In PowerPoint There can be Too Much of a Good Thing PowerPoint provides a multitude of bells and whistles (features). Used sparingly these features will enhance any presentation. Used to excess they can ruin one. Presenters are given the opportunity to use animation, sound, color, word art, thousands of fonts and more when preparing a presentation. Too often the presenter will get overwhelmed by these features and use too many.

Rules of Power Point Presentations Presented by: C. B. Wright United States History II Wilcox Central High School Camden, Alabama August 26, 2010

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Rule #1: Don’t give your presentation software center stage This is the biggest mistake. You are the presenter. You should be the presenter not your slides. You should be the focus.

Rule #2: Know Your Content Create a logical flow to your presentation. Tell them what you are going to tell them.

Rule #3: Use Key Phrases About Your Topic Good presenters use key phrases and include only the most important information. Choose only the top 3 or 4 points and make them several times throughout the presentation in the classroom.

Rule #4: Avoid Using Too Much Text on the Slide One of the biggest mistakes students make in classroom presentations, is in writing their whole speech on the slides. Write in the form of jot notes, called bullet points, on slides.

Rule #5: Limit the Number of Slides Too many slides in a presentation will cause you to be rushing to get through. One slide per minute is about right in a classroom presentation.

Rule #6: Layout of Your Slide is Important Make your slides easy to follow. Put the title at the top where your audience expects to find it. Phrases should read left to right and top to bottom. Keep important information near the top of the slide.

Rule #7: Avoid Fancy Fonts Choose a font that is simple and easy to read such as Arial, Times New Roman or Verdana. Don’t use more than two different fonts—one for the heading and the other for content. Keep all fonts large enough (24 and above) so that people at the back of the room will be able to read them easily.

Rule #8: Use Contrasting Colors For Text and Background Dark text on a light background is best or vice versa in a classroom presentation. Text is often difficult to read on patterned or textured backgrounds. Keep your color scheme consistent throughout your classroom presentation.

Rule #9: Try a Slide Design Template to Keep the Look Consistent When you use a design template, choose one that will not detract from your classroom presentation. Test it ahead of time to make sure that the text is readable and the graphics won’t get lost in the background.

Rule #10: Use Animations and Transitions Sparingly Apply animations to graphics to make a point, not to entertain. Using present animation schemes will apply action to titles and bullet points, keeping the slide show consistent and interesting.

Rule #11: Too Much Sound A common mistake of a beginning presenter is to fall in love with a sound effect. It could be any number of sounds from within PowerPoint or others from outside sources.

Conclusion Before getting all caught up in the gee- whiz features of PowerPoint, remember the purpose of a presentation is to present information—not overwhelm the audience with a demonstration of all the software bells and whistles. In that respect, using PowerPoint is similar to using a page layout program. The software is merely a tool.

Conclusion Continued Use the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep it Silly Simple) when designing a presentation. Stick to three, or at the most, four points about your topic and expound on them. As with any design, cut the clutter. Two font families is a good rule of thumb. No more than one graphic image or chart per slide. Be consistent – Use the same colors and fonts throughout. Select graphic images in the same style. Templates help maintain consistency.

Effective PowerPoint Presentation part 2