Effective use of powerpoint

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Slide presentation software such as
PowerPoint has become an ingrained part of
many instructional settings, particularly in
large classes and in courses more geared
toward information exchange than skill
development. PowerPoint can be a highly
effective tool to aid learning, but if not used
carefully, may instead disengage students and
actually hinder learning.

PowerPoint is a presentation software
program that is part of the Microsoft
Office package. PowerPoint uses a
graphical approach to presentations in
the form of slide shows that accompany
the oral delivery of the topic. This
program is widely used
in business and classrooms and is an
effective tool when used for training
purposes.


PowerPoint is one of the simplest computer
programs to learn. It is the number 1 program used
worldwide for presentations. Anyone can create
stunning presentations that look like they were
designed by a professional.
PowerPoint presentations can be made into photo
albums, complete with music or narrations, to
distribute on CDs or DVDs. If you are in the sales
field, it involves just a few simple clicks to add an
illustrative chart of data or an organizational chart of
your company's structure. Make your presentation
into a web page for emailing purposes or as a
promotion displayed on your company's website.


* It is easy to customize presentations with your company logo and to
dazzle your audience by using one of the many design templates that
come with the programs. Many more free add-ins and templates are
available online from Microsoft and a host of other websites. In
addition to an on screen slide show, PowerPoint has printing
options that allow the presenter to provide handouts and outlines for
the audience as well as notes pages for the speaker to refer to during
the presentation.
* All in all, PowerPoint is a "one-stop-shop" to create successful
presentations for the business world, the classroom or just for your
own personal use.


Potential benefits of using presentation graphics include:

1. Engaging multiple learning styles
2. Increasing visual impact
3. Improving audience focus
4. Providing annotations and highlights
5. Analyzing and synthesizing complexities
6. Enriching curriculum with interdisciplinary
7. Increasing spontaneity and interactivity
8. Increasing wonder

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


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.

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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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.

Effective use of powerpoint

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