PowerPoint in the Classroom

with Sue Special UNIT 8
Taking It With You

  • Dashing Disk
  • Portable Print
  • World Wide Web
  • Voyaging Video
  • Cool for School


PowerPoint in the Classroom is produced by ACT360 Media Ltd.
in conjunction with Microsoft Corporation.
Copyright 1998-2009. All rights reserved.

See our entire collection of online tutorials
by visiting www.ACTDEN.com








Dashing Disk


This brings us to another very important question. If Billy has a presentation in history class, does he have to lug his family computer to school? What if Mom needs it the same day for a presentation of her own?


That's when packing a presentation comes in.


Is the presentation going on a trip?


You've got it. Packing means putting the whole presentation on a disk, which allows you to do your presentation on any other computer (with the right configuration). A school computer, for example. Here are the steps...


Packing your presentation
You can easily pack your presentation on a floppy disk using PowerPoint's Pack and Go Wizard. The Wizard packs your presentation, as well as software necessary to run the program. You then copy the presentation to the computer you will be using to run your presentation.

If the destination computer doesn't have PowerPoint 97 installed, include the PowerPoint Viewer when you pack the presentation. Just make sure the destination computer has the necessary system requirements. The PowerPoint Viewer works for Windows 95 and Windows NT, but it doesn't work for Windows 3.1.

Follow these steps to pack your presentation:

    1. Insert a disk into your floppy A:\ drive. Have other disks handy in case your presentation doesn't fit on a single disk.

    2. Open the presentation you want to pack.

    3. Click the File menu, then click Pack and Go. The Pack and Go Wizard dialog box appears.

Selecting Pack and Go from the File menu

    4. Follow the instruction in the Pack and Go Wizard.

    (a) When asked which presentation you want to pack, select Active Presentation.

Active Presentation window

    (b) When asked where you want to save the presentation, select A: drive (your floppy disk drive).

    (c) Select Include linked files to include linked files and fonts.

    (d) Select Viewer for Window 95 or NT if the destination computer doesn't have PowerPoint 97 installed.

    5. When you finish selecting options, click Finish.

The Pack and Go Wizard compresses your presentation to your floppy drive. If the presentation is too big to fit on one disk, it will prompt you to insert disks as required.


Saving Your Presentation tip


Okay, packing a presentation sounds pretty easy. But how do you put it on a different computer?


Easy as pie. I can walk you through the steps.


There you go bringing up pie again. We really need to get something to eat after the show...


Unpacking your presentation
Follow these steps to unpack your presentation from your disk.

    1. Place your disk in the floppy drive of the destination computer.

    2. On the Windows Desktop, double-click the A: drive icon to display the contents of the disk.

Selecting your A: drive

    3. Double-click Pgnsetup.exe. The Pack and Go Setup dialog box will appear.

    4. Select a folder on the computer's hard-drive, then click OK. When the presentation is installed, a message box appears confirming the installation. It also asks you if you want to run the slide show now.

    5. Click Yes to run the show immediately.

If you don't want to run the Slide Show immediately, follow these steps later, when you do want to run your presentation.

    1. Open the folder where you copied the presentation.

    2. If you didn't include the PowerPoint Viewer, double-click the presentation to open it.

    3. If you included the PowerPoint Viewer, double-click PpView. The Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer dialog box will appear.

PowerPoint Viewer Icon

    4. Click the presentation you want to show, and then click Show.


Portable Print


What if Billy wants to use handouts in his presentation, to help his audience follow along? Or what if he wants to send it to his grandma in Iowa and she doesn't have a computer?


No problem. I can print out the presentation for handouts. And Billy can fax it to his grandmother. Or send it in the mail. We all love to get mail.


Isn't that the truth? With all this new techonology, it's still nice to read mail.


Printing your presentation
PowerPoint lets you print the whole presentation or just selected slides. It also lets you choose what slide contents to print. For example, you can print the slides with or without the animations. If you are printing handouts, you can specify how many slides are included in a page. And if you want, you can print just the speaker's notes or your presentation outline.

Follow these steps to print your presentation.

    1. Click the File menu, and then click Print. The Print dialog box will open.

Selecting the Print command

    2. To print all the slides in your presentation, click All.

    3. In the Print what list box, select what slide contents you want printed.

Printing options

    4. In the Number of copies list box, enter the number of copies you want printed.

    5. Click OK to print the presentation.


World Wide Web


What about the World Wide Web? We all know how that's exploded. Can you convert presentations to the Web?


Yes, and I can't think of a better way to have your presentation reach people all over the world. Instead of presenting to people in a room, you can dazzle viewers around the world from Brazil to Tokyo!


But is it easy to do? People want easy.


Oh, it's a snap! Just like I have an AutoContent Wizard, I also have an Internet Assistant Wizard. She makes creating Web pages as easy as waving a wand.


Well Hocus Pocus Dominocus! Tell us how to conjure up the Internet Assistant Wizard!


Converting your presentation into Web pages
Follow these steps to convert your presentation into Internet format.

    1. Open the presentation you want to convert.

    2. Click the File menu, and then click Save As HTML. The Internet Assistant Wizard will appear.

Selecting the Save as HTML command

    3. Follow the steps in the Wizard.

The Wizard presents you with options for converting the presentation:

In the dialog boxes that appear, you define the page layout, the type of graphic files that are created (GIF, JPEG or PowerPoint animation), and the size of graphical images. As well, you provide information including your e-mail address and the Home Page Address. In the Colors and Buttons dialog box, you define page color and button style. In the Layout Options dialog box, you indicate where navigation buttons are placed.


Saving Files for the Web tip


Once the Internet Assistant Wizard has converted our slides to Web pages, I want to see what it looks like. How do I do that?


Just fire up my ol' buddy Internet Explorer and I'll show you the rest. Explorer, by the way, plays saxophone in our band sometimes. When he's not out exploring.


Viewing your presentation on your computer

    1. Open the Internet Explorer 4 browser.

    2. Click the File menu, then click Open. The Open Internet dialog box will appear.

IE4 Browser

    3. Click the Browse button and locate the page with the filename index.htm.

Browsing your hard drive

    4. Click the file to select it, then click Open. Your Internet presentation will appear in the browser.


And how do we get those Web pages onto the World Wide Web?


For that you'll have to work with your Internet Service Provider.


Publishing your pages on the Web
The Web pages you create in PowerPoint do not automatically appear on the World Wide Web (WWW). You must make arrangements to have the pages stored on a Web server. Only then is your presentation available to Web users. You can usually publish your Web pages through an Internet Service Provider (ISP).


Voyaging Video


Well, our time is almost up. Do you have any final words?


Let me also mention that I can convert your presentation to video. That's another great way to distribute a presentation. For example, suppose you want to present something at your school but they don't have a computer free. If you put your presentation on video, you can just pop the tape into a VCR.


Now we know what to do next time there's nothing good to rent at the video store. We can watch PowerPoint presentations on video.


Ya, that's right! And with my videos there aren't any late return fees!


Transferring your presentation to a video tape
You can transfer your presentation to a video tape using a VGA to video converter. These special converters are independent machines that join your computer to a VCR. There are many different brands and models available, with prices ranging from $100 to $3,000.

It's best to follow the instructions that come with the converter. But just to show you how easy it is, here are the steps for connecting a converter called AVerKey Plus to a VCR.

    1. Turn off your computer, television and VCR.

    2. Take the VGA output cable out of your computer and attach it to the VGA OUT port on the back of the converter.

    3. To see the video displayed on both your computer and television screen, plug the converter's VGA cable into the VGA IN port on the back of the converter. Then, plug the other end into the VGA OUT port on your computer.

    4. Take the black video cable and plug it into the TV OUT port on the converter. Then attach the other end to the VIDEO IN port on your VCR.

    5. If your PowerPoint presentation has sound clips or effects, you can transfer them to video, too. Simply plug audio cables into your computer's audio output jacks, and attach the other end to the audio input jacks on your VCR.

    6. Turn on all of the machines. Open your PowerPoint program.

    7. Insert a video tape into your VCR, then press Record on the machine. Run the presentation on your computer.


cool for school

Pack and Print Precautions

Massive Multimedia
You may want to pack a presentation on disk in a number of different circumstances. Maybe you want to let your students take a presentation home or to a special seminar at another school. If you do plan on moving the presentation, you should avoid putting too many multimedia elements into it.

Multimedia files - like sound and video clips - are quite large, and they take up a lot of disk space. If you don't want presentation files taking up four or five floppy disks, you should keep the multimedia files to a minimum. The less disks used, the less chance of them getting lost.

Keep It Together
Let's say you want each of your students to create a presentation that will be packed on a disk. To help you stay organized, it's a good idea to create a separate folder for each student - giving each folder the student's first initial and last name, for example.

When students create and save their presentations, make sure they save them to their own individual folders. They should also transfer any multimedia files to this same directory - the transfer should be done as soon as a new multimedia file is added to the presentation.

Print Check
Before your students send their presentations to the printer, you should check it over and approve it - just to make sure it's appropriate in every little way. You'll need to make sure the printer has the capacity to print the entire presentation - that is, the printer must have enough available memory to do the job.

To save paper and ink:

    1. Click File on the menu bar and select Print.

    2. Click the Properties button. A printer dialog box will appear.

    3. Click the Setup tab and select the EconoFast radio button.

    4. Click the Paper tab and select the Book or Tablet radio buttons. This will save paper by printing the presentation on both sides of each page.

    5. Click OK on the printer dialog box and then click OK on the Print dialog box.