Creating a New Presentation

The term "Presentation" has two meanings with SlideGen. The two meanings are actually two stages in a logical process:

A collection of songs. This is a collection of songs that is viewed internally within SlideGen and can be saved for later use.
A public presentation. This is the file that results from preparing the above internal presentation for public use. It can be a "SlideGen Presentation" or a "Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation".

The above two stages incorporate a number of steps. Outlined below are the steps from beginning to end in creating a presentation for use in a public setting.

Step 1 - Create Internal Presentation

To begin the process, you must first create an internal presentation. When you start SlideGen you will automatically be editing a new presentation. If you are viewing an existing presentation you can start a new one from the main window by selecting File | New Presentation from the main menu, or by clicking the Start a new presentation button, which is the first button in the toolbar.

Step 2 - Add Songs to the Presentation

Next you need to add songs to the presentation. You can browse for songs in the Song Catalogue on the left-hand side of the main window by expanding each folder. Or you can search for songs by using the search box in the bottom left corner of the main window. The search results will appear at the end of the Song Catalogue list.

Once you have found a song that you want to add to the presentation, simply click on the song and click the Add Song button which is to the right of the Song Catalogue (see button circled in red below). You can also add a song by double-clicking on the song.

Once you have added songs to the presentation, you can adjust the order of the songs in that presentation by using the other buttons underneath the one circled above. Hover the mouse over each button to see what it does. You can remove a song from the presentation, and adjust the order of songs within the presentation.

Step 3 - Adjust (if necessary) the Sections for each Song

Once songs have been added to the presentation, you may wish to adjust what sections (e.g. verses) are to be used for that song in this particular presentation. You do this by using the row of buttons to the far right of the Order of Sections list.

In the example below, the third verse and its corresponding Refrain have been removed from the hymn "And Can It Be?".

Step 4 - Save the Presentation

Once you have added all of the songs to the presentation and adjusted the sections as appropriate, you should save the presentation. Do this by selecting File | Save Presentation or by selecting the button Save the current presentation in the toolbar.

You will be presented with the following screen. You should name the presentation appropriately.

Copyright Management -- It is vitally important for copyright management purposes that you specify how this presentation will be used when you save it. You do this by selecting the appropriate check boxes which are shown underneath the Presentation Name. In this example below, we have said that this presentation is going to used for public projection purposes, and for printing on a song sheet, but there will be no audio recording made of it.

Note: previously saved presentations can be deleted from this dialog (or from the Open Presentation dialog) by right-clicking on a presentation and selecting "Delete" - or by clicking on a presentation and pressing the "Delete" key on the keyboard.

Step 5 - Build the Public Presentation

Now that the presentation is ready and saved, we can build the public presentation file. This can be a Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation, or a SlideGen Presentation which is shown using the SlideGen Viewer.

See the help on Building the Slides for a presentation for further information.

Step 6 - Print a Song Sheet and Song Listing

Printing a song sheet is useful for those people who cannot see the screen - e.g. the platform party or those with poor eyesight. See the help on Printing a Song Sheet for further information.

Printing a song listing is useful so that song leaders and musicians have a list that they can refer to. See the help on Printing a Song Listing for further information.