Improving your PowerPoint presentations

If you have ever created PowerPoint presentations for u3a meetings, this workshop is for you. With participation limited to 20 it's hoped all will chip in with their own good and bad experiences so we can learn from each other.

Each participant will have their own table (and chair) so note taking is actively encouraged. For those with access to a laptop plus PowerPoint, please bring it fully charged so you can practice as we go.

A projector will be used to demonstrate use of the program. The event will be informal and flexible and aims to cover the following topics:

Planning

• How many slides in time available?
• Will presenter benefit from prompts (speaker view) in PowerPoint?
• What size of screen is available?
• What are the lighting conditions in the room?
• What are the connections for projection including audio (if used?)

Design considerations

• Choice and size of fonts 
• Good design and bad design - your views
• Using templates - provided with PowerPoint and from other sources
• Creating your own templates

Basic creation

• Importing pictures both individually and in bulk from hard drives and memory sticks.
• Use of PowerPoint and website images plus screenshots.
• Editing pictures in PowerPoint including cropping, colour matching and removing background 
• Adding text to an image.

Advanced tools and techniques

• Using transition to reveal next slide and also to highlight parts of an image.
• Use of shapes to add interest and comprehension
• How best to display chunks of text (if you really must)
• Embedding video clips so they play seamlessly in a presentation
• Editing video clips in PowerPoint and ensuring sound quality is not lost on presentation.
• Flexibility when presenting including use of presenter view, hiding slides to fit time available and
• zoom to highlight parts of an image.
• Exporting to create PDF, JPG and video files.

Separate demonstration

• Creation of animations.

When registering for this workshop, please indicate what else you would like to cover and whether you would like to present on a particular topic.

For those arriving early, we have the benefit of using the kitchen facilities in the JLA room at the back of Clarke Foley for tea and coffee. We will also break during the morning at least once to top up on refreshments and a stretch of the legs.