Animating text means that each bulleted point of your slide appears on the screen one at a time.

How to animate items on a slide

Construct the slide. Remember the 6 x 6 rule; "Avoid more than six lines of text, or six words per line." Change to slide sorter view.

Select the slide you wish to animate. From the Slide Show menu, select Custom animation. To bring lines of text onto the slide one at a time, use an Entrance effect. Several are available. You may also select More effects to see even more. Caution! The purpose of a PowerPoint slide show is to communicate information, not to show off your animation skills.

Click on the Slide Show button  to see this effect in action in your slide presentation.

Making changes to the animation effect - After selecting an animation effect, a new icon is added to the Custom Animation pane. The icon includes a mouse, green star, and the item animated; text, chart, or image. At the right end of this icon you will see a down pointing triangle. Click on the triangle to display the menu of possible changes you can make to the animation effect.

• Before you leave the Custom Animation window, click on the Preview button to see, and hear, what your effect will look, and sound, like.

Caution: Many new users of PowerPoint become enamored with all of the "bells and whistles" which they can easily include in their slide show. As much fun as those sounds and animations can be, remember the purpose of a PowerPoint slide show is to communicate some important information. If sounds fit naturally in the lesson, include them. For example, in a show about lions, the roar of a lion is appropriate. However, sound, just for the sake of sound, should NOT be included in your show. Studies show that the more "bells and whistles" you place into a show, the more likely it is that your audience will remember only the glitz.