How to create an Effective PowerPoint Presentation

How to create an Effective PowerPoint Presentation

Hints for a successful presentation: 

•  
  • Plan carefully
  • Do your research
  • Know your audience
  • Time your presentation 
  • Practice your presentation 
  • Speak comfortably and clearly 

Effective PowerPoint Slides

•  
  • Use design templates
  • Standardize position, colors and styles 
  • Include only necessary information 
  • Limit the information to essentials
  • Content should be self-evident
  • Use colors that contrast 
  • Be consistent with effects, transitions and animation 
  • Too many slides can lose your audience

Text guidelines

•  
  • Generally no more than 6 words a line
  • Generally no more than 6 lines a slide
  • Avoid long sentences
  • Larger font indicates more important information 
  • Font size generally ranges from 18 to 48 point
  • Be sure text contrasts with background
  • Fancy fonts can be hard to read
  • Words in all capital letters are hard to read
  • Avoid abbreviations and acronyms
  • Limit punctuation marks

Clip Art and Graphics

•  
  • Should balance the slide 
  • Should enhance and complement the text, not overwhelm 
  • No more than two graphics per slide

*  PowerPoint presentations can also saved in HTML format and inserted in a Web page.