Presentations

Abstract

This section will give you a brief introduction to OpenOffice.org Impress' presentation functions. Although freely available, it is a strong rival to commercial and mostly expensive presentation software. It allows you to build stunning presentations for any purpose, and its features make it an excellent choice for any number of working fields.

What Is Presentation Software For?

Whether you are a salesman, an engineer, an accountant or a student you need to “communicate” about your product, analysis, or work with others in a simple and succinct way.

Instead of long text with little or no graphics, you want to use images, graphs, little tables, small amounts of text and maybe even some animations to convey your idea and be able to project it on a big white screen or wall. Enter presentation software.

OpenOffice.org Impress

OpenOffice.org Impress is the part of the OpenOffice.org suite that provides the presentation software functions. Like all OpenOffice.org's components it supports popular office formats.

Opening OpenOffice.org Impress

To launch OpenOffice.org Impress select Office->Presentation->OpenOffice.org Impress from the main menu.

You can also open it from any other OpenOffice.org application, by selecting File->New->Presentation, which will open an Impress window with the AutoPilot Presentation at the front (unless you have previously run it and disabled this wizard).

When you start OpenOffice.org Impress, the AutoPilot Presentation will open up. It offers three choices which speak for themselves: Empty presentation, From template and Open existing presentation. For the purpose of this introduction, select Empty presentation and click on the Next button on the screens numbered 2 and 3 and use the default values. Then, click on the Create button.

The slide type window will pop-up (Figure 11.10) asking you to choose a slide content template. Of course, selecting a particular template does not tie all your slides to that template, just makes it the default one. Select the one you want to use for (most of) your slides, in our example we chose “Title, Text”.

Figure 11.10. Selecting a Slide Template

Selecting a Slide Template

Tip

Try not to “overload” your slides with lots of content because even if it might look nice on screen, it may only confuse your audience when running your presentation. Use the simplest template possible.

OpenOffice.org Impress Interface

Figure 11.11. OpenOffice.org Impress' Main Window

OpenOffice.org Impress' Main Window
Slide Format Bar

There are options for changing the slide shading, background color, line's thickness, etc.

View Mode

These buttons let you change between:

  • Drawing View. The default. Used to compose slides.

  • Outline View. Shows a numbered list of all slides at the left with the text they contain (letting you edit it, for example) and a Preview window on the right so you can have a quick-look at the slide.

  • Slide View. Shows all slides at once letting you navigate through them and take a quick-look at your whole presentation.

  • Notes View. You can add notes to your slides in order to aid you, your colleagues, or even your audience (if you print them) during the presentation.

  • Handout View. This can be used to print several slides in one page in order to distribute printouts of your presentation to your audience, which is considered almost mandatory for professional presentations.

  • Start Slide Show. Pressing this button will “run” your presentation. The same button is located at the end of the toolbar (explained below).

Work Area

Where you compose the slides that build up your presentation.

Slide Zoom

The current zoom level at which the slide is being displayed. By default, it is set to a level such that the whole slide fits in OpenOffice.org Impress' window. If you resize OpenOffice.org Impress' window the zoom level will change in order to make the slide fit into it.

Slide Tabs

Every slide which makes up your presentation possesses a tab which allows you to quickly navigate to a particular slide. At the left of the tabs are the slide navigation buttons which behave exactly like OpenOffice.org Calc's sheet navigation buttons. Please refer to the section called “Spreadsheets” for more information on this.

Toolbar

The main tools you use to create your slides. The text, shapes, curves, lines and arrows input tools; the object rotate alignment and arrangement tools; effects tools and the view presentation button at the bottom.

Tip

Some of these buttons contain a little green triangle at their upper-right corner. Keeping these buttons pressed will open a menu of options for that tool. For example: filled or hollow rectangles, sharp or round edges, etc.

Building Presentations

Slide's Title

In this case, the template is fairly intuitive. Click on the box labelled Click to add title. Type your title and then click on an “empty” spot of the slide to exit edit mode. That's it.

Inserting Text

Click on the lower box to insert your text (where Click to add an outline is written). This will automatically format it as a bullet list. You can change these settings through the Format menu.

Adding Slides to your Presentation

Choosing Insert->Slide... from the menu will show you the familiar slide type window (Figure 11.10). Proceed as explained before.

Tip

Choose Insert->Duplicate Slide instead if you want to base your new slide's content on the current one's.

You can also right-click on the current slide and select Slide->Insert Slide... from the menu that pops up, or use the toolbar's insert button (it shows a pie chart by default) to add a slide.

Simple Graphics

It is often useful to build simple diagrams to explain or show a concept. After all a picture does speak a thousand words. Table 11.2 summarizes available tools to build simple graphics.

Table 11.2. Graphics Tools

ButtonFunction
Draws rectangles and squares, either filled or unfilled, with sharp or rounded edges. Right-click on the drawn object and select Edit Style from the menu that pops up to change the color, the shadowing, the transparency, etc.
Draws ellipses and circles, either filled or unfilled; elliptical and circular pies, segments and arcs. Right-click on the drawn object and select Edit Style from the menu that pops up to change the color, the shadowing, the transparency, etc.
Allows you to draw 3D objects such as cubes, spheres, cylinders, cones, pyramids, torus, shells, or half-spheres. Right-click on the drawn object, select 3D Effects from the menu that pops up to change the “material”, illumination, etc.
Draws curves, polygons, and free-form lines, either filled or unfilled. Right-click on the drawn object and select Edit Style from the menu that pops up to change attributes.
Draws lines and arrows. Lines can have arrows at either end or at both. Right-click on the drawn object and select Edit Style from the menu that pops up to change attributes.
Draws “connectors”. Connectors are lines, either straight or curved, with or without arrows at either end that link objects with each other. Right-click on the drawn object and select Edit Style from the menu that pops up to change attributes.

Note

Any style changes made using the Edit Style pop-up menu become the default style for the object to be drawn next.

Simple Charts

Choose Insert->Chart from the menu to insert a chart diagram into the current slide. A “default” bar chart will be inserted, drag the border handles to adjust its size.

Tip

Use the corner handles to preserve the horizontal/vertical proportions while resizing the chart. If you use the “middle” handles, the chart could be somewhat distorted.

Double-click on the drawn chart and then right-click on it and select Chart Data. A window (Figure 11.12) will pop up so you can enter the data according to the chart you want to build.

Figure 11.12. Entering Chart Data

Entering Chart Data

Once you have entered the chart's data, close the data entry window and click on the Yes button to update the chart in the slide, then click on an empty spot in the slide.

Repeat the double-click and right-click sequence in order to change the chart's title, legends, axis, type (2D or 3D, bar, pie, points, lines, etc.) selecting the appropriate entries from the pop-up menu.

Slide Background

Use the Format->Page menu and click on the Background tab to define colors, gradients, patterns, or bitmaped backgrounds for the slide. Each background type has options of its own, feel free to explore them.

Note

Using bitmaps for backgrounds increases the file's size considerably. This could lead to a performance hit, specially on older systems.

Once you have selected a background and clicked on OK, a dialog will pop up asking you whether you want to make that background the default one for new slides. Make your choice and the slide(s) background(s) will be changed.

Transitions, Animations and Effects

The Slide Show menu has slide transitions, animations and effects options/wizards which let you add “dynamism” to your presentations. Feel free to explore them.

Tip

Try not to abuse transitions, animations and effects because they could be distracting to your audience, turning their attention to the effects themselves instead of the presentation's content.

Running your Presentation

You can run your presentation choosing Slide Show->Slide Show, or pressing the F9 key. You can also click on the corresponding button in the tool bar. The presentation will take up the entire screen. To stop the presentation, press the Esc key.

Going Further

If you wish to learn more on the use of OpenOffice.org Impress, you should consult the tutorial available at the OpenOffice Support Web site.

Also, do not hesitate to refer to the OpenOffice.org Impress inline help accessible through the Help->Contents menu. You will find there answers to all your questions. Topics are accessible through a table of contents, there is an index available and even a contextual search tool.

Conclusion

Presentations are an important means to convey your ideas, whether it be to your clients, your teachers, your students, or your colleagues. By trying to respect the principle that states that “Simple is elegant” –– that is, by trying not to overload your presentations with too many graphics, large tables and complex animations and transitions effects –– you will keep your audience focused on what you are trying to communicate.

OpenOffice.org Impress has the tools to make your presentations great, enjoy making them!