3. 1. PowerPoint, when displayed via a
projector, is a useful tool for showing
audiences things that enhance what the
speaker is saying. It is a useful tool for
illustrating the content of a speech, such as
by showing photos, graphs, charts, maps,
etc., or by highlighting certain text from a
speech, such as quotations or major ideas.
It should not be used as a slide-show outline
of what the speaker is telling the audience.
4. 2. Slides used in a presentation should be
spare, in terms of how much information is
on each slide, as well as how many slides
are used. A rule of thumb is to put no more
than eight lines of text on a slide, and with
no more than eight to ten words per line. In
most cases, less is more, so four lines of text
is probably better. Don’t display charts or
graphs with a lot of information—if it’s useful
for the audience to see such things, pass
them out as handouts.
5. 3. Unless you’re an experienced designer,
don’t use the transition and animation
“tricks” that are built into PowerPoint,
such as bouncing or flying text. By now,
most people roll their eyes when they
see these things, and these tricks add
nothing of value to a presentation.
6. 4. Above all, use high-contrast color schemes
so that whatever is on your slides is
readable. Unless you are a talented
graphic designer, use the templates that
come with PowerPoint or Keynote, and
keep it simple—high concept design in a
slide presentation doesn’t help in most
circumstances, unless you’re in the fashion
or design fields. If you use graphics or
photos, try to use the highest quality you
can find or afford—clip art and low-
resolution graphics blown up on a screen
usually detract from a presentation.
7. 5. Rehearse your PowerPoint presentation and
not just once. Don’t let PowerPoint get in
the way of your oral presentation, and
make sure you know how it works, what
sequence the slides are in, how to get
through it using someone else’s computer,
etc. Make sure that you can deliver your
presentation if PowerPoint is completely
unavailable; in other words, make sure you
can give your speech without your
PowerPoint presentation.
8. 6. Get used to using black slides. There are
few speeches that need something
displayed on the screen all the time. If you
include a black slide in your presentation,
your audience will refocus on you, rather
than on the screen, and you can direct
them back to the screen when you have
something else to show them. Put a black
screen at the end of your presentation, so
that when you’re done, the PowerPoint
presentation is finished and off the screen.
9. 7. Concentrate on keeping the audience
focused on you, not on the screen. You can do
this by using slides sparingly, standing in front of
the audience in a way that makes them look
at you, and, if possible, going to the screen
and using your hand or arm to point out things
on a slide. If you expect to be using PowerPoint
a lot, invest in a remote “clicker” that lets you
get away from the computer and still drive
your presentation. If you don’t have one of
those, it’s better to ask someone to run the
presentation than to be behind a screen and
keyboard while you talk.
10. 8. If you show something on a computer that requires
moving the cursor around, or flipping from one
screen to another, or some other technique that
requires interaction with the computer itself,
remember that people in the audience will see things
very differently on the projection screen than you see
them on the computer screen. Keep motion on the
screen to a minimum, unless you’re showing a movie
or a video. It’s better to show a static screenshot of a
Web page, embedded on a slide, than to call up the
Web page in a browser on a computer. If you want
to point out something on a Web page, go to the
screen and point at it—don’t jiggle the cursor around
what you want people to look at: their heads will look
like bobble-headed dolls.
11. 9. Don’t “cue” the audience that listening to
your speech means getting through your
PowerPoint presentation. If the audience
sees that your PowerPoint presentation is
the structure of your speech, they’ll start
wondering how many slides are left. Slides
should be used asynchronously within your
speech, and only to highlight or illustrate
things. Audiences are bored with oral
presentations that go from one slide to the
next until the end. Engage the audience,
and use slides only when they are useful.
12. 10. Learn how to give a good speech without
PowerPoint. This takes practice, which means giving
speeches without PowerPoint. Believe it or not, public
speaking existed before PowerPoint, and many
people remember it as being a lot better then than it
is now. A few people use presentation software in
extremely effective ways—Steve Jobs and Stanford
Law Professor Lawrence Lessig are two examples. Al
Gore’s use of Keynote in the movie “An Inconvenient
Truth” was a good model. But these three examples
don’t look at all like the way most people use
PowerPoint. Avoiding bad PowerPoint habits means,
first and foremost, becoming a good public speaker.
13.
14. Advantages
Potential benefits of using presentation
graphics include:
Engaging multiple learning styles
Increasing visual impact
Improving audience focus
Providing annotations and highlights
Analyzing and synthesizing complexities
Enriching curriculum with interdisciplinarity
Increasing spontaneity and interactivity
Increasing wonder
15. Challenges
Although there are many potential benefits to PowerPoint, there are several issues that
could create problems or disengagement:
Teacher-centered. Students often respond better when instructors have designed
sessions for greater classroom interaction, such as the use of student response clickers,
designing PowerPoint to facilitate case studies, or use the slides as a replacement for
paper worksheets.
Lack of feedback. PowerPoint-based lectures tell you nothing about student learning.
Design them to include opportunities for feedback (not simply asking if there are
questions, but more actively quizzing your students). This often takes the form of listing
questions, not information, on the slides themselves.
Student inactivity. Slide shows do little to model how students should interact with the
material on their own. Include student activities or demonstrations to overcome this,
either before or after the slideshow presentation.
Potentially reductive. PowerPoint was designed to promote simple persuasive
arguments. Design for critical engagement, not just for exposure to a “point.”
Presentation graphics should be about learning, not about presentation.
PowerPoint presentations should help students organize their notes, not just “be” the
notes. This is a particular danger with students who grew up accustomed to receiving
PowerPoint notes to study from. Some may require convincing that notes should be
taken beyond what is already on the slides.
16. hree Possible Approaches
This single presentation about the anatomy of the human eye has been rewritten in
three different ways:
Text-heavy: this version offers complete phrases and a comprehensive recording in
words of the material. The text-heavy version can be used as the lecturer's speaking
notes, and doubles as student notes that can be made available for download either
before or after the lecture has taken place. If the information can be accessed
elsewhere, such as a textbook, it may be preferable to avoid a text-heavy approach,
which many students find disengaging during the delivery.
Some images: this version sacrifices some of the completeness of the material to create
space for accompanying images. The mixed approach appeals to more visual learners
while keeping some lecture notes visible, though perhaps in a more abbreviated format.
This is a common mode of delivery in large classes. However, there are still some
challenges. There is enough material already present in text format that some students
may feel obliged to write it all down in their own notes, thus paying less attention to the
verbal lecture. Conversely, if the slides are available for download, some students may
be able to eschew note-taking in class, yet be tempted to consider these fragmentary
notes sufficient for studying for exams.
Image-heavy: this version relies almost exclusively on images, with little text. The image-
heavy approach signals to students that they will have to take their own notes, as these
are plainly insufficient on their own for studying. However, lecturers often need more
than visual clues to remind themselves how to propel the lecture forward, and separate
notes may be required. One elegant solution is to use "Presenter View" on the speaker's
screen (which displays the notes only to you) and project the slides without notes onto
the larger screen visible to the audience.
17. PowerPoint for Case Studies
Elizabeth Rash (Nursing) provided this sample iterative case
study (where parameters evolve over time) given to a midsize
class. Students are required to come to class prepared having
read online resources, the text, and a narrated slideshow
presentation that accompanies each module. The classroom is
problem-based (case-based) and interactive, where students
are introduced to a young woman who ages as the semester
progresses and confronts multiple health issues. Since the nurse
practitioner students are being prepared to interact with
patients, some slides require students to interview another
classmate in a micro role-play.
Problem-based lectures frequently alternate between providing
information and posing problems to the students, which alters
the entire character of the presentation. Rather than explain
and convey information, many slides ask questions that are
intended to prompt critical thinking or discussion.
18. PowerPoint Interactions: Student Response "Clickers"
Classroom response systems can improve students'
learning by engaging them actively in the learning
process. Instructors can employ the systems to gather
individual responses from students or to gather
anonymous feedback. It is possible to use the
technology to give quizzes and tests, to take
attendance, and to quantify class participation.
Some of the systems provide game formats that
encourage debate and team competition. Reports
are typically exported to Excel for upload to the
instructor's grade book. Learn more about how to use
this system in your own classes.
19. PowerPoint as Worksheet
Instructors who do not have sufficient photocopying
opportunities in their departments may be less likely
to use paper worksheets with their students,
especially in large classes. PowerPoint offers the
ability to approximate worksheets to illustrate
processes or to provide "worked examples" that
shows problem-solving step-by-step. One valuable
technique is to first demonstrate a process or
problem on one slide, then ask students to work on a
similar problem revealed on the next slide, using their
own paper rather than worksheets handed out.
