Effective PowerPoint Use Tamara Swedberg Instructional Technology Specialist

Overview Preparation Content Design Delivery

PREPARATION

The Audience Why should they care? What will keep their interest? How can you involve them?

Outline Make the slide headers first Go back and fill in content Rearrange slides if needed Make final text edits

Tell a Story Personal stories are more interesting Keep slides in chronological order

CONTENT

Text 6 x 7 rule No more than six lines per slide No more than seven words per line

Short Content Emphasize the BIG points Use images Use simple charts

Reflection and Questions Pause once in a while Ask a question Ask for reactions

Notes Use notes section to add narrative Presenter view – Only if using laptop – Screen and Projection different – Cannot rely on this being available

Summary Slide Summarize your presentation at the end Emphasize key points What the audience will take away

Thank You Slide Thank the audience Include contact information

DESIGN

Themes Choose a theme you like Pick a color scheme Try a different background Use the slide master view – Repeating elements – Footer items, like slide numbers

Visuals Photos Clip Art WordArt Smart Art Charts Graphs

Places to find art Microsoft clipart Creative commons search – Vectorstock.com – $1 vector art Stock art websites – High price – Most variety

Extras Quotes Cartoons Multimedia

Fonts on Screen Serif fonts are difficult to read on screen Sans serif fonts are clearer Italics are difficult to read Normal or bold fonts are clearer ALL CAPS IS HARD TO READ Use colors to emphasize text

Font size Think of the person in the back of the room

Animations Movement applies to text or objects Subtle animations are nice – Draw attention to the screen – Help order elements – Hide/reveal text or objects Erratic animations are annoying Too many animations are irritating

Transitions Animations between slides Same rules as animations

Guides and Arranging Under View – Guides – Gridlines – Ruler Arrange – Align middle, right or left – Distribute multiple objects

DELIVERY

Presenting Practice your presentation Don’t read the slides Maintain eye contact Walk around the room Use a wireless presenter – smart phones apps

Other Slide Software Keynote - Mac Google Presentations – Author with others – Share easily Prezi – Motion and zoom – Artistic – Time consuming

Don’t Forget Your Dongle Macs and iPads - proprietary dongles – $30 – Different for each laptop

Backups Flash drive Copy on web – – DropBox PDF version – Especially for mac users – Photo and video conversion problems – PowerPoint version problems

Handouts & Copies Use the print handouts function Most prefer 3 per page with notes Post presentation online – Add link to last slide – Use URL shortener if needed

Summary Prepare Add Content Design Deliver

Thank You! Thank you for coming Tamara Swedberg Instructional Technology Specialist This presentation: policy.rutgers.edu/its/documents/powerpoint/ policy.rutgers.edu/its/documents/powerpoint/