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Intro

In this lesson, you will learn the basics of Microsoft PowerPoint 2003, including an overview of the interface, how to create presentations using the wizard and from scratch, working with the slide sorter, inserting graphics, and tips for giving your presentation. We will also cover how to save, load, and print your slides, along with a quick review of essential text editing functions. This course is ideal for beginners who want to get up and running quickly with creating their own PowerPoint presentations. This is lesson 1.

Transcript

Welcome to PowerPoint 101, brought to you by PowerPointLearningZone.com. I am your instructor, Richard Rost.

In today's class, we are going to learn the basics of Microsoft PowerPoint. We are going to learn about the PowerPoint interface. We are going to learn how to create a PowerPoint presentation using the wizard. We are also going to learn how to create a presentation from scratch, which is how I prefer to create them.

We are going to learn how to use the slide sorter to arrange the slides inside your presentation. I will give you some tips for giving your presentation. We will see how to insert graphics into your slides. I will show you how to save, load, and print your PowerPoint presentation.

Our goal for today is to get you up and running quickly with PowerPoint building presentations. We are going to go over some of the material quickly today, and we will cover the details in future classes. Again, today our goal is just to get you up and running and building your first presentations.

Before you take this course, I strongly recommend you take our Windows 101 and Word 101 classes first. I am going to assume that you are familiar with basic word processing and that you know how to edit text. Some of the concepts like Cut, Copy, and Paste, I have covered in Word 101. I will go over them briefly in today's class, but if you want to learn how to edit text and work with text, Word 101 is where I cover most of those features.

Of course, there is a lot of text editing involved in creating your PowerPoint slides. So for my customers who have already taken Word 101, I am not going to spend a lot of time going over things like changing fonts, font sizes, and Cut, Copy, and Paste, and topics that I have already covered in Word 101. I will go over them briefly in today's class for those of you who have not taken Word 101.

In today's class, I am going to be using Microsoft PowerPoint 2003. This course is valid for pretty much every version of PowerPoint from 97 up to 2003. If you have PowerPoint 97, 2000, or XP, you might notice some minor cosmetic differences. Some of the features, for example, in the slide wizard are a little different. Some of the options have changed, but overall it is the same program.

PowerPoint 2007 has made some significant changes and we will be covering those in an upcoming PowerPoint 2007 class.

While you are watching this course, I recommend you sit back and relax and watch each lesson completely through once. Then, watch the lesson again a second time and follow along with the examples on your computer, building the presentation that I do in class. The best way to learn is to follow through the examples from class.

If you have any questions about today's class, please post them in the student forums that you will find to the right side of the video. If you are watching through our Amicron video player software, you will notice over on the right side of the video, you will see our PowerPoint forum. Feel free to scroll down and type in any questions that you have down here.

You will also notice a link to the student forum for this class on our website at PowerPointLearningZone.com.

Quiz

Q1. What is the primary goal of today's PowerPoint 101 class?
A. To master advanced PowerPoint animation
B. To get up and running with basic PowerPoint presentations
C. To explore every detail of PowerPoint settings
D. To focus on printing presentations only

Q2. What topics will be covered in today's lesson?
A. Creating advanced macros in PowerPoint
B. Basics of the PowerPoint interface, creating presentations, slide sorter, inserting graphics, saving, loading, and printing
C. Coding VBA scripts in PowerPoint
D. Accessing cloud features of PowerPoint

Q3. Which method of creating a presentation does the instructor prefer?
A. Using the presentation wizard
B. Importing from Excel
C. Creating a presentation from scratch
D. Downloading templates

Q4. What recommendation does the instructor give before taking the PowerPoint 101 course?
A. Take Word 201 and Excel 101 first
B. Be familiar with basic word processing and take Windows 101 and Word 101
C. Read a book on PowerPoint
D. Purchase new hardware

Q5. Why does the instructor only briefly cover text editing in this class?
A. It is not important for PowerPoint
B. He dislikes going over old topics
C. It is already covered in detail in Word 101
D. It is too advanced for this class

Q6. Which versions of PowerPoint is this course primarily designed for?
A. All versions after 2010
B. PowerPoint 2007 and beyond
C. PowerPoint 97 to 2003
D. Only PowerPoint XP

Q7. What significant change is mentioned for PowerPoint after 2003?
A. New database connectivity
B. Major interface changes in PowerPoint 2007
C. Removal of slide sorter
D. Addition of video editing tools

Q8. What does the instructor suggest as a good way to learn the material?
A. Only read the user manual
B. Watch each lesson through once, then follow along on your computer the second time
C. Skip to the end of the course for a summary
D. Memorize all the quiz answers

Q9. Where can students post questions about the class?
A. Only by email
B. On the PowerPointLearningZone.com student forums or the Amicron video player forum
C. By calling customer service
D. In Microsoft's official forums

Answers: 1-B; 2-B; 3-C; 4-B; 5-C; 6-C; 7-B; 8-B; 9-B

DISCLAIMER: Quiz questions are AI generated. If you find any that are wrong, don't make sense, or aren't related to the video topic at hand, then please post a comment and let me know. Thanks.

Summary

Today's video from PowerPoint Learning Zone covers the essentials of Microsoft PowerPoint. As your instructor, my goal is to familiarize you with the basics so you can start building presentations right away. We will begin by exploring the PowerPoint interface to help you understand how everything is laid out. Then I will show you two different ways to create a new presentation: using the built-in wizard for guided help, and building a presentation from scratch, which is the method I prefer to use.

I will explain how to use the slide sorter, a useful tool for arranging the order of your slides. You will also learn some effective tips for giving your presentation in front of an audience. We will look at how to insert graphics into your slides to make them more engaging. Additionally, I will guide you through the processes of saving, opening, and printing your presentations.

The main objective for today is to quickly get you comfortable with the basics of creating presentations in PowerPoint. I will be moving at a fairly brisk pace to cover a broad overview. We will get into more details on these features in future classes, but for now, the focus is on getting you started.

Before taking this course, I recommend completing both Windows 101 and Word 101 first. I will assume you already have some experience with word processing and know how to edit text. Concepts like Cut, Copy, and Paste are discussed in detail in Word 101. I will touch on these briefly today, so if you need a more in-depth explanation on working with text, Word 101 would be the best place to start.

Since working with text is a large part of building PowerPoint slides, if you have already completed Word 101, I will not spend a lot of time on changing fonts, adjusting font sizes, or basic text editing, since those topics have already been covered in depth in that course. For those who have not yet taken Word 101, I will still provide a brief overview in this class.

For this lesson, I will be using Microsoft PowerPoint 2003. This material applies to most versions from PowerPoint 97 through PowerPoint 2003, although if you are using an older version like 97 or 2000, or even XP, you might notice a few slight differences, particularly in the slide wizard and some of the feature options. However, the general concepts are the same. PowerPoint 2007 introduced some major changes, and I will address those in a separate PowerPoint 2007 class.

While you watch this course, I recommend you start by simply watching each lesson all the way through. Then, go back and watch the lesson a second time, this time following along on your own computer by recreating the presentation I build in class. This hands-on practice is the best way to master the skills.

If you have questions along the way, you can post them in the student forums located to the right of the video if you are using the Amicron video player. You will also find a link to our student forum for this class on the PowerPointLearningZone.com website. Feel free to submit any questions there.

You can find a complete video tutorial with step-by-step instructions on everything discussed here on my website at the link below. Live long and prosper, my friends.

Topic List

PowerPoint interface overview
Creating a presentation with the wizard
Creating a presentation from scratch
Using slide sorter to arrange slides
Tips for giving a presentation
Inserting graphics into slides
Saving your PowerPoint presentation
Loading a PowerPoint presentation
Printing a PowerPoint presentation
Basic text editing in PowerPoint slides
Changing fonts and font sizes in slides
Using Cut, Copy, and Paste in slides