Exploring PowerPoint In this exercise students will be given a brief orientation to MicroSoft PowerPoint after which, they will use the program to create an "aesthetically pleasing" electronic version of their résumé. When completed, students will then convert their electronic résumé into a QuickTime movie suitable for playback over the World Wide Web. Specifically, this week students will: Log-on to the Social Science Mac Lab Computers Review a few online articles about Electronic Résumés Review the guidelines on text, graphics and backgrounds for effective electronic presentations Use MicroSoft PowerPoint to create an electronic résumé Convert their PowerPoint résumé into a QuickTime movie Review some ethical concerns about posting personal information on the Web. Finally, don't forget to Log-out! A Word About Electronic Résumés FACT: the Information Age is upon us. FACT: you may know a good deal about searching, sending email, and finding information on the INTERNET, BUT when it comes time to apply for a job, is your résumé up to date with the demands of the digital revolution? FACT: many people are totally unaware of the technological advances within corporations concerning resume scanning, and still more people do not realize that when you post your résumé online it requires some specific modifications. SOLUTION: the following modest collection of articles and links will provide you with the information you need to know! Sabra Chartrand (1996, January 7), Translating Résumés for the Internet, in "Careers," The New York Times on the Web. Mayo Online Career Center (1998, July 28), The Online, Scannable Résumé, by the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education & Research. Wayne M. Gonyea (1997), Tips on Using Keywords for Electronic Résumés, CareerMosaic [includes a sample "keyword" résumé!]. Electronic-Resume's Tips and Samples. Guidelines for Effective Electronic Presentations Most types of presentation software play three primary roles: they help you develop and refine your ideas, create visuals, and deliver your information. PowerPoint's built in AutoContent Wizard and easily understood outlining features help you organize and refine your ideas. Once your ideas are refined, you are ready to produce your "slides," which generally contain three basic elements: text, graphics, and backgrounds. However, PowerPoint has, over the years, become more sophisticated, incorporating the ability to play QuickTime movies, animations [beyond transitions & builds that is], sounds and build "clickable" hyperlinks to World Wide Web sites right into your slide presentation! Text Text usually consists of short passages, often organized as bullet charts for fast reading. Through the use of builds, PowerPoint lets yous specify that the bulleted items in a list appear one at a time. It is a good idea to keep one idea per slide/screen. Avoid using more than five points per slide and use the same orientation for all slides. Avoid centering; avoid varying type size form one slide to the next. Don't use more that two typefaces per visual, and use the same typeface throughout the presentation; try to use bold, sans-serif fonts such as Helvetica Bold. Graphics A picture is worth a thousand bullets. The use of an appropriate graphic or two can illustrate complex concepts as well as add some "punch" to your presentaion. Backgrounds On printed documents, text and graphics usually appear against the white background of paper. Presentaion visuals are often projected onto a white screen in a darkened room, and in that setting, dark text against a white background is hard on the eyes. It is better to use white or brightly colored text against a dark background. Consistency is Everything! A presentation is more effective if visuals are designed with care. Well-designed visuals use a consistent background and color scheme. They also have a uniform layout to give the viewer's eye familiar points of reference. Using PowerPoint With help from the "AutoContent Wizard," you can quickly create PowerPoint presentation with impact. The Department of Communication's Computer Lab hosts an excellent Quick Guide to using PowerPoint 4.0 on the Macintosh computer that is still applicable [even though we are currently using PowerPoint 98 for Macs]. Use this brief tutorial as a guide to help you create your own electronic résumé. For the Windows inclined, MicroSoft Office Developer's Forum has a PowerPoint Tips site that might be of value. If you are at a loss as to what to include, consider some of the following information for possible inclusion in your résumé: Personal Particulars [just not too personal!] Brief Biography Education Work Experience Hobbies, Clubs, Volunteer Activities, Etc. Statements of Desired Future Employment After finishing your résumé, save it as a presentation file. Be sure to use your name in the filename. For example: "Mr Smiley's Résumé" After saving, go up to the File menu and select Page Setup. Select Custom size and change the Width to 6.5 inches and Height to 5 inches. Click OK. Save yor file using the "Save As..." option under the "File" menu. This time, however, you should save it as a Scrapbook file. Be sure to name it something different. Using ConvertToMovieTM 2.0 Now you will convert your résumé into a QuickTime Movie. Quit PowerPoint and locate the ConvertToMovieTM 2.0 program inside the" COM 337" folder [accessable from the "programs" Apple Menu or by double-clicking on the mac hard drive icon and opening/closing folders until you find it -- not the most efficient way of doing things though!]. Open up the ConvertToMovieTM 2.0 by double clicking it. When it prompts you to select a file, choose the file you saved as a scrapbook file. Leave all the settings as they are [see the graphic above if confused as to what the "defaults" should be] and click "OK" until it asks you to save the file. Before you save the file, click on the "Dither" radio button and be sure to rename the file; something like "f-lastname Movie" would do nicely. Save the file and quit ConvertToMovieTM 2.0 after it is finished processing your file. However, you're not done yet! Before your QuickTime movie can be viewed on NON-Macintosh machines, you will need to maket it a "flattened" and "self-contained" movie file. To do this, we will use MoviePlayer 2.5.1 located in the on your computer's Hard Drive. You could also use FlattenMooV to accomplish the same task... Both programs should be located in the "COM 337" folder on your computer's hard drive. Launch MoviePlayer 2.5.1 and choose the "Open..." option under the "File" menu. Navigate to the "Guest" directory and double-click on your Movie file. After it loads, choose the "Save As..." option under the "File" menu, change the name of the file -- first initial, lastname and the ".mov" extension will work just fine. Click the "Make the movie self-contained" radio button and check the "Playable on non-Apple Computers" option box before clicking the "Save" button to save your file. If you choose to use FlattenMooV, launch the program by double-clicking on its icon. Once launched, you will be presented with a dialog box asking you to locate the QuickTime move you wish to flatten. After loading the movie, you will then close the movie by clicking in the box in the upper left-hand corner of the movie window. You will then be prompted to indicate where you want your flattened movie saved. The QuickTime movie file will be automatically given a ".flat" extension, change the name of the file to first initial, lastname and use the ".mov" extension as instructed above. "Save" this file and then quit FlattenMooV. Using Fetch, upload your now "Flattened" movie file to the "all_pau" sub-directory in the "summer_2000" directory on the "www.soc.hawaii.edu" server. Also, upload your original PowerPoint file [rename it with your first initial-lastname if you haven't already] to the "lab_02" sub-directory in the "summer_2000" directory -- NOW you're finished! Ethical Concerns... How much should you reveal about yourself online? Unfortunately, crime exists in Cyberspace as it does in "Real Space." Stories of stalkers seeking victims via online documents or chat rooms abound. Because of the privacy concerns created by online media, you should be cautious -- think twice before you post anything too personal. My general advice is that you avoid listing your home address or phone number -- unlike a paper résumé which only a perspective employer will see -- your "electronic résumé" will be "public" information the whole world can see! It is advisable to provide an email address for perspective employers to use to contact you, but protect your privacy by not revealing much else. Another common listing in a paper résumé are your references. It is a good idea to respect the privacy of anyone who might be listed as a reference as well. Therefore, providing only business phone numbers or email addresses of your references [with their permission of course!], or better yet, the simple statement, "References available upon request" will most likely suffice. If someone is interested enough to contact you by email for an internship or for possible employment, you can follow up with your paper résumé listing references in full.   [ Syllabus ][ Lab Assignments ][ Downloadable Resources ][ Back to Home ]   Copyright © 1999-2000   By: M. R. Ogden -- ogden@hawaii.edu   (Rev. 25 May 2000)