2. DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS

3. Effective PowerPoint presentations Excited By Animations, sound and Clip art In PowerPoint? You Are ?

4. What we’ll cover today Do you need PowerPoint? Outline Slide layout Fonts, color and background Graphs Spelling and grammar Room set up

5. Do you need PowerPoint? …then he said, “I can’t feel my legs” and then I said, “Stay with me Joe!” But it was too late. He was gone. It was the PowerPoint.

6. Do you need PowerPoint? Consider the type of presentation: –Lecture –Discussion Don’t make your presentation PowerPointless

7. The outline 1 st or 2 nd slide should give an Agenda or Outline Follow outline for your presentation Place main points on outline slide

8. Slide layout Use point form, not complete sentences Maximum of six points per slide Avoid wordiness: key words only

9. Slide layout This page contains too many words for a presentation slide. It is not written in point form, making it difficult both for your audience to read and for you to present each point. Although there are exactly the same number of points on this slide as the previous slide, it looks much more complicated. In short, your audience will spend too much time trying to read this paragraph instead of listening to you.

10. Slide layout Showing one point at a time will: –focus attention on one point –prevent reading ahead –help keep your presentation focused

11. Slide layout Do not use distracting animation Do not go overboard with the animation Use consistent animation

12. Slide layout Slide transitions should not be distracting Be consistent with transitions – never Random Worst effects – ‘Checkerboard or Comb’

13. PowerPoint basics: 1. What font to use This font is Arial. This font is Comic Sans. This font is Papyrus. This font is Times New Roman. This font is Courier. This font is Didot. Serif fonts take longer to read… Use a Sans Serif font:

14. PowerPoint basics: 1. What font to use Some fonts look really good in boldface: Arial vs. Arial bold Comic Sans vs. Comic Sans bold Papyrus vs. Papryus bold

15. PowerPoint basics: 1. What font to use Type size should be 18 points or larger: 18 point 20 point 24 point 28 point 36 point * References can be in 14 point font

16. PowerPoint basics: 1. What font to use AVOID USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS BECAUSE IT’S REALLY HARD TO READ!

17. PowerPoint basics: 2. Color Dark letters against a light background work.

18. PowerPoint basics: 2. Color Light letters against a dark background also work.

19. PowerPoint basics: 2. Color Many experts feel that a dark blue or black background works best for talks in a large room.

20. PowerPoint basics: 2. Color Dark letters against a light background are best for smaller rooms and for teaching.

21. PowerPoint basics: 2. Color Avoid red-green combinations because a significant fraction of the human population is red-green colorblind.

22. PowerPoint basics: 2. Color Avoid red-green combinations because a large fraction of the human population is red-green colorblind. Lots of people can’t read this – and even if they could, it makes your eyes hurt.

23. PowerPoint basics: 2. Color Other color combinations can be equally bad:

24. PowerPoint basics: 2. Color View your slides in grayscale to ensure that there is adequate color contrast in each slide.

25. Spacing - bad If you have a set of points space them out on the slide rather than in one corner

26. Spacing - good If you have a set of points space them out on the slide rather than in one corner

27. Graphs Use graphs rather than just charts and words –Data in graphs is easier to comprehend and retain than raw data –Trends are easier to visualise in graph form Always title your graphs

28. Graphs

29. Graphs – Easy to Read Purple Blue

30. Graphs – Difficult to Read

31. Other features choose pictures that highlight your point use a screen capture if appropriate

32. Spelling and Grammar Proof your slides for: –speling mistakes –the use of of repeated words –grammatical errors you might have make Have someone check your presentation

33. On the day Get there early Handouts Does everything work? Can your audience read the slides? Keep an eye on the time Don’t read directly from the slides

34. Conclusion slide Use an effective and strong closing Use a conclusion slide

35. Conclusion Structure your presentation Keep it simple (background, font, color) Minimal content on slides - 6/6 Avoid pointless animations Only use pictures if they assist Ensure accuracy with content and equipment

36. Questions? End your presentation with a simple question slide to: –Invite your audience to ask questions –Provide a visual aid during question period –Avoid ending a presentation abruptly