MES Thesis - PowerPoint & Google Slides

WORKSHOP OUTLINE

Microsoft PowerPoint is a popular digital presentation application. It is most commonly used to present ideas and images in a linear sequence. It is fairly easy to learn to use PowerPoint to make simple "click-through" slide shows to present your work. PowerPoint also includes advanced features that create animations and "interactive" presentations.

This workshop provides an overview of PowerPoint's tools and features and the basic steps for creating a multi-slide presentation with text, images, and transitions.

Using PowerPoint at Evergreen

PowerPoint, as part of the Microsoft Office suite, is available in the Computer Center and many other places on campus. PowerPoint is available for Windows or Macintosh, and in theory it is possible to bring your files between platforms (you may encounter issues with formatting and fonts).

Creating a Presentation with PowerPoint

Start a new presentation

Saving your presentation PowerPoint version 2007 and newer use .pptx as an extension to distinguish its proprietary files from those that will open in previous versions of the program. Be cautious when saving files using the latest versions because your presentation will not open on computers using an older version which uses the .ppt extension.

Setting a background or selecting a theme

Create new slides or outline

Working with text and image -- selecting fonts -- resizing images

Creating and Editing a Basic Slides Presentation

Working with a blank canvas or customizable template
Working with frames/placeholders
Adding and editing text
Inserting images, video and URLs (being mindful of elements that require connection to Internet)

Managing and Presenting a Slides Presentation: How to Publish and Share

Manual navigation versus autoplay
Online versus off-line
Creating a portable Slides presentation (downloading/saving a PDF version)

Presentation Tips

PRESENTATION SCRIPT VERSUS PRESENTATION CONTENT

Keep content relevant, organized, and focused to the audience you are presenting to
Avoid reading directly from the presentation you are showing - use presentation content as an outline or guide for introducing key topics or talking points to be elaborated on through the oral component of your presentation

VISUAL PRESENTATION

Content should be the "star" of the presentation
Avoid overwhelming an audience with text- or image-heavy frames
Take advantage of white space
"Chunk" or "bullet point" information
Use of scale or sizing to emphasis different points or elements
Refrain from using animated transitions that move too quickly or extra features that distract from the content

What is Google Slides? Why use it?

Free and versatile online presentation software similar to PowerPoint
May be accessed online (desktop, mobile, tablet) or saved as a document to your computer or device
With a Google Drive account you get 15GB of free cloud storage and access to other applications such as Docs, Sheets, and more
Ability to share files and folders, plus create and collaborate!

Creating a Google Drive account

Use your existing Gmail/Google account or create a new/additional account

Resources

POWERPOINT

LYNDA.COM VIDEO TUTORIALS

GOOGLE DRIVE