WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION Andrew T. Corbin Ph.D. Agriculture and Natural Resources Washington State University Snohomish County Extension Improving PowerPoint Presentations for SCRI Outreach

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION Improving PowerPoint Presentations for SCRI Outreach Start with approved templates from your institution (if required by them) Andrew T. Corbin Ph.D. Agriculture and Natural Resources Washington State University Snohomish County Extension

If not required – use a simple, creative and consistent theme

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION Improving PowerPoint Presentations for SCRI Outreach Acknowledge the project using our official slide Andrew T. Corbin Ph.D. Agriculture and Natural Resources Washington State University Snohomish County Extension

Biodegradable Mulches for Specialty Crops Produced Under Protective Covers Debra Inglis and Carol Miles (Project Directors) 1 ; Andrew Corbin, Ana Espinola-Arredondo, Annabel Kirschner, Karen Leonas, Tom Marsh and Tom Walters 1 ; Doug Hayes, Bobby Jones, Jaehoon Lee, Larry Wadsworth and Annette Wszelaki 2 ; Eric Belasco and Jennifer Moore-Kucera 3 ; Russ Wallace 4 ; and, Marian Brodhagen SCRI Grant Award No

Text should always be dark on light or light on dark Improving PowerPoint Presentations for SCRI Outreach Avoid light text on light background And vise-versa Which phrase is easier for you to read?

Text should always be dark on light or light on dark The same concept applies with writing on images

Biodegradable Mulches for Specialty Crops Produced Under Protective Covers Debra Inglis and Carol Miles (Project Directors) 1 ; Andrew Corbin, Ana Espinola-Arredondo, Annabel Kirschner, Karen Leonas, Tom Marsh and Tom Walters 1 ; Doug Hayes, Bobby Jones, Jaehoon Lee, Larry Wadsworth and Annette Wszelaki 2 ; Eric Belasco and Jennifer Moore-Kucera 3 ; Russ Wallace 4 ; and, Marian Brodhagen SCRI Grant Award No Blue sky makes a good background for text Use solid background over mixed imagery

Use consistent font style and sizes Stone sans for headings Stone sans semibold for body

You might think Comic sans looks cool – it doesn’t! Other acceptable font styles Arial Calibri Lucida sans unicode Times Helvetica Use consistent text style and sizes

Text boxes must have consistent margins

Use consistent text style and sizes Keep Caps Consistent Between titles and bullets Use the same style For each text box

Keep text to a minimum – use phrases not sentences – no paragraphs! Try using six words per slide

Keep text to a minimum – use phrases not sentences – no paragraphs! We know how impossible that is

Keep text to a minimum – use phrases not sentences – no paragraphs! But that should be your goal

Keep text to a minimum – use phrases not sentences – no paragraphs! People want to listen to you

Keep text to a minimum – use phrases not sentences – no paragraphs! Not read what’s on the screen

Keep text to a minimum – use phrases not sentences – no paragraphs! If you read from the screen

Keep text to a minimum – use phrases not sentences – no paragraphs! You’re boring the audience to death

Use animations judiciously and consistently Fade in Or fly in But don’t mix styles

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION Use images to make your point Imagery works better than text © Sunglint Photography Credit photographs A. Corbin

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION Imagery works better than text Andrew T. Corbin Ph.D. Agriculture and Natural Resources Washington State University Snohomish County Extension Minimize text Short bullets © Sunglint Photography Explain imagery

Charts and graphs Don’t pull charts directly from Excel

Charts and graphs Maximize Remove background Remove gridlines Hi Seed Full Fert Lo Seed Half Fert Hi Seed Half Fert Lo Seed Full Fert Avoid legends

If you need to include a legend – make it simple and large enough to see! HS-FF LS-HF HS-HF LS-FF

Hi Seed Full Fert Lo Seed Half Fert Hi Seed Half Fert Lo Seed Full Fert Charts and graphs Separate columns Pounds/acre Treatment Yield Make titles in PowerPoint Explain differences Cite work Corbin 2010 unpublished

Tables Simplify Large font Explain Emphasize Robertson (2004)

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION Take a look at these useful tips for PowerPoint presentations Andrew T. Corbin Ph.D. Agriculture and Natural Resources Washington State University Snohomish County Extension esentation/slides.htmlhttp:// esentation/slides.html