effective slide design, and then have a go at implementing those principles using the full-screen image method . Then we take a look at the importance of placeholders and how slide layouts can be controlled using masters and themes .

Five golden rules

Faculty Engagement Manager Ned Potter offers the following 5 golden rules for a presentation which sticks :

1: Keep it simple

2: no bullets.

Bullet point lists have their uses (not least on a website like this) but in a presentation slide:

• bullet points are often fragments of sentences (bad)
• they take up all the space, less room for images (bad)
• they make your audience less likely to read the slides (bad)
• if they are reading, they'll be reading faster than you're talking, distracting them from what you're actually saying (really bad)

It's true that a bullet list provides a potentially useful summary of what's being said, but it's not always the most helpful approach. Research shows that graphical representations are more helpful to learning (and better received) than bullet point lists.

3: One point per slide

Rather than a list of potentially distracting points, try to keep to one point per slide (or at the very least reveal each point as it becomes relevant). Give what you're saying room to breathe.

Use whole sentences rather than fragments, although you can always use things like colour (contrast permitting), weight , or font-size to emphasise key points.

4: Big fresh fonts

Font choice.

There are four main font categories:

Serif fonts, with their traditional, formal overtones, are often used in print. They're typically avoided in online contexts because display resolutions have historically not really been up to displaying them with sufficient clarity to be properly accessible.

Sans-serif fonts like the ones we usually use on these pages are considered more modern and less formal, and their relative simplicity means that they display better in digital media (like a web page or a PowerPoint slide). You should generally favour fonts like these in your slides .

Cursive fonts mimic handwriting. Some look like wedding invitations and aren't very readable at all. Some, like Comic Sans, are designed to be accessible for children, but that carries negative connotations in other uses.

Then there's decorative fonts. Informal; fun; good for accents. But you wouldn't want a whole presentation like this.

In terms of font selection, University-managed computers have a broad range of fonts. If you're on your own computer and want a better variety of fonts, there are a number of free fonts available online. We got the fancy font above ("Audiowide") from Google Fonts , and there's also Font Squirrel . As always, use caution if downloading fonts from unfamiliar sites.

As any optician's chart will demonstrate, size of font is important. This is 24pt and you probably wouldn't want to go much smaller than that on a slide (though it depends on where you're presenting and the size of the screen) — if you're struggling to fit things on at that size, maybe you're trying to squeeze too much into one slide?

5: More images, less text

According to research by Dr Richard Mayer (on whose principles these rules are based), learning improves when words are placed near relevant pictures. The key word there is relevant . Relevant images help people learn.

Take a look at our Practical Guide to Copyright for information on sourcing images that you can legally use in your presentations.

“ Death by PowerPoint is a phenomenon caused by the poor use of presentation software. Key contributors...include confusing graphics, slides with too much text and presenters whose idea of a good presentation is to read 40 slides out loud.”

- whatis.com

Making simple but elegant slides using the full-screen image method

We'll get onto the detailed mechanics of slide making in a bit, but first let's have a go at a quick but attractive approach to slide design: the full-screen image method:

This approach, based on the 'five golden rules', uses a relevant background image overlaid by a short summary sentence. A slide deck using this method may be quite long in terms of the number of slides, but each slide might only be on screen for less than a minute. Slides of this style are relatively easy to put together but make for a distinctive and attractive presentation.

Find an image

It might be your own image, or it might be something you've found on the internet, in which case you'll need to think about questions of ownership and copyright. Fortunately there are plenty of images out there that you can use for free. Our Practical Guide to Copyright has information on sourcing images that you can legally use in your presentations. We're particularly fond of Pexels and Pixabay which both provide public domain / CC0 images that you don't even need to cite (unless you want to).

Use the image as your slide background

• Right-click select the background of your slide and choose Format Background... — the "Format Background" side-panel will open;
• In the side-panel, select Picture or texture fill — a tasteful beige wood effect will appear on your slide, but don't worry: it won't be there for long;
• Go and find your image; if you've got it saved to your computer, choose the Insert... button on the "Picture source" section of the side-panel, then choose "From a File" and browse to the image you need. Alternatively, you could copy the image to your clipboard and then use the Clipboard button;
• You can use the other tools on the side-panel to make changes to the image, such as adjusting its position or applying effects.

• Right-click select the background of your slide and choose Change background... — the "Background" dialogue will open;
• Select Choose image : you'll have a choice of different import methods;
• Go and find your image; if you've got it saved to your computer, choose the UPLOAD button, then "BROWSE" or drag in the image you need. Alternatively, you could copy the image's web address to your clipboard and then use the BY URL method;
• Select Done to apply your new background.

Background images don't include alt-text. If your image contains something important (rather than merely decorative / reinforcing), insert it in its own right rather than as a background (we'll look at these principles in the Images section ).

Add some text to your slide

There are a few ways of going about this (we'll look at some more in the Text section ), but perhaps the most straightforward and accessible method (especially if you're going to be sharing the slides) is to use a Title/Content layout.

• In the navigation pane (left-hand side), right-click select the thumbnail for the current slide and choose: Layout > Title and Content — template boxes will appear on your slide;

• We don't need the title box visible, but it's useful for navigation purposes for a slide to have a title, so drag the box out of the visible area of the slide (the border of the box is the draggable part, as denoted by the drag crosshair), then put in an appropriate title;
• Now reposition your content box to where you want your text to appear. Again you can drag with the border. You can also adjust the size of the box with the toggles at each corner;
• Enter your text and format your box as appropriate (see below for more on formatting options).
• In the navigation pane (left-hand side), right-click select the thumbnail for the current slide and choose: Apply layout > Title and body — template boxes will appear on your slide;
• Enter your text and format your box as appropriate (again, see below for more on formatting options).

Controlling layout using masters

PowerPoint and Google Slides are not strictly designed to be blank canvasses that we fill ad hoc with images and text boxes. This never used to be a problem until we realised how inaccessible our slides were for other people who might have to 'look' at them. In the full-screen image example we deliberately (ab)used a standard title/content layout , and we did so for good reason...

Layouts: what are they and why are you making me use them?!

When you create a new slide, the chances are that your blank slide won't be blank; it will contain a number of placeholders just begging to be filled. The expectation is that you choose an appropriate layout for your slide and use it accordingly.

The first slide in your deck will usually contain Title Slide placeholders, while subsequent slides will generally be created with Title and Content placeholders by default.

The primary functions of these placeholders are to:

• help achieve consistent positioning within a presentation
• allow you to make use of the Master Slides feature to achieve consistent and easily editable formatting within a presentation

It used to be that if you didn't really care about consistent positioning or the ability to globally edit your slides' appearance, then you could happily just ignore these placeholders. But the placeholders are also used to construct a document outline from your slides, making them more accessible and easier to navigate.

Titles are especially valuable in this regard. Take a look at the embedded slides at the top of this box ...There's a dropdown on the control panel for those slides (where it says "Slide 1"). If you select that dropdown you'll see that the slide title appears there for each slide in the deck, with the exception of Slide 4, because Slide 4 is the one slide that isn't using a layout with a title placeholder.

Slides 7 and 8 have the same title, which isn't really ideal either, but at least they've got titles, so we can navigate to them safe in the knowledge that we've some idea as to what they're about.

Title text (and even content text) also appears in the 'Outline' view in PowerPoint ( View > Presentation Views > Outline View ), and PowerPoint's accessibility checker ( Review > Accessibility > Check Accessibility ) will complain at you if you haven't got titles on your slides (though it will also offer an assortment of solutions to help you out).

Applying layouts

You can apply a layout to a new slide, or even swap the layout of an existing slide.

As well as accessing the layouts from the navigation panel (as demonstrated for the full-screen image method), you can change the layout of a slide from:

Home > Slides > Layout

Slide > Apply layout

Any page element using the same placeholders will be adjusted according to the selected layout. Any other modifications to the page will remain unchanged.

Configuring layouts with master slides

The positioning and formatting of placeholders and other slide content is controlled using a collection of slide and layout masters (effectively a sort of template hierarchy). These masters can be viewed and edited in their own special Master View :

View > Master Views > Slide Master

View > Theme builder

When you view the masters, the layout master for the current slide will be highlighted. Hover over (or select in Google Slides) any layout master to see which slides are using it.

Like the usual view in PowerPoint or Google Slides, the Master View consists of a thumbnail list of masters to the left, and a slide workspace to the right. A slide deck can consist of one or more Slide Masters under which will be a number of Layout Masters . These work according to the following principles:

• Changes made to the Slide Master will be inherited by every Layout Master, and hence by every slide;
• Changes to Layout Masters will affect only slides based on that layout;
• Inherited content (eg background graphics) can be hidden on a Layout Master, or on an individual slide;
• Text formatting applied to a Slide Master or Layout Master will affect all associated slides but can be over-written by direct formatting on individual slides.

In the above example:

• ...a red star placed in the top left-hand corner of the Slide Master is inherited by all other Layout Masters, and hence all other slides;
• ...a green star placed in the bottom right-hand corner of the Comparison Layout Master is inherited by all slides using that layout;
• ...font formatting applied to the Comparison Layout Master is inherited by all slides using that layout;
• ...a picture of some cake added to the Title & content Layout Master is inherited by all slides using that layout.

In some cases (particularly in terms of placeholders), changes made at a higher level can be 'undone' or hidden at lower levels.

Editing masters

Here's some specific examples, and how to go about implementing them:

In summary:

• To make a change that will affect all slides, edit the Slide Master
• To make a change affecting slides based on a particular layout, edit the relevant Layout Master

Custom Layout Masters

If none of the layout masters meet your requirements, you can modify an existing one or add your own.

From within the Master View...:

Slide Master > Edit Master > Instert Layout

Insert > New Layout

Slide Master > Master Layout > Instert Placeholder

Insert > Placeholder

Multiple Slide Masters

Your slide deck can include more than one set of masters (handy if you're stitching multiple presentations together into one deck). You can duplicate an existing Slide Master (and its Layout children) by right-click selecting the master and choosing Duplicate Slide Master . In PowerPoint, further Masters are added to the left-hand navigation pane. In Google Slides, Master View will only display one set of Masters at a time, but you can toggle between them with the toggle selector at the top of the navigation pane.

Closing the Master View

Getting into the Master View is one thing; getting back out of it again is altogether harder – at least in PowerPoint. Here's the way out:

Go to Slide Master > Close > Close Master View (it's a cross icon but it's easily lost when you've been working in the Master View);

Unselect View > Theme builder , or just hit the little cross in the top right-hand corner of the view.

Footers and page numbers

The Slide Master and most Layout Masters include placeholders for footer information such as slide number (PowerPoint and Google Slides) and date (PowerPoint only). These can be formatted in the same way as other placeholders but will only appear on your slides if the respective features are enabled.

To enable such features:

• From either the normal view or the Master View, select Insert  Text > Header & Footer — the "Header and Footer" dialogue will open;
• Enable the regions you wish to be displayed. Text you want to appear should be entered here rather than in the Slide Master placeholder;

• Choose Apply to All unless you are configuring just one slide or master.
• From either the normal view or the Master View, select Insert > Slide numbers — the "Slide numbers" dialogue will open;
• There aren't many settings in Google Slides: it's pretty much on or off, though you can choose to skip title slides;
• Choose Apply unless you are configuring just one slide or master, in which case choose Apply to selected .

So can't I make freeform slides?

Many people (the writer of this sentence included) prefer to add their own text boxes to slides, in addition to (or even instead of) the placeholders. There's nothing wrong with doing this, so long as you bear in mind a few things:

• Content in additional text boxes cannot be formatted using any Master features — you can't make global changes; you have to configure (and perhaps subsequently reconfigure) each instance individually;
• Accurate positioning of content and formatting for consistency within a presentation becomes more difficult.

More importantly, if you're going to be sharing your slides with others, they're going to need to be accessible, and that means:

• Each slide should have a title (and as we've already established, that really needs to be in a title placeholder);
• The other content you add to your slide needs to adhere to the expected reading order .

To help achieve consistency with freeform slides:

• Use the Master features to position and format the slide title, and make use of the Title Only layout at the very least. If you don't want the title to be visible, you can always move it out of frame;
• Copy and paste is your friend: copy and paste placeholders, text boxes, and other items between slides to preserve format and position, or, better still, duplicate whole slides. That way the previous slide becomes its own master of sorts that you can keep duplicating and overwriting.

A theme is a collection of colours, font styles and graphic elements that give a consistent visual identity to a presentation. Essentially, they're different sets of slide and layout masters.

PowerPoint and Google Slides include a range of built-in themes. They can add a bit of prettiness to your slides, but by their very nature they're a little over-used. You can, however, create and save your own designs.

Choosing a theme

• Select the Design tab — the themes occupy most of the ribbon;

• Choose the More toggle to view the full range of themes;
• Hovering the pointer over a theme will temporarily format your presentation in that theme using its default colours;
• Select the required theme to apply it to your presentation;
• Use the Design > Variants ribbon section to select an alternative preset colour palette for the theme.
• Go to Slide > Change theme — the "Themes" side-panel will open;
• Scroll down the list to a theme you like;
• Select the required theme to apply it to your presentation (you can always hit undo if you don't like what it's done).

You can also import a theme from another presentation:

Design > Themes > More > Browse for Themes...

Use the Import theme button at the bottom of the "Themes" side-panel.

Customising and reusing themes

Customisation is simply a matter of editing the Slide and Layout Masters to suit your needs. You can then save the modified version for future use:

• Select Design > Themes > More > Save Current Theme...
• Give your theme a name and Save it (you might want to take note of the default location or choose a more accessible folder). — the theme will now be available in the gallery for future use.

PowerPoint presentations can also be saved as templates (select "PowerPoint Template" when saving): these serve as an alternative starting point as you can include reusable content (unlike with themes which are just concerned with visual appearance).

• Go to View > Master to access the Master view;
• Select the Master slide;
• Hit the Rename button at the top of the Master view;

• Give your theme a name and hit OK ;
• To reuse your theme in future, choose Import theme from the "Themes" side-panel ( Slide > Change theme ), find the presentation containing the theme you want to use and select the required theme.
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• Last Updated: Mar 25, 2024 5:30 PM
• URL: https://subjectguides.york.ac.uk/presentations

What is a PPT file?

A file with PPT extension represents PowerPoint file that consists of a collection of slides for displaying as SlideShow. It specifies the Binary File Format used by Microsoft PowerPoint 97-2003. A PPT file can contain several different types of information such as text, bulleted points, images, multimedia and other embedded OLE objects. Microsoft came up with newer file format for PowerPoint, known as PPTX , from 2007 onwards that is based on Office OpenXML and is different from this binary file format. Several other application programs such as OpenOffice Impress and Apple Keynote can also create PPT files.

Brief History

Microsoft introduced the PPT file format with the release of PowerPoint in 1987. The stable binary format was shared as the default in PowerPoint 97-2003 for Windows. The binary file format is supported for reading and writing by the most recent versions of PowerPoint as well including the PowerPoint 2016.

File Format Specifications

Since its introduction, the PPT file format has gone through several revisions for additions of new features and enhancements. The latest version specifications available are that of revision 6.0 that were published in Aug 2018 which shouldn’t be mixed with the real product number of PPT file format as Microsoft no more provides modifications for this format.

File Format Overview

Some of the key components of a PPT file format are as follow:

User data such as shapes, text, animations and media are added to a presentation inside a Slide. A presentation can contain one or more slides that are displayed as slideshow when a presentation is run. A presentation contains master slides and title master slides that act as template for the common visual properties of presentation slides. There is also a notes master slide and handout master slide that serves a similar purpose and provides common visual properties for all notes slides and all printed handouts.

Shapes are objects that allow users to add a variety of content to a slide in the form of placeholder shapes, pictures and graphs. Shapes on a master slide define common data for groups of shapes.

Placeholders Shapes

These are special placeholders that serves as containers for a variety of objects. Different placeholder shapes can be used to provide clues to insert specific types of shapes such as tables or charts. Inside a slide, a placeholder shape adopts to the visual properties from a main master slide, title master slide, or notes master slide.

External Objects

External objects such as embedded and linked audio, linked video, embedded and linked OLE objects, and hyperlinks can be embedded in a slide. These objects can be used to activate linked objects for accessing external resources during a slide show.

File Format Structures

PowerPoint binary file formats consist of following streams to represent the overall document structure and data.

Current User Stream

Powerpoint document stream, pictures stream.

• Summary Information and Document Summary Information (Optional)

The complete specifications for DOC file format can be found as provided by Microsoft  and should be consulted in reference to sections mentioned in the following details.

It keeps record of last user who opened the document and its name must be “Current User”.

Keeps record of all the information about a PowerPoint presentation and explains its layout and contents. It is a required stream whose name MUST be “PowerPoint Document”. The contents of this stream are specified by a sequence of top-level records. Partial ordering restrictions on the record sequence are specified in the PersistDirectoryAtom and UserEditAtom records.

As container records, the DocumentContainer, MainMasterContainer (section 2.5.3), HandoutContainer (section 2.5.8), SlideContainer (section 2.5.1), and NotesContainer (section 2.5.6) records are each the root of a tree of container records and atom records. Inside any container record, other records can exist that are not explicitly listed as child records. Unknown records are identified when the recType field of the RecordHeader structure (section 2.3.1) contains a value not specified by the RecordType enumeration (section 2.13.24). These unknown records, if encountered, MUST be ignored, and MAY<1> be preserved. Unknown records can be ignored by seeking forward recLen bytes from the end of the RecordHeader structure.

Each time this stream is written, new top-level records, a user edit, can be appended to the existing stream, or the entire stream contents can be replaced with an updated sequence of top-level records. If the entire stream is not replaced, any previously existing top-level records that comprised any previous user edit, can be made obsolete by the subsequently appended top-level records that comprise the current user edit.

This is an optional stream that Contains data about the pictures contained in a PowerPoint presentation. Its name MUST be “Pictures”. The contents of this stream are specified by the OfficeArtBStoreDelay record as specified in [MS-ODRAW] section 2.2.21.

Summary Information Stream

It keeps statistics about the document following Microsoft Office standard. The name of Summary Information Stream must be “\005SummaryInformation”, where \005 is the character with value 0x0005, not the string literal “\005”. This stream SHOULD be omitted for encrypted documents. The contents of this stream are specified in [MS-OSHARED] section 2.3.3.2.1.

Document Summary Information Stream

An optional stream whose name MUST be “\005DocumentSummaryInformation”, where \005 is the character with value 0x0005, not the string literal “\005”. This stream MAY<2> be omitted for encrypted documents.The contents of this stream are specified in [MS-OSHARED] section 2.3.3.2.2.

Encrypted Summary Information Stream

An optional stream whose name MUST be “EncryptedSummary”. This stream exists only in an encrypted document. The contents of this stream are specified in [MS-OFFCRYPTO] section 2.3.5.4.

Digital Signature Storage

An optional storage whose name MUST be “_xmlsignatures”. It MAY be omitted and MAY be ignored. The contents of this storage are specified in [MS-OFFCRYPTO] section 2.5.2.

Custom XML Data Storage

An optional storage whose name MUST be “MsoDataStore”. The contents of the storage are specified in [MS-OSHARED] section 2.3.6.

Signatures Stream

An optional stream whose name MUST be “_signatures”. It SHOULD be omitted and MAY be ignored. The contents of this stream are specified in [MS-OFFCRYPTO] section 2.5.1.

• PPT File Format specifications
• [MS-OSHARED]: Office Common Data Types and Objects Structures
• [MS-OFFCRYPTO] - Office Document Cryptography Structure
• PowerPoint File Formats
• AVIF File Format
• RA File Format
• KT File Format
• RM File Format
• RV File Format

Power Point presentation is a collection of

Power Point presentation is a collection of ________

A. Slides and Handouts

B. Speaker’s notes

C. Outlines

D. All of the above

Answer: Option D

This Question Belongs to Computer Fundamentals >> Power Point

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Related Questions on Power Point

Which tab is not available on left panel when you open a presentation?

D. All of above are available

Which of the following statements is not true?

A. You can type text directly into a PowerPoint slide but typing in text box is more convenient.

B. From Insert menu choose Picture and then File to insert your images into slides.

C. You can view a PowerPoint presentation in Normal, Slide Sorter or Slide Show view.

D. You can show or hide task pane from View >> Toolbars.

To start Microsoft PowerPoint application

A. Click on Start > Programs > All Programs > Microsoft PowerPoint

B. Hit Ctrl + R then type ppoint.exe and Enter

C. Click Start > Run then type powerpnt then press Enter

D. All of above

Which of the following section does not exist in a slide layout?

D. Animations

More Related Questions on Power Point

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