Microsoft PowerPoint, virtual presentation software developed by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin for the American computer software company Forethought, Inc. The program, initially named Presenter, was released for the Apple Macintosh in 1987. In July of that year, the Microsoft Corporation, in its first significant software acquisition, purchased the rights to PowerPoint for $14 million.
PowerPoint was designed to facilitate visual demonstrations for group presentations in the business environment. Presentations are arranged as a series of individually designed “slides” that contain images, text, or other objects. Version 1.0 allowed users to generate text and graphics pages for black-and-white handouts, notes, and overhead transparencies. Version 2.0, developed for both Macintosh and Microsoft’s Windows operating system, was upgraded to output 35-mm colour slides. The 1992 release of PowerPoint 3.0 introduced the now-standard virtual slideshow.
Subsequent versions added more features: slide transitions, background designs, animation, graphics, movie and sound clips, and AutoContent, which generates a presentation template based on what information is to be conveyed. In 2003 the renamed Office PowerPoint reflected Microsoft’s emphasis on standardizing the user interface and program functions across their suite of Office programs, which included Word (a word processor) and Excel (a spreadsheet program). PowerPoint is also available for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets in the iOS and Android operating systems.
PowerPoint was developed for business use but has wide applications elsewhere, such as for schools and community organizations. The program was initially packaged as a stand-alone product, but its inclusion in the best-selling Microsoft Office suite assured its near-total dominance in the presentation-software market.
What Does PowerPoint Slideshow Mean?
A PP slideshow (PPT) is a presentation created on software from Microsoft that allows users to add audio, visual and audio/visual features to a presentation. It is considered to be a multimedia technology and also acts as a tool for collaboration and content sharing. PP is included in Microsoft Office, making it one of the most well-known and widely used brands of presentation software.
Explains Microsoft PowerPoint
PowerPoint was developed by Dennis Austin and Thomas Rudkin at Forethought Inc. It was supposed to be named Presenter, but the name was not adapted due to trademark issues. It was renamed PowerPoint in 1987 as suggested by Robert Gaskins.
In August of 1987, Microsoft bought Forethought for $14 million and turned it into its graphics business unit, where the company continued to develop the software. The first iteration was launched together with Windows 3.0 in 1990. It only allowed slide progression in one direction – forward – and the amount of customization was fairly limited.
Although it was conceived only for Macintosh computers in the very beginning, PP quickly became one of the most iconic trademarks and the first important acquisition of Microsoft. Even today, it holds up to 95 percent of the market share of presentation software.
PP allows users to create media-rich presentations constituted by a series of slides. Since it’s fully integrated with the other tools of the Microsoft Office suite, the user can import content created with Excel or Word into PowerPoint, as well as other media such as pictures, audio, and video clips.
To create slides, a series of templates are used to provide the user with pre-defined layouts for different purposes. Once the theme that will be used in the presentation is set by defining a standard font, background color, and layout, that slide is saved as “master slide.” The user can either change each other slide accordingly, or edit the master slide to propagate the change to all the other slides uniformly.
During a PP presentation, the presenter has the liberty to define the pace by controlling the flow manually or having the slide swap at preset intervals, which may also be different for each slide. Individual elements on a slide may also appear after a certain command is issued, such as bullet points or videos.
PP experienced a very significant change in PowerPoint 97, which added predefined transition effects and allowed the user to time them appropriately so that slides would transition automatically. This allowed a presenter to follow a predefined progression and go on with the presentation without pausing to change or read the slides. PowerPoint 2007 introduced the “ribbon” interface, marking a drastic change from the previous interface style.
In older versions of PP, presentations were saved only as a standard .pptx format. However, newer versions from 2013 and 2016 allow the users to save presentations in different common formats such as pictures (JPEG, GIF, PNG, etc.), videos (WMV or MPEG-4), or text (PDF).
Explains PowerPoint Slideshow
A PP slideshow is generally considered very easy to create, as no knowledge of design is required to create slideshows. PP slideshows can include embedded images, audio and video to provide better visual impact. PowerPoint slideshows are also flexible, allowing presenters to customize the slides to fit their needs. Microsoft provides many standard templates and themes for PowerPoint slideshows in order to help presenters in developing slides.
PP slideshows are considered to be one of the easiest, most useful and most accessible methods to create and present visual aids. Reordering the presentation is easy with the drag-and-drop feature. For presenters, it helps to improve audience focus, increase visual impact and also increase interactivity and spontaneity during a presentation. For certain topics, PowerPoint slideshows help users in analyzing and synthesizing complexities. It supports and encourages teaching and learning processes.
What Does Microsoft PptMean?
Microsoft PP is a powerful presentation software developed by Microsoft. It is a standard component of the company’s Microsoft Office suite software, and is bundled together with Word, Excel and other Office productivity tools.
The program uses slides to convey information rich in multimedia and is used to create complex business presentations, simple educational outlines and much more.
PowerPoint presentation?
A PowerPoint presentation is similar to a poster presentation, only the information is on computer slides rather than actual posters. They are usually used to accompany an oral presentation; they should enhance the oral presentation instead of serving as speaking notes. You can incorporate audio and visual media. They are often used to share information with a large group, such as at a professional conference, classroom presentations, and meetings.
Why write a PowerPoint presentation?
A PowerPoint presentation is similar to a poster presentation, only the information is on computer slides rather than actual posters. They are usually used to accompany an oral presentation; they should enhance the oral presentation instead of serving as speaking notes. You can incorporate audio and visual media. They are often used to share information with a large group, such as at professional conference, classroom presentations, and meetings.
When Writing a PowerPoint presentation, do:
Choose a single background for the entire presentation.
Use simple, clean fonts.
Use a font size that can be seen from the back of the room.
Write in bulleted format and use consistent phrase structure in lists.
Provide essential information only. Use key words to guide the reader/listener through the presentation.
Use direct, concise language. Keep text to a minimum.
Provide definitions when necessary.
Use white space to set off text and/or visual components.
Make sure each slide logically leads to the next.
Use a heading for each slide.