Some tips to make your
presentations
presentable
Basic Power Point
Guidelines
Basic Rules for Presentations
• Contrast is important.
• For paper…
– Dark text on a light background.
Basic Rules for Presentations
• For projection…
– Light text on a semi-dark
background.
– The eye is attracted to the light
on the screen.
Basic Rules for Presentations
• Stick with a single
background.
– The background is the stage for
your information.
– Set the stage and leave it alone!
Basic Rules for Presentations
• Don’t try to dazzle the audience
with graphics or style…but with
the information.
• The medium is not the message.
• The information is the message.
Basic Rules for Presentations
Balance.
• Do not center bullet points.
• It makes the text ragged.
• And hard to read and follow with your eyes.
Basic Rules for Presentations
Balance.
• Generally, left-justify bullets.
• This keeps things neat..
• and easy to follow.
Basic Rules for Presentations
Balance.
Centered graphics leave little room for text.
Basic Rules for Presentations
Balance. •Place graphics off-center.
•More room for text.
•Better balance.
•More pleasing to the eye.
•Left placement leads the eye to the text.
Basic Rules- Capitalization
•AVOID ALL CAPS –VERY HARD TO READ.
•First Cap - More Formal.
•Harder To Type And More Decisions.
•This is an example of capitalizing the first word.
•Less formal.
•Easier to type and fewer decisions.
Use Restraint With Fonts
• Employ only a few..stick to familiar fonts
• Stay away from gimmicky fonts unless for a
theme.
• Keep type sizes consistent.• Serif vs San Serif.
• DON’T USE ALL CAPS.
Choose Fonts Wisely
• Italics are more difficult to read.
• Use bold when you want some words to
stand out.
• Font size– Easy to read (18 pt)
– Easy to read (24 pt)
– Easy to read (32 pt)
–Easy to read (48 pt)
Fonts
• Font Style Should be Readable
– Recommended fonts: Arial, Tahoma,
Veranda
• Standardize the Font Throughout
– This presentation is in Tahoma
•Do !
• This is a good title size Verdana 40 point
• A good subtitle or bullet point size Verdana 32 point
• Content text should be no smaller thanVerdana 24 point
• This font size is not recommended for content. Verdana 12 point.
•Font Size
The larger, the better. Remember, your slides must be readable, even at the back of the room.
•Don’t !
•Font Size
What does this say? Garamond Font, Italic, Bold 12pt.
• This is very difficult to read. Times Font, Bold, 12pt.
• This point could be lost. Century Gothic Font, Bold, Italic, 14pt.
• No one will be able to read this. Gill Sans Font, Condensed Bold, 12pt
Combining small font sizes with bold or italics is
not recommended:
16
Font Size
• You are close to your monitor
• Your audience is far from the screen
•Tahoma
•32 pt•28 pt•24 pt•20 pt•18 pt•16 pt•14 pt•12 pt•10 pt
•TNR
•32 pt
•28 pt
•24 pt
•20 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 pt•28 pt•24 pt•20 pt•18 pt•16 pt•14 pt•12 pt•10 pt
•Lucida Sans
•32 pt
•28 pt
•24 pt
•20 pt
•18 pt
•16 pt
•14 pt
•12 pt
•10 pt
17
Squint City
• If you find yourself saying “you probably
can’t read/see this, but…”
– Then you probably have a BAD SLIDE!
– There are exceptions, but very few
• Test on real screen in conference room
– Not just your computer screen.
Fonts
• Don’t Sacrifice Readability for Style
• Don’t Sacrifice reaDability
for Style
• Don’t Sacrifice Readability for Style•Don’t Sacrifice
Readability for
Style
•Don’t !
Avoid Text Overload
Having too much text on the screen can defeat the purpose of using PowerPoint. The slides begin to look like a jumble of text, making slides difficult to read and unrecognizable from each other. People will either try to read everything or copy everything down or they will lose interest. List only the key points. If you have more info to include use more slides or create handouts.
Basic Rules That You Must
Have to Have a Good
Presentation.
•One of the most common mistakes in creating a presentation is to place too much information on the screen. This can cause the reader to become distracted from the speaker…just like you are now. Audiences are much more receptive to the spoken word.
Basic Presentation Mistakes.
•Too much information.
• Reader gets distracted
• Audiences are much more receptive to the spoken word.
Basic Rules
Keep it simple..
• Make bulleted points easy to read.
• Keep text easy to understand.
• Use concise wording.
• Bullets are focal points.
• Presenter provides elaboration.
• Keep font size large.
Basic Power Point Guidelines
• Use builds…don’t give them
too much info at once.
• Stick with the same transition.
• Be creative but leave some
colour choices to
professionals.
• Six words per line.
• Six lines per page.
Choosing a Colour Scheme
• Stick with power point defaults.
• What may look good on your computer may
be unreadable in the classroom.
• Remember to use strong, contrasting colors.
Use Contrasting Colours
• Light colours on dark background.
• Dark colours on light background.
• Usually can’t read this…
•This is a good mix of colours. Readable!
•Background Colours•Remember: Readability! Readability! Readability!
•This is a bad mix of colours. Low contrast.
•Unreadable!
•This is a good mix of
•colours. Readable!
•This is a bad mix of
•colours. Avoid bright
•colours on white.
•Unreadable!
27
Mommy, my eyes are burning!
• Can you look at this for 45 minutes?
• Colours look different on every LCD
projector
• Colours look different between
transparencies and projector
Clip Art & Graphics
• A few excellent graphics are better than
many poor ones.
• Photographs can be powerful.
• Use sparingly!
•Avoid using graphics that are difficult to read. In this example, the bright colours on a white background and the small font make the graph hard to read. It would be very difficult to see, especially in the back of a room.
•8
•Don’t !
•Graphics and Charts
•This graph contains too much information in an unreadable format.
•10
•Don’t !
•These are examples of
•good graphs, with nice
•line widths and good
•colours.
•Good Graph
•Do !
Charts and Graphs
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
North America Europe Austrailia
Mode A
Mode B
Mode C
•Don’t
Charts and Graphs
•0
•10
•20
•30
•40
•50
•60
•70
•80
•NorthAmerica
•Europe •Australia
•Mode A
•Mode B
•Mode C
•Do !
34
ResultsA B C D E
0.78799174 0.87677244 0.99348605 0.23781547 0.24437526
0.24910355 0.79708654 0.39825661 0.4894876 0.22079456
0.65729261 0.46901063 0.36471191 0.04697233 0.63468059
0.48205396 0.52657506 0.70503426 0.35280176 0.40935313
0.46328137 0.0774365 0.71517444 0.9394662 0.46843638
0.09762717 0.70884867 0.81407539 0.24571711 0.72497819
0.00773315 0.39906447 0.42344939 0.90776976 0.22209006
0.15857663 0.4181197 0.56488165 0.91405841 0.3578349
0.59242455 0.17894389 0.61926672 0.02978346 0.50789172
0.41285757 0.71470398 0.31906988 0.79658426 0.21587647
0.8855586 0.46534556 0.3701164 0.12452538 0.33415497
0.28231467 0.17509894 0.85801024 0.72984635 0.94731238
0.82370951 0.03235362 0.95622299 0.27726297 0.76619879
0.86245578 0.21094811 0.93272287 0.48265505 0.04960646
0.38953201 0.3665743 0.33754918 0.28178635 0.39637009
0.80522838 0.63509032 0.43333321 0.97677807 0.96198172
0.35928212 0.14878634 0.44201417 0.23251612 0.83375154
0.72099806 0.75212293 0.81061259 0.23756284 0.48518996
0.13329065 0.31602317 0.87489249 0.5304632 0.26191565
0.2588109 0.89039838 0.81380512 0.59139955 0.48488759
0.99314419 0.34635186 0.73292414 0.25933239 0.29230491
0.88041055 0.11473455 0.01934078 0.15717245 0.93780676
0.72332226 0.80195173 0.1792961 0.07832254 0.41154579
0.95925002 0.41696749 0.24905812 0.2111233 0.00256536
0.00580885 0.65322119 0.49666074 0.91641276 0.40573275
0.26004883 0.3010126 0.45604195 0.99935168 0.91271048
0.1508427 0.84418604 0.96241158 0.05548096 0.94093154
0.63750743 0.08979734 0.11100042 0.34646613 0.09994533
0.17176871 0.85518113 0.94522781 0.29368901 0.77444161
0.15186964 0.53105474 0.69991523 0.07876247 0.0023978
0.72306385 0.73755246 0.71402806 0.68090612 0.76015636
0.42140074 0.39036871 0.02247591 0.94725973 0.70692042
• You have
lots of cool
results
– No one can
read this
– No one can
understand this
• Graphs are
your friend…
•Religious leader
•Civil rights
activist
•Author/poet
•Labor activist
•Minister
•Antiwar activist
Martin Luther King Jr.
•Religious leader
•Civil rights activist
•Author/poet
•Labor activist
•Minister
•Antiwar activist
37
This is a really long title for this
single slide, I should have just
summarized
• Hard to read
• Many people don’t read the title anyway
• Should have been “Long Slide Titles”
38
Know Slide Boundaries
• People can’t read text that runs off the side of the slide
39
Bullets Aren’t Everything
• How many
– Levels of
• Hierarchy do
– You think
» You need
* To express
- Your point?
40
Speelchick
• How samrt will poeple thikn yuo are?
• Watch for:
– there/their/they’re
– too/to/two
– its/it’s
41
Bad Presentations
• Audience won’t see your work is great
• But will make fun of you from back row
•zzz
•What does that slide say?
•Dunno, I’m playing minesweeper
•Those are some NASTY
colours…•Hey – it
matches my tie.•Please let it be OVER…
43
Good Presentations
• Interesting topic, explained at audience’s level
• Slides are understandable and easy to see
• Good presentations reflect well on speaker!
•Interesting
•I understood this one!
•You shouldwith a PhD…
•I wonder if this technique would
work for my problem
•Let’s talk to them at the
break•I never thought
of that!
•But it’s outsidemy main area
Points to Remember
• Keep bullet points brief
• Use the same background for each slide
• Use dark slides with light colored text in large hall events
•Do !
Avoid the “All Word” Slide
•Another thing to avoid is the use of a large block paragraph to introduce your information. Attendees do not like to have what is on the screen, read to themverbatim. So, please use short, bulleted statements and avoid typing out your whole presentation on to the slides. Also, it is difficult for some to listen and read a large amount of text at the same time.
•Don’t
