By the end of this lesson you will be able to
- Create a new presentation and add slides with a suitable layout.
- Apply one theme so that every slide looks consistent.
- Write slide text that is short, large enough to read and limited to one main idea.
- Add a picture or chart that helps the audience, and write speaker notes for what you will say.
- Tell a good slide from a crowded one and say what to change.
A presentation is a talk with pictures. You may need one for a class, a church or community meeting, a job interview or a small business pitch. The slides are not the talk: you are. The slides only help the audience follow along. This lesson shows you how to build slides that are easy to read from the back of a room, using free software on Ubuntu or Windows.
What a presentation program does
A presentation program lets you make a series of pages called slides. Each slide is shown full screen, one at a time, usually on a projector or a large screen. A complete set of slides is called a deck. On Ubuntu the usual program is LibreOffice Impress. On Windows many people use Microsoft PowerPoint, and LibreOffice Impress also works there and is free. The ideas below are the same in both, so you can move between them.
Think of a slide as a road sign. A driver reads a road sign in a second while moving. If it held a paragraph, nobody could read it safely. A good slide works the same way: a few words that the audience can take in while they listen to you.
| Job | LibreOffice Impress | Microsoft PowerPoint |
|---|---|---|
| Add a slide | Slide menu, then New Slide (or Ctrl+M) | Home tab, then New Slide (or Ctrl+M) |
| Choose a layout | Slide menu, then Layout, or the Properties sidebar | Home tab, then Layout |
| Change the look of every slide | Slide Properties in the sidebar, or the Master Slides panel | Design tab, then pick a theme |
| Add a picture | Insert menu, then Image | Insert tab, then Pictures |
| Add a chart | Insert menu, then Chart | Insert tab, then Chart |
| Write speaker notes | View menu, then Notes | Notes button at the bottom of the window, or View tab, then Notes |
| Start the slideshow | Slide Show menu, then Start from First Slide (or F5) | Slide Show tab, then From Beginning (or F5) |
Layouts: where things go
A layout is a ready-made arrangement of empty boxes on a slide: a title box, a body box, two columns, a picture and a caption, and so on. You pick a layout, then type into the boxes. This is better than drawing your own text boxes because the program knows which text is a title and which is a bullet list. That helps later when you make the deck accessible, and it keeps every title in the same place from slide to slide.
Read this figure as text
A row of four mini slides: title slide, bullet list, picture with text, and chart.
Four mini slides. First, a Title layout with a large title and a small subtitle: use it to open the deck. Second, a Bullets layout with a title and three short bullet points: use it for a list of points. Third, an Image and text layout with a title, a picture and one line of text: use it when a picture explains your point better than words. Fourth, a Chart layout with a title and a chart: use it to show numbers. All four have a clear title at the top.
Themes: one look for the whole deck
A Theme is a saved set of colours, fonts and background that is applied to every slide at once. Choose one theme at the start and keep it. If you change the colour of each slide by hand, the deck looks messy and takes much longer to fix. Behind every theme is a master slide, a hidden template slide. When you change the master (for example the title font), every slide that uses it changes together.
Pick a theme with strong contrast: dark text on a light background, or white text on a dark background. Avoid pale grey text, busy photo backgrounds and more than two fonts. Plain themes are almost always better than decorative ones.
Good slides and crowded slides
The most common mistake in presentations is putting the whole talk on the slide. Then the audience reads instead of listening, and you end up reading the slide aloud. Aim for one idea per slide, a short title that says the point, and about three to five short bullets at most. A useful rule of thumb is no smaller than 24 point text for the body, so that the back row can read it. It is a guide, not a law.
Read this figure as text
Two mini slides side by side: a crowded one with many lines of tiny text, and a clear one with a short title and three bullets.
Left: a crowded slide titled Garden plan with seven long lines of text in a small size, marked as poor because the audience cannot read it and will stop listening. Right: a clear slide titled Three things to do this month with three short bullets, Order seeds, Fix the tank, Ask for volunteers, marked as good because it is quick to read and leaves the explaining to the speaker.
| Question | Good sign | Fix if not |
|---|---|---|
| Can I say the point in one sentence? | Yes, and the title says it. | Split the slide in two. |
| How many lines of text? | Three to five short lines. | Move detail to the speaker notes. |
| Can the back row read it? | Text is large, with strong contrast. | Increase the size or change the colours. |
| Is every picture or chart useful? | It shows something the words do not. | Remove it. Decoration distracts. |
Build a short deck step by step
Create your first slides
Menu names can differ slightly between versions. If you cannot find a menu item, use the program's Help menu and search for the name shown.
LibreOffice Impress on Ubuntu 24.04
Step 1: Open Impress
Open Activities, type Impress and open LibreOffice Impress. If it is not installed, install it from App Center first.
You should see: A window opens with a blank first slide, a panel of slide thumbnails on the left and a sidebar on the right. A template chooser may appear first; choose a plain one or close it.
Step 2: Type the title slide
Click the title box (it shows prompt text such as Click to add title) and type Our Community Garden. Click the subtitle box and type A plan for the new season.
You should see: The words appear in the boxes, and the first thumbnail on the left shows them.
Step 3: Add a bullet slide
Open the Slide menu and choose New Slide. In the Properties sidebar, find the layouts and click Title, Content. Type the title What we need, then three short bullets: Seeds and tools, Water tank, Five volunteers.
You should see: A second thumbnail appears with a title and three bullets.
Step 4: Pick a theme
Open the sidebar's Master Slides panel (the icon looks like stacked slides) and click one plain design.
You should see: Every slide changes colour and font together.
Step 5: Add a picture
Add a new Title, Content slide. Use Insert, then Image, and choose any picture you own, such as a photo you took. Resize it by dragging a corner handle.
You should see: The picture appears on the slide. Dragging a corner keeps its proportions.
Step 6: Add speaker notes
Open the View menu and choose Notes. Click the box under the slide and type what you will say, for example the full reason you need a water tank.
You should see: The note is saved with the slide and is not shown to the audience.
Step 7: Save your deck
Press Ctrl+S, name it garden-practice and keep the default type, .odp (the OpenDocument presentation format).
You should see: The title bar shows garden-practice.odp.
PowerPoint on Windows 11 (LibreOffice Impress works the same way as the Ubuntu steps)
Step 1: Open PowerPoint
Open Start, type PowerPoint and open it, then choose Blank Presentation. If you do not have PowerPoint, install LibreOffice and follow the Ubuntu steps instead.
You should see: A blank title slide appears with a thumbnail panel on the left.
Step 2: Type the title slide
Click Click to add title and type Our Community Garden. Click the subtitle box and type A plan for the new season.
You should see: The words appear on the slide and in the first thumbnail.
Step 3: Add a bullet slide
On the Home tab choose New Slide, then Layout, then Title and Content. Type the title What we need and three short bullets: Seeds and tools, Water tank, Five volunteers.
You should see: A second thumbnail appears with a title and three bullets.
Step 4: Pick a theme
Open the Design tab and click one plain theme in the Themes gallery.
You should see: Every slide changes colour and font together.
Step 5: Add a picture
Add a new Title and Content slide. On the Insert tab choose Pictures, then This Device, and pick a photo you own. Drag a corner handle to resize it.
You should see: The picture appears. Dragging a corner keeps its proportions.
Step 6: Add speaker notes
Click Notes at the bottom of the window (or View tab, then Notes) and type what you will say under the slide.
You should see: A box under the slide holds your text. The audience never sees it.
Step 7: Save your deck
Press Ctrl+S, name it garden-practice and save it in your Documents folder.
You should see: The title bar shows garden-practice.pptx.
What we need
• Seeds and tools
• Water tank
• Five volunteers
Notes: The tank leaks, so Joseph will look at it on Saturday.
- Marker 1: Toolbar: add slides, images, charts
- Marker 2: Slide panel: thumbnails of every slide
- Marker 3: Slide area: type into the boxes
- Marker 4: Notes: what you will say
- Marker 5: Start the slideshow
Read this figure as text
A simulated presentation program window with a slide list on the left, the slide in the middle, a toolbar, and notes area.
A simulated presentation program window. Marker 1 is the toolbar along the top, where you add slides, pictures and charts. Marker 2 is the slide panel on the left, a list of small thumbnails; click one to jump to that slide. Marker 3 is the main slide area in the middle, where you type into the title and body boxes. Marker 4 is the notes area under the slide, where you write what you will say. Marker 5 is the button row at the bottom, including the start slideshow control. Real programs differ in appearance.
Pictures, charts and notes
Add a picture only when it explains something: a photo of the real place, a diagram, a map. A picture that is only there to fill space adds noise. Use pictures you took yourself or that are clearly free to use, because copying someone else's picture may break their copyright. Stretch a picture by its corner handles, never its side handles, so it does not look squashed.
A chart turns a few numbers into one glance. If you have a small table such as Seeds 40, Tools 25 and Tank 60, a simple bar chart shows at once that the tank is the biggest cost. Use one chart per slide, give it a title that states the point, and label the axes. You learned chart choices in the spreadsheet module, and the same rules apply here.
Common mistakes
✖ Instead of: Putting the whole talk on the slide and reading it aloud.
✔ Do this: Keep three to five short lines, and put what you want to say in the speaker notes.
✖ Instead of: Drawing text boxes by hand instead of using a layout.
✔ Do this: Choose a layout so titles and bullets are real placeholders. They stay aligned and are easier to make accessible.
✖ Instead of: Changing the font and colour on each slide separately.
✔ Do this: Choose a theme once, or edit the master slide, so the whole deck changes together.
✖ Instead of: Stretching a picture by its side handles.
✔ Do this: Drag a corner handle so that the picture keeps its proportions and does not look squashed.
If something goes wrong
- I cannot find the Notes box.
- In Impress use the View menu and choose Notes. In PowerPoint click Notes at the bottom of the window. If it is hidden, drag the divider under the slide upwards.
- My text spills off the bottom of the slide.
- You have too much on it. Shorten the lines or split the content over two slides instead of shrinking the font until it is unreadable.
- A new slide has no title and body boxes.
- It uses a Blank layout. Choose Layout (Slide menu or Properties sidebar in Impress, Home tab in PowerPoint) and pick Title and Content.
- The theme changed the layout of my slides.
- Themes can move boxes. Press Ctrl+Z to undo, or re-apply the layout to the affected slide so that the boxes return to the theme's positions.
Key terms
- Slide
- One page of a presentation.
- Slide layout
- The arrangement of title, text and pictures on a slide.
- Theme
- A ready-made set of colours, fonts and backgrounds that gives a whole presentation one look.
- Speaker notes
- Private notes attached to a slide that only the presenter sees.
Practise it for real
Reading is not the same as being able to do it. Complete these on your own computer, then tick only what you have actually done. These ticks are your own honest record: nothing checks them for you.
Build a four-slide deck
Open your presentation program and make a deck called garden-practice with four slides: a title slide, a bullet slide with three short bullets, a slide with one picture you own, and a slide with a simple bar chart of three invented numbers (Seeds 40, Tools 25, Tank 60). Apply one plain theme. Add speaker notes of one or two sentences to the bullet slide. Save the file in your practice folder.
Challenge: rescue a crowded slide
Make a slide with six long lines of text about any topic you know, for example how to prepare for a job interview. Then rescue it: split it into two or three slides, each with one idea and a title that states the point, and move the explanation into the speaker notes. Compare your first and final versions.
Knowledge check
7 questions. You need 80% to pass. Mistakes here are part of learning, and you can retry as often as you like.
Summary
- A slide supports the speaker: one idea, a clear title, three to five short lines.
- Choose a layout for each slide and one theme for the whole deck.
- Large text with strong contrast on a plain background is readable at a distance.
- Add a picture or chart only when it shows something the words do not.
- Use speaker notes for detail, and do not read slides aloud.
Checklist: can you do these?
Marking a lesson as read does not prove you can do it. Skills count as demonstrated when you pass the quiz (not yet) and complete the practical tasks (not yet).
Related lessons
References and further reading
Official sources for details that can change between versions.
- LibreOffice Impress guides and documentation (The Document Foundation)
- PowerPoint help and learning (Microsoft)