Effective use of powerpoint as a presentation tool

 http://eglobiotraining.com/
 The most important part of any presentation is the
content, not the graphical appeal. That is why you should
develop your presentation with the content first, before
deciding on the look (colours, graphics, etc.) Create a good
structure for your presentation by reflecting on the goal of
the presentation, what your audience is thinking right now,
and what points you need to make in order to move the
audience from where they are to where you want them to
be. Write an outline on paper or use sticky notes so you
can move ideas around. By creating an outline first, you
ensure that the content of your presentation is solid before
you concern yourself with the visual elements.

Use Contrasting Colours
 If you want your audience to be able to see what you have on the
slide, there needs to be a lot of contrast between the text colour
and the background colour. I suggest a dark background with
light text – I usually use a medium to dark blue background and
white or yellow letters. Some prefer a light background and dark
letters, which will also work well – which you choose will depend
on personal preference. Don’t think that just because the text
looks fine on your computer screen that it will look fine when
projected. Most projectors make colours duller than they appear
on a screen, and you should check how your colours look when
projected to make sure there is still enough contrast. To check
that your colors have enough contrast, use the Color Contrast
Calculator.

Use a big enough font

 When deciding what font size to use in your presentation, make sure it
is big enough so that the audience can read it. I usually find that any
font size less than 24 point is too small to be reasonably read in most
presentation situations. I would prefer to see most text at a 28 or 32
point size, with titles being 36 to 44 point size. The only reason I
would use a font less than 24 point is when adding explanatory text to a
graph or diagram, where you could use a 20 point font size. If you are
given a small screen in a big room, your font will look smaller because
the image will not be as big as it should be. In this case, see if you can
get a larger screen, use a wall instead of a screen to project on, move the
chairs closer to the screen or remove the last few rows of chairs. I’ve
put together a chart that lists how far away the last row of your
audience should be based on the size of screen, font size and visual
acuity testing -use the Font Size chart here. (If you are selecting colors
and fonts to design a PowerPoint template, you will want to get the
book Building PowerPoint Templates Step by step with the experts.
Read more and order here.)

Stop the moving text
 When text comes on the screen, we want the audience to
read the text, then focus back on the presenter to hear the
message. If the text moves onto the screen in any way –
such as flying in, spiral or zooming – it makes it harder for
the audience members to read since they have to wait until
the text has stopped before they can read it. This makes the
presenter wait longer between each point and makes the
audience members focus more on the movement than on
what is being said. I suggest the use of the “Appear” effect,
which just makes the text appear and is the easiest for the
audience to read.

Turn the pointer off
 During a presentation, it is very annoying to have the pointer
(the little arrow) come on the screen while the presenter is
speaking. It causes movement on the screen and draws the
audience attention from the presenter to the screen. The pointer
comes on when the mouse is moved during the presentation. To
prevent this from happening, after the Slide Show view has
started, press the Ctrl-H key combination. This prevents mouse
movement from showing the pointer. If you need to bring the
pointer on screen after this, press the A key. If the pointer does
appear during your presentation, resist the urge to press the
Escape key – if you do, it will stop the presentation and drop you
back into the program. Press the A key or Ctrl-H to make the
pointer disappear.

Use visuals instead of text slides
 . Instead of using slides that only contain text, use
visuals such as graphs, diagrams, photos and media
clips to engage the audience. I’ve developed a five-step
method for creating persuasive visuals in my book The
Visual Slide Revolution. Read the free chapter to see a
summary of the process you can use to create your own
persuasive visuals. Looking for professional photos
that don’t cost a lot? Check out istockphoto.com,
where I go for great looking photos at reasonable
prices.

Have Slides at the End of Your
Presentation
 You should have three identical copies of your last speaking
slide so that if you accidentally advance one too many times
at the end of your presentation, your audience never knows
because you don’t drop into the program, the slide looks
like it has not changed. After these slides, you should
include some slides that answer questions that you expect
to be asked. These slides will be useful during Q&A
sessions after the presentation. The final slide should be a
blank slide so that if you go through all the other slides, you
have a final backup from dropping into the program.

Be able to Jump to Any Slide
 PowerPoint has a feature that allows you to be able to move
quickly and seamlessly to any slide in your presentation. To
do so, you need to know the slide numbers. The easiest way
to print a list of the slide numbers and associated slide
titles is to go to the Outline View and collapse the details
for each slide (there is a button on the left side of the
screen in this view that will do this). Then print the view.
To jump to any slide, just enter the slide number on the
keyboard and press the Enter key. This will move you
directly to that slide. This technique is very useful for
moving to a prepared Q&A slide or for skipping parts of
your presentation if time becomes an issue

Blank the screen
 Sometimes we want the image on the screen to
disappear so that the audience is focused solely on the
presenter. There are two ways to do this. The first is if
you want to blank the screen with a black image,
similar to shutting the projector off (we used to do this
all the time with overhead projectors by just shutting
the projector off). Just press the period key (.) on the
keyboard and the image is replaced with a black
image. Press the period key again and the image is
restored.

Draw on the screen during a
presentation
 Sometimes it can be valuable to be able to draw on the
screen during your presentation to illustrate a
particular point or item. This can be done in the
following way. Press the Ctrl-P key combination to
display a pen on the screen. Then, using the left mouse
button, draw on the slide as you wish. To erase what
you have drawn, press the E key. To hide the pen, press
the A key or the Ctrl-H key combination.

PowerPoint Interactions

 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.

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.

Narrated PowerPoint Downloads

 The PowerPoint software itself includes built-in
functionality to record your audio commentary. In this
fashion, instructors can literally deliver their entire
lecture electronically, which can be especially useful in
an online course. The resulting file is still a standard
PowerPoint file, but when the slideshow is "played,"
the recorded instructor's voice narrates the action, and
the slides advance on their own, turning whenever
they had been advanced by the lecturer during the
recording.

Presenter View

 Using this mode of PowerPoint, your slides are
projected as usual on the big screen and fill the entire
space, but the computer used by the lecturer displays
the slides in preview mode, with the space for notes
visible at the bottom of the screen. In this fashion,
lecturers can have a set of notes separate from what is
displayed to the students, which has the overall effect
of increasing the engagement of the presentation.

Delivery

 Avoid reading: if your slides contain lengthy text, lecture
"around" the material rather than reading it directly.
 Dark screen: an effective trick to focus attention on you and your
words is to temporarily darken the screen, which can be
accomplished by clicking the "B" button on the keyboard.
Hitting "B" again will toggle the screen back to your
presentation.
 Navigate slides smoothly: the left-mouse click advances to the
next slide, but it's more cumbersome to right-click to move back
one slide. The keyboard's arrow keys work more smoothly to go
forward and backward in the presentation. Also, if you know the
number of a particular slide, you can simply type that number,
followed by the ENTER key, to jump directly to that slide.

Slideshow Construction
 Text size: text must be clearly readable from the back of the room. Too much
text or too small a font will be difficult to read.
 Avoid too much text: one common suggestion is to adhere to the 6x6 rule (no
more than six words per line, and no more than six lines per slide). The
"Takahasi Method" goes so far as to recommend enormous text and nothing
else on the slide, not even pictures, perhaps as little as just one word on each
slide.
 Contrast: light text on dark backgrounds will strain the eyes. Minimize this
contrast, and opt instead for dark text on light backgrounds. Combinations to
avoid, in case of partial color blindness in the audience, include red-green, or
blue-yellow.
 Transitions and animations should be used sparingly and consistently to avoid
distractions.
 Template: do not change the template often. The basic format should be
consistent and minimal.
 Use graphics and pictures to illustrate and enhance the message, not just for
prettiness.

Design tips for effective use of
PowerPoint in the classroom
 1. The goal is improved learning
 2. Be conservative – keep it simple
 3. Use lots of white space
 4. Use contrast (dark-on-light or light-on-dark, for example)
 5. Design from top left to bottom right
 6. People see graphics first, then text
 7. Use large font size – minimum of 18 or 24 points
 8. Limit use of boldface, italics, and underlining
 9. Don’t write in all upper case letters
 10. Use common fonts (Times New Roman, Arial, etc,)
 11. No more than two fonts on a screen
 12. Be concise with text
 13. One concept per slide
 14. Plan on spending two minutes per slide
 15. Limit use of special effects (animation, sound, transitions)
 16. Background patterns usually make screens harder to read
 17. When creating original media, use the best equipment you can find
 18. Edit files to a minimum meaningful length and size

Engage your audience, make your
point

 Your presentation is over and people are walking out of
the room. What do you want them to be thinking
about? Make sure you say that first and last.
 You're the one telling the story, not the slides. Look at
every element on each slide as a graphic--text and
images alike. Avoid complete sentences: use bullet-
point lists of single words and short phrases.

Use video and images that
enhance your message
 One of the maxims of show business is show, don't tell. Images--whether still or moving--
capture an audience's attention and can add impact to any presentation. But they can
also serve as a distraction, diverting people's attention away from the points you're trying
to make.
 PowerPoint 2010 adds new features for editing images and video. Two of my favorites
make it easy to remove the background from photographs and to compress embedded
images and videos. Unfortunately, you can't insert a link to video on a Web site in the 64-
bit version of Microsoft Office, as is explained on the Microsoft Answers forum. You have
to download the file and embed it in the presentation.
 Cropping the background out of a picture is almost automatic when you use PowerPoint
2010's aptly named Remove Background feature. Simply select the image, choose the
Format tab under Picture Tools on the ribbon, and click Remove Background in the
Adjust section to the far left.
 You'll probably have to manually tweak the background crop by dragging the borders of
the portion of the image PowerPoint selects for you, and by using the Mark Areas to Keep
and Mark Areas to Remove buttons. The feature can't match the precision of Adobe
Photoshop and other image editors, but for most presentations, it does well enough.

Effective use of powerpoint as a presentation tool

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Effective use of powerpoint as a presentation tool