Cambridge IGCSE0417

Presentations

Information Communication Technology 0417 Chapter Notes

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In this chapter

  1. 1Using Master Slides for Consistency
  2. 2Creating Slides from a Text File
  3. 3Editing and Enhancing Slides
  4. 4Presentation Delivery Methods
  5. 5Printing and Exporting Presentations

1. Using Master Slides for Consistency

A Master Slide is a design template that controls the overall look of your entire presentation. Instead of formatting each slide individually, you set up the Master Slide once. Any background, fonts, colours, logos, or other objects you place on the Master Slide will automatically appear on all the slides in your presentation (unless you specify otherwise). This is the key to creating a professional and consistent presentation efficiently. It ensures every slide has the same branding and layout, saving you a huge amount of time.

Key term

Master Slide: A special slide that controls the layout, formatting, and objects for all slides in a presentation, ensuring a consistent appearance.

Examiner insight

Examiners look for evidence that you understand how to apply consistent formatting across a whole presentation, and correctly using a master slide is the most efficient and credited method.

Common pitfall

Placing content that should only be on one specific slide (like a unique image or chart) onto the master slide, which causes it to appear incorrectly on every slide.

Worked example 17 marks

You are creating a presentation for your school. You need to set up a master slide that includes: the school logo (logo.png) in the top right corner, your name and candidate number in the footer, and automatic slide numbers in the bottom right. All titles must be 36pt, bold, and sans-serif. All body text must be 20pt and serif. Describe the steps you would take.

  1. 1

    Step 1: Open the Master Slide view in the presentation software (e.g., View > Slide Master).

  2. 2

    Step 2: On the main parent master slide, insert the image file 'logo.png'. Resize and position it in the top right corner.

  3. 3

    Step 3: Locate the footer placeholder on the master slide. Enter your name and candidate number into it. Ensure the footer is enabled to show on all slides.

  4. 4

    Step 4: Locate the slide number placeholder (often shown as '<#>') and ensure it is positioned in the bottom right. Ensure slide numbers are enabled.

  5. 5

    Step 5: Select the Title placeholder. Format the text to be 36pt, bold, and a sans-serif font like Arial or Helvetica.

  6. 6

    Step 6: Select the main Body text placeholder. Format the text to be 20pt and a serif font like Times New Roman.

  7. 7

    Step 7: Close the Master Slide view. All existing and new slides will now follow this formatting.

Recap

  • The Master Slide controls the design template for the entire presentation.
  • Use the Master Slide to apply consistent elements like logos, footers, and slide numbers.
  • Formatting text styles (like titles and body text) on the master slide applies them globally.
  • Changes made to the master slide automatically update all other slides.
  • It is the most efficient way to ensure a professional and consistent look.

Quick check

  1. To ensure the company logo appears on every single slide, where should you place it?1 mark
  2. What is the main benefit of using a master slide instead of formatting each slide individually?1 mark

2. Creating Slides from a Text File

Presentation software can automatically create a set of slides by importing a structured text file, usually a Rich Text File (.rtf). The software interprets the structure of the text file to generate slides, titles, and bullet points. Typically, text with no indentation or a specific heading style becomes a new slide's title. Text that is indented becomes a bullet point on that slide. Further indentations create sub-bullets. This is an extremely fast way to turn a pre-written outline or report into a draft presentation.

Key term

Outline View: A view in presentation software that shows slide titles and main text in a hierarchical format, which is how imported text is often structured.

Examiner insight

Marks are awarded for correctly interpreting the structure of a given text file and accurately describing the resulting slides, titles, and bullet points.

Common pitfall

Not formatting the source text file correctly with indents, leading to all the text being imported onto a single slide or with an incorrect structure.

Worked example 15 marks

An .rtf file contains the following text:

Our Solar System Mercury Venus Earth

Terrestrial Planets Rocky surface Closer to the Sun Example: Mars

Describe the presentation that will be created when this file is imported.

  1. 1

    Step 1: The import will create two slides in total.

  2. 2

    Step 2: The first slide will have the title 'Our Solar System'.

  3. 3

    Step 3: Below the title, the first slide will have three first-level bullet points: 'Mercury', 'Venus', and 'Earth'.

  4. 4

    Step 4: The second slide will have the title 'Terrestrial Planets'.

  5. 5

    Step 5: Below the title, the second slide will have two first-level bullet points: 'Rocky surface' and 'Closer to the Sun'.

  6. 6

    Step 6: Under the 'Closer to the Sun' bullet point, there will be one second-level (indented) sub-bullet point: 'Example: Mars'.

Recap

  • You can import a structured text file (.rtf) to create slides automatically.
  • The file's indentation level determines the slide structure.
  • Non-indented text usually creates a new slide title.
  • Indented text creates bullet points on the preceding slide.
  • This method is very efficient for converting existing notes into a presentation.

Quick check

  1. In a typical .rtf import, what does a single tab or indent before a line of text create?1 mark

3. Editing and Enhancing Slides

Beyond basic text, you can enrich your presentation by inserting objects like images, charts, and shapes. You can also create hyperlinks on text or objects, which, when clicked, can jump to another slide, open a website, or launch a file. To control the flow, you use transitions and animations. A 'transition' is the visual effect used when moving from one slide to the next (e.g., Fade, Push). An 'animation' is a visual effect applied to an object *on* a slide (e.g., making a line of text appear on click). Use these features sparingly to highlight key points, not to distract the audience.

Key term

Transition: An animated effect that controls how one slide is replaced by the next during a slide show.

Examiner insight

Examiners reward the appropriate use of animations and transitions; this means they should enhance the presentation's clarity, not just be used for decoration. Simple and consistent is often best.

Common pitfall

Overusing complex and varied animations and transitions, which makes the presentation look unprofessional and distracts the audience from the message.

Fun fact

The 'Ken Burns effect', a popular panning and zooming effect on still images often seen in documentaries, is a built-in animation feature in most presentation software, allowing you to add motion to static photos.

Worked example 15 marks

In your presentation, you need to apply a 'Fade' transition between all slides, make the bullet points on slide 3 appear one-by-one on a mouse click, and make the image on slide 4 a hyperlink to 'www.cambridge.org'. Describe the steps.

  1. 1

    Step 1 (Transition): Go to the 'Transitions' tab. Select the 'Fade' transition. Click the 'Apply to All' button to ensure it is used for every slide.

  2. 2

    Step 2 (Animation): Navigate to slide 3. Select the text box containing the bullet points. Go to the 'Animations' tab and select an entrance effect like 'Appear' or 'Fly In'.

  3. 3

    Step 3 (Animation Settings): In the animation options or pane, set the effect to trigger 'On Click' and change the sequence to 'By Paragraph' so each bullet point appears on a separate click.

  4. 4

    Step 4 (Hyperlink): Navigate to slide 4. Right-click on the image. Select 'Hyperlink' or 'Link' from the context menu.

  5. 5

    Step 5 (Hyperlink Settings): In the dialog box, choose 'Existing File or Web Page'. In the address box, type 'http://www.cambridge.org' and click OK.

Recap

  • You can insert various objects like images, charts, and videos into slides.
  • Hyperlinks allow you to create interactive navigation to other slides, websites, or files.
  • Transitions are effects between slides; animations are effects on objects within a slide.
  • Use animations to reveal bullet points one at a time to keep the audience focused.
  • Effective presentations use simple, consistent transitions and animations sparingly.

Quick check

  1. What is the difference between a slide transition and an object animation?2 marks

4. Presentation Delivery Methods

How a presentation is shown depends on its purpose. There are two main modes. 'Presenter-controlled' is the standard method for a live talk, where the speaker manually advances the slides using a keyboard, mouse, or remote clicker. This gives the speaker full control over the pace. The second mode is an automated 'Carousel'. This is used for unattended displays, like at a trade show or in a reception area. The presentation is set to advance slides automatically after a set number of seconds and to loop continuously, starting again from the beginning once it reaches the end.

Key term

Carousel: A presentation set to display on a continuous loop with automatic timings, typically used for unattended displays.

Examiner insight

Candidates must be able to describe the specific software settings required to make a presentation loop automatically, including setting timings for all slides and enabling the loop option.

Common pitfall

Forgetting to set timings for every single slide when creating an automated carousel. If one slide is left on 'On Mouse Click', the presentation will stall on that slide.

Worked example 15 marks

Describe the settings you would apply to a 10-slide presentation to make it run continuously at an information kiosk, with each slide being displayed for exactly 8 seconds.

  1. 1

    Step 1: Go to the 'Transitions' tab or 'Slide Show' setup menu.

  2. 2

    Step 2: Deselect the 'On Mouse Click' option for advancing slides.

  3. 3

    Step 3: Select the 'After' option and enter '00:08.00' (8 seconds) into the timing box.

  4. 4

    Step 4: Click the 'Apply to All' button to ensure every slide has the same 8-second timing.

  5. 5

    Step 5: Go to the 'Set Up Slide Show' menu.

  6. 6

    Step 6: Select the option 'Browsed at a kiosk (full screen)' or check the box for 'Loop continuously until 'Esc''.

  7. 7

    Step 7: Save these settings. When the show is started, it will now run automatically and loop.

Recap

  • Presenter-controlled presentations are advanced manually by a speaker.
  • Automated or carousel presentations run by themselves on a continuous loop.
  • To create a carousel, you must set automatic slide timings for all slides.
  • You must also enable the 'loop continuously' setting in the slide show setup.
  • Carousels are ideal for unattended information displays.

Quick check

  1. What two key settings must be configured to create a looping, automated presentation?2 marks

5. Printing and Exporting Presentations

Once your presentation is complete, you may need to provide physical or digital copies. Presentation software offers several output formats. 'Full Page Slides' prints one slide on each page, which is useful for checking details but uses a lot of paper. 'Handouts' print multiple slides per page (e.g., 2, 3, 6, or 9), saving paper and providing an overview for the audience. The 3-slide handout format is popular as it includes lines for note-taking. 'Notes Pages' print one slide at the top of the page with the corresponding speaker notes (from the notes pane) printed below; this is for the presenter's use only. 'Outline' prints only the text content of the slides, which is useful for a quick content review.

Key term

Handouts: A printed version of a presentation with multiple slides per page, intended for distribution to the audience.

Examiner insight

Questions on this topic are often very specific, so knowing the exact names of the print options (e.g., 'Handouts', 'Notes Pages') and their intended purpose is crucial for gaining full marks.

Common pitfall

Confusing 'Notes Pages' (which prints the pre-written speaker notes for the presenter) with 'Handouts (3 slides per page)' (which provides blank lines for the audience to write their own notes).

Worked example 14 marks

For each scenario, state the most appropriate print format and justify your choice.(a) You are the speaker and need prompts to remind you what to say for each slide.(b) You want to give your audience a copy of the slides to take away, saving as much paper as possible.

  1. 1

    Scenario(a) Format: Notes Pages.

  2. 2

    Justification (a): This format prints one slide per page along with the detailed speaker notes you have typed for that slide, acting as a perfect script or prompt during the talk.

  3. 3

    Scenario(b) Format: Handouts (e.g., 6 or 9 slides per page).

  4. 4

    Justification (b): This format prints multiple slides on a single sheet of paper, which is the most economical option. It gives the audience a record of the presentation content in a compact form.

Recap

  • Presentations can be printed in various layouts for different purposes.
  • 'Full Page Slides' prints one slide per page.
  • 'Handouts' print multiple slides per page, ideal for audiences.
  • 'Notes Pages' print a slide with its speaker notes, ideal for the presenter.
  • 'Outline' prints only the text from the slides.
  • Choosing the correct format depends on who you are printing for and why.

Quick check

  1. Which print layout would you use to give to your audience if you wanted them to have space to write their own notes next to each slide image?1 mark

End-of-chapter exercise

Test yourself on the whole chapter. Work through these before moving on.

  1. You need to add your school's logo to the top left corner and the current date to the bottom right corner of every slide in a 30-slide presentation. Describe the most efficient method to achieve this.3 marks
  2. Explain the difference between a slide transition and an object animation. Give one appropriate example of each.4 marks
  3. Describe the steps required to set up a presentation to run on a continuous loop at a trade show booth, with each slide displaying for 5 seconds.4 marks
  4. Name two different print output formats for a presentation and describe who would typically use each one.4 marks
  5. What is a hyperlink in the context of a presentation? Give two examples of different destinations a hyperlink could link to.3 marks
  6. A text file is structured so that any line starting with 'T:' becomes a slide title and any line starting with 'B:' becomes a bullet point. Describe the two-slide presentation created from this text: T:Mammals B:Warm-blooded B:Have hair or fur T:Reptiles B:Cold-blooded B:Have scales4 marks
  7. A manager has reviewed your presentation and said it is 'unprofessional' because it has too many distracting animations. Describe three specific changes you would make using the slide master and animation settings to improve it.6 marks
  8. Explain why it is more efficient to format the font style for titles and body text in the Slide Master rather than on each individual slide.3 marks
  9. A presentation needs to be created for a museum exhibit. It should run all day without a speaker. The title slide should have buttons that allow a visitor to jump to slides about 'Dinosaurs', 'Romans', or 'Vikings'. Describe how you would set up the navigation and looping for this presentation.5 marks
  10. State the print layout you would choose for each of the following tasks: (a) To provide a script for the presenter. (b) To give the audience a paper-saving overview of the slides. (c) To review just the text content of the entire presentation.3 marks

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