1. Open PowerPoint to a blank presentation. (Start -> Programs -> PowerPoint.) Explore the various views available.

Normal view

Normal view is the main editing view, which you use to write and design your presentation. The view has three working areas: on the left, tabs that alternate between an outline of your slide text (Outline tab) and your slides displayed as thumbnails (Slides tab); on the right, the slide pane, which displays a large view of the current slide; and on the bottom, the notes pane.

The Outline and Slides tabs change to display an icon when the pane becomes narrow, and if you only want to see the current slide in the window as you edit, you can close the tabs with a Close box in the right corner.

Drag the splitter bar to narrow the pane; the tab names turn into icons. You can adjust the size of the different panes in normal view by dragging the pane borders.

Slide pane   In the slide pane, you can see how your text looks on each slide. You can add graphics, movies, and sounds, create hyperlinks, and add animations to individual slides.

Notes pane   The notes pane lets you add your speaker notes or information you want to share with the audience. If you want to have graphics in your notes, you must add the notes in notes page view.

These panes are also displayed when you save your presentation as a Web page. The only difference is that the outline pane displays a table of contents so that you can navigate through your presentation.  

Slide sorter view     

Slide sorter view is an exclusive view of your slides in thumbnail form.

When you are finished creating and editing your presentation, slide sorter gives you an overall picture of it — making it easy to reorder, add, or delete slides and preview your transition and animation effects.

Slide show view

Slide show view takes up the full computer screen, like an actual slide show presentation. In this full-screen view, you see your presentation the way your audience will. You can see how your graphics, timings, movies, animated elements, and transition effects will look in the actual show.

Activity 2: The Task Pane

1. Open PowerPoint to a blank presentation. Explore the Task Pane located on the right hand side of your screen. If it is not visible, go to the View menu and click on "Task Pane".

The Task Pane

Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 includes several task panes (task pane: A window within an Office application that provides commonly used commands. Its location and small size allow you to use these commands while still working on your files.) that help you complete the following tasks: 

• create a new presentation; 

• select a layout  (layout: The arrangement of elements such as title and subtitle text, lists, pictures, tables, charts, AutoShapes, and movies, on a chart.) for slides; 

• choose a design template,  (design template: A file that contains the styles in a presentation, including the type and size of bullets and fonts; placeholder sizes and positions; background design and fill; color schemes; and a slide master and optional title master.) color scheme (color scheme: A set of eight balanced colors you can apply to slides, notes pages, or audience handouts. A color scheme consists of a background color, a color for lines and text, and six other colors designed to make slides easy to read.), or animation scheme (animation scheme: Adds preset visual effects to text on slides. Ranging from subtle to exciting, each scheme usually includes an effect for the slide title and an effect that is applied to bullets or paragraphs on a slide.); 

• create a custom animation; 

• set slide transitions; 

• search for files; 

• and copy and paste multiple items at once.

General navigational tips

• Switch between most recent task panes. In the upper-left corner of the pane, click the back and forward arrows to see most recently viewed panes.
• Display the most recently opened task pane. On the View menu, click Task Pane. (Note: If this command has a check mark, clicking it will turn off a task pane that's displayed.)
• Display task panes. In the upper-right corner of any task pane, click the down arrow, and then click the task pane you want.
• Close the task pane. Click the Close box in the upper-right corner.

New Presentation task pane

Display it. On the File menu, click New. Show or hide it when you open PowerPoint. At the bottom of the task pane, select or clear the Show at startup check box.

Clipboard task pane

Display it. On the Edit menu, click Office Clipboard.

Basic Search task pane

Display it. On the File menu, click Search.

Advanced Search task pane

Display it. On the File menu, click Search, and then in the Basic Search task pane, click Advanced Search.

Slide Layout task pane

Display it. On the Format menu, click Slide Layout. Show or hide it when you insert a new slide. At the bottom of the task pane, select or clear the Show when inserting new slides check box.

Slide Design task pane

To display it: On the Formatting toolbar, click Design . Or, on the Format menu, click Slide Design. To see design templates: Click Design Templates at the top of the pane. To see color schemes: Click Color Schemes at the top of the pane. To see animation schemes: Click Animation Schemes at the top of the pane.

Custom Animation task pane

To display it: On the Slide Show menu, click Custom Animation. Or, on the slide, select the item you're adding custom animation to, right-click, and on the shortcut menu, click Custom Animation.

Slide Transition task pane

To display it. On the Slide Show menu, click Slide Transition.

View Buttons and View Menu

1. Insert a new slide by choosing New Slide from the Insert menu.  Each time you insert a new slide you must choose a slide layout from the Task Pane.

2. Type a title and subtitle for your slide. Various layouts contain pre-formatted text boxes with placeholder text. Replace the placeholder text with text of your own.

3. To format text, first select it and then choose Font from the Format menu. You may also use the Formatting toolbar and the Font color option on the Drawing toolbar.

4. Format the background of your slide. To format the background, choose options from the Format menu. You may choose to apply a Slide Design, change the Background color, or change the slide Color Scheme.

1.  Create 2 or three additional slides. It doesn't matter what content you add to the slides - we just need a sample presentation to practice transitions and animations with. To apply transitions to a slideshow, it is usually easiest to switch to Slide Layout view (from the View menu or from the button on the Views toolbar). Then choose Select All from the Edit menu. Next, choose Slide Transition from the Slideshow menu.

Choose a transition effect from the drop down menu

Next, Choose the slide advance options (either mouse click or automatically after _ seconds). Click Apply.

3. To animate objects on a slide, first switch to Slide view. Select the text or object on the slide that you wish to animate. Then choose Custom Animation from the Slide Show menu.  In the Custom Animation Task pane you may apply animations, sound effects, and adjust the order and timing of the objects on the slide.

When you have finished this practice presentation consisting of 3-4 slides, email it as an attachment to the address below.