(Legacy) Microsoft PowerPoint 2007: Making your Presentation

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Note: This article is based on legacy software.

PowerPoint has many features that will help you give a smooth and professional presentation. This document will help you prepare your presentation by providing useful information and making you feel comfortable with your presentation. 

Rehearsing Presentations

Rehearsing is just as important as the work you put into creating your presentation. It is especially important if you have applied builds, transitions and/or other elements, and are working in the automatic advance mode because you will need to keep control of the timing of all these elements to prevent mistakes. 

PowerPoint has a rehearsing feature that can time you while you practice your presentation. Each slide displays the number of seconds that elapses while that specific slide is displayed during the presentation.

Setting Up the Slide Show

  1. From the Slide Show tab, in the Set Up group, click SET UP SLIDE SHOW set up slide show
    The Set Up Show dialog box appears.
    set up show dialog box

  2. Under Show type, select Presented by a speaker (full screen)

  3. To rehearse using all of the slides in your presentation, in the Show slides section, select All 
    To rehearse using only a range of slides, in the Show slides section, select From and specify the range

  4. To manually advance the slides, in the Advance slides section, select Manually
    To have the slides advance automatically, under Advance slides, select Use timings, if present 
    The Use timings option will automatically advance your slides according to the times you have preset.

  5. Click OK

Rehearsing the Slide Show

When you are rehearsing your slide show, the Rehearse Timings option allows you to rehearse your PowerPoint slide and/or record timings. 

  1. From the Slide Show tab, in the Set Up group, click REHEARSE TIMINGS rehearse timing
    The slide show starts and the Rehearsal dialog box appears recording the time.
    rehearsal dialog box

  2. Rehearse your presentation

  3. When you want to change slides click the mouse
    NOTES:
    After clicking to the next slide, PowerPoint automatically records the time spent on that slide.
    If you know the time you want to spend on each slide, in the Rehearsal dialog box, type the times. 
    When you are finished, an alert box appears asking if you would like to record timing.

  4. To discard the recorded timing, click NO
    To save the recorded timing, click YES
    NOTE: To preview your slide show with the recorded timing, from the View tab, in the Presentation Viewsgroup, click SLIDE SHOW slide show button.

Working with Slide Timing

PowerPoint offers a number of options in regard to the timing of the slides in your presentation. You can assign timing manually, suppress it during a presentation, or remove it.

Assigning Slide Times Manually

  1. From the View tab, in the Presentation Views group, click SLIDE SORTER slide sorter button
    OR
    In the Slides and Outline pane, select the Slides tab slides tab
    OR
    On the lower right side of your screen, click SLIDE SORTER slide sorter button
    Working in Slide Sorter view lets you set the slide timings for all of your slides without changing views.

  2. Select the slide to which you want to manually assign a time

  3. From the Animations tab, in the Transitions to This Slide group, under Advance Slide, select Automatically After
    NOTE: The option is selected if a checkmark appears before it.

  4. In the Automatically after text box, type the amount of time that the slide should stay on the screen 
    OR 
    Use the nudge buttons to select the desired time

  5. OPTIONAL: In order to have the option to manually advance your slides while the time recording is running, under Advance Slide, select On Mouse Click
    NOTES:
    The option is selected if a checkmark appears before it. 
    Both Automatically after and On mouse click can be selected at once. This allows you to advance to the next slide before the pre-selected time is up.

  6. Repeat steps 2-6 for each additional slide
    OR
    To apply this timing to all slides in the current presentation, click APPLY TO ALL

Suppressing Slide Timing During a Presentation

Depending on when and where you are giving your presentation, the timing you have set for your slides may not be appropriate. You can suppress the timing that you have set up without removing the timing.

  1. From the Slide Show tab, in the Set Up group, click SET UP SLIDE SHOW set up slide show
    The Set Up Show dialog box appears.

  2. In the Advance slides section, select Manually

  3. Click OK

Removing Slide Timing from Individual Slides

If you find that the timing you have set for a slide(s) is no longer appropriate, you can remove it.

  1. From the View tab, in the Presentation Views group, click SLIDE SORTER slide sorter
    OR
    In the Slides and Outline pane, select the Slides tab slides tab
    OR
    On the lower right side of your screen, click SLIDE SORTER slide sorter button 
    Working in Slide Sorter view lets you set the slide timings for all of your slides without changing views.

  2. Select the slide from which you want the time removed

  3. From the Animations tab, in the Transitions to This Slide group, under Advance Slide, deselect Automatically After

  4. Repeat steps 2-4 for each additional slide
    OR
    To apply this removal of timing to all slides, click APPLY TO ALL

Embedding Fonts

When you create your presentation, it is best to embed the fonts in case the computer with which you actually present does not have all of the fonts you used. Embedding fonts will also enable you to avoid problems with bullet shape and helps make your presentation more portable. This can be done after your slides are already written. For more information, refer to Making Presentations Portable.

  1. With your presentation open, click the OFFICE office buttonbutton, select Save As
    The Save As dialog box appears.

  2. From the Tools pull-down list, select Save Options...
    The PowerPoint Options dialog box appears with the Save options displayed.

  3. Under Preserve fidelity when sharing this presentation, select Embed fonts in the file
    embed fonts in the file

  4. Select the desired option 
    NOTES: 
    Embed only the characters used in the presentation (best for reducing file size) is selected by default.
    To share the file or present on an unfamiliar computer, select Embed all characters (best for editing by other people).

  5. Click OK
    The Save As dialog box reappears.

  6. Using the Save in pull-down list, navigate to the desired save location

  7. In the File name text box, type the presentation name

  8. Click SAVE

Showing Your Presentation

When you present your slide show, the slides will fill the entire computer screen. To start the show, follow the steps below:

  1. Open the presentation

  2. Verify that your presentation is set up to present as desired

  3. From the View tab, in the Presentation Views group, click SLIDE SHOW slide show button