1. Start PowerPoint and select Blank presentation, and start with a Title Slide (top row, first choice).

 
2. Click to enter title and subtitle, for example: U.S. Space Program, and your name.

 
3. Click the New Slide button (or menu Insert, New Slide…), and choose Bulleted List (top row, second choice).

 
4. Click to enter title, and type:

    Early Pioneers: Gemini
 
Click to enter the bulleted items, and type:
• Stay in space for up to two weeks
• Rendezvous and dock in orbit
• Perfect methods of re-entry

 
5. Let’s stop and "pretty it up." Click on the menu: Format, Apply-Design…, and scroll down to see several choices provided by Microsoft.  Pick one (you can change it later, or even make one of your own).

 
6. Find a picture on the Internet using a web browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer).
1. You could search for "NASA Gemini history" or similar, or go to NASA's web page…, or to make things simple for this tutorial, let's jump to a quick collection of tutorial resources I collected.  Scroll down to the pair of Gemini pictures (lift-off or space-walk).
2. Right click on the picture you want to use.  Then, depending on which browser you're using:
1. With Internet Explorer,
• Click on Copy.
• Back in Powerpoint, with your Gemini slide, click on the menu Edit, Paste.
2. With Netscape,
• Click on Save Image As. Point to your C:\TEMP directory, for example, and save file.  Remember the file name, or rename it to something more meaningful.
• Back in Powerpoint, while on your Gemini slide, click on the menu Insert, Picture…, From File and go find and double-click your saved graphic file.

 
7. Adjust your slide elements.  First the picture, and then the bulleted list.
1. Click the picture to select it. You can drag it to one side of your slide. (Don’t worry if it covers the text a little. You’ll fix that in a moment.)  Drag the handles to size the picture. (Only drag the corners to avoid distorting the picture.) Use the cropping tool to cut out unwanted edges of the picture. (On the menu, View, Toolbars, Picture, click the cropping tool button, position the cropping mouse cursor over picture "handles," and drag.)
2. Click once in the text box for the bulleted list, and then click on the hashed border.  Drag the handles and size the frame around the list to make room for your picture.  This does not change the size of the text, only the box within it must fit.  You can change the font size of the text inside the text box using the toolbar.  Hint: If you highlight a word, font changes apply only to the word.  If you select the text box, changes apply to all the text in the box.

 
8. On your own, you can repeat the previous steps for other missions (Apollo, Space Shuttle, Space Station, and so on). Very quickly you’ll have a very substantive presentation!  For example, you can make a New Slide with a bulleted list for the Apollo program: Copy and Paste the Apollo goals, from the tutorial resources.  Even if you have to do a little "clean up" of the pasted text, it's easier than retyping!  Paste in a pretty graphic for the Apollo program, too!

 
9. Let’s look briefly at your slides in different "views."  See the little buttons at the lower left?  Hold your mouse over each of the buttons to see a help-tip.  You’re probably in Slide View now, editing each slide.
1. Find and click the Outline View button.  This gives you a textual summary of your work.  Outline View is a great way to quickly enter, paste, or import the text of your presentation, then pretty it up later in Slide View.  Use the Tab and Shift-Tab keys to indent bulleted items (promote/demote).
2. Find and click the Slide Sorter View button..  This gives a "light table" view of your slides.  Here, you can see the whole presentation and easily change the order of slides (by drag and drop), copy or delete them, add special effects, etc.  Change the Zoom percentage in the toolbar to make the slides larger, or smaller.  We’ll return to this View later.
3. Find and click the Notes Page View button. You can type (or paste) notes onto these pages and print them out for your own use when presenting, or even use this layout for handouts.
4. Lastly, click the Slide Show button to start up a full-screen show of your slides, starting at the current slide.  Use Page Up/Page Down, Left/Right arrow keys, or mouse buttons (and many other ways) to move through the slides.  The Escape key will bring you back to the program.

 
10. Okay, let’s give your show some "glitz."  Go back to the Slide Sorter View.  (Use the buttons at the bottom.)  Let’s first pick a "transition" between slides instead of the simple "flash" to the next slide.  Here’s how…
1. In the menu, click Edit, Select All (or drag a dotted line) to select all of your slides. (See the thick line around each one that’s "selected"?)
2. Click on the "No transition" box, and scroll down the list of transitions.  Pick one that sounds neat to you, like Box Out, for example.  This applies the same transition to all your slides.  (Using many different transitions can be distracting.)
3. Select the first slide, and click the Slide Show button to check it out.

 
11. Next let’s make the bulleted lists a bit more interesting.  Get to the Slide Sorter View.
1. Select only the bulleted-list slides. (Click on the first bulleted slide.  If you have more than one, shift-click on the next, and the next, and so on.)
2. Click on the box that reads "No build effect" and scroll down the list of effects.  Pick one, like Zoom In, for example.
3. As with transitions, avoid too much or too varied animations—this will only distract your audience.  The animations can help you pace your presentation.
4. Select the first slide, and click the Slide Show button to check it out.

 
12. If you have a multimedia system, you can add sound. Let’s do that!
1. Double-click on one of your bulleted-list slides (to get back to Slide View).
2. We’ll enhance the Slide Transition.  Right click within the bulleted list, and select Custom Animation…, and then click on the Effects tab.  Since the bullet text is the current item, you are modifying the animation of your bulleted list.
3. The Entry Animation should be set from your previous work above (e.g., Zoom In).  Right below that, click on the box that reads "No Sound" and scroll down the list of available sounds.  Pick one, like Camera, or see the Sounds included in tutorial resources if the defaults aren't working.  At the bottom of the scroll-down list, you can select a sound file using "Other Sound..."
4. To the right, you’ll see that Introduce Text is set to animate the bulleted text "All at once."  If you like, you can change that setting (not recommended, but OK to try here!).
5. Finally, click OK to accept these changes to the animation settings.

 
13. Want to include a little movie?  Save the Apollo movie file to your disk from the tutorial resources, and then click Insert, Movies and Sounds..., Movie from File... to the slide. Position and size the movie as desired. But you probably want it to play automatically, so right click and adjust the Custom Animation settings.  Set the Timings to Animate, Automatically.  If other objects on the slide are also animating (e.g., bullets), you may have to adjust the Animation Order so the movie comes first, for example.

 
14. OK…look at your whole show now!  Click on Slide 1, and click the Slide Show button.  You probably will need to make a few adjustments, but at last you'll have a work of art!

 
15. In some situations, you may want your presentation to run "automatically."  In Slide Sorter View, select all the slides.  Right-click a slide, and adjust the Slide Transition to automatically advance after 5 seconds, or whatever.  Also right-click and check the settings under Slide Show..., where you can make the show loop continuously, for example.  Note that timings for bulleted lists, movies, sounds, and so forth are controlled under the Custom Animation settings for each slide.

 
16. Of  course, don’t forget to File, Save your presentation.  To take it on the road with you, use File, Pack-and-Go…  It’s best to include the Viewer and True-Type Fonts.  Note, however, that all the glitz you've added above has a "cost."   A glitzy presentation requires more disk space than a vanilla one, but your audience will appreciate it!

 
17. And allow me to offer a very practical caution. While a computer and color projection of your slides is usually the ideal plan for presenting to a large group, NEVER rely solely on this method, especially when traveling to make a presentation.  "Technology" usually works, but you don't want to be left with nothing if it "hiccups."  So, ALWAYS have a low-tech backup plan: 35 mm slides, color or b/w transparencies, or even printed handouts.

Other resources:                  (current as of Fall 1999)

• Very thorough Powerpoint 97 tutorial from the University of Wisconsin.
• Microsoft's tutorial for Powerpoint 97.
• Entertaining and well done, though lengthy, Powerpoint 97 tutorial.
• Very thorough Powerpoint 95 tutorial from Eastern Illinois University.
• Another very thorough Powerpoint 95 tutorial (Sunsite).
• Powerpoint 4.0 tutorial from Cardiff University in the UK (similar enough to later versions that you can learn a lot from this).
• General presentation tips for using Powerpoint (gleaned from Microsoft web site).
• Tips for making presentations and other hints for using Powerpoint (University of Arizona).
• Powerpoint 4.0 tutorial from the University of Texas.
• Tips for using Powerpoint from the Graphics Department at the University of Pittsburgh. (Though it is geared toward making 35 mm slides, this is excellent!)
• Powerpoint FAQ (frequently asked questions) from the University of Wisconsin.
• Tutorial for putting your Powerpoint presentation on the web from Clemson University.

If you have comments or suggestions, contact me:

    John Chamberlain, Senior Associate
    CORD,  P.O. Box 21689, Waco, TX  76702-1689
    Phone: 800-972-2766, ext 221 (or locally 254-772-8756, ext 221)
    Fax: 254-772-8972
    Email: chamber@cord.org