The aim of this activity is to help you see the details of a clear and audience-friendly introduction to a presentation. This introductory structure applies Plain Language concepts we've worked with so far. 

In our writing workshop this week, you'll be creating introductory slides similar in structure. We'll expand these introductory slides into a full slide set in Week 6, based on the blueprint/outline slide you create this week.

Please see your course calendar for activity due dates. Please see the rubric for this assignment for specific criteria for success with this activity.

Here are four steps that you may find useful in completing this activity:

Step 1: View one of the PowerPoint slide set introductions below using the Slide Show tab; choose to view the slide set "From Beginning." You'll see the slides as an audience would, possibly with Animations that make individual bullet points "Appear" individually on the screen.

• Cleaning Your Computer, Introduction to first moving blueprint 
• Responsible Gambling Introduction to 1st moving blueprint 
• Cleaning up Windows 8, Introduction to 1st moving blueprint 
• Convert Your TV to Bluetooth or Wireless, Introduction to 1st moving blueprint 

Step 2: View the same slide set again, using the View tab and choosing "Normal." You'll see the slide set down the left side of your screen and the speaker's notes beneath some slides. 

Please read the speaker's notes as you look at each slide. These notes may help you understand the designer's intentions. These notes indicate the speaker's oral delivery for each bullet point on the slide.  

Step 3: By Wednesday, critique each slide in one sample introductory slide set, using questions "1." and "2." below. (Please ignore the opening opaque slide.) 

Type your critique of each slide, with the labels 1. and 2., into the Notes space beneath the respective slide. As always, use paragraphing to reveal slight shifts in subtopic. Support your opinions with reasoning or with criteria in the table below.

1. What specific advice from the table below has the PPT designer applied? Quote specific criteria as needed to support your claims.

2. What are your specific suggestions to the designer, based on your personal taste and experience? Take care to include reasons for your suggestions.   

Here is an anonymous sample critique, used with written permission, from a past class.

Here's the table of criteria that you'll need in order to complete part 1 of your critique:

Design A: Slide 1

Cover Slide 

Include the basic information your audience needs to see before you begin to speak:

• the title of your talk
• a relevant visual that expresses your general topic and approach to it
• your name in at least 30-point type
• your credentials for speaking on this particular topic

 Imitate the simplicity and clarity of the sample slides, above, that you have just critiqued. 

Design B:

Slide 2

Explanation slide 

Provide a brief informal explanation of your term (if it's not "common knowledge").

Imitate the brevity and the ample use of white space you saw in the sample slides, above, that you have just critiqued. To apply the design "Rule of Thirds," place your content closer to your slide title than to the bottom of the slide, that is, out of the "dead center" of the slide, vertically. 

Beginning on this slide, and continuing throughout, use a consistent type size (32 points or larger) for your slide titles. Consistently use 32-point type for your body text. 

Design B:

Slide 3

Purpose OR bottom line slide 

State your purpose as a presenter (not the purpose of your term!). For example, your purpose could be "To acquaint a lay audience with the term Windows Registry as it operates in investigations of computer crime."

Consider adding to the speaker's Notes space below this slide, for oral delivery, a statement about how the talk will benefit the audience.

Imitate the concise approach of the sample slides, above, that you have just critiqued. Place your phrase closer to the title of the slide than to the bottom. 

Please do not present your purpose as a list.

Use a Bottom Line slide, instead of a Purpose slide, only when your primary purpose is to persuade (rather than to inform). 

Design C:

Slides 4 & 5

Blueprint slide & first moving blueprint slide 

List the parts of your presentation in parallel grammatical structures, as you did in your illustrated, business-style report in Weeks 2 and 3.

Create a slide design that is related to your design for body (or content) slides but that is distinctly different. Your audience needs to immediately recognize your blueprint slides as the organizers of your talk rather than as new content. 

Limit your blueprint to two to five more-or-less equal parts.  

Imitate the concise language you saw in the sample slide sets listed above. Place your blueprint list closer to the title of the slide than to the bottom. 

On your first "moving" blueprint, announce your first section of your talk with a check mark, a special bullet style, a bold color, or some other means.