Make a Presentation in SlideRocket
CONTENTS
What You Need
What’s SlideRocket?
Get Started
Create a New Account…
…Or Log In
Create a New Presentation
Add and Change Text
Add a New Slide
Add a Picture
Add a Video
Add a Shape
Add a Chart
Add a Table
Add a Plugin
Add Audio
Save and Preview
Publish and Share
Learn More
LIS 488-01 Assignment 3
Jill Dannay
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Make a Presentation in SlideRocket
WHAT YOU NEED
To create a presentation in SlideRocket, you will need a computer with an internet connection and a web browser.
WHAT’S SLIDEROCKET?
SlideRocket is a tool for creating visual multimedia slideshows. Think of it as a more powerful, accessible
alternative to Microsoft PowerPoint. Learn more here.
GET STARTED
CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT…
Create a new account by visiting http://www.sliderocket.com and clicking the yellow “Sign up now” button:
Choose the appropriate pricing plan on the next page. This tutorial assumes you take the free Lite Plan. Continue
to the next page and enter your email and password.
…OR LOG IN
Already a member? Log in by clicking the Login button in the top right-hand corner:
CREATE A NEW PRESENTATION
You can import an existing presentation from a Google Presentation or a PowerPoint Presentation, but for this
tutorial, we will create a presentation from scratch right in SlideRocket. Start by clicking
.
You will be asked to choose a theme:
In this tutorial, I will use the theme entitled “Black,” but you can choose any of these pre-set themes, or even
create one of your own. Once you have chosen, click “Ok” to continue. You will see a screen like this:
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Jill Dannay
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Make a Presentation in SlideRocket
Sliderocket automatically starts you off with a pre-formatted title slide. You can see what kind of slide has been
added by looking to the toolbar on the right, where you will see the Slide Properties, which lets you change
themes, choose the basic slide layout, and set some options for transition into the next slide:
Layout lets you choose
the default content of a
slide. We’ll look at that
more closely later.
These are the
transition options,
which let you move
from one slide to
the next in a variety
of ways.
Use this area to choose
how and when the
presentation should move
to the next slide.
ADDING AND CHANGING TEXT
Double-click the bold text in the center of the slide to enter a title. Immediately, the bar on the right of the screen
should change to give you some font formatting options. These options are very similar to what you find in most
word processing programs:
You can change the default font (in this case, Nina Compressed), the font size, the color, and many other
formatting options with just a few mouse clicks. Try changing the font by clicking the bold white title, and then
choosing the dropdown that says “Nina Compressed.” You will be given several font options, as well as the
opportunity to upload one SlideRocket does not already have:
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Jill Dannay
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Make a Presentation in SlideRocket
As soon as you choose a font, the selected text will change. I have changed the title of my presentation to “Make a
Presentation in SlideRocket,” and changed the font to “Cosmetica”:
That’s not bad, but what if you want the text to stand out more? You can add a special effect. Click on the slide
title again, and look to the toolbar on the right. Near the top of the toolbar are five buttons:
Each of these buttons gives you different text options. Go to the fourth button, “fx,” to access the text effects.
Click
and choose an effect from the dropdown:
I am going to choose “Glow,” which will give my title a glowing golden border:
To change the options of the “Glow” effect, look to the right to see new options in the toolbar:
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Jill Dannay
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Make a Presentation in SlideRocket
Click to change the glow’s color
Change the glow’s opacity, blur and
intensity using the slider bars
Check to move the glow
to the inside of the text
Check to get rid of the
main font color
Adjusting the quality adjusts
the strength of the glow effect
By experimenting with the settings, the “Glow” effect can look very different. In this example, I have clicked on the
checkbox for “Knockout”:
You can change the font style and add effects to the sub-title, as well. Once you’re happy with your title slide,
move on to the next section to add another slide and begin including your content.
ADD A NEW SLIDE
Look at the bottom of your screen. There is a toolbar that will show you all the slides in your presentation. To the
left of the title slide we have just created is the button to create a new slide:
Click on “New,” and SlideRocket will create a second slide that looks like this:
By default, SlideRocket has given you a slide of all text. Look to the right in Slide Properties, and you’ll see that the
Layout of this slide is “Text”:
Since we already know how to add and format text, let’s change the slide layout. Click on that dropdown:
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Jill Dannay
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Make a Presentation in SlideRocket
Let’s choose the fifth option, “Picture-Horizontal.” The content of your second slide should change automatically
to look like this:
ADD A PICTURE TO YOUR SLIDE
Where the slide says
, click once. A new set of options will slide
across the screen, and at the top will be an option for you to add a picture to your picture library by clicking
. Clicking will let you choose a file from your computer’s hard drive:
Select the file you wish to use and click “Okay,” and the file will not only upload to the server, but automatically be
placed in your slide. I chose a picture of the ocean:
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Jill Dannay
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Make a Presentation in SlideRocket
If you don’t like your picture choice, double-click on the image and repeat the same steps to choose another. Once
you have uploaded an image, it becomes part of your picture library, which you’ll see any time you add or edit an
image in your presentation.
ADD A VIDEO TO YOUR SLIDE
Add a third slide to your presentation, but this time, choose the “Blank” layout. To add a video, look to the small
toolbar along the left side of the screen until you see
. The process is the same as adding a picture, but this
time you will upload a video file. Once again, SlideRocket will automatically add the video to the presentation.
ADD A SHAPE TO YOUR SLIDE
Follow the same steps as you would to add an image or video to your presentation, but this time click on
in
the left toolbar to get the shape options. Once you choose your shape, click into the slide and drag your mouse
until the shape is the size you want:
The right toolbar options allow you to
change colors, opacity and the shape
border:
As with images, you can also add effects.
ADD A CHART TO YOUR SLIDE
This time, choose
from the left toolbar. The chart you choose will be added to the slide with some sample
data. To adjust the data, use the right toolbar to either click “Edit Chart Data” to manually input the information,
or “Link to Google Spreadsheet” to automatically input data from an existing spreadsheet.
If you choose to manually enter data, a box will pop up that works much like Microsoft Excel or Google
Spreadsheet charts:
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Jill Dannay
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Make a Presentation in SlideRocket
When you hit “Close,” your chart will update to include your new data. As with other objects, charts are highly
customizable using the options in the right toolbar.
ADD A TABLE TO YOUR SLIDE
This time, choose the
option, and input the number of columns and rows you would like to show:
becomes:
As before, you can either enter data manually or link to a Google Spreadsheet, and the look and feel of the table is
completely customizable.
ADD A PLUGIN TO A SLIDE
SlideRocket currently offers five plugins:
Quotes allows you to search a Quotation database, and choose a favorite
quote to add to your slide.
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Jill Dannay
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Make a Presentation in SlideRocket
Snow creates an animated background of falling snow.
StockQuote inserts the current status of the stock of your choice to your
slide.
TwitterFeed allows you to stream Twitter right into your slide.
WordDefinition allows you to look up a word in a dictionary and input its
definition into your slide.
Each plugin is customizable using the toolbar on the right.
ADD AUDIO TO A SLIDE
In the left toolbar, choose
. Use
to upload a file, as you do with images and videos.
SAVE AND PREVIEW YOUR PRESENTATION
Once all your slides are finished, go to File > Save As, as you would in any computer program. You can name your
presentation and add it to a personal folder. Then, look at the bottom left side, below where you add a new slide,
and click
to view your presentation. You can do this at any time in the creation process.
SHARE YOUR PRESENTATION
When your presentation is complete, click “Share” in the top toolbar. You will be sent to a screen with options to
either copy the direct URL of your presentation, or receive code to embed it into a webpage:
Your presentation will be accessible to anyone with an internet connection.
SEE SLIDEROCKET IN ACTION!
Here are a few library-related examples of SlideRocket in action:
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Make a Presentation in SlideRocket
Friends of the Ottawa Public Library
Turning the Page on School Library Education
You can also visit the SlideRocket Gallery or their Customer Wall for more examples. SlideRocket is currently
partnering with TechSoup to offer discounted paid subscriptions for public libraries and nonprofits, so more
examples may soon be available on your favorite library’s website!
LEARN MORE
SlideRocket Resources is SlideRocket’s official help center, with reference materials and webinars for learning the
system.
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Jill Dannay
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