Set up your presentation

Before you give your presentation in front of an audience, you can rehearse it with your slides using the Presenter view.

First, go to the SLIDE SHOW tab and make sure Use Presenter View is selected.

During the show, you'll use dual monitors, but for rehearsal, you can press ALT+F5 to display the Presenter view on a single screen.

Rehearsing this way will help you get comfortable with your slides, and give you practice using the Presenter view.

Keep in mind that when you are using the Presenter view, you are in Slide Show mode, so you can’t edit your slides or notes.

This is good, because it prevents you from unintentionally altering your slides during a show.

Laptops are used by many presenters for both creating and running their shows.

Most laptops available today have dual monitor capabilities built in.

So when you arrive at the presentation room, all you have to do is plug the presentation projector or monitor into the connector on your laptop and you are ready to go.

Start the show to make sure everything is working.

If you want to change which monitor shows the Presenter view, click DISPLAY SETTINGS, and then, click Swap Presenter View and Slide Show.

Before the audience arrives, run through some your slides to make sure everything works and you can see your laptop.

Also, make sure any non-essential programs, like email and browsers, are closed and your desktop is clean.

These other programs slow down your computer, and can cause a distraction if the audience sees them.

The last thing to do is start the Slide Show.

Plan your PowerPoint presentation, so the audience sees a welcome slide as they enter.

This way, the audience will know immediately that you are ready to begin.

Up next, we'll give the presentation using the Presenter view.