Microsoft Office Specialist: PowerPoint Associate (Microsoft 365 Apps) (MO-310)

Inconsistent slide decks quietly cost teams time. Presenters run slide shows without the right setup, decks ignore the Slide Master, and files saved locally make collaboration messy. This MO-310 course gives IT Directors and Training Managers a standard way to raise PowerPoint skill across a team.

Role fit: Intermediate level. It suits IT Practitioners, Team Leads, and business staff who build briefings, training decks, or stakeholder updates. It also fits anyone pursuing the Microsoft Office Specialist: PowerPoint Associate certification.

Time investment: About 6 hours across seven skills of roughly 45–60 minutes each. A learner can finish one skill per week without pulling time from operations. The first skill, Manage Slides, is available to preview before you assign it.

What changes for your team: Learners will be able to:

• Reuse content from Word outlines and control layouts through the Slide Master
• Insert charts and apply purposeful animation
• Rehearse timings and configure slide shows for delivery
• Prepare files for cloud collaboration, with speaker notes written for other presenters

That last skill matters when decks are handed off between trainers or team members.

How CBT Nuggets supports it: Each skill includes downloadable practice files and a hands-on challenge, so learners apply each feature rather than only watch it. You can group the course into a Playlist with related MOS training, such as Word Associate (MO-110), and use Team Reporting to track progress toward certification.

Teams that build and deliver presentations every day lose time to inconsistent formatting, broken decks, and awkward live delivery. This course works through realistic business scenarios, such as a sales incentive trip deck and a policy-update briefing. Learners rebuild, format, and present those decks the way your organization needs them done.

• Faster deck creation from existing content: Your team will reuse slides and import outlines directly from Word documents that use heading styles. Theme and layout control through the Slide Master keeps headers, footers, and placeholders consistent across every slide.
• Consistent visuals when information changes: Learners format text, tables, shapes, images, and SmartArt with theme-based colors, effects, and layouts so updates still match the deck. This cuts manual cleanup when numbers, wording, or visuals change.
• Polished, professional delivery: Presenters learn to run decks in Slide Show view instead of sharing the editing window with the ribbon and speaker notes on screen. They also work with speaker notes, animation flow, and rehearsal timings to keep presentations clear and on schedule.
• Smoother handoffs and collaboration: Your team will write speaker notes that guide a different presenter through slide flow and animations. They will also save files to shareable cloud locations so co-workers can contribute, and prepare decks for distribution.

The result is standardized presentation capability across the team. Fewer decks need last-minute fixes, and staff can build readiness for the MO-310 certification.

Knowledge

• How slide layouts and the Slide Master control placeholders, headers, and footers across a deck, and when to use layout reset
• How themes, text boxes, and font settings work together to keep text formatting consistent
• The three object animation categories (entrance, emphasis, and exit effects), and how the Animation Pane shows effect sequence and click triggers
• How linked Excel charts keep data current while retaining PowerPoint formatting
• How sections, targeted slide selections, and rehearsed timings support structured live delivery
• Why shared presentations belong in a cloud location, and how speaker notes can guide a different presenter

Ability

• Build decks quickly by reusing slides and importing outlines from Word documents formatted with heading styles
• Apply and adjust themes, layouts, and text effects across an entire presentation
• Insert and format shapes, stock images, SmartArt, charts, media, 3D models, and ink
• Sequence object animations and transitions that help explain a concept, not just add movement
• Present in Slide Show view and Presenter View instead of sharing the editing window, and use rehearsal tools to time each slide
• Prepare files for distribution and team collaboration, including speaker notes and audience handouts