MS PowerPoint lets you make a slide show — a set of pages called slides that you show one after another to tell a story or explain an idea. This chapter helps you build your very first presentation.
🔵Starting a presentation & slide layouts
A presentation is made of slides. Each slide is like one page on a big screen. To begin, open PowerPoint and choose Blank Presentation.
Slide layouts
A layout is a ready arrangement of boxes (called placeholders) where your text and pictures go. Pick the layout that fits each slide:
| Layout | Good for |
|---|---|
| Title Slide | The first slide — the big title of your show |
| Title and Content | A heading plus a list of points or a picture |
| Blank | An empty slide you fill yourself |
🤖 Vidi's Key Points
- A presentation is made of slides; each slide is like one page on a screen.
- Start with Blank Presentation, then choose a layout for each slide.
- Layouts have placeholders (boxes): Title Slide for the start, Title and Content for points/pictures.
⚡Quick Challenge: A presentation is made up of…
🟢Adding text & a theme
Click inside a placeholder box and type:
- In the title box — type the slide's heading.
- In the content box — type your points; each new line becomes a bullet.
Making it pretty — Themes
A theme is a ready-made design — matching colours, fonts and backgrounds — that you apply with one click from the Design tab. You can also change just the background colour of a slide.
🤖 Vidi's Key Points
- Click a placeholder and type: the title box for the heading, the content box for bulleted points.
- A theme (Design tab) applies matching colours, fonts and backgrounds in one click.
- Choose colours where the text stands out clearly against the background.
⚡Quick Challenge: The boxes on a slide where you put text or pictures are called…
🟣Running the slide show
When your slides are ready, you run the show to see them full-screen, one at a time:
- Press F5 to start the show from the first slide.
- Click the mouse or press the arrow keys to move to the next slide.
- Press Esc to stop the show and go back to editing.
That's it — you've built and played your first presentation! A good show has a clear title slide, a few slides with short points, and a friendly theme.
🤖 Vidi's Key Points
- Press F5 to run the slide show full-screen from the first slide.
- Click or use the arrow keys to move to the next slide; press Esc to stop.
- A good show has a clear title slide, short points and a readable theme.
⚡Quick Challenge: Which layout is best for the FIRST slide of a show?
🛠️Practical: 'My Favourite Hobby' show
In PowerPoint, make a 3-slide presentation that:
- Has a Title Slide with the show's name and your name.
- Has a Title and Content slide listing 3 points about your hobby as bullets.
- Applies a theme and changes one slide's background colour.
- Runs as a slide show with F5 from start to finish.
🎯 Mission Quiz
Answer a few questions to complete this mission and win the 🌟 Slide Star Badge!
Start the Mission Quiz →