Setting Up a Show
After you create all the slides you want to include in your presentation, you'll want to plan how you're going to present them in a slideshow. Fortunately, PowerPoint makes it easy to set up and rehearse your presentation, as well as configure it to work with a projector.
You can deliver a PowerPoint presentation in three different ways:
Present it live with a speaker This is the most common method of delivering a PowerPoint presentation, full screen in front of an audience.
Browse it individually through the PowerPoint browser This option enables someone to view your presentation at any convenient time in a browser window with navigation elements such as a scrollbar.
Browse it at a kiosk This method enables you to create a self-running presentation. Its appearance is full screen, similar to a presentation presented by a speaker. This show type automatically loops continuously. A tradeshow demonstration is one example of when you might want to set up your show to be browsed at a kiosk. Using automatic timings and continuous looping, you can continually display the same show over and over for new viewers. You can add voice narration, if you want, but be sure that your show plays in a location where the narration will be audible.
Before you deliver a PowerPoint presentation, you should think through its entire visual flow. This is the time to rehearse in your mind what you want to present and how you want to present it, as well as plan for the technical aspects of your presentation.
→ To learn more about how to prepare yourself to deliver a presentation, see Chapter 25, “The Mechanics of Function—Developing Internal Presentation Skills.”
→ To learn about staging, projectors, overheads, and using laptops, see Chapter 26, “Exploring Technicalities and Techniques.”
After you've visualized your presentation, you can start to set it up within PowerPoint. To do this, follow these steps:
Choose Slide Show, Set Up Show to open the Set Up Show dialog box (shown in Figure 9.1).
Select a Show Type. Options include Presented by a Speaker (Full Screen), Browsed by an Individual (Window), or Browsed at a Kiosk (Full Screen). Figure 9.2 illustrates a full screen presentation; Figure 9.3 shows you the navigation elements of the PowerPoint browser window.
Note
If you choose Browsed by an Individual, you can select the Show Scrollbar check box to display a scrollbar on the right side of the browser when viewing. An individual can then use the scrollbar to navigate your presentation.
Figure 9.1. Specify the type of presentation you want to make in this dialog box.
Figure 9.2. Having a speaker present a slideshow is the most common way to deliver a presentation.
→ If you want to learn how to use the Slide Transition dialog box, see “Setting Slide Transitions” in Chapter 15, “Working with Animation.”
Can't browse your presentation at a kiosk? See the “Troubleshooting” section near the end of this chapter.
→ To learn about the advantages of rehearsing timings, see“Rehearsing Timings” later in this chapter.
Specify the Show Options you want to set:
Select the Loop Continuously Until 'Esc'check box if you want your presentation to play over and over until you press the Esc key. This check box is available only if you select the Presented by a Speaker or Browsed by an Individual option. A presentation loops continuously by default if browsed at a kiosk.
Figure 9.3. Choosing the Browsed by an Individual option enables users to view your presentation on demand.
Select the Show Without Narration check box to deactivate any accompanying narrations temporarily. For example, if you are presenting at a show, narrations might be either inaudible or distracting.
→ For more details about creating narrations, see “Recording a Voice Narration” later in this chapter.
Select the Show Without Animation check box to deactivate any accompanying slide animations temporarily. For example, you may want to include animations to use in some situations but not all.
→ If you want to add animation to your presentation, see Chapter 15.
Specify a Pen Color if you're going to use the pen function when presenting. This option is available only if you chose Presented by a Speaker as your show type. You can either choose one of the default colors that appear when you click the down arrow to the right of this field, or click More Colors to open the Colors dialog box. In this dialog box, you can choose from a wider variety of colors or create a custom color.
→ To learn more about using the pen function during your presentation, see“Setting Pointer Options” later in this chapter.
Specify the slides you want to include in your presentation. Options include All, a certain range of slide indicated by the From and To boxes, and a Custom Show that can be selected from the drop-down list. The Custom Show option is active only if you've created a custom show.
→ To learn how to create a custom show, see “Working with Custom Shows” later in this chapter.
Note
Choosing Manually in this field overrides any timings you previously set.
→ For more information about slide transitions, see “Setting Slide Transitions” in Chapter 15.
→ To learn more about timings, see “Rehearsing Timings” later in this chapter.
If you're using multiple monitors, select the monitor on which to present your slideshow.
If you're concerned about performance, select the appropriate options in the Performance group box. For example, 800 ´ 600 resolution will give you higher quality but slower performance. 640 ´ 480 will be faster, but the quality won't be as good.
Click OK to close the Set Up Show dialog box.