Presentation: Concept and Basic Fundamentals

CONCEPTOF PRESENTATION

The presentation can be defined as the practice of showing the content of a topic along with explaining it to a specific audience. It is a collection of information and data which has to be delivered to an audience or learners. It helps both the speaker and the participants to learn about the topic more easily. For example, a PowerPoint presentation is a collection of electronic slides which consists of text, images, tables, graphics, video and sound which leads both the presenter and the audience to remember more accurately and uncomplicatedly.

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The images, text, graphics and other objects shown in the PowerPoint are positioned on individual pages or slides.These slides can be printed or more usually displayed on the screen and controlled through by the presenter. A presentation has several constraints, among which having a limited time to present consistent information is the most important.

Features of Presentation Software:

• Different forms of information as text, audio, graphics, video and animation can be presented.

• Different forms of tables, charts and objects can be embedded in the slides.

• Provides theme, design template, slide layout, readymade template, etc.

• Provides custom animation, custom set up show and slide transition.

Presentation Program:

A presentation program is computer software that displays information and data, usually in the form of a slide show. It has 3 major functions. They are:

1. An editor allowing text to be inserted and formatted.
2. A method to insert and manipulate graphic images.
3. A slide shows system for content display.

Types of Presentation Program:

1. Static Presentation:

Static Presentations are the types of presentation that are used for the continuous description of any subject matter. It consists of a simpler type of topics where user interaction is not required.

2. Interactive Presentation:

Interactive Presentations are used in the field of official and educational presentations. This presentation requires user interaction through the keyboard, mouse or any other device for the transition from one slide to other.

Some examples of Presentation Program are:

Fig: KPresenter

Fig: IBM Connect

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1. MS PowerPoint
2. MagicPoint
3. Simple Slides
4. IBM Connect (previously Lotusphere)
5. Powerdot
6. Corel Presentations
7. Apple Keynote
8. Opera Show Format
9. Freelance Graphics
10. KPresenter

Uses/ Applications of Presentation Program:

• It is often used in the business field to present training materials.

• It contains text, pictures, audio files, video clips, etc.

• It is very useful in presenting information among students, teachers and businessman.

• It is useful for business meetings and conferences, both face to face and teleconferenced.

• Animated transitions and sound effects also can be included for an extra appeal.

Basic Fundamentals of Presentation:

• Slide: A slide refers to a single page of presentation which is created by software such as PowerPoint or OpenOffice Impress. A presentation is composed of several slides.

• Animation: An animation is a simulation of movement that is created by displaying a series of pictures or frames. It is a visual effect which is applied to individual items on the slide such as titles, bullet points or graphics. It is one of the major components of Multimedia presentation. Cartoon on TV is an example of animation.

• Slide Transition: Slide transition refers to the visual movement of one slide change to other. Though both animation and transition mean movement, transition is different from animation as animation refers to the movement of the objects on the slide whereas, transition means the movement of the whole slide.

• The PowerPoint Window: PowerPoint is a presentation software package. PowerPoint helps in the creation of slide shows easily. Slide shows are used to illustrate presentations in a more effective ways.

To Open MS PowerPoint 2007:

When you open PowerPoint 2007, a similar screen to the below figure appears.

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1. The Microsoft Office Button:It lies in the upper-left corner of PowerPoint 2007. On clicking the button, a menu appears. The menu can be used to create new files, open existing files, save files and perform many other tasks.
2. The Quick Access Toolbar:It is next to the Microsoft Office Button. It provides access to the commands that is frequently used in the computer. Save, Undo and Redo appears on it by default. Save is used to save files, Undo is used to roll back the action just taken and Redo allows reapplying of an action which is just rolled back.
3. The Title Bar:Located at the top in the center of the PowerPoint window, it displays the name of the presentation on which work is going on. Presentations’ names are presented sequentially by default.
4. The Ribbon:The ribbon is used to issue the commands to tell PowerPoint of what to do. It is located below the Quick Access Toolbar, near the top of the window.
5. The Status bar:It generally appears at the bottom of the window. It displays the number of currently displayed slides, the total number of slides and the name of the design template in use or the background’s name.
6. The Outline tab displays the text contained in your presentation.
7. The Slides tab displays a thumbnail of all your slides. To view the slide in the Slide pane, click the thumbnail.
8. The View buttons lie near to the bottom of the screen. View buttons are used to change between Normal view, Slider Sorter view and the Slide Show view.

• Slide Sorter View: It shows thumbnails of all slides. Here, slides can be easily added, deleted or change their order.

• Normal View:It splits the screen into 3 major sections; the Outline and Slides tabs, the Slide pane and the Notes area. The Slide pane lies in the center of the window and shows a large view of the currently working slide whereas; the Notes area is below the Slide pane.

• Slide show: This is used in the final presentation when slides are to be viewed. When in Slide Show view;
  Esc: Returns you to the view you were previously using.
  Left clicking :Moves you to the next slide or animation effect.
  Right clicking :Opens a pop-up menu which can be used to navigate the slides, select a pointer,
  add speaker notes and mark your presentation.
  Zoom :Zoom allows zooming in and zooming out on the window.
  Vertical Horizontal splitter ball :The Vertical and Horizontal bars help in changing the size of panes.
  Minimize button :This button is used to remove a window from the view and pin it on the taskbar.
  Maximize button: This button causes the window to fill the screen.
  Close button :It is used to exit from the window and close the program.
  

  Starting PowerPoint 2007:

Steps
- Click the Start button in the lower-left corner of the screen and go to All programs. Then, go to Microsoft Office and click on Microsoft PowerPoint 2007.
or,
-Double click quickly on the PowerPoint 2007 icon on the screen.

• Create a slide:
  -Click the words ‘Click to add title’ on the blank area.
• Save the presentation:
  -Click the save icon in the above picture in the title bar
  or,
  -Use Save As option to save the file.
• Add new slides:
  -Click New slide in the Ribbon.
  -To choose a format for the slide, use the drop down menu under New Slide.

(Rimal & Pudasaini, 2015)

Bibliography

Rimal, R., & Pudasaini, D. (2015). Computer Science I. Anamnagar, Kathmandu: Buddha Publication.

Adhikari, Deepak et.al., Computer Science- XI, Asia Publication Pvt. Ltd, ktm