Once you’ve been using PowerShell for awhile, it’s natural to want to spread the word. We frequently get questions asking for a standard “Introduction to PowerShell” slide deck, but haven’t really had one to share. The problem is that they tend to be pretty customized to the audience – even a “standard intro talk” becomes much more engaging when you target it to a specific audience.

However, those customizations tend to be centered around specific themes, so I’ve reduced a recent presentation to its core and attached it here. This presentation is demo-heavy. Talk all you want about objects, but it doesn’t really click until they see it in action.

Link: Introduction To PowerShell.zip

To run the demos, this zip file includes a version of Jeffrey Snover’s Start-Demo script. This script is pure Presentation Zen. By automating your keystrokes (yet submitting them to the real PowerShell console,) it lets you demonstrate the wonder of PowerShell without torturing your users with lame attempts to type and talk and backspace all at the same time.

.\Start-Demo .\Demo-Discovery.ps1

The Graphical PowerShell demo is not scripted – the high points I like to hit are:

• UNICODE. PowerShell has always been Unicode-friendly, but the console window is less so.
  We literally had Exchange administrators in Japan having to write scripts in Notepad, and then run those scripts in order to manage some mailboxes. I usually create a directory with a Unicode name, do a dir. Create a file within it (with a Unicode name,) and do a dir. Set the content (with Unicode text) and then get the content (which shows the Unicode text.) I like to use “PowerShell Rocks!” flipped from http://www.flipmytext.com/
• Syntax highlighting and Tab Completion
• Tabs and Free-sizing of the window. It seems like a small thing, but it’s the most common complaint about the console window.

Also, the font slider at the bottom right lets you enlarge all fonts to become demo-friendly.