Presentations tips
- 1. Making PowerPoint Slides Avoiding the Pitfalls of Bad Slides
- 2. Tips to be Covered Outlines Slide Structure Fonts Colour Background Graphs Spelling and Grammar Conclusions Questions
- 3. Outline Make your 1 st or 2 nd slide an outline of your presentation Ex: previous slide Follow the order of your outline for the rest of the presentation Only place main points on the outline slide Ex: Use the titles of each slide as main points
- 4. Slide Structure – Good Use 1-2 slides per minute of your presentation Write in point form, not complete sentences Include 4-5 points per slide Avoid wordiness: use key words and phrases only
- 5. Slide Structure – Good Show one point at a time: Will help audience concentrate on what you are saying Will prevent audience from reading ahead Will help you keep your presentation focused
- 6. Slide Structure - Bad Do not use distracting animation Do not go overboard with the animation Be consistent with the animation that you use
- 7. Fonts - Good Use at least an 18-point font Use different size fonts for main points and secondary points this font is 24-point, the main point font is 28-point, and the title font is 36-point Use a standard font like Times New Roman or Arial
- 8. Fonts - Bad If you use a small font, your audience won’t be able to read what you have written CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT IS DIFFICULT TO READ Don’t use a complicated font
- 9. Colour - Good Use a colour of font that contrasts sharply with the background Ex: blue font on white background Use colour to reinforce the logic of your structure Ex: light blue title and dark blue text Use colour to emphasize a point But only use this occasionally
- 10. Colour - Bad Using a font colour that does not contrast with the background colour is hard to read Using colour for decoration is distracting and annoying . Using a different colour for each point is unnecessary Using a different colour for secondary points is also unnecessary T r y i n g t o b e c r e a t i v e c a n a l s o b e b a d
- 11. Graphs - Good Use graphs rather than just charts and words Data in graphs is easier to comprehend & retain than is raw data Trends are easier to visualize in graph form Always title your graphs
- 12. Graphs - Good
- 13. Graphs - Bad
- 14. Graphs - Bad Minor gridlines are unnecessary Font is too small Colours are illogical Title is missing Shading is distracting
- 15. Spelling and Grammar Proof your slides for: speling mistakes the use of of repeated words grammatical errors you might have make If English is not your first language, please have someone else check your presentation!
- 16. Conclusion Use an effective and strong closing Your audience is likely to remember your last words Use a conclusion slide to: Summarize the main points of your presentation Suggest future avenues of research