Slides, images and SmartArt

Making a presentation

A presentation program (PowerPoint, Google Slides, LibreOffice Impress) lets you make slides with text, pictures, charts, tables, sound and video to speak to an audience. A good presentation has a clear purpose, is short, and keeps to one idea per slide.

Start with a title slide, then content slides, and end with a summary. Choose a layout (title, bullets, picture), a theme with plenty of contrast, a font large enough to read (at least 24 pt), and no more than about six lines of six words each. SmartArt turns lists into diagrams (process, cycle, hierarchy). Use clear, relevant pictures.

Charts and tables

Insert a chart (bar, line, pie) to show numbers and a table to compare. Label the axes and give the chart a title. Choose the chart to suit the data: bars to compare, lines for change over time, pie for parts of a whole.

Transitions, slide master and animations

Feature	Use
Transition	The effect when changing from one slide to the next (fade, push). Keep it simple.
Animation	Moves text or pictures on the slide (appear, fly in). Use sparingly.
Slide master	Sets the fonts, colours, logo and background for all slides at once
Notes	Speaker’s notes, not seen by the audience
Slide show	Start from the beginning (F5) or from the current slide

Presentations for remote meetings

For online meetings (Zoom, Google Meet, Teams) use screen sharing, check sound and camera first, have a stable connection, use large fonts, mute your microphone when not speaking, and send the file in advance. Keep to the time.

Slides with fewer words hold the audience’s attention better (illustrative).

Try itPlan the time

Choose the length of the talk and the number of slides.

Check yourself Slides should contain

Check yourself The slide master is used to

Check yourself A chart for parts of a whole is a

Key terms

Slide: One page of a presentation.
Transition: The effect between slides.
Animation: Movement of objects on a slide.
Slide master: The template that controls all slides.

Summary

One idea per slide, large fonts and good contrast.
Use charts, tables and SmartArt to show information.
Use the slide master for consistent design.
For remote meetings use screen sharing and check audio first.