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| PowerPoint: Slide Show Menu |
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Using PowerPoint September 1998 • Vol.2 Issue 3 |
PowerPoint: Slide Show Menu | ||
 When you put together a group of slides in Microsoft PowerPoint 97, the program automatically creates a simple slide show. One slide advances to another either automatically or when someone presses a button. But by using the options under the Slide Show menu—new to PowerPoint 97—you can turn slides into a powerful presentation, adding and adjusting such items as timing, narration, animation, and transitions. Not only can you make the slide show as elaborate and creative as you want, you can tailor it to different audiences. Some of the items under the Slide Show menu were listed under the Tools menu in previous versions of PowerPoint, but many are new. We'll explain each option. View Show. What's a slide show for if not to be viewed? This option runs your current slide show, full screen, so you can check your work or do the actual presentation. To halt a slide show, press the ESC key. (NOTE: This is the same as the Slide Show option under the View menu.) Rehearse Timings. A slide show can be moved forward with a click of the mouse, can play itself, or can be a combination of the two, automatically forwarding if no one does anything. If you want self-running slides, the timing is crucial, whether you're giving a presentation or others are viewing it on their own. The rehearsal mode, accessed through this menu item, lets you adjust the timing so viewers have enough time—but not too much—for each slide. When you select Slide Show, Rehearse Timings, Power Point plays the first slide, including any narration, and waits for you to advance the slide. It then proceeds to the next slide and does the same thing, again waiting for the click of the mouse or an action button.
When you're finished, PowerPoint tells you the total time for the slide show and asks if you want to keep the new slide timings. You can undo your new timings by pressing No. Otherwise, click Yes. Next, you are asked if you would like to review the timings in Slide Sorter view, which gives you an overview of the slides and timing.  Ready, Set, Record. If you have a sound card and a microphone, you can narrate any or all of the slides in your show. Most likely, you'll do the narration in preparation for the slide show, either for individuals who can't attend or for a self-running presentation. However, you also can record narration during a meeting to record audience comments. When you select Slide Show, Record Narration, a dialog box appears that tells you the recording quality, how much space it uses, and how long you can record on the available space. Click Settings to change this. CD Quality is the highest quality and takes up the most space; Telephone Quality allows the longest recording time but doesn't sound as good. At the bottom of the Record Narration dialog box is a Link Narrations In option box. If this option isn't checked, PowerPoint saves the narration within the presentation file. If you select this option, the narration is saved as a separate file, which is preferable for lengthy narrations because it allows the presentation's file size to remain smaller and the slide show to run more smoothly. If you link the narration, PowerPoint saves the file in the default directory listed in the dialog box, which can be changed through the Browse option. The narration for each slide is saved individually, with a file name that begins with the presentation's file name and ends in .WAV to signify a sound file. PowerPoint establishes a sequence of numbers for the slides, which will be somewhere in the middle of the file name.
When you reach the end, you'll be asked if you also want to save the new slide timings, because the timings when narrated probably differ from the ones already set. To keep the new timings, press Yes. Next, you'll be asked if you want to review the timings in Slide Sorter view. If you click Yes, you'll see an overview of the slides with their new times. If a slide has narration, a sound icon appears in the lower-right corner. To hear the narration for a slide, double-click the icon in the Slide view. To erase the narration for one slide, erase the icon. To add sound to one slide only, you'll have to go through the Insert menu (Movies and Sounds, then Record Sound). Also, note that voice narration takes precedence; if a slide has other sounds, they won't be played. Set Up Show. The Set Up Show dialog box gives you various options for your slide show's configuration. To start, pick one of the first three options under Show Type. With the traditional Presented By A Speaker option, you can advance slides manually or automatically, and the slide show takes up the whole screen. The Browsed By An Individual show makes it easy for someone to look through your presentation. The Browsed At Kiosk option automatically runs the slide show full-screen, after five minutes of inactivity, and continues to run it repeatedly; the audience (when there is one) still can advance slides or click action buttons. An automatic slide show often is a safer bet because you can hide the mouse and keyboard and make sure no one stops the presentation. Interactive slide shows, however, might be better at drawing in viewers. The next show type, Loop Continuously Until ‘Esc', lets the show run until someone presses the ESC key. This works well at trade shows, for example. This option is automatically selected with the kiosk show type, but it can be selected with the other two as well. In the next section of the Set Up Show dialog box, you can control whether all or a portion of the slides are displayed. If you set up custom shows, which we'll discuss later, you also can pick which show to run. Finally, if you choose Manually under Advance Slides, the slide show will ignore the timings you've set and wait for a mouse click to advance slides. You also can change the color of the pen used to make notes during a slide show. Shortcut: In the Slide Sorter view under the View menu, the Set Up Show dialog box can be accessed by right-clicking then selecting it from the pop-up menu. View On Two Screens. If you want to run your slide show on two computers, perhaps one that has a large or projection screen, this option is the answer. The computers need to be connected with a serial cable attached to their communications (COM) ports, and both need PowerPoint 97.
To run the presentation on more than two computers, you'll need to venture into the Tools menu, under Presentation Conference. Action Buttons. The Action Buttons option lets you perform certain events, such as skipping to another slide, playing a sound, jumping to another document, or skipping to a customized show. To add a button, go to Slide Show, Action Buttons and pause the pointer over a button for an explanation of its intended function. Click a button to select it. Back on your slide, the pointer turns into a crossbar. Click once at the point where you want the button to go. Next, the Action Settings dialog box appears. When you're done adjusting the settings, or to leave them as they are, click OK. You can then move or resize the button as desired. Action Settings. As we've touched upon, various types of actions can be performed on an item so the user can interact with the slide show. Action settings are most commonly assigned to action buttons, but other kinds of items can trigger events as well. For instance, a user might click the words Skip To The End or a picture of an exit sign. The Action Settings dialog box comes up automatically when you add a button. To access it other times, select the item in need of an action, then Action Settings under the Slide Show menu. (With text, you can either select the whole text block or highlight a group of words.) Actions can be triggered either by clicking the item with a mouse, usually the preferable setting, or by dragging the mouse over the item. How the action is triggered depends upon which tab you choose in the Action Settings dialog box, but the settings work the same under both tabs. Mostly likely, you'll want the action button to link to another slide, slide show, Web site, or file. If so, select the type of link and, if necessary, its location under Hyperlink To. However, you also can run a different program or macro or perform an action on an embedded object. In addition, you can opt to have a sound played by checking that option box, then selecting a sound.
Shortcut: When you've selected an action item, right-click, then choose Action Settings from the pop-up menu. Preset Animation. An animated element is one that does not appear immediately with the slide itself. PowerPoint lets you animate text, graphics, sounds, movies, and other objects in your presentation to emphasize information and make your presentation more interesting. You might have bullet points appear one by one, have a series of pictures appear in order, or have a sound appear with a certain chart. Animation can occur automatically or with a mouse click. The Preset Animation option gives you quick and easy access to several animations. Just select the item, then choose a Preset Animation. Options vary depending upon what's selected, and not all the sounds are available on all computers, but the following examples are: •Camera. Object appears from the middle, like a camera shutter opening, with a clicking sound. •Dissolve. The object fills in, from low resolution to high resolution. •Drive-In. Object flies in from the right with the sound of a car. •Flash Once. Object appears briefly, then disappears. •Fly From Top. Object drops down from the top of the screen with a whooshing sound. •Split Vertical Out. Object appears from the middle, going out. •Typewriter. Type appears one letter at a time, along with a typewriter sound. •Wipe Right. Object appears from left to right. To turn off an animation, select the object, then choose Off under Preset Animation. Custom Animation. If the preset animations don't suit your fancy, you can customize your own through this addition to PowerPoint 97. When you select Custom Animation, available in the slide view, the Custom Animation dialog box appears with each animated element listed in the upper-left corner. You can adjust the order of events by selecting an element, then pressing the up or down arrow buttons. If you can't remember which item is which, look at the thumbnail view to the side. The bottom part of the dialog box is devoted to four tabs. Under the Timing tab, non-animated objects are listed. When you select Animate, the object jumps to the Animation order window above. To remove an item's animation, select it under Animation order, then select Don't Animate below. You can control the animation of any selected animated item, choosing whether you want it to appear automatically or only when the mouse button is clicked. Under the Effects tab, you can control the entry of certain kinds of objects and related sounds, along the same lines as the Preset Animations. You also can control what happens after the object appears—perhaps you want it to disappear or change colors—and control the way text is introduced. The next tab, Chart Effects, works much the same but has chart-specific options.
When you're done adjusting the settings, be sure to click the Preview button to see the miniature results (without sound). The new settings are not applied until you click OK. Shortcut: When you've selected an item to animate, right-click, then pick Custom Animation from the pop-up menu. Animation Preview. To view a miniaturized version of the slide's animation, but not hear the sound, select this option. The preview is in color, but in the outline view, it turns black-and-white when the animation is done. Click the X in the preview window when you're finished. (This option is not available in the Slide Sorter view.) Slide Transition. You can set special effects for how the show progresses from one slide to the next by accessing the Slide Transition dialog box through this menu item. When you select one of the options, the effect appears on the picture above. We won't give any examples, because it's so easy to experiment. You can even set and observe the speed. Under Advance, you can opt to have the slide change at the click of the mouse or automatically. If you select both options, the slide will advance after the time you specify unless someone hurries the presentation along with a mouse click. You also can set a sound to play as the slide changes. If you want users to navigate the presentation with action buttons, rather than mouse-clicking anywhere or waiting for the slides to automatically forward, deselect both options under the Advance settings. Then, make sure none of the Custom Animations require mouse clicks. When you're done, if you click Apply, the effect is only for the selected slide; Apply To All, as you may imagine, affects all the slides.
Hide Slide. If you hide a slide, it won't appear during a slide show. Select the slide, then pick Hide Slide. The slide still appears in the Slide, Outline, and Slide Sorter views, but it won't appear when you view the show, rehearse timings, or record narration. Under the Slide Sorter view, the slide number will have a slash through it. To unhide the slide, select it, then pick Hide Slide again. Shortcut: In the Slide Sorter view, the Hide Slide dialog box can also be accessed by right-clicking, then selecting it from the pop-up menu. Have It Their Way. At the very bottom of the Slide Show menu lies one of the most exciting features of PowerPoint 97: the ability to create customized shows tailored to different audiences. For instance, you might want to create a detailed slide show for the board of directors, and a shorter, condensed version for more general use. Alternately, you could use custom shows for sales presentations to different groups of people. The first 15 slides might be the same, but then you could jump to a specialized group of slides for potential clients on the East Coast, West Coast, or in the Midwest. By using a custom show, you avoid the need to create multiple presentations with lots of overlap. You can either create a custom show that runs by itself from start to finish or a customized section that you or your audience jumps to during the presentation. Select Slide Show, Custom Shows, then click the New button. Type a name for the show. The slides in the current presentation are listed at the left. If you want a slide to be included in the custom show, select it, then click the Add button. They'll be listed in the order in which you add them, but you can change the order using the up and down arrow buttons. To run a custom show, go directly through this menu by clicking Show in the Custom Shows dialog box. You also can open Set Up Show under the Slide Show menu, then choose Custom Show and pick the show you want. If you do this, the next time you choose to View Show, PowerPoint goes to the Custom Show. To jump to a custom show during a presentation, right-click the mouse, then choose Go, Custom Show, then your show. However, by using the Action Settings, you can let users pick which custom show to link to. Under Actions Settings, choose Custom Show under the Hyperlink To option. The use of custom shows is for more advanced users and may seem a little confusing. However, it can add a lot of flexibility to your presentation. In all, whether you're giving a presentation, or preparing to leave a kiosk running on its own, PowerPoint 97 has plenty of options for tailoring the presentation to your specific needs—and the needs of your audience. It's only a matter of learning a few tricks under the Slide Show menu.  by Sarah D. Scalet |
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