Introductory example

The beamer package is loaded by calling the beamer class:

\documentclass{beamer}

The usual header information may then be specified.

Inside the document environment, multiple frame environments specify the content to be put on each slide. The frametitle command specifies the title for each slide (see image):

\begin{document}
  \begin{frame}
    \frametitle{This is the first slide}
    %Content goes here
  \end{frame}
  \begin{frame}
    \frametitle{This is the second slide}
    \framesubtitle{A bit more information about this}
    %More content goes here
  \end{frame}
% etc
\end{document}

The usual environments (itemize, enumerate, equation, etc.) may be used.

Inside frames, you can use environments like block, theorem, proof, ... Also, \maketitle is possible to create the frontpage, if title and author are set.

For the actual talk, if you can compile it with pdflatex then you could use a pdf reader with a fullscreen mode, such as Okular, Evince or Adobe Reader. If you want to navigate in your presentation, you can use the almost invisible links in the bottom right corner without leaving the fullscreen mode.

Document Structure

\title[Crisis] % (optional, only for long titles)
{The Economics of Financial Crisis}
\subtitle{Evidence from India}
\author[Author, Anders] % (optional, for multiple authors)
{F.~Author\inst{1} \and S.~Anders\inst{2}}
\institute[Universities Here and There] % (optional)
{
  \inst{1}%
  Institute of Computer Science\newline
  University Here
  \and
  \inst{2}%
  Institute of Theoretical Philosophy\newline
  University There
}
\date[KPT 2004] % (optional)
{Conference on Presentation Techniques, 2004}
\subject{Computer Science}

\begin{frame}[plain]\titlepage\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Table of Contents}
\tableofcontents[currentsection]
\end{frame}

\AtBeginSection[]
{
  \begin{frame}
    \frametitle{Table of Contents}
    \tableofcontents[currentsection]
  \end{frame}
}

\AtBeginSubsection[]
{
  \begin{frame}
    \frametitle{Table of Contents}
    \tableofcontents[currentsection,currentsubsection]
  \end{frame}
}

\section[Section]{My section}

\subsection[Subsection]{My subsection}

\subsubsection[Subsubsection]{My subsubsection}

\begin{frame}\sectionpage\end{frame}

\begin{frame}[allowframebreaks]
  \frametitle<presentation>{Further Reading}    
  \begin{thebibliography}{10}    
  \beamertemplatebookbibitems
  \bibitem{Autor1990}
    A.~Autor.
    \newblock {\em Introduction to Giving Presentations}.
    \newblock Klein-Verlag, 1990.
  \beamertemplatearticlebibitems
  \bibitem{Jemand2000}
    S.~Jemand.
    \newblock On this and that.
    \newblock {\em Journal of This and That}, 2(1):50--100, 2000.
  \end{thebibliography}
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}[allowframebreaks]
  \frametitle<presentation>{Further Reading}    
  \begin{thebibliography}{10}    
  \setbeamertemplate{bibliography item}[book]
  \bibitem{Autor1990}
    A.~Autor.
    \newblock {\em Introduction to Giving Presentations}.
    \newblock Klein-Verlag, 1990.
  \setbeamertemplate{bibliography item}[article]
  \bibitem{Jemand2000}
    S.~Jemand.
    \newblock On this and that.
    \newblock {\em Journal of This and That}, 2(1):50--100, 2000.
  \end{thebibliography}
\end{frame}

\documentclass[10pt,handout,english]{beamer}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[backend=biber,style=numeric-comp,sorting=none]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{biblio.bib}

\begin{frame}
 \frametitle{Title}
 A reference~\footfullcite{ref_bib}, with ref_bib an item of the .bib file.
\end{frame}

Style

\usetheme{Warsaw}

\usecolortheme{beaver}

\useoutertheme{infolines}

\useinnertheme{rectangles}

\setbeamercolor{alerted text}{fg=orange}
\setbeamercolor{background canvas}{bg=white}
\setbeamercolor{block body alerted}{bg=normal text.bg!90!black}
\setbeamercolor{block body}{bg=normal text.bg!90!black}
\setbeamercolor{block body example}{bg=normal text.bg!90!black}
\setbeamercolor{block title alerted}{use={normal text,alerted text},fg=alerted text.fg!75!normal text.fg,bg=normal text.bg!75!black}
\setbeamercolor{block title}{bg=blue}
\setbeamercolor{block title example}{use={normal text,example text},fg=example text.fg!75!normal text.fg,bg=normal text.bg!75!black}
\setbeamercolor{fine separation line}{}
\setbeamercolor{frametitle}{fg=brown}
\setbeamercolor{item projected}{fg=black}
\setbeamercolor{normal text}{bg=black,fg=yellow}
\setbeamercolor{palette sidebar primary}{use=normal text,fg=normal text.fg}
\setbeamercolor{palette sidebar quaternary}{use=structure,fg=structure.fg}
\setbeamercolor{palette sidebar secondary}{use=structure,fg=structure.fg}
\setbeamercolor{palette sidebar tertiary}{use=normal text,fg=normal text.fg}
\setbeamercolor{section in sidebar}{fg=brown}
\setbeamercolor{section in sidebar shaded}{fg=grey}
\setbeamercolor{separation line}{}
\setbeamercolor{sidebar}{bg=red}
\setbeamercolor{sidebar}{parent=palette primary}
\setbeamercolor{structure}{bg=black, fg=green}
\setbeamercolor{subsection in sidebar}{fg=brown}
\setbeamercolor{subsection in sidebar shaded}{fg=grey}
\setbeamercolor{title}{fg=brown}
\setbeamercolor{titlelike}{fg=brown}

\definecolor{chocolate}{RGB}{33,33,33}

\setbeamertemplate{blocks}[rounded][shadow=true]
\setbeamertemplate{background canvas}[vertical shading][bottom=white,top=structure.fg!25]
\setbeamertemplate{sidebar canvas left}[horizontal shading][left=white!40!black,right=black]

\beamertemplatenavigationsymbolsempty

\setbeamerfont{title}{family=\rmfamily}

\setbeamerfont{title}{family=\rmfamily\addfontfeatures{Scale=1.18, Numbers={Lining, Proportional}}}

\usefonttheme[onlymath]{serif}

Frames Options

The plain option. Sometimes you need to include a large figure or a large table and you don't want to have the bottom and the top off the slides. In that case, use the plain option:

\begin{frame}[plain]
% ...
\end{frame}

If you want to include lots of text on a slide think twice and restructure your presentation instead. Your audience will thank you for not including too much content on a single slide. If you fail to find another way or hate your audience, use the shrink option.

\begin{frame}[shrink]
% ...
\end{frame}

The allowframebreaks option will auto-create new frames if there is too much content to be displayed on one. This option is evil and should only be used if really necessary, e.g. for automatically created bibliographies.

\begin{frame}[allowframebreaks]
% ...
\end{frame}

Before using any verbatim environment (like listings), you should pass the option fragile to the frame environment, as verbatim environments need to be typeset differently. Usually, the form fragile=singleslide is usable (for details see the manual). Note that the fragile option may not be used with \frame commands since it expects to encounter a \end{frame}, which should be alone on a single line.

\begin{frame}[fragile]
\frametitle{Source code}

\begin{lstlisting}[caption=First C example]
int main()
{
    printf("Hello World!");
    return 0;
}
\end{lstlisting}
\end{frame}

Hyperlink navigation

Internal and external hyperlinks can be used in beamer to assist navigation. Clean looking buttons can also be added.

By default the beamer class adds navigation buttons in the bottom right corner. To remove them one can place

\beamertemplatenavigationsymbolsempty

in the preamble.

Animations

The following is merely an introduction to the possibilities in beamer. Chapter 9 of the beamer manual provides much more detail, on many more features.

Making items appear on a slide is possible by simply using the \pause statement:

\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Some background}
We start our discussion with some concepts.
\pause
The first concept we introduce originates with Erd\H os.
\end{frame}

Text or figures after \pause will display after one of the following events (which may vary between PDF viewers): pressing space, return or page down on the keyboard, or using the mouse to scroll down or click the next slide button. Pause can be used within \itemize etc.

Instead of \pause, \uncover specifies the appearance explicitly; \only works the same but without reserving space when hidden.

\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Some background}
\only<1>{To be replaced.}
\uncover<2-3>{Only visible on slides two and three.}
\uncover<4->{Can be seen afterwards until the end.}
\end{frame}

\begin{itemize}
  \item This one is always shown
  \item<1-> The first time (i.e. as soon as the slide loads)
  \item<2-> The second time
  \item<1-> Also the first time
  \only<1-1> {This one is shown at the first time, but it will hide soon (on the next event after the slide loads).}
\end{itemize}

\begin{frame}
	\frametitle{`Hidden higher-order concepts?'}
	\begin{itemize}[<+->]
	\item The truths of arithmetic which are independent of PA in some 
	sense themselves `{contain} essentially {\color{blue}{hidden higher-order}},
	 or infinitary, concepts'???
	\item `Truths in the language of arithmetic which \ldots
	\item	That suggests stronger version of Isaacson's thesis. 
	\end{itemize}
\end{frame}

Handout mode

In beamer class, the default mode is presentation which makes the slides. However, you can work in a different mode that is called handout by setting this option when calling the class:

\documentclass[12pt,handout]{beamer}

This mode is useful to see each slide only one time with all its stuff on it, making any \itemize[<+->] environments visible all at once (for instance, printable version). Nevertheless, this makes an issue when working with the only command, because its purpose is to have only some text or figures at a time and not all of them together.

If you want to solve this, you can add a statement to specify precisely the behavior when dealing with only commands in handout mode. Suppose you have a code like this

\only<1>{\includegraphics{pic1}}
\only<2>{\includegraphics{pic2}}

These pictures being completely different, you want them both in the handout, but they cannot be both on the same slide since they are large. The solution is to add the handout statement to have the following:

\only<1| handout:1>{\includegraphics{pic1}}
\only<2| handout:2>{\includegraphics{pic2}}

This will ensure the handout will make a slide for each picture.

Now imagine you still have your two pictures with the only statements, but the second one show the first one plus some other graphs and you don't need the first one to appear in the handout. You can thus precise the handout mode not to include some only commands by:

\only<1| handout:0>{\includegraphics{pic1}}
\only<2>{\includegraphics{pic2.eps}}

The command can also be used to hide frames, e.g.

\begin{frame}<handout:0>

or even, if you have written a frame that you don't want anymore but maybe you will need it later, you can write

\begin{frame}<0| handout:0>

and this will hide your slide in both modes.

A last word about the handout mode is about the notes. Actually, the full syntax for a frame is

\begin{frame}
...
\end{frame}
\note{...}
\note{...}
...

and you can write your notes about a frame in the field note (many of them if needed). Using this, you can add an option

\setbeameroption{show only notes}

or

\setbeameroption{show notes}

The first one is useful when you make a presentation to have only the notes you need, while the second one could be given to those who have followed your presentation or those who missed it, for them to have both the slides with what you said.

Columns and Blocks

There are two handy environments for structuring a slide: "blocks", which divide the slide (horizontally) into headed sections, and "columns" which divides a slide (vertically) into columns. Blocks and columns can be used inside each other.

\begin{frame}
    \frametitle{Example of columns 1}
    \begin{columns}[c] % the "c" option specifies center vertical alignment
    \column{.45\textwidth} % column designated by a command
     Contents of the first column
    \column{.45\textwidth}
     Contents split \newline into two lines
    \end{columns}
\end{frame}

\begin{frame} 
     \frametitle{Example of columns 2}
     \begin{columns}[T] % contents are top vertically aligned
     \begin{column}{5cm} % each column can also be its own environment
     Contents of first column \newline split into two lines
     \end{column}
     \begin{column}{5cm} % alternative top-align that's better for graphics
          \includegraphics[height=3cm]{graphic}
     \end{column}
     \end{columns}
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}

   \begin{block}{This is a Block}
      This is important information
   \end{block}

   \begin{alertblock}{This is an Alert block}
   This is an important alert
   \end{alertblock}

   \begin{exampleblock}{This is an Example block}
   This is an example 
   \end{exampleblock}

\end{frame}

PDF options

You can specify the default options of your PDF.^[2]

\hypersetup{pdfstartview={Fit}} % fits the presentation to the window when first displayed

Numbering slides

It is possible to number slides using this snippet:

\insertframenumber/\inserttotalframenumber

However, this poses two problems for some presentation authors: the title slide is numbered as the first one, and the appendix or so-called "backup" (aka appendix, reserve) slides are included in the total count despite them not being intended to be public until a "hard" question is asked.^[3] This is where two features come in:

• Ability to exclude certain frames from being numbered. For instance, this may be used at the title slide to avoid counting it:

\begin{frame}[noframenumbering]
content...
\end{frame}

• This stuff works around the problem of counting the backup frames:

\documentclass[12pt,handout]{beamer}

\usetheme{CambridgeUS}
\setbeamertemplate{page number in head/foot}[appendixframenumber]

\begin{document}
	
\begin{frame}
content
\end{frame}

\appendix

\begin{frame}
content...
\end{frame}

\end{document}