Creating Great

Presentations

Basic Steps to Remember!

Presentation Basics!• Orientation & contrast

• Font size & style

• 4x7 rule – KISS

• Balanced designs

• Text & capitalization rules

• Transitions & animation

Orientation

Always this Never!

Portrait

Landscape

PP’s default

Contrast Light type on a dark background is

easier to read Be consistent Do not change colors on every

slide Exception – if you are changing

focus, ideas or presenters

Font Size for Titles and Text

Titles should be 40+pts 36 point 32 point 24 point 18 point

Readability - Font Style

This is sans serif (Arial)

• easier to read

• best for video This is serif (Times New Roman)

• fills in screen

• harder to read

Readability – the Rule

4/7 x 4/7 rule

4/7 lines of text MAX

4/7 words per line MAX

Follow the 4x7 Rule

Balanced Design

Bullet points should not be centered Presents a ragged look

Difficult to follow text in a presentation

Always left-align bullets

Balanced Design Titles can be centered, left-aligned

or right-aligned Keep text and graphics neat, easy

to follow Try using an anchor element Picture/graphic placed in the same

position on each slide

Balanced Design

Centered graphics leave little room for text

Balanced Design

Place graphics to the left or off center

Left placement leads eye to text

Allows room for text Presentation is more

interesting

Text & Capitalization Rules

Bullets are followed by a capital letter No periods Avoid all caps This is an Example of Capitalizing

Only the Important Words More Formal but more Decisions

Keep it Simple!

Refrain from having audience read long lines of text like this one

Lengthy text forces down the point size, making the slide difficult to read

Lengthy text distracts from the main message being delivered

This is 24 point Arial

This is 36 point Arial

Keep it Simple!

Minimize use of graphics or decorations

Limit font styles to a maximum of 3

Transitions

Avoid distracting transitions and review

The way in which the presentation moves from one slide to the next

Animations

How text or graphics come on the slide

Use consistency with animations Too much movement reduces

readability Always review animations

Animation

Text may fly in from the right, left, bottom, or top

Or, text can come from any direction

It can swivel, swirl, fade…

Planning Your Presentation

What will be the outcome?

What do you want the audience to know?

Planning Your Presentation There are three major sections:

• Objective slide – tell them what you’re going to tell them

• Content slides – tell them

• Closing slide – tell them what you just told them

Remember…When planning your presentation

keep in mind the following: Orientation should be landscape Light type on a dark background is

easiest to read Font size should be 36pts Use a san serif font

Remember…

4/7x4/7 rule – no more than 4 to 7 lines per slide, no more than 4 to 7 words on each line

Balance your design Capitalize the first word of a

bullet Avoid using all caps

Remember…

Review transition & animations to ensure a professional presentation

KISS your presentation - Keep it Short and Simple!