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What is a Presentation?

For this discussion, a "presentation" is the delivery of information to an audience. In education, most presentations are delivered to students gathered in a classroom. In this situation, computers can be used to develop, store and present materials to supplement the delivery of information.

Computer based presentations can be used to present a flow of information, similar to traditional overhead transparencies. The advantage of computers over traditional presentation media is that the computer can be used to organize and store different types of presentation media. For example, a computer based presentation can include text, graphics, video and sound. In addition to providing a single point for integrating these various medium, the computer provides a platform for easily storing, retrieving and modifying presentations.

Building Presentations

Presentations are built using a computer that has presentation software installed on it. The software is used to create a slideshow, where each slide is a type of electronic overhead transparency. The developer places objects on the slide that are to be displayed during the presentation. Text is typed in on the computer keyboard. Graphics, e.g. charts, graphs, can be developed on the computer or scanned from paper sources. Photographs can be scanned into computer files and placed on the slide. Digital video can be incorporated as well as digitized sounds. As many slides as necessary are added to the presentation. The environment allows the author to edit information on the slides, change the order of slides, set automatic or manual transition from slide to slide, set special effects and slide attributes, e.g. color, background, borders, etc.

Presentation Software

Computer Services currently supports the use of Microsoft Powerpoint on IBM/Windows and Macintosh computers. Powerpoint is a component of Microsoft Office. Contact Computer Services if you don't currently have Microsoft Office on your computer.

Computers & Delivering Presentations

Presentations are developed using your office computer and delivered to on-campus audiences by either printing your presentation to overhead transparancies or by arranging for a COW (Computer on Wheels) for your presentation space. While using a COW is more complex and less reliable, its required for presentations that include complex content; e.g., animations, audio, video etc. This content would be lost by transferring to transparancies. Audio Visual Services manages campus COWs and has a nice form for requesting them.

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Last Tableized Thursday, 5 Jul 2001