Presentation Creation

Microsoft PowerPoint makes it very easily to create a presentation by providing ready-to-use sample presentations. Based on this, the easiest way to create a presentation consists of using a feature referred to as AutoContent Wizard. It is a suite of dialog boxes that allow you to select or specify the necessary features of a basic presentation.

To use the AutoContent Wizard, on the main menu of Microsoft PowerPoint, you can click File -> New... On the right side, under New, you can click From AutoContent Wizard...

1. To start an instance of Microsoft PowerPoint, from the Taskbar, click Start -> (All) Programs -> Microsoft PowerPoint
2. On the menu, click File -> New...
3. On the right side, under New, click From AutoContent Wizard.
   The first page of the AutoContent Wizard appears:



4. Click Next
5. In the following dialog, you will choose the type of presentation you want the AutoContent Wizard to initialize for you. To select a presentation, you have two options. If you click the All button, all the presentation templates will display on the list. On the other hand, you can select a category of presentation by clicking the appropriate button. Either way, click a particular presentation from the list and proceed to the next dialog.

   For this exercise, click the Projects button, then click Project Overview from the list

   

6. Click Next
7. Once you choose the type you want, you will be asked to choose the type of output you want:

   

   Accept the On-Screen Presentation radio button and click Next

8. The next dialog will ask you to give a title and a footer for your presentation. In the Presentation Title text box, type How a Bill Becomes a Law
9. Make sure the Footer text box is empty. Clear the Date Last Updated check box
    
   
10. Click Next
11. After you click next, the AutoContent Wizard will have gotten all the necessary answers to initialize your presentation:

    

    Click Finish
12. To save the presentation, on the Standard toolbar, click the Save button
13. Locate your Microsoft PowerPoint Exercises folder and display it in the Save In combo box
14. In the File Name combo box, accept the name as How a Bill Becomes a Law and click Save

A template is an already created and formatted product that you can use to quickly perform a task. In the case of Microsoft PowerPoint, a template is a presentation that has already been created with text outline, formatting effects, and other-related issues that are the basis for time-consuming design. Most of the templates provided by Microsoft PowerPoint are professionally done and you can simply use them to customize your presentation. The only aspect you would really need to change is the text included in the slides.

In the above section, we learned to use AutoContent Wizard to work from one of the designs that Microsoft PowerPoint ships with. To create a presentation using one of the readily made designs, on the main menu, you can click File -> New... Then, on the right section, under New, click From design template.

Another technique you can use is to open an existing presentation, one that has a design you like or that the company you are working for already has. After opening it, you can either modify the contents of each slide, which allows you to preserve the other individual design of each slide, or you can delete all slides, except the first and another slide. You should not delete the first slide because it usually has a unique design as compared to the other slides. You should preserve one of the other slides because (as we will learn when studying the Master Slide) it has a design that is shared by the rest of the slides of the presentation.

1. To create a new presentation using an existing design, on the main menu, click File -> New...
2. On the right side, under New, Click From Design Template
3. On the right side, click the design on the 1st column - 3rd row
    
   
4. Notice the display in the Preview section.
   In the right section, scroll down and the 13th design (1st column - 7th row) and observe the Preview
5. To save the presentation, press Ctr + S
6. Locate your Microsoft PowerPoint Exercises folder and display it in the Save In combo box
7. In the File Name combo box, replace the name with Building an Aircraft
8. Click Save

As mentioned in previous lessons, a presentation is primarily a series of slides created as an ensemble inside of one document. If you use either the AutoContent Wizard or the templates, a presentation with already made text in different slides would be created for you. Most of the time, if not always, that text will not suit you. After such a creation, you can change the text as you see fit. In some cases, you would have to create your own text, especially if you are the initiator of the presentation. In some other cases, you will be handed the contents of slides that you can or must use. For a customized presentation, you may have to create everything from scratch.

A Presentation From Scratch

To create a presentation from scratch, you can use one of the following options:

• If you are just starting Microsoft PowerPoint, it automatically creates an empty presentation and you can start customizing it
• On the Standard toolbar, you can click the New button. This would present you an empty slide you can start customizing
• On the main menu, you can click File -> New... On the right side, you can click Blank Presentation

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