how to prepare a good power point presentation?

In the last month

Presentations

How many presentations were

good?

Aboubakr Elnashar

Aboubakr Elnashar

ContentSlides

Presenter

Presentation

Great Content:

bad Slides will not damage the presentation...

Bad content:

great Slides cannot improve bad Content!(Osterwalder A, 2006)

Aboubakr Elnashar

Content

Aboubakr Elnashar

Know standard of the audience.

-Do they have a background like yours?

-Don’t assume the audience will all be experts.

-Never underestimate your audience!

Time allotted to you.

Aboubakr Elnashar

New information

Novel discovery

Answers an interesting question

Describes important ideas

Concise& to the point

Aboubakr Elnashar

Slides1. Outline slide

2. Layout

3. Structure

4. Animation

5. Bullets

6. Fonts

7. Color

8. Illustrations

9. Graphs

10. Video clips

11. Audio clips12. Spelling& Grammar

13. Conclusion

14. Questions

Aboubakr Elnashar

The slides should enhance the presentation, not be the presentation (Compton

K, 2002)

Goals:

Convey the necessary information

Be readable/understandable

Be interesting (enough)

Avoid:

Over stimulation

Boring

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1. Outline slide

Start with

Main points

Follow the order of your outline for the rest of the presentation

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2. Layout

Simple but attractive

The same layout

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Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult to read from

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3. Structure

Write in point form (Bullets). DO NOT use

sentences or paragraphs.

Avoid wordiness: use key words& phrases

Simple image on every slide.

Balance of Slide Elements: text, graphics

{You want the audience to focus on what you

present, not the way you present}.

Aboubakr Elnashar

Bad

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.

Aboubakr Elnashar

4. Animation

Show one point at a time:

Audience concentrate on what you are saying

Prevent audience from reading ahead

keep your presentation focused

Aboubakr Elnashar

Use the “Slide show” - “animations” -”custom”-

option

Same animation

Simple "Wipe Left-to-Right" is good

Do not use:

Distracting animation

Move" or "Fly" {too tedious& slow}

(used in many presentations today).

Aboubakr Elnashar

5.Bullets

3-6 bullets/ slide

4 if large title, logo, picture

Each bullet 1 line, 2 at the most.

This is known as “cueing”

“cue” the audience in what you are going to say.

This gives the audience a “framework” to build upon.

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Crowded text: audience will not read it.

Reading speed does not match listening speed:

confuse instead of reinforcing each other.

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6. Fonts

Size:

Title: at least 28-point.

Text: at least 18-point

References: 14-point

Different size for main points& secondary points

Text can be read from the back of the room.

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You are close to your monitor

Your audience is far from the screen

Tahoma

32 pt

28 pt

24 pt20 pt

18 pt

16 pt

14 pt

12 pt

10 pt

TNR

32 pt

28 pt

24 pt20 pt

18 pt

16 pt

14 pt

12 pt

10 pt

Courier

32 pt

28 pt

24 pt

20 pt

18 pt

16 pt

14 pt

12 pt

10 pt

Comic

32 pt28 pt

24 pt20 pt18 pt16 pt14 pt12 pt10 pt

Lucida Sans

32 pt

28 pt

24 pt

20 pt

18 pt

16 pt

14 pt

12 pt

10 pt

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-Type

Main font: same

2 complementary fonts: Arial& Arial Bold.

Serif font:

e. g. Times New Roman

Used in documents filled with lots of text.

{Easier to read at small sizes}

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San-serif fonts

Arial

Avoid: Script or Old English

Use a standard font: Times New Roman or

Arial.

Roman& Gothic are easier to read

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- Caps

Do not use all capital letters

Makes text hard to read

Conceals acronyms

Denies their use for emphasis

-Italics

Used to highlight thoughts or ideas

Used for:

“quotes”, book, journal, or magazine titles

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Bad

If you use a small font, your audience won’t be able to read what you have written

CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT IS DIFFICULT TO READ

Don’t use a complicated font

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7. Color

Use color to:

Reinforce the logic of your structure

Emphasize a point (occasionally)

Font color that does not contrast with the background is hard to read

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Colors:

I. Cool:

blue& green

best for backgrounds {appear to recede away

from us into the background}.

II. Warm:

orange& red.

best for objects in the foreground (such as text)

{appear to be coming at us}.

Aboubakr Elnashar

The Color Wheel Harmonizing: Adjacent colors

e.g. Green& Yellow

Contrasting=Complementary:

separated by another color

Clashing: Colors that are

directly opposite

e.g. yellow on blue.

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Reds& oranges :

high-energy but difficult to stay focused on.

Greens, blues, and browns :

mellower, but not as attention grabbing.

Color font that contrasts sharply with the

background

blue font on white background

Yellow font on blue background

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Avoid

color for decoration {distracting& annoying}.

Different color for each point

Different color for secondary points

Red-green combinations {7 % of population are red-green colorblind}

Glaring colors

White font on Light Green, Light Blue or Pale

Yellow background

Usually can’t read this…

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Dark room

white or light font on dark background

(dark blue, grey, etc.).

Good light Rooms: (which is highly

advisable)

Black or dark font on white background

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Lots of people can’t read this –

and even if they could, it makes your eyes hurt.

Colour - Bad

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8. Illustrations

Diagrams are great communicators

(Well-drawn) pictures easier to

understand

Use only when needed, otherwise they

become distracters instead of

communicators

They should relate to the message&

help make a point

Aboubakr Elnashar

9. Graphs

Use graphs:

Data in graphs is easier to comprehend &

retain than is raw data

Trends are easier to visualize in graphs

Graphs& figures:

large

Title

High-quality

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Types

Pie Charts.

Used to show percentages.

Limit the slices to 4-6

contrast the most important slice either with color

or by exploding the slice.

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Vertical Bar Charts.

Used to show changes in quantity over time.

Limit the bars to 4-8

Horizontal Bar Charts.

Used to compare quantities.

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Line Charts.

Used to demonstrate trends.

Tables

Good for side-by-side comparisons of

quantitative data.

lacks impact on a visceral level.

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Graphs - Good

0102030405060708090

100

January February March April

Items Sold in First Quarter of 2002

Blue Balls

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Graphs - Bad

20.4

27.4

90

20.4

30.6

38.6

34.6

31.6

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

January February March April

Blue Balls

Red Balls

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Graphs - Bad

Minor gridlines are unnecessary

Font is too small

Colors are illogical

Title is missing

Shading is distracting

Aboubakr Elnashar

Aboubakr Elnashar

Pick A Line, Any Line

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Series1

Series2

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10. Video clips To show concrete examples

promote active cognitive processing,

{this natural way people learn}.

Illustrate your point better

Increase the interest of audience.

Aboubakr Elnashar

11. Audio clipsAs interviews.

Avoid

-Cheesy sound effects (sound of a horn or

clapping when transitioning slides).

-Extra sound effects attached to animations

{lose credibility with your audience}.

Aboubakr Elnashar

12. Spelling& Grammar

Checked

If English is not your first language:

pls have someone else check your

presentation

Aboubakr Elnashar

13. Conclusion

Effective& strong

Your audience is likely to remember your last

words

Conclusion slides:

Bring people back if they zoned out

Summarize the main points of presentation

Suggest future research

Aboubakr Elnashar

14. Questions??

Avoid ending presentation abruptly

End with a simple question slide to:

Invite audience to ask questions

Provide a visual aid during question period

Aboubakr Elnashar

PresenterBefore

At the start

During

At the end

Aboubakr Elnashar

Before the talk: Practice in front of friends or using a video

camera& timer

Take criticism as constructive, not personally

Make changes well in advance

Know Your Location

Check the podium& AV equipment

How far is audience from screen?

Do you need a laser pointer?

Aboubakr Elnashar

At the start of the talk:

Thank the sponsor, panel

Start using an emotionally competent stimulus

Story

Question

Anecdote

Application

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During the Talk: Do not read your notes word for

word!-It’s called a “presentation” & not “a reading” of

your work -Reading a slide is annoying-Do not read your slides like a script-You should not simply be a text-to-speech

converter.

Aboubakr Elnashar

Do not use the media to hide you

Face the audience, not the screen

Make eye contact

Don’t pace up& down but also don’t

stand rigid

Aboubakr Elnashar

Are you hiding behind the podium?

Are your hands/face motionless?

Are you staring…

at your advisor/boss?

at your laptop?

at the screen?

at the ceiling?

Is your back to the audience?

IF SO… you’re probably BORING!

Dead Man Talking

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Spend between 30sec- 2min/slide

Sometimes nerves make for fast talking

Calm down.

[It’s not a race

People need time to absorb information}

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Not exceed your allotted time

You were poorly prepared

Have bad manners

If you’re running late:

skip

Don’t just talk faster!

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Do be enthusiastic

Are you interested in your topic?

If no, get a different one!

If yes, act like it

If you aren’t excited…

Can’t expect other people to be!

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Vary the tone of your voice, Vary your

tempo, volume, gestures

Microphone at middle of your chest

Not 2mm from your mouth

Modulate your voice evenly

If not using a mic – project your voice!

Aboubakr Elnashar

Don’t wave your pointer all over the slide

Do not point at everything

{Not everything is equally important}

Don’t point with your middle finger

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Orient the audience:

Don’t take lots of drinks {distracting&

unprofessional}

Spend time on

graphs, charts, anatomy

Memorize the outline

Memorize the concluding sentence

Be able to recover from interruptions

Aboubakr Elnashar

Careful use of pause

When starting a major result

Raising a question

Showing a complicated fig

Avoid annoying mannerisms

Use of OK

Interrupting yourself with I mean or you know

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At the end of the talk

Be prepared to get questions!

Move towards the person who asked it

Repeat or rephrase

“What if I don’t know the answer?”

Know when to say “I don’t know”

Know how to say “I don’t know”

Don’t be uncomfortabl

Aboubakr Elnashar

Close by thanking your audience

Plan to stay a while after talk

Audience may want to talk with you

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Conclusion

Good presentation= Good

content, slides& presenter

Aboubakr Elnashar

Questions??

Aboubakr Elnashar

Aboubakr Elnashar