Creating a Slide Show - Layout Elements

The design brief is for a computerised slide show, devised around a series of competency-based qualifications, with the following considerations:

The Target Audience General public passing a window or an exhibition stand at a College Event but which also can be easily amended for use at a formal College event.
The Intention Give information about the CIT Scheme in order to attract the public to consider enrolling on the course.
Image and Style An upbeat and colourful presentation outlining the modular aspect of the course and range of modules. No more than eight slides using simple charts, large text and clip art images suitable for a short duration rolling display.
Purpose of Presentation An overview with limited information. More detailed audience handouts only for formal College events.
Format Computer screen.

The slide show needs to:

  • Identify the College and Faculty
  • Identify the Course
  • Identify the modules and packages
  • List important points about the Course
  • Emphasise the certificates to be gained
  • Show the popularity of the modules and the recent pass rates

In response to this brief the following show has been produced:

Slide 1: The College Title Slide

  1. Launch Powerpoint and select the Auto Content Wizard. Choose On-screen Presentation.
  2. A suitable background is needed for the slide show. Click on More. Scroll down to 'embossed'. Click Next.
  3. Click on all the options except Full-page slides. Click Next and then Finish. Note that no speaker's notes and audience handouts are needed in this presentation.. Type in "Swansea College"' as title and "IT Workshop" as sub-title.
  4. Drag title to the top of the slide and sub-title below the second line of the background file.
  5. Click the Insert menu and select Picture. Pick a clip art symbol to insert - the picture will need to be cropped. Click the Tools menu and select Crop Picture for the cropping tool to crop the right and bottom sides.
  6. Click on the logo and drag to the required position as shown below. Please note that he background featured in the illustrated slides is not available on PowerPoint 97. Please select any of the currently available backgrounds.

Slide 2: The CIT Slide

  1. Click on the Insert menu and select New Slide. Choose the Title slide option. Type in "Cambridge IT Scheme" as the title and "A Competency-based Approach" as sub-title.
  2. Drag the title to the top of the slide and the sub-title below the second line of the background.
  3. Click the Insert menu and select Picture then Clipart. Double-click to import a suitable image. Size the image for the left-hand image as shown below. Select the image, copy and paste the same image on the right-hand side.
  4. Select the sub-title placeholder, copy and paste it. Select the copy and replace the text inside it with "Equivalent to GNVQ level 2".
  5. Create another text box. Replace the text inside it with "Accreditation of prior learning". Place the text boxes as illustrated below.

Slides 3 and 4: The 'Modules Covered' Bullet Charts

  1. Click the Insert menu and select New Slide, choosing the Two Column Text template. Type in "Modules covered" as the title. Type in the text as shown in the illustration below.
  2. Select the title placeholder rectangle by clicking on it's border. From the Edit menu select Copy and then Paste to make a copy.
  3. On completion of slide 3, go to Edit and Select All. Selection boxes will appear around all the text. Go to Edit, then Copy.
  4. Click at the end of the slide. Go to Insert and select New Slide. Choose the Blank slide.
  5. Click Edit, then Paste. Modify the new slide as shown on the second slide below. Give the sub-title shadow by clicking on Shadow on/off on the Frame Drawing toolbar.

Slide 5: Modules Completion

  1. Insert a New Slide as before and choose the Bulleted List template.
  2. Type in "Modules Completion" as the title.
  3. Type in the text as shown below and leave the text editor.

Slide 6: The Certificates

  1. Insert a New Slide and choose the Text and Clip Art template.
  2. Click in the title and text placeholders in turn and key in the required text as shown below. Use any suitable certificate clip art.

Slide 7: The Results Graph

  1. Insert a New Slide and select the Chart template.
  2. Click the title placeholders and type in the required text as shown below.
  3. Double-click on graph placeholder and the Datasheet table will appear. Select columns B, C and D and delete.
  4. Amend column A header from "1st Quarter" to "1996 Pass Rates". Replace row headings (East, etc.) and cell values with the following information. Extra rows will need to be added.
Computer Literacy 5   Accounts 4
Word Processing 155   Payroll 1
Spreadsheet 65   Desk Top Publishing 30
Database 52   Stock Control 2
Programming 4   Business Presentations 3
CAD 9   Global Communications 2
Art and Design 5    

Click on the graph to see the columns displayed. The default text size of 18pt is too large. Select the Chart frame and click the right-hand mouse button. Choose Edit Graph Object. Select the Legend frame and click the right-hand mouse button. In the dialog box choose the Font tab and change the font size to 14pt. Your slide should look like this:

Contents: Presentations

Skill Check: Presentations