by Duncan Taylor

Created on: November 25, 2008

What exactly is a PowerPoint Presentation? A PowerPoint Presentation is a program that allows individuals to create a visual aid or show for a large group to view at a single time. This program has been used by students, teachers, businesses, and trainers ever since it was developed by Microsoft. Educating, recruiting, and informing the audiences of a PowerPoint are the major purposes of using this program in today's world. This program allows for a fun, but serious way of presenting information into a large group of people. In addition, the slides one incorporates into their show make or break the presentation, by either attracting or losing the attention of the audience.

In a PowerPoint Presentation, numerous functions can be applied to assure the presentation is the best possible. Adding transitions between each slide is one of these important functions. To add a transition, one can look under the Animation Tab and decide which transition they prefer best. Depending on what the purpose of the presentation, will determine which transitions to use. For business presentations, one would use a single, non-flashy transition, while a recruitment presentation, would use crazy ones to keep the attention of the viewers. This is one factor that will add into making a PowerPoint Presentation the best possible.

Another function that can be applied to presentation of this sort is a special background. Depending on whether it is a formal or informal presentation will determine the type and number of different backgrounds. Formal presentations should use a single background that does not distract the viewers from paying attention. Informal presentations however, have no rules that need to be followed, allowing anything to be available. To add a background to a slide, click on the Design Tab, then by selecting Background Styles. From this Dialog Box, one can select a default background or customize their own by selecting Format Background. When adding this function to a PowerPoint, use common-sense in selecting the type based on the presentation. When used correctly, it can make an extraordinary slide show.

A third important aspect people using the Microsoft PowerPoint program need to remember is how to add new slides that fit into the show. Once again, depending on the type of presentation, the format of each new slide will be determined. Numerous slide formats are available, but one needs to choose a slide that will fit into their presentation and keep it identical to

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