Presentations created in various applications are used to demonstrate data in the enterprise, during entertainment events and in educational institutions. There are many types of presentations that use both slides containing the theoretical part, as well as videos, musical compositions and voice accompaniment. The most popular program for creating them is PowerPoint.
If you still do not know how to create a beautiful presentation, how to use all its features, it is worthwhile to consider in detail the step-by-step instructions proposed in this article. Here we will consider every moment associated with the selection of material, insertion of information (audio and visual) into slides, and also learn how to design a presentation in such a way that it looks unique and beautiful.
How to create a presentation: step by step instructions
It is worth immediately explaining that this business is not as easy as it might seem at first glance. So, the first thing we need to create a presentation is PowerPoint. As a rule, it is part of the Microsoft package (Word and Excel). If they are not, then you have to first download them to your computer from the official Microsoft website. And only after that you can delve into the essence of the question of how to create a presentation on a computer.
To make the material really beautiful, careful preparation is required. First, we pay attention to drawing up a presentation plan. This will help determine the number of slides and their design. Secondly, we select pictures in advance and compose texts, since creating slides for the presentation without relevant materials will be problematic. Once everything is ready, you can proceed directly to the creation of the presentation.
Step one: analyze, plan
Since the presentation implies the direct participation of people in the demonstration and perception of information, the plan should include several fairly important points:
- Definition of the objectives of the presentation: proof of facts, familiarization with methods, events, etc. The choice of text for slides, the subject of images, videos and audio files will depend on the chosen direction.
- Before creating a presentation with music or other sound, you need to clarify for which audience the material is intended. Pick only those entries that will be of interest to a particular group.
- Calculate the time it takes to display all the slides. It makes no sense to waste time deciding how to create a beautiful presentation if the audience does not have time to view it completely.
All these items must be written in a notebook (paper or electronic), detailing all your desires and possibilities regarding the filling and presentation design. This will help in the subsequent stages of its creation not to forget something important.
Step two: select materials
The first thing you need to fill the slides is texts. You can take them both “from the head”, setting out your own experience, and from various sources: books, essays, scientific or research papers, discussions on blogs and forums. Since it is not possible to create a beautiful presentation without pictures, it is worth choosing them carefully. To do this, you can use any search engine or personal photos. The same applies to video and audio files.
Graphs, charts and tables for presentations can be made using special programs, then converting the image into jpg, png or gif format. You can also draw graphics manually using plain paper and felt-tip pens. Then this image needs to be scanned or photographed. PowerPoint also contains many templates that you can adapt to a specific topic.
Step Three: Create Slides
So, we pass directly to the question: how to create a presentation. On the computer (on the desktop) we create a PowerPoint document and open it. At this stage, we have to create the required number of slides. Open the tab called “Home” and find the “Create Slide” button in its upper left part. First, we make the presentation title, for which we select the appropriate slide from the list provided. Next, add the slides that are most suitable for the shape and location of the images and texts.
Since creating a beautiful presentation is our main task, we proceed to design white slides by opening the Design section on the top panel of the program window. Choose from over 40 color options! To the right of the themes catalog there is a button “Colors”. It is intended to change the background color. In the Background Styles section, you can change the color of the bottom of the slides.
If during the creation of the presentation you found that one of them was chosen incorrectly, you can change it. This is done like this: go to the "Home" section, select the desired slide (click on it) and click the "Layout" footnote to the right of the slide creation button. Before us is a set of standard slides, from which we choose the option that suits us.
Step Four: Paste Text
Adding text should not cause any difficulties even for beginners to learn the program Power Point users. It is enough to manually enter pre-prepared fragments, or copy them from a Word document. The arrangement of headings and phrases, as well as their design (font), can be changed in the same way as in ordinary text documents.
Next, we need a little phantom, because at this stage it’s worth learning how to create a beautiful presentation in which the headings will be unusual. In order to do this, select the field for the title and enter the name of the slide. For example, take the phrase "create beautiful headlines." Next, go to the formatting section on the main page of the program, and then to "Convert to SmartArt". We select the original design for the title, select a more suitable color scheme (in the drop-down menu) and save it.
Step Five: Post Images, Videos, and Graphics
So, we have learned the basic rules of how to create slides for a presentation, it remains to consider aspects such as inserting pictures and graphs. They help to fully reveal many topics. You can insert them in several ways:
- Go to the "Insert" tab, select the "Charts" section. In the window that opens, select the elements that are suitable in appearance and save the result. If necessary, we introduce indicators that will display the value of each sector.
- Tables on a slide can be placed in the same way as charts. To do this, just find the "Insert table" section and select the required number of columns and rows in it.
- Right on the selected slide, click on the icon of the table, chart, video or picture, after which a window will open in which you can navigate to the folder in which the images for presentation are saved.
Since creating the right presentation is the most important task, remember this tip: never place more than two images on one slide! Otherwise, the audience will not be able or do not have time to consider them.
Step Six: Edit Images, Graphs, and Charts
Visual effects can help make each slide even more unique. You can apply them to all elements. To edit a picture, select it, go to the "Insert" section, in the right part of the panel we look for the "Work with Drawings / Format" subsection. We go there and edit the picture: we change the shape, position, color and structure of its borders. Also in this section you can perform image correction: change the brightness, apply various artistic effects.
To edit diagrams, select the desired image, go to the "Insert" tab, find the item "Working with diagrams / designer / layout / format" and proceed to change the desired characteristics. The same applies to graphs.
Step seven: insert audio files
So, the presentation is almost ready. It's time to find out where to create a presentation with sound. Many do not know that such functions are in the Power Point program. In order to place audio or video on one of the slides, we go to the already familiar “Insert” section and look for the “Multimedia” block on the top panel. We choose what we will download and from: from a file, clip organizer, or directly from the Internet. The program also provides for recording sound in real time. Don't like speaking in front of an audience? Then you should plug in a microphone and record comments for each slide.
After the files are downloaded, the program will ask for your consent to automatically play sound recordings and videos after starting to view the slide how they were installed. Alternatively, you can configure click-to-play.
Step Eight: Animation and Transitions
For a more effective presentation design, you can make transitions and animations. The first allows you to flip through the slides more smoothly and beautifully. In the menu, which is located in the tab of the same name, you can choose one of 35 options for switching between slides. This can be the effect of a funnel, opening, fading, crushing, and much more. Please note that for each slide you need to set the transition effect. It is better if it will be one for all elements of the presentation, since the diversity of design can distract the attention of listeners from the main topic.
Animation is intended for registration of headings and texts on slides after transition. All effects can be found in the "Animation" section. There you can adjust the parameters of the effects and even independently determine the paths for moving titles on the slide. With animation, just like with transitions, you need to be careful. Tumbling, flickering, and popping up letters from all sides, then folding into headings, will not give your presentation solidity.
Delivery Settings
The last and most important step in creating a beautiful and high-quality presentation is to set the display time for each slide, as well as the time interval when the videos will be played. Settings can be set in the "Slide Show" section of the "Settings" menu. In this case, it is important to try to read aloud the speech with which you are going to describe what is happening on the screen. In order not to make a mistake with the time frame, turn on the “Time Settings”, and slowly pronounce the text. The program will automatically track the time you spent commenting on one slide, and you just have to save the result.
Most Common Presentation Mistakes
So, we learned all the details about how to create a presentation. The instructions above can help students in schools and students, as well as adult PowerPoint users. In conclusion, I would like to give some tips on how to avoid the most common mistakes. Firstly, despite the colorful and attractive design of the slides, spelling errors still remain noticeable. Always check for typos and spelling. Secondly, a beautiful presentation is not just pictures surrounded by animated captions and frames. Speaker's speech plays a more important role than digitized material, so do not be lazy to rehearse the presentation. Thirdly, do not postpone the creation of the presentation until later, as in this case you will not have time for a meaningful approach to the matter, and the material itself may not only be uninteresting, but also unattractive.