I suspect you are in an existing file that has some non-default settings.
I suspect the "play symbol" is an arrow-shaped bullet for a bulleted list.


Regarding "as soon as the last letter appears", PowerPoint doesn't work that way. By default, a slide appears and then exits as the following slide appears. I believe you are working with a file or template that already has some animations and customizations set, or maybe you set them by accident.

Try clicking the New button and making a new file from scratch. I also recommend looking at any of the many free tutorials on the web.

Save the file as a PowerPoint Show (pps) to have it open into SlideShow view when the file is double-clicked.

The file is a brand new one created by me using all defaults. I just clicked on "new". I have one slide that is a picture of an information board, that takes about a minute to read so I set that slide to advance after a minute and that works fine. What I can't seem to do is make text only slides to do the same. It pauses for a while after displaying the item in the first text box then displays the second text box with selected animation but disappears as soon as the animation has finished.

Any ideas?

Phil