A REALLY BAD POWERPOINT PRESENTATION Guided practice #2 instructor’s copy

Create a new slide: Reduce text to 5 – 6 bullet points No more than 6 words per bullet point Use slide design with light colored background and dark colored font There is nothing worse than trying to read a Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation that has too much text crammed into one tiny space. It is like trying to read the fine print in a used car contract. When there is too much text on a page, the reader is visually confused and has trouble tracking across the page. Keep your fonts at least twenty-two points in size and break your text up into summarizing bullets. You do not need to tell the whole story in one slide. Another big mistake is to stretch the text box to the edges so that you can add even more text. That is the reason why newspapers use short columns. It is easier to read across short distances than all the way across a page. Add to that some other types of visual clutter like a background and you will not be able to read the text at all. Well I think you get the point.

Too much text Too much text is visually confusing Follow the 6 x 6 rule Use at least 22 point font Choose a light, solid background Type with a dark font

TOO MUCH VISUAL CLUTTER Create a new slide that is less visually cluttered: Remove images Remove texture fill Reduce text to four or less bullet points with six words or less in each Use images sparingly and if they help with the message TOO MUCH VISUAL CLUTTER Text and images are important elements of a presentation. But too much is too much. The eye has to know where to go to follow the text and contemplate the images. Too many images combined with a colorful background are very confusing to the mind and eye.

Clutter Avoid too much text and too many images

Clutter Too much is confusing to the mind and eye

Clutter Work towards a simple, clean look

Clutter Use images if they help with the design of your message