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THE FOUR MOST
IMPORTANT
POWERPOINT RULES
FOR SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATIONS
THE FOUR MOST
IMPORTANT
POWERPOINT RULES
FOR SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATIONS
@ned_potter
YOU’RE A BIT
COULD BE BETTER
STRESSED OUT because you know your presentations
BUT YOU DON’T KNOW
WHERE TO START?
AN ATTRACTIVE
PRESENTATION IS
JUST A BYPRODUCT
OF AN EFFECTIVE
PRESENTATION.
RELAX.
AN ATTRACTIVE
PRESENTATION IS
JUST A BYPRODUCT
OF AN EFFECTIVE
PRESENTATION.
RELAX.
and 4 things really matter for making an effective presentation
RULE 1
MORE
IMAGES LESS TEXT
WORD HEAVY SLIDES can be difficult to read from the back of the room, and people can only listen and read at the same time for a very short period.
If they end up having to choose between listening to you talk or reading your slides, you become OUT OF SYNC with your audience.
IS YOUR PRESENTATION WORKING WITH YOU
OR AGAINST YOU?
IMAGES ARE NICE TO LOOK AT,
ENGAGING, ENRICHING, AND
CAN SUPPORT YOUR STORY.
IMAGES ARE NICE TO LOOK AT,
ENGAGING, ENRICHING, AND
CAN SUPPORT YOUR STORY.
People can look at images and listen to
you speak at the same time, no problem.
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, IMAGES
HELP PEOPLE LEARN
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, IMAGES
HELP PEOPLE LEARN Learning is improved when narration occurs
simultaneously with relevant images.
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, IMAGES
HELP PEOPLE LEARN Click these
sites for amazing images
you can use legally with Attribution
COMPFIGHT FREEIMAGES MORGUEFILE PHOTFUNIA MULTICOLR
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, IMAGES
HELP PEOPLE LEARN COMPFIGHT FREEIMAGES MORGUEFILE PHOTFUNIA MULTICOLR
Compfight searches Flickr better than Flickr searches itself, for millions of images. TIP: Make sure you choose the ‘Creative Commons’ option after your first search, & ignore the sponsored links above the dotted line.
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, IMAGES
HELP PEOPLE LEARN COMPFIGHT FREEIMAGES MORGUEFILE PHOTFUNIA MULTICOLR
Freeimages is great for stock photography – there are loads of great images for enhancing slides. TIP: Sign up for the free account to get full-sized versions of the images you find.
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, IMAGES
HELP PEOPLE LEARN COMPFIGHT FREEIMAGES MORGUEFILE PHOTFUNIA MULTICOLR
Morguefile also has stock photography – there are fewer images but they’re free for commercial use. TIP: There are images where no attribution is required – these are useful for situations where there’s no room to credit the author, e.g. posters, business cards, and tweets
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, IMAGES
HELP PEOPLE LEARN COMPFIGHT FREEIMAGES MORGUEFILE PHOTFUNIA MULTICOLR
Photofunia allows you to put your own images INTO existing pictures. TIP: To create your own text to add to a billboard or painting in Photofunia, create a textbox in PowerPoint, write your text, right-click and Save As Picture. You’ll then have an image of your text to upload into Photofunia.
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, IMAGES
HELP PEOPLE LEARN COMPFIGHT FREEIMAGES MORGUEFILE PHOTFUNIA MULTICOLR
The Multicolr Search Engine is just about the most fun you can have finding images: it searches by colours not keywords. TIP: Create an image-only presentation that stays completely on brand by picking your organisation’s corparate colours in Multicolr…
MAKE THE MOST
OF YOUR IMAGES
AND WRITE ON THEM IN A
MINIMUM FONT SIZE OF 24…
AND WRITE ON THEM IN A
(THIS IS 24. If you need it smaller than this, you’re using too much text)
MINIMUM FONT SIZE OF 24…
RULE 2
MAKE
ONE POINT PER SLIDE
THIS GOES BACK TO THE
IDEA OF BEING IN SYNC
WITH YOUR AUDIENCE.
Focus on one thing at a time. Allow your audience to digest it, then move with
them onto the next theme.
DRAW ATTENTION TO IMPORTANT MESSAGES
WITH COLOUR
OF COURSE, FEEL
FREE TO BREAK THE
ONE POINT PER
SLIDE RULE WITH
GOOD REASON
INTRODUDCTIONS
SUMMARIES
COMPARISONS
ALL OF THESE
THINGS CAN
REQUIRE STACKING
ON THE SAME SLIDE
BUT OTHERWISE GIVE
EACH POINT IN YOUR
PRESENTATION
ROOM TO BREATHE
RULE 3
NO
BULLET POINTS
BULLET POINTS CAUSE ALL
SORTS OF PROBLEMS.
• They’re ugly • They encourage you to put more
than one point on each slide • They don’t leave much room for
images • They’re symptomatic of a wider
DEATH BY POWERPOINT malaise
BULLET POINTS ALSO ENCOURAGE
YOU TO READ THE SLIDE ALOUD.
BULLET POINTS ALSO ENCOURAGE
YOU TO READ THE SLIDE ALOUD.
And if you’re saying the exact same thing that’s written on the slide, why do you even need to be there?
Learning is reduced when information presented is redundant – such as reading text verbatim from slides
RULE 4 KEEP IT
SIMPLE
KEEPING IT SIMPLE DOESN’T MEAN
DUMBING DOWN
IT’s .about
GETTING RID OF EVEYTHING THAT ISN’T ESSENTIAL TO TELLING YOUR STORY.
.about
IT’s .about
GETTING RID OF EVEYTHING THAT ISN’T ESSENTIAL TO TELLING YOUR STORY.
.about
Learning is improved when multimedia is free from extraneous information
SO, WHAT COUNTS AS
EXTRANEOUS?
SO, WHAT COUNTS AS
EXTRANEOUS? Animations?
Yup. If they’re there to make a specific point, by all means use them – but if they’re there for the sake of it, they spoon-feed the audience so much it lulls their brains into a non-receptive state (akin to watching TV rather than a presentation)
SO, WHAT COUNTS AS
EXTRANEOUS? Transitions?
Yes. If all your slides transition from one to the next with the same effect or animation (with an upward sweep, or by revolving, etc) then it makes them all feel the same. There’s no WEIGHTING of the information you’re presenting. So transitions don’t help you tell your story – if anything they do the opposite. Animations = extraneous.
SO, WHAT COUNTS AS
EXTRANEOUS? Templates?
Absolutely, PPT Templates are extraneous too. Having your organisational logo on every slide is the very definition of extraneous – have it at the beginning and the end, but not on each one of the 50 slides in between. Templates get in the way of learning. They’re nothing to do with the story.
And besides…
TO TELL YOUR STORY, YOU NEED A HIERACHY OF INFORMATION. WHO’S IN CHARGE HERE - YOU, OR POWERPOINT?
TO TELL YOUR STORY, YOU NEED A HIERACHY OF INFORMATION. WHO’S IN CHARGE HERE - YOU, OR POWERPOINT?
(Aim for consistency, not duplication)
WOOHOO!
THAT’S THE
END OF ALL THE
RULES
*
WOOHOO!
THAT’S THE
END OF ALL THE
RULES
*
* Actually there’s one final rule – always credit your image sources!
Projector: CC-BY RVWITHTITO www.flickr.com/photos/rvwithtito/4236716778/sizes/l
Eye close up: CC-BY Sara .Nel
www.flickr.com/photos/saranv/3521287388/sizes/l
Feet up: CC-BY Davedjoe www.flickr.com/photos/92414546@N04/14441260000/sizes/l
Stencil: CC-BY-NC-SA Camil Tulcan
www.flickr.com/photos/camil_t/4171629278/sizes/l
Tree: CC-BY-NC Richard Cawood www.flickr.com/photos/cawood/15117958922/sizes/l
Computer user CC-BY-NC-SA Matheson Learning Commons
www.flickr.com/photos/matheson_learning_commons/8382876760/sizes/l
French Words CC-BY Monsieur J www.flickr.com/photos/jblndl/4266814468/sizes/l
Amazing hallway CC-BY-NC-SA Stuck in Customs
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/3725191263/sizes/l
Massive Boat CC-BY-SA Thomas Leth-Olsen www.flickr.com/photos/thomasletholsen/7367984008/sizes/l
Pointing Hand CC-BY Shudhamshu
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sudhamshu/3202963823/sizes/l
Bullet CC-BY-SA Eschipul https://www.flickr.com/photos/eschipul/4160817135/sizes/l
Desert CC-BY-NC-SA Nunodantas
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ndantas/6165100763/sizes/l
Fireflies all colours CC-BY-NC Tinkerlog https://www.flickr.com/photos/8123185@N02/3659676928/sizes/l
Fireflies all blue CC-BY-NC Tinkerlog
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8123185@N02/3659677764/sizes/l
Shoes CC-BY-NC-SA by Chishikilauren https://www.flickr.com/photos/chishikilauren/10317213/sizes/o/
Pile of Bullets CC-BY US Army Environmental Reserve
https://www.flickr.com/photos/armyenvironmental/3552296540/sizes/l
Questionmark lights CC-BY Beatnik Photos https://www.flickr.com/photos/dharmabum1964/3108162671/sizes/l
Wineglasses CC-BY Julien.Belli
https://www.flickr.com/photos/julienbelli/14465146006/sizes/l
Boys are dumb CC-BY-SA by quinn.anya https://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/4400139828/sizes/l
Questionmark CC-BY nadinehiedrich
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nadineheidrich/11983141774/sizes/l
Jumping with Balloons CC-BY Magdalena Roeseler https://www.flickr.com/photos/magdalenaroeseler/13268612333/sizes/l
Cushion CC-BY-NC Jeremy Brooks
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremybrooks/3076443696/sizes/l
At the start I said that a good looking presentation is just a by-product of an effective one. This is based on the four multimedia learning principles dotted throughout the slides, to back up the rules.
At the start I said that a good looking presentation is just a by-product of an effective one. This is based on the four multimedia learning principles dotted throughout the slides, to back up the rules.
Learning is improved when narration occurs simultaneously with relevant images. Learning is improved when attention is focused on important parts of the presentation with cues highlighting key material.
Learning is improved when multimedia is free from extraneous information.
Learning is reduced when information presented is redundant – such as reading text verbatim from slides.
At the start I said that a good looking presentation is just a by-product of an effective one. This is based on the four multimedia learning principles dotted throughout the slides, to back up the rules.
Learning is improved when narration occurs simultaneously with relevant images. Learning is improved when attention is focused on important parts of the presentation with cues highlighting key material.
Learning is improved when multimedia is free from extraneous information.
Learning is reduced when information presented is redundant – such as reading text verbatim from slides.
These are all adapted from research into what works and what doesn’t, undertaken by Dr Richard Mayer at the University of California – you can read more of his
work by clicking the arrow.
At the start I said that a good looking presentation is just a by-product of an effective one. This is based on the four multimedia learning principles dotted throughout the slides, to back up the rules.
There are plenty of other rules about making presentations (like only using 3 fonts, for example, which I’ve completely ignored for this one) – but none of them are as important as these four, because they relate to substance (from which style should be a natural by-product).
It’s not a RULE as such, but using non-standard fonts in a presentation also makes a huge difference to how engaging it looks.
ANTONIO Aller
Pacifico FENGARDO NEUE
AlfaSlab One
The fonts used in these slides are listed above – they’re all available for free via www.fontsquirrel.com
Go to ned-potter.com for more information on presentation skills
Go to ned-potter.com for more information on presentation skills
I’m on Twitter @ned_potter
Go to ned-potter.com for more information on presentation skills
I’m on Twitter @ned_potter
Thanks for watching!
