Templates

When you open PowerPoint 2002, look under New in the task pane on the right of your screen. You will see three methods for creating a presentation: Blank Presentation, From Design Template, and From AutoContent Wizard (Figure 3).

When you choose Blank Presentation, you start with a white background on your slides, which you can easily change if you desire. You can also adjust all the other elements of your slides to get the exact look you want.

The Design Template option generates a presentation in which all the slides are unified by a preselected combination of colors, fonts, and graphics. When you choose Design Template, thumbnails of sample templates appear in the task pane on the right of the screen (Figure 4). Click any template to preview it in the main part of your screen.

Designed for business speakers, AutoContent Wizard provides templates with predetermined outlines and sample text for two dozen kinds of presentations, such as Employee Orientation, Project Overview, and Facilitating a Meeting. Although helpful in some situations, AutoContent Wizard is seldom used outside a business setting.