Planning a Presentation University of North Carolina Wilmington A Collection of Do’s and Don’ts...

Planning a Presentation

University of North Carolina Wilmington

A Collection of Do’s and Don’ts

C. R. Ward, P. J. Seaton, J. D. Willey

Issues to Consider:

Background and text colors Font styles and sizes Uppercase vs. lowercase Quantity of material Animation effects Other technical issues Some thoughts on organization

Background and Text Colors

Light text on a dark background is easy to read.

Pictures and clipart are hard to blend on a dark background.

Keep contrast between text and background high (not like this).

NO2

Background and Text Colors

For maximum contrast, use complementary colors. Pastels are usually a better

choice than primary colors Avoid overly bright colors

This is an example of the sort of color combination This is an example of the sort of color combination that does not work well on a Power Point slide. One of that does not work well on a Power Point slide. One of the reasons is that the part of the macula that responds the reasons is that the part of the macula that responds to blue light is at the opposite end of the macula that to blue light is at the opposite end of the macula that responds to red. Therefore, this particular responds to red. Therefore, this particular combination of colors can set up a combination of colors can set up a vaso vagalvaso vagal response. response. The The vaso vagalvaso vagal response is part of the primitive response is part of the primitive nervous system that still remains. It is the equivalent nervous system that still remains. It is the equivalent of the “fight or flight” response. It can lead to feeling of the “fight or flight” response. It can lead to feeling faint or light-headed, which could lead to vomiting, faint or light-headed, which could lead to vomiting, and fainting. Ask your ophthalmologist for details!and fainting. Ask your ophthalmologist for details!

Font Style and Sizes

Sans serif fonts are easier to read when projected than serif fonts.

Times New Roman Arial (serif font) (sans serif)

serif

Minimum text size should be 24 points, titles should be larger.

Font Style and Sizes

This is 12 point Arial

This is 14 point Arial

This is 18 point Times New Roman

This is 24 point Times New RomanThis is 24 point Times New Roman bold

This is 32 point Arial

This is 36 point Arial

This is 44 point Arial

Uppercase vs. Lowercase

THIS TEXT HAS BEEN TYPED IN ALL UPPERCASE AND IS CONSIDERED BY MOST PEOPLE TO BE HARD TO READ.

This text has been typed in a combination of upper and lower case letters. It is considered by most people to be easier to read.

Quantity of Material

Plan for approximately 1 slide for every minute of your presentation.

Have three or four information points per slide, six is a maximum, depending on the complexity of the ideas

Have no more than 14 lines of text per page.

Use only one “graphic” image per page.

Too much data!

40212/20/200

2 15 19 1 4.84 4.84 11 11 na 64 127 14 22 4

403 1/1/2003 31 12 nd 5.94 5.94 5 5 na 17 56 5 8 3

404 1/22/2003 8 96 nd 4.14 4.14 4 4 na 267 23 54 29 18

405 1/31/2003 8 93 25 4.29 4.29 na na na 114 31 50 37 23

406 2/4/2003 7 58 32 4.61 4.61 22 22 na 267 43 31 36 15

407 2/7/2003 24 44 10 5.16 5.16 5 5 na 41 37 9 8 4

432 6/1/2002 46 32 62 4.26 5.63 22 20 20 469 12 18 28 62

435 6/17/2003 3 58 59 4.06 4.05 36 3 3 164 105 68 38 152

437 6/19/2003 12 16 na 4.43 4.40 33 7 na 64 21 15 13 2

447 7/24/2003 14 31 47 4.66 4.45 21 12 11 38 10 9 5 1

453 8/9/2003 8 19 19 4.75 4.42 2 13 11 42 40 10 9 3

461 9/10/2003 17 1 5 5.11 4.86 5 13 13 112 30 4 7 2

SFSF66

FeFe

ChlChl

NONO33

pCOpCO22

1 2 3 4 5 6Day

Lots of data – spend lots of time!

Animation Effects

Go easy on the animation effects. Animations can seem gimmicky and unprofessional.

If you use animations, keep them simple.

Don’t do this!NO2 NH2

Other Issues

Reproduce tables instead of scanning them.

Use graphs instead of tables whenever possible.

Have an ending slide containing acknowledgements.

Include photographs if they clearly support your presentation.

Sometimes scanned documents look fuzzy

Organization Title page Outline of Presentation

– introduction (including why someone should be interested in this)

– experimental method (if appropriate)– results (if appropriate)– discussion– conclusion

Acknowledgements

References Place the reference on the page that

pertains to the data, figure or picture. Abbreviate the reference so that it is

easy for the audience to copy. Include all your references in a list at

the end of the talk.