Create slideshows with Powerpoint

To many people, Powerpoint presentations mean one thing: being trapped in a darkened room, staring at tedious graphs and an afternoon wasted in the company of a presenter whose favourite sound is his own voice.

But Powerpoint doesn’t have to be this way. Although it’s designed for business use, it’s also a great tool for making interesting slideshows. You could use it at a local club or society, or simply to show off photos to your friends and family.

You may already have a copy of Powerpoint on your computer; if not, it’s included in the Home and Student Edition of Microsoft Office 2007, which is a bargain at under £100 - we found it on sale at Amazon for less than £60.

In this feature, we’ll take you from a blank presentation to one bursting with colour and photographs, and guide you through the minefield of transitions and sound effects, and help you share your finished slideshow with the world. We’ll also show you how to use the advanced notes feature to turn narration-free slideshows into carefully scripted, riveting talks. Powerpoint 2003 and 2007 are very similar, so we’ll provide instructions for both programs.

Picking pictures
The simplest type of multimedia slideshow can be used to show off photographs. To create one, move all the photos you would like to use into one place on the computer’s hard disk.

Ideally, find your most interesting pictures - the ones with the best colours, finest composition and that tell the most interesting stories - and put them all into a single folder. If you’re going to leave the slideshow playing in the background at a party there’s no limit on the number of shots you can use.

If you’re going to be narrating the slides you should aim for no more than 20 seconds of narration per shot, with a maximum of about 20 images.

Once all the photos are arranged in a folder, the next step is to import them. In Powerpoint 2003, click on Insert, then Picture, then New photo album; in Powerpoint 2007, select the Insert tab on the ribbon and click on Photo Album. The dialogue box that appears is the same for both versions.

Under Insert picture from select File/Disk, navigate to the folder where the photos are stored. If your folder contains nothing but the images you want, press Ctrl and A together to select them all in one go. Otherwise, hold down the Ctrl key and, keeping that key held down, left-click all the images you want to add. Finally, click the Insert button.

Adding the album
The Photo Album dialogue box includes a few photo-editing functions, such as the ability to turn all the images black and white, or to adjust the brightness and contrast in your shots; however, we advise leaving these basic controls alone.

If your photos need editing, it’s best to do this before they reach Powerpoint. The order in which the photos are displayed can be changed, though. To do this, select a picture in the list and use the up and down buttons beneath it. If any photos show up sideways or upside down, use the buttons marked with two triangles and an arrow to rotate them.

You can choose whether to include a caption with your images. The bottom of the Photo Album dialogue box includes a section labelled ‘Album Layout’. If ‘Fit to slide’ is selected in the picture layout box then the image will be the only thing on each slide.

If you want to include a caption with each picture you need to select either ‘1 picture’, or ‘1 picture with title’. By default the caption is the filename of each image, but you can change it later. The box below allows you to add a frame to the pictures. Once you are happy, click the Create button.

If you decide to change these settings later, you can change the formatting of your photo album. In Powerpoint 2003, choose Photo Album from the format menu; in Powerpoint 2007, select to the Insert tab, click on the dropdown list below Photo Album and select ‘Edit Photo Album’.

By default the background of each slide will be plain white. This doesn’t look so great for photos, so in Powerpoint 2003 select Background from the Format menu and choose another colour - black is particularly effective - from the dropdown menu before clicking Apply. In Powerpoint 2007, an assortment of pleasant but subtle slide designs is available - click on Format, then Slide Design.

Make it move
It’s possible to add video clips to presentations as well as photos. To do this, first select the slide where you would like the movie to appear. If all the slides are already full of photos, press the Ctrl and M keys together to add a new one.

In Powerpoint 2003, click Insert, Movies and Sounds, then Movie from file, then select a video clip from your hard disk. In Powerpoint 2007, click the Movie button on the Insert tab, then choose a file. In both cases you’ll be asked whether the video clip should start playing automatically, or wait until it is clicked. Choose one, and the clip will appear on the slide.

Not fade away
Adding transition effects - the animations that play when you change slides - can be hazardous. While some transitions can be subtle and effective, Powerpoint’s vast array of fades and blurs tempts users into going too far and creating a distracting mess.

If you decide to include transitions in your photo albums, pick one of the subtler effects and stick to it. Fade effects are often best, as images sliding into view tend to distract from the photos themselves. The ideal transition should be almost unnoticeable.

To add a transition in Powerpoint 2003, choose Slide Transition from the Slide Show menu. In Powerpoint 2007, select Animations in the ribbon. Although each version presents its animations differently, the effects to choose from are the same. Under Slide

Transition select the effect you want - fade works well in most cases - and click Apply To All Slides (in Powerpoint 2007, this is labelled Apply to All). The effect will be repeated across every slide, with new slides appearing each time you click the mouse.

If you intend to leave your presentation running, you should investigate the options under Advance Slide. This can be found on the far right of the toolbar in Powerpoint 2007 and at the bottom of the Slide Transition sidebar in Powerpoint 2003. By default, On Mouse Click is ticked. If you want the slides to advance on their own, tick Automatically After and enter a time.

Times are entered in minutes and seconds, so 01:00 means your pictures will display for a minute before moving on. In practice, this is much too long. Try to set a good tempo and leave each picture on show for 20 seconds at the very most. In most cases, setting your slideshow to move on to the next picture every five to 10 seconds will keep people’s attention.

Sound advice
It is possible to add sounds to your presentation, although this can be a real pitfall. You might think a two-second sound clip that plays each time a slide appears is cute, but your viewers might not be as tolerant, and even the best sounds tend to grate after a few appearances.

If in doubt, leave it quiet. However, if your computer has a microphone you could record a voice narration to provide a commentary. First make sure your slides are set to change when you click the mouse by changing the Advance Slide settings as explained above.

In Powerpoint 2007, go to the Slide Show tab on the ribbon then on Record Narration; in Powerpoint 2003, this option is in the Slide Show menu. The default settings will be fine for most uses, and once you click OK the slideshow will start playing.

Record a narration for each slide and click when you’re finished to move to the next slide. Once you’re finished, Powerpoint will ask if you want to save your slide timings. Click Save. The next time you play the slideshow the slides will advance automatically, with your commentary played over the top. This is a good trick if you can’t be there to present in person.

Take note
If you’re giving a presentation in person, make use of Powerpoint’s notes function. This is displayed beneath the current slide and allows you to type in notes on what you want to say about each photo or video clip.

These notes don’t appear on screen, so the audience won’t see them, but you can print off a copy of each slide with the notes that accompany it. To do this choose the Print option - it’s in the File menu in Powerpoint 2003, or click the Office button in Powerpoint 2007 - and look for a small option called ‘Print What’ in the dialogue box.

Select Notes Pages and your printouts will have a picture of each slide at the top and your notes printed beneath them. Keep your narration short and snappy - there’s nothing worse than an interesting photo being rendered boring by five minutes of dreary discussion.

Powerpoint doesn’t have to be for dull, lifeless presentations that send the audience to sleep. With some great photos or videos, and a little restraint when it comes to frills such as sound effects and animations, you’ll be able to captivate an audience.

Sharing shows
Powerpoint may be popular, but it’s important to remember that not everyone has a copy. With this in mind, sharing slideshows requires a little thought. The simplest way to do it is to choose Package for CD from the file menu (in Powerpoint 2007 click the Office button, then publish, then Package for CD). The results can be saved to a disc and anyone with a Windows PC will be able to view the show, without needing a copy of Powerpoint.

The alternative is to put your presentation on the web. Our favourite method is using the free Google Docs, which allows you to upload and share a presentation. If you grant permission, your viewers can even make changes to your document.

Another option is the glossy Splashcast. Powerpoint 2007 users will need to click File, then Save As, then Powerpoint 97-2003 Presentation to create a file that works with this service.