PowerPoint Dos and Don’ts

What is the purpose of a PowerPoint Presentation? To act as a visual aid to your oral presentation!! The PowerPoint should add to what you are saying – not replace it!

Do Use Contrasting Colors If background is dark, use light text If background is light, use dark text Good Bad Bad !

Use Bright Background Colors Dark background colors with the lights off makes it hard to take notes and easy to sleep Light background colors make it easier to take notes and harder to sleep Think about trying to find your seat at the movies…in a night scene or day scene

Do Use Readable Fonts San Serif fonts are most legible on screen Serif fonts can be used but are harder to read especially from the back of the room Cursive fonts fall out of legibility quickly Cutesy fonts aren’t easy to read either A different font that has bold letter strokes can work well Not all computers have the same fonts

Do Limit Text Per Slide Large font size increases legibility and forces the issue of limiting text per slide

DON’T Put too much text on one slide. Slides should resemble an outline more than a report. You could, for example, break up a long sentence into two bullets For example. . .

Job Description - wrong  You may have already gotten this but as the school year comes to an end and the natives are getting restless I just wanted to remind you all what a difference you make in the lives of your students.        I wish this on all my friends...                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Job Description - wrong Lay out, build, test, troubleshoot, repair, and modify developmental and production electronic components, parts, equipment, and systems, such as computer equipment, missile control instrumentation, electron tubes, test equipment, and machine tool numerical controls, applying principles and theories of electronics, electrical circuitry, engineering mathematics, electronic and electrical testing, and physics. Usually work under direction of engineering staff. So they do lots of things.

Job Description - correct Lay out, build, test, troubleshoot, repair, and modify developmental and production electronic components, parts, equipment. Apply principles and theories of: electronics & electrical circuitry engineering mathematics electronic & electrical testing and physics Work under direction of engineering staff.

OK Education required for this field- a four year college degree or more. Experience required for this field- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Skills are to adapt to different environments because in this career you will travel abroad and do different engineering projects across the globe. The average income for this career is $50,660

BETTER Education Required Bachelor’s Degree or higher Skills Needed Be able to adapt to different environments Experience Needed Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Average Income $50,660

Wrong Right Honesty Pleasant personality Professional appearance Employers look for applicants who are honest and possess a pleasant personality and neat professional appearance. After gaining entry into the occupation, successful sales experience and the ability to communicate effectively become more important than educational attainment. Because they represent their employers to the executives of client organizations, advertising sales agents must have excellent interpersonal and written communication skills. Being multi-lingual, particularly in English and Spanish, is another trait that will benefit prospective advertising agents as media increasingly seek to market to Hispanics and other foreign-born persons. Self-motivation, organization, persistence, independence, and the ability to multitask are required because advertising sales agents set their own schedules and perform their duties without much supervision. Honesty Pleasant personality Professional appearance Interpersonal and written Communication Skills Self-motivation Organization, persistence Independence Ability to multitask Being multi-lingual, particularly in English and Spanish will give you an advantage in this field

Rule of 7’s Your Goal is to try to: Use no more than 7 lines of text on a slide No more than 7 words on a line.

Don’t use dark images on backgrounds Even with large and light text, it’s hard to read.

Do Use Simple Muted Background Images ONLY if you absolutely feel that you have to put a picture on the background! You can still see this image but does not take over the slide contents. However, keep in mind that this is NOT professional. Only do this if it really ads to you presentation such as in a sales presentation for a product.

Avoid Excessive Motion When your slides have too much motion. The point your are trying to make can get lost in all of the commotion

Don’t Go Overboard With Animations and Sounds I can’t even bring myself to make an annoying sound to go here. You get the picture

Don’t over pace your presentations Once you have all of your information clear in your head and down on slides it is easy to go too fast. Nervous presenters go too fast Your oral presentation should say much more than your PowerPoint slides.

Presentation Tips Keep your audience in mind when creating the PP. Older audiences will need larger and more plain text than teenagers. If you put animations on your presentation, use them! Otherwise, keep them off! DON’T stand there and click until everything comes up – discuss each item as it comes into the presentation.