Adam Kurth ADM Community School District December, 2012

Consider the Purpose PowerPoint is a presentation supplement Effective uses: highlight key points helpful images provide reference information (i.e., web addresses) create interest in the topic

Consider the Audience How does your audience impact … color / font / background choices? content choices? length considerations? animation implementation?

Content Considerations: Simplify Simplify avoid paragraphs 6x6 rule Too often, it’s tempting to include too much text on a slide. The tendency is there to write complete sentences and paragraphs, which are then almost impossible to avoid reading verbatim. Even if you don’t read them to the audience, the audience spends their time reading instead of listening to you. Even worse is when there is so much text on a slide that it ends up needing to be very small to fit. This is especially true in an online class environment, where the slide on a users’ screen is generally not all that sizeable, since it has to fit into an Adobe Connect subwindow

Content Considerations: Visuals Avoid using too many numbers According to 2008 U.S. Census estimates, only 3.1% and 4.1% of Des Moines MSA residents and Iowans, respectively, have less than a 9 th grade education. The percentages with a high school diploma are also close, at 91.3% and 89.6%, respectively, but a tremendous gap is created at the undergrad degree and some college levels, with 14.7% and 14.8% gaps in those areas, respectively.

Design Considerations: Font Content Fonts Arial (sans serif) Calibri (sans serif) Tahoma (sans serif) Times New Roman (serif) Bookman (serif) Garamond (serif) Comic Sans (informal) Content Fonts Arial (sans serif) Calibri (sans serif) Tahoma (sans serif) Times New Roman (serif) Bookman (serif) Garamond (serif) Comic Sans (informal) Always avoid fonts smaller than 24 Design Fonts Brush Script Earwig Factory Rosewood Sybil Green Hurry Up Burnstown Mesquite Design Fonts Brush Script Earwig Factory Rosewood Sybil Green Hurry Up Burnstown Mesquite

Design Considerations: Color Know your audience Be consistent Make sure that text is clear This is a decent font color for this background color As is this This is not Nor is this

Design Considerations: Animation Use animation purposively to draw attention It is important to avoid distracting animations Do not talk over your transitions

Presentation Notes

Presentation Notes: How-To Print as “Handouts” 3 slides per page Use oversized text in notes Engage the audience eye contact body orientation

Presentation Follow-Up Handouts before or after? handout of PowerPoint presentation? This presentation is available on the ADM Technology Blog (

Adam Kurth ADM Community School District December, 2012