Presentation Graphics: Running the Slide Show
(Presenter Controlled and Self-Running)

The following is designed to be used as a tutorial. You can work through this tutorial using multi-tasking (i.e. switching back and forth between your web browser and Microsoft PowerPoint), or you can print this web page and just work in your slide show.

This tutorial will introduce you to the steps involved in the two basic methods for running a slide show with a computer. You should try to DO each of the processes described here (more than once) and also do a little experimenting on your own. Contact your instructor if you have any questions.

Before you begin, open the slide show you saved at the end of the last tutorial. If you didn't save it, create a new slide show with at least 4 slides.

Introduction

Once a slide show has been created, it can be displayed with a computer to an audience one of three ways:

• Under control of the presenter as a visual aide to their presentation.
• As a self running sequence of slides (each slide is displayed for a predetermined duration of time). This option may be used as a kiosk or as people arrive before the actual presentation.
• A combination of the two above (where some of the slides are timed and others advance manually).

Running a Slide Show - Presenter Controlled

With PowerPoint running and your slide show file open, the presentation can be run manually by the presenter as follows:

1. There are four options for starting the slide show. The first three will start the slide show with the first slide. The last option will start the slide show with the currently displayed slide (this allows you to start the show with any slide).
   • From the "View" menu, choose the "Slide Show" command.
   • From the "Slide Show" menu, choose the "View Show" command.
   • Press the F5 function key at the top of the keyboard.
   • Click on the 3rd icon at the lower left corner of the window. The tool tip will say "Slide Show (from current slide)".
2. To move through the slides and the animated effects, use one of the following:
   • Click the left mouse button.
   • Press the space bar.
   • Press the ENTER key.
   • Press the right arrow cursor key.
3. After the last slide is completed, the next mouse click, space bar, enter key, or right arrow cursor key will display a black screen with the words "End of slide show, click to exit." at the top of the screen. The purpose of this black screen is that it is less visually distracting to your audience than returning to the PowerPOint development mode.
4. Use any one of these same actions to return you to the PowerPoint development mode.

Other manual controls that may be used while the slide show is running, include:

• P key or BACKSPACE key or Left Arrow cursor key = return to the previous slide or previous step of an animation (remember: P for previous)
• type a number and then press the ENTER key = go to that slide number
• B key = blank (all black) the screen (toggle ... i.e. this key turns this feature both on and off)
• W key = blank (all white) the screen (toggle ... i.e. this key turns this feature both on and off)
• ESC key = end the slide show (returns to the development mode)
• Right Mouse Button = displays a menu of options

Try all of these controls!

On Screen Annotations

While the slide show is running, you can use a special "pen" to make temporary annotations on a slide. To turn on the annotation pen, press CTRL-P. While the pen is on, you can draw on the current slide by dragging the mouse.

Try it !!!

To return to the normal mode...

• type ESC or CTRL-A to stay at the same slide (annotations remain and the pen is turned off)
• type SPACEBAR or ENTER or RIGHT ARROW to go to the next slide or animation step (pen stays turned on)
• type P or BACKSPACE or LEFT ARROW to go to the previous slide (pen stays turned on)

To erase the annotations on a slide and remain on the same slide with the pen turned on, type the E key.

To change the color of the pen ...

1. Click the right mouse button.
2. From the popup menu, choose the "Pointer Options" submenu, select the "Pen Color" submenu, and then select a color.

Try it !!!

Self-Running Slide Shows

To create a series of slides (or the entire slide show) that will run automatically involves a three step process (details below):

1. Assign timings to each slide (i.e. how long each slide will be displayed).
2. Specify any required slide show set up options.
3. Run the slide show (same as above).

Assigning Timings to Slides

There are two ways to determine how long a slide will be displayed.

• Specifying a specific number of seconds for each individual slide or group of slides.
• Use the "Rehearse Timings" feature (where you run the slides manually and the computer detects and remembers how long each slide was displayed).

In most cases, you will be using a combination of these two methods (start with the "Rehearse Timings" feature and then tweak the timings of individual slides as needed).

Design Note: Rarely will all of the slides be displayed for the same period of time. The length of time a slide will be displayed should be determined by the content of the slide (i.e. how long it will take the average viewer to read and comprehend the content of the slide).

To rehearse timings,

1. From the "Slide Show" menu, choose the "Rehearse Timings" command.
2. Manually step through the slides as if someone was viewing them. You will see a small timer at the top left corner of the screen that shows the time for the current slide as well as the total time of all of the slides.
3. When the slides are completed, a dialog box will tell you the total elapse time of the slide show and ask if you want to save the timings. Click on the "Yes" button.
4. You will finally be taken to the "Slide Sorter" view where you can see how much time was allocated to each of the slides. To return to the normal view, double-click on a slide.

To change the timing on a slide,

1. Go to the slide in normal view or select the slide in the slide sorter view. To change more than one slide to the same amount of time, select the slides in the slide sorter view.
2. Select the "Slide Transition" option in the task pane or from the "Slide Show" menu, choose the "Slide Transition..." command.
3. Near the bottom of the slide transition task pane you will see the heading "Advance slide." Use the text box found there to specify the amount of time the slide will be displayed.

Try it !!!

NOTE: A comment about slide timings. Make sure each slide is on the screen long enough for the viewer (i.e. someone who has not seen these slides before) to read and comprehend all of the information. But, don't leave the slides on the screen to long ... the viewer will get bored!

Setting Up the Slide Show

From The "Slide Show" menu, choose the "Set Up Show..." command. Of the many options available in this dialog box, two of them are of importance to self-running slide shows.

• The middle-right section of this dialog box is titled "Advance slides." Here you can choose between two radio buttons.
  • The first one (Manually) will tell PowerPoint to ignore the timings and only advance to the next slide when the user uses one on the manual commands given above.
  • The second option (Using timings, if present) tells PowerPoint to use your timings. For a self-running slide show, this is the option you want to be selected.
• In the middle-left section of this dialog box is a check box titled "Loop continuously until Esc." Unless this check box is selected, a self-running slide show will play only once. If you want the slide show to restart automatically after the last slide, select this check box.

Run the Self-Running Slide Show

As before, use one of the following four options to run the slides:

• From the "View" menu, choose the "Slide Show" command.
• From the "Slide Show" menu, choose the "View Show" command.
• Press the F5 function key.
• Click on the 3rd icon at the lower left corner of the window. The tool tip will say "Slide Show (from current slide)".

Try it !!! You should see the slides changing automatically, based on your timings.

Where to go from here...

If you understand the concepts from all of the the tutorials on Presentation Graphics using Microsoft PowerPoint, you are ready to start working on the next project.

[an error occurred while processing the directive]