General ideas: presentation

Create a draft. Brainstorm your ideas before starting the Power Point

presentation.

Ask yourself the “W” questions. What? Where? Why? When? Who?

Simplify the most important ideas you want the audience to know after the

presentation.

Structure your message. Once your ideas are clear, write down key

points, general contents and figure out resources you can need.

Few slides. Too many overloads people.

General ideas: delivery

Power Point only gives support to your oral communication.

Talk to the audience and don’t turn your back to them.

Tell some stories, anecdotes or examples. You’ll create a comfortable

atmosphere.

Remember the “B” key. The screen will go blank and you can explain

better.

Give detailed handouts instead of Power Point copies.

Remember that you’re the presentation!

Colors. Choose the most adequate template to your audience, but avoid:

Keep the background simple. Use templates with appropriate contrast

and background. It is essential to make your text easy to read.

Shiny Poor Bad contrast Textures

Design: template

Keep the color scheme consistent. Repeat certain elements throughout

your presentation.

Use different ones. You can find in:

http://www.powerpointtemplatespro.com

http://www.presentermedia.com

Design: template

http://www.stickylearning.com.au/.a/6a010535c38f18970b012876d388eb970c-pi

http://garr.posterous.com/though-veiled-amid-the-misty-showers-of-gray

Reduce the text on your slides to a minimum. Too much information

distract the audience.

Add no more than 20 - 25 slides (or 15- 20, depending on the contents,

time…)

Focus your information to a maximum of 5 key points or ideas.

Use short, simple and concise sentences.

Light background with dark text is better.

Design: text

Keep it simple!

Use a font large enough for easy reading in the back.

Arial, Tahoma and Times New Roman are advisable.

Use the most appropriates, but with different purposes.

Avoid capital letters. It’s harder for the people to understand.

Design: font

Make certain that you need them to enhance your message.

Explain your graphs, diagrams, conceptual maps or symbols.

Clear graphs help the audience to remember the main points.

Design: graphs and diagrams

Confused Clear

Conceptual map (example)

http://keepingconnections.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/e-learning2.jpg

Design: graphs and diagrams

A picture is worth than a thousand words.

Narration with images is better than text alone.

Web resources:

http://www.istockphoto.com/

http://www.flickr.com/

http://www.google.com

http://www.panoramio.com/

Not too many pictures

Design: pictures, photos

Clip arts are fun to use but only if they support or illustrate the key points.

Sometimes animations show lack of professionalism.

Two many on a page make it hard for the reader to keep the attention

on the speaker.

Design: Animation and clip arts

Distract the audience. Even the builds (lines of text appearing

each time you click the mouse).

Several effects and transitions runs can be distracting. Focus on

your message, not the technology.

Leave the fade-ins, wipes, blinds and splits to science fiction

movies.

Use video and audio when appropriate.

Books

Atkinson, C. (2007). Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create

Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire. Microsoft

Duarte, N. (2008) slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations.

O’reilly

Reynolds,G (2008). Presentantion Zen. Simple ideas on Presentation Design and

Delivery. New Riders

Webs:

http://vimeo.com/14493347 (Advice on presentation development )

Videos:

http://vimeo.com/14493347 (Advice on presentation development )

Now, go ahead with your

Power Point presentation!