EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is the first in a two-part series. The final part will be available online on July 11, when Kip's Tips returns on its regularly scheduled date.
Some speakers at family history conferences and seminars use PowerPoint slide presentations with their lectures. This article will briefly explain how easy it is to produce an effective family history presentation. You don’t need to be a computer expert to learn PowerPoint.
Audiences expect quality, well-organized visual aids. While using transparencies, 35mm slides, or video or audio tapes may suit some teaching situations (such as a small classroom), there are a lot of benefits for creating your own computer slide presentation. All you need is a laptop computer, a computer projector, a screen to show the presentation on, and the ability to put the presentation together.
PowerPoint 2000 is a sophisticated, yet easy to learn, computer presentations program that comes with the standard Microsoft Office 2000. You can use this program to assist you in teaching classes or seminars, or you can post your presentation to an Internet site.
If PowerPoint 2000 is new to you, I recommend you first review the Menu Bar and Toolbar features. These menus and buttons control most of the features in PowerPoint. If you’re already familiar with Windows-based applications, PowerPoint will be easier for you to learn.
Have you been using 35mm slides for teaching? Do you have photographs or graphics, such as copies of documents, you use for teaching? You can scan 35mm slides, maps, documents, photos, graphics, and so forth and bring them into your PowerPoint slide show. Or you can create teaching aids from PowerPoint, such as slides, transparencies, and class handouts.
There are several ways to get help when using PowerPoint 2000:
- Click on “Help” (or press F1) while in the program.
- See the selected bibliography of titles at the conclusion of this two-part, online article for additional assistance.
- View presentations created by others to get ideas for your own presentation.
Some slide presentations are available on the Internet. For example, Alan Mann has posted several family history slide shows on his home page. Click on “Training,” then click on the slide show—FamilySearch® Internet, Ancestry Library, etc.
Three additional examples of slide shows on the Internet are:
Microsoft Office has a home page that includes how-to articles, tips and tricks, and other information. In addition, Microsoft provides more than 125,000 clip art graphics, more than 10,000 photographs, 2,500 Web animation files, and sound files at no cost; these are available at the online Clip Gallery Live 2000 site. To get there while in PowerPoint, click on “Help” to use the Clip Gallery site, then click on Office on the Web. Or see the Microsoft Clip Gallery homepage.
A list of useful shortcut keys in PowerPoint 2000 is shown on the Microsoft Office Web site. (For example, CTRL+D to duplicate a slide; CTRL+C to copy; CTRL+V to paste; and so forth).
After opening the PowerPoint program you are offered four options in a dialog box. You can create a new presentation or open an existing presentation.
- AutoContent Wizard (helps you create a new presentation). Includes sample presentations with text, and provides ideas for getting started.
- Design Template (shows colorful pre-designed templates and backgrounds that can be applied to your slide presentation).
- Blank presentation (allows you to add text to a blank slide). This is a good place to begin typing your presentation, but there is no color and no artwork (until you create them).
- Open an existing presentation (one that you have already created and saved). Select the drive (such as “C”) and file name.
You should first create a title slide. Then add text and graphics to the other slides that will fit your presentation theme. Try not to make your presentation too long. Be sure to use graphics and illustrations.
In my next column, I will discuss tips for creating a PowerPoint slide presentation and will include a bibliography of titles relating to this subject.
Kip Sperry is an associate professor of family history at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
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