1. The document is a proposal from YeonKyung Lee requesting authorization to create an instructional booklet on how to design effective PowerPoint slides.
2. The proposed booklet would provide easy design methods in three categories - background, font, and content - to help students improve poorly designed slides and enhance their presentation skills.
3. The methods aim to make slides more readable and understandable through visualization techniques like customized backgrounds, appropriate font usage, and combining words with graphs and images. A timeline and the author's qualifications are also included.
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October 14, 2013
Department of English and Technical Communication
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Rolla, MO 65401
Dear Mr. Wampler,
This is YeonKyung Lee in your English 65 class. Enclosed is the proposal for the
instructional booklet which you requested. I want you to look it over and authorize it to
write an instructional booklet on my subject.
The proposal describes a method to create easy and effective design effects on
Powerpoint slides for a powerful presentation. Many college level classes require
professional presentations on various subjects. Most students use Microsoft Powerpoint
as their presentation tool. However, many of them create Powerpoint slides just by
using basic templates. According to my experience in many classes, poorly designed
presentation materials make audiences lose their interest and concentration. The
method described in this proposal offers student a method to create better presentation
materials and enhance presentation quality by using simple and effective design
methods. It will be useful to our classmates as they can use this information not only in
classes but also at work places in the future.
Please look over this proposal and authorize it to make the instructional booklet.
Moreover, please give me any suggestions for improvement you might have. You can
contact me by phone at (312)753-9717, or you can e-mail me at yl4g5@mst.edu.
Sincerely,
YeonKyung Lee
Senior in Economics
Missouri University of Science and Technology
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How to Create
Easy and Effective Design on Power Point Slides
For Powerful Presentation
A proposal for the instructional booklet
By YeonKyung Lee
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1. Introduction
This proposal proposes about the instructional booklet which provides a method
to create simple and effective design effects on the Powerpoint presentation slide (PPT)
for powerful presentation. Currently, many college level classes and work projects
require professional presentations. Most students use Microsoft Powerpoint as their
presentation tool. However, according to my experience in many classes, students
poorly design their PPT using basic templates and putting too much information. It
makes audiences lose their interest and concentration. Effort and consideration on
design is needed for everyone because it has a powerful impact on the presentation.
However, many people think designing is too hard and complicated. The instruction
manual’s purpose is to provide easy design instruction that everybody can follow and
help students to improve their presentation skill.
The main point of the instructional booklet will be ‘Visualization’. It means that
the PPT should help audiences to create visual images in their mind. For example,
consider you are counting the number seven in 10 seconds from the image below.
Fig 1-1. The Value of Visualization – Column Five Company
It’s not easy to capture within a short period of time. However, it becomes much easier if
you give some graphic effects on this slide.
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Fig 1-2. The Value of Visualization – Column Five Company
You can change the color, increase the size, or put blink effect. As you can see in this
example, simple visualization effects help delivering information more efficiently. This
proposal will discuss a method, benefits, a timeline, and qualification of the
instructional booklet based on the concept of the visualization.
2. Method
There are 2 main points to remember when students create their PPT. First, it
should be comfortable as possible to read. Second, it should be easy as possible to
understand. Based on this, the instructional booklet will give examples of bad PPTs and
provide design methods to improve it in 3 categories: Background, Font, and Content.
1) Background: Most students use basic templates that are saved in the program.
Basic templates are not specialized on the subject that presenter is presenting.
Blank pages have many more possibilities to present information efficiently. This
section will show examples of students’ PPTs using basic templates and compare
them with well-designed backgrounds. Moreover, it will provide simple and basic
ways to create and design the background.
2) Font: Font plays an important role in the PPT as it increases readability.
Moreover, we can provide a professional and custom look by simply changing the
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font. This section will discuss fonts that should be used and should not be used. It
will also provide a step by step instruction to improve font quality on the PPT.
3) Content: Most students create a PPT with too many words. Presentation is not a
document. There is no point of the presenter being in front of people if audiences
are reading what the presenter is saying. This section will emphasize the effect of
using graphs and images on the PPT in combination with words.
In each section, it will not only show examples, but also provide a list of websites
that contain free and quality resources readers can use. All methods in instructions will
be easy to understand and follow. These simple methods will help increasing the quality
of the PPT.
3. Benefits
The primary benefit of using the information stated in the instructional booklet is
that it can be applied and used to student’s daily life and make difference on that. There
is so much information we get, but most of it is useless and easily forgotten. However,
the information on the instructional booklet will be useful in class presentations and
work projects. Moreover, that will make your presented information to be remembered
by others.
Second, it can enhance student’s presentation skill and give positive effects on
their grade and career. Presentation skill is a powerful and competitive ability. Good
presentations move and inspire people. For example, Steve Job’s keynote presentations
attracted thousands of views on YouTube and inspired many people. Moreover, 86% of
top executives said that communicating with clarity directly impacts career and income
(Distinction Communication, Inc.). Well designed PPT can be the first step to be a better
presenter as it attracts audiences and enhances overall quality of the presentation.
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4. Timeline
10/15 10/26 11/2 11/5 11/6 11/7 11/8
Researching information
Organizing (First draft)
Revising (Second draft)
Workshop
Revising (Final draft)
Instructional
booklet due
1) October 26: Researching information
2) November 2: Organizing and drafting (First draft)
3) November 5: Revising (Second draft)
4) November 6: Instructional booklet workshop
5) November 7: Revising (Final draft)
6) November 8: Instructional booklet due
5. Qualifications
I am a senior college student majoring in business and economics. Most business
classes require a presentation during a semester and I have made many PPTs on various
subjects. As a part of my experience with presentation, I once had to prepare
presentation in a class two weeks after I arrived in America. My English speaking skills
were poor compared to other classmates. With my emphasis on well designed and
prepared presentation, my PPT attracted the attention and surprised my classmates and
the professor. I got the best grade among the students. Seen in this example, I’m
qualified to provide a method of simple designs on the PPT that can change student and
professor’s perspective during presentation.