Getting Started with PowerPoint XP

PowerPoint XP may take some getting accustomed to. However, experienced users will soon find the things they were accustomed to doing, are actually easier to do. Ready to start?

Launch PowerPoint.

Start with a blank presentation. Your first step will be to add a title ( TCAP Tips ) and a subtitle ( Test Taking Strategies ). Click in the appropriate areas and type the title and then the subtitle. Do not change any formatting at this time.

After you have completed entering the title and subtitle, look at the bottom left corner of your PowerPoint window. There you will find three small buttons. The rightmost button is supposed to look like an old tripod supported screen upon which slides were projected. Place your cursor on top of the button (without clicking) and it will identify itself.

Click that button one time to show your one-slide show. Look at the slide and make a list of all of the things you might do to make your slide better.

OK, let's compare lists. I said that the following things should be done to my slide

Make both titles larger
Change color of the titles
Make the background more colorful
Add some sort of image Using previous versions of PowerPoint, my first step would be to tell you how to make text size larger. I would have said, "Highlight the text then change the size." You may do that later if you wish. However, don't follow this instruction for now.

This next step will take care of all four things that I said should be done to my slide. On the toolbar above the slide, find the Design button.

Select that button and the slide design menu opens to the right of your slide. Select Design Templates and scroll down through the list of choices. As you click on any template, your slide changes to that design. I selected one called Crayon .

Look at my list of 4 things that I wanted to change about my plain vanilla slide. With one click I made all 4 changes. Wow ! This new PowerPoint XP is powerful!

Strong Warning ! It is so easy to use PowerPoint XP to make really dramatic changes, that some beginning users get carried away. An article in Presentations magazine made the point that "the more bells and whistles you include in your show, the more likely it is that your audience will remember only the bells and whistles. Keep It Simple, that's the KIS rule. Yeah, I know, you thought it was spelled differently.

Next step - Adding animation to your slide 1