Death by PowerPoint Kathleen M. Sheehan 26 September 2006

I wouldn't ever set out to hurt anyone deliberately unless it was, you know, important —like a league game or something. Dick Butkus

Tools, like presentation programs, can quickly become crutches, and even get in the way of effective communication.

You are the expert with the knowledge to share; your slides are there to support you, not to steal the spotlight. Slide Slave

A good rule of thumb is two minutes per slide. This will help you judge how many slides you should create. Slides with complicated graphs or detailed images should be allowed more time.

Content is King Design should be the last step in the presentation creation process. Utilize Microsoft Word’s Outline feature

State Your Key Point Here Use the title of each slide to state the key point the audience should take away. Supporting material should be listed below the title, in the body of the slide.

K.I.S.S. “Keep it Simple S________” Display the information on your slide in a way that makes it easy to read and understand. Utilize white space Unless you really need it, don’t crowd the screen with clip-art.

Revolver Rule There should be no more than six bullets on each slide. Copy should be concise and consistent across all points. Avoid Data Dumping

Keep capitalized words to a minimum Reserve capitalization for the first word of every bullet and proper nouns. Contrary to popular belief, capitalized words are more difficult to read than lower case.

Fonts are like donuts… You won’t like the results if you have too much of a good thing. Keep fonts consistent. Overuse of non-standard fonts. The results of this are not generally very predictable and not very visually pleasing. …you really shouldn’t have more than three at a time

Use photos, tables and graphs, and even video clips Visually illustrating your point breaks up the repetition of a presentation, and can be very effective in strengthening your message. Make sure that each visual has a reason to be included. Visuals, when used without purpose, can be distracting.

Purpose vs. Effect

Carefully consider the use of transition effects Repetition with effects, such as building bullet points, can be monotonous for the audience. Used strategically, however, such effects can help reinforce your point. You should also be careful when mixing several transition effects in one presentation. Too many bells and whistles will deteriorate the message you want your audience to absorb.

Friends Don’t Let Friends Use the Laser Typewriter The fewer of PowerPoint’s features you use (preset animation, sound effects, etc.) the better your presentation will look. Cash register cha-chings and laser blasts for each letter of a three line bullet can cause your audience to lose focus and interest quickly. When in doubt, don’t do it…

Golden Rule Develop presentations that you would find inviting and easy to understand. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Goal To keep an audience through the length of your presentation.