Introduction to presentation software

Software

Presentation design

Timing

No more than 1 slide/minute
5 minutes/slide is bad
5 slides/minute is bad

Organisation

Introductory outline slide?
Final slide with contact information?
Acknowledgements at beginning or end?

Sequencing

Avoid

Avoid line

Avoid line-by

Avoid line-by-line

Avoid line-by-line builds

Avoid line-by-line builds
Avoid distracting transitions

Avoid line-by-line builds
Avoid distracting transitions
Use duplicate slides rather than backing up

Slide design

Overall design

Uniform background
Include event name and/or logo?
Go easy on colours

No more than two different font families
Easy-to-read fonts

Slide should be legible when standing 15' away from a 15" monitor
(equivalent to holding 35-mm slide at arm's length).

Background/foreground:

have enough contrast (avoid background gradient)
don't have too much contrast

light on dark (e.g., yellow on blue)
- make presentation jump off screen
- avoid glare of bright background
or dark on light
- to avoid making the room too dark

avoid distracting backgrounds, logos, etc.
test: colours may not look the same with the projector

Individual slides

Maximum 5-7 lines/slide
Maximum 7 words/line
Double space lines of text
Simple enough to digest in 20 seconds

Should not contain all of the words that will be spoken.

Graphs are better than tables
Possibly use contrasting colour for list item being talked about

Graphs are better than tables
Possibly use contrasting colour for list item being talked about

Compatibility issues

If you use fancy fonts, you may have problems with font substitution if you do not present using your own computer
Similarly for other fancy effects

Do image cropping and resizing outside the presentation software, i.e., in a paint programme

red

purple

Avoid red and purple, because often not well projected
Stay away from edges of screen

Bring presentation on CD-R (or diskette), not CD-RW or Zip disk
Complain if they insist on PowerPoint

Presentation creation

To facilitate the creation of slides with consistent appearance, presentation software uses

backgrounds that are defined once and applied to every slide
predefined slide layouts
styles for text and graphics

The following sections present the basics of creating a presentation using OpenOffice.org Impress.

Creating a new presentation

Right click on the OpenOffice.org Quickstarter, select Presentation.

In window 1 of the AutoPilot,

make sure Empty presentation is selected, and
click Next >>.

In window 2 of the AutoPilot,

make sure that Presentation Backgrounds is selected,
select <Original> (for an initially empty background),
make sure that the selected output medium is Screen, and
click Next >>.

In window 3 of the AutoPilot,

leave the Effect and Speed settings as they are,
make sure the presentation type is set to Default, and
click Create.

Creating slides

In the Modify Slide dialogue box which comes up,

select the predefined Title Slide layout,
type in a name for the slide, and
click OK.

In the slide that is displayed,

click in the top text area and type in a title for the presentation, then
click in the bottom text area and type in some text, e.g., your name.

Create a second slide by selecting Insert Slide.

In the Insert Slide dialogue box which comes up (similar to the earlier Modify Slide dialogue box),

select a layout,
type in a name for the slide, and
click OK.

Background

To modify the background to be used for all slides, Select View Master Slide Master.

For example, click on the Ellipse tool at the left, and draw an ellipse in the slide. Click on the Text tool at the left, click somewhere in the slide, and type some text (e.g., the date).

To see the effect of changing the background, select View Normal.

Text styles

To globally modify the appearance of text, make sure the Styles and Formatting box is displayed. If it's not, select Format Styles and Formatting to display it.

Display the Presentation Styles by clicking on the second icon at the upper left.

Right click on Title and click on the Modify button that pops up.

In the dialogue box that pops up, change one of the text attributes, then click on OK.

Logistics

Backup

Carry material with you, don't put in checked baggage
Bring backup, e.g., overheads

Projector

Arrange to borrow a digital projector if necessary.
Bring your own video cable?

Resolution of the projector – 1024×768 or 800×600?

Change resolution of laptop if necessary; disable laptop screen if necessary to avoid interpolation.

Allow projector to cool down before turning off power.

Computer

Bring own computer; or
find out if available computer will have required software; or
bring your own slide-show viewer software; or
bring your whole slide show in a self-displaying package

Check for

right version of viewing software
right version of operating system

Make sure you include any video files, etc.
Use PowerPoint's ‘Pack and Go’, Corel's ‘Show on the Go’, or similar feature

Medium: what's available?

diskette
CD-ROM
USB drive

Power:

Make sure you have AC adapter and/or that batteries are charged.
Turn off screensaver and/or powersaver.

Putting it onto the Web

Set of Web pages: avoid using features which are not compatible with all browsers.
PDF

R. Funnell

Last modified: Thu, 2006 Mar 16 16:59:55