Making Effective PowerPoint

PresentationsTim Mack

Former Associate Dean for Information Technology and Distance Education

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Virginia Tech

General Considerations

•Use short phrases–do not use sentences

•3 to 4 points per slide•Enlarge default size, to fill screen

Limit Text Use• Having too much text on the screen can defeat the purpose of

PowerPoint. people will try to either read everything, write down everything, or quickly lose interest.

• Having too much text on the screen can defeat the purpose of PowerPoint. people will try to either read everything, write down everything, or quickly lose interest.

• Having too much text on the screen can defeat the purpose of PowerPoint. people will try to either read everything, write down everything, or quickly lose interest.

• Having too much text on the screen can defeat the purpose of PowerPoint. people will try to either read everything, write down everything, or quickly lose interest.

• Having too much text on the screen can defeat the purpose of PowerPoint. people will try to either read everything, write down everything, or quickly lose interest.

Slide Transitions• Use one kind for the entire

presentation- do not switch.• Too many types of

transitions can become annoying and detract from your presentation.

Text to Use• Use very high contrast

text/background– white letters, very dark background– larger than normal fonts (32 point)

• small fonts do not work well (this is 20 point)• colored text with high contrast• colored text with low contrast

– Dark, low contrast letters do not work

Shadowed Text works wellShadowed Text works well

Fonts to Use• Assume 800 by 600 resolution monitor

– This is industry standard for web site development

• Sans serif fonts work best– Arial or Helvetica

• Avoid– Multiple fonts in one presentation– Fonts with serifs- Times Roman– Non Standard fonts- Lucida Blackletter

Use of Text Boxes• This is a shaded purple text box,

used for emphasis. • The text looks better on the

bottom of this box than on the top.• Stronger contrast really highlights

text.

Backgrounds to Use• High contrast backgrounds.• Not ‘busy’.• My preferences:

–Ones that convey professionality.–Do not already have an

imbedded image.–Allow me to place graphics where

I want.

Backgrounds to Use

• High contract backgrounds.• Not ‘busy’.• My preferences:

– Ones that convey professionality.– Do not already have an imbedded image.– Allow me to place graphics where I want.

Beautiful but Huge SlideBeautiful but Huge Slide

• Long time to download?

• KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE’S COMPUTER LIMITATIONS

Adding Images• Keep file size of image small- 256k or less if

possible.• Size of the image and size of the file are not the

same!• Use an image manipulation program to adjust

file size before you insert them into a presentation– Graphic Converter for Windows

• http://www.graphic-converter.net/index.htm– Graphic Converter X for Mac

• http://www.lemkesoft.com/en/index.htm

Screen Snapshots of Web Pages

Since 19971st use of streaming audio on campus

400-600 online students

Text and Clip Art• New program as of this

fall.• College Program for

faculty to develop online skills for courses and educational programs.

• Completion of program will be a significant IT achievement in the merit review process.

Text and Images• Pre- Internet (1993)

– Connected via telephone and letters• Internet (1994-date)

– Email, Instant Messenging, FAXes– Wireless cell phones, PDAs, wireless

Internet, Blogs, discussions forums, beepers and pagers

• Basic expectation of staying connected is ingrained into young people– Participate in real-time dialogs anywhere– Discuss the news, not just watch it – Less likely to accept “facts” as “facts”

• CONCLUSION: Interactive learning has become a way of life

Mixing Images

• People….– Drive a car and talk on a cell phone– Eat and watch TV– Use their computer & their cell phone– Channel surf

• Effects:– Attention spans are now short – Breadth of exposure to information is astounding

• Internet news is worldwide and current- breadth of information unheard of less than 10 years ago

– Long, passive ‘lectures’ are less tolerated than at anytime in the past

– CONCLUSION: Short bursts of information are the norm, and Computer Age people expect this

Be Clever with GraphicsComputer-Aided Instruction CD SoftwareCD Software

World-Wide Web Courseware Entomology

Teaching

Bring Life Cycles to Life

Mosquito becomes infective Mosquito becomes infective in 14in 14--21 days21 days

Mosquitoes infects dogs with nematodes, Mosquitoes infects dogs with nematodes, which develop in tissues for 90which develop in tissues for 90--120 days, 120 days, penetrate blood vessels, penetrate blood vessels, move to heartmove to heart

Larvae mature in 5 mo. into Larvae mature in 5 mo. into adult worms in heartadult worms in heart

Adult female worms give birth Adult female worms give birth to to microfilariaemicrofilariae (juveniles(juveniles))

MicrofilariaeMicrofilariae in bloodin bloodMosquito ingests Mosquito ingests microfilariaemicrofilariaewhile feeding on dogwhile feeding on dog’’s bloods blood

Keep Your Presentations Short• Assume- two minutes per slide, on average

– 20 slide show=40 minutes.• RECOMMENDATION:

– 25 slides, maximum– More than that may anesthetize your audience, or….– They may not even view everything

• If you have a lot to show– Make several short presentations– Short presentations fit into our time-compressed

schedules

Final Thoughts• Fix it if you….

– have a hard time reading it.– cannot understand it easily.– know the presentation is too long.– think the slide is too complex.

• This will solve most of your PowerPoint problems!