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Making PowerPoint Slides Avoiding the Pitfalls of Bad Slides

Memorial Day weekend is over

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Smoke test: (CNN) -- Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Apple's Steve Jobs and Microsoft's Bill Gates have done it. So have Al Gore, George Lucas and John McCain. Those heavyweights and many more were all speakers at the annual D: All Things Digital conference, which begins Tuesday in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, near Los Angeles. Created in 2003 by tech columnists Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, the conference is a yearly showcase for tech industry leaders along with bold-face names from business, entertainment and politics. Over the years, the conference has become known for both its consistent roster of influential Web and tech figures and its relatively exclusive nature: It's held at a luxury resort. Attendance is limited, with past events being held to 500 attendees. (CNN.com will be attending the conference, dubbed D9 because it's in its ninth year, and reporting whenever its speakers make news). Scheduled speakers include Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Walt Disney Co. President and CEO Robert A. Iger and Groupon founder Andrew Mason. Tech, Web and social-networking companies have been known to roll out new features and gadgets at the conference. Much of the speculation this year is centered on whether Microsoft will leap into the tablet computer field, aiming to compete with the Apple iPad, RIM's PlayBook and various Android devices. Steve Sinofsky, president of Microsoft Windows, is scheduled to speak at the conference, and Bloomberg cites anonymous sources saying he'll be exhibiting new tablet software. The emerging mobile-payment space might also get some attention. Google's Eric Schmidt and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, now CEO of Square, are both scheduled to speak. Both of those companies made announcements last week about apps designed to let people make and receive payments using their mobile phones. Past D: All Things Digital conferences have produced some buzz-creating moments. In 2007, Jobs and Gates sat down for a joint interview. In a particularly amusing segment (in retrospect), Gates expounded on his ownership of a tablet computer and how such handheld slates could emerge in the future. Jobs, who would roll out the iPad just over two years later, just listened and smiled before vaguely predicting more "post-PC devices." Last year, Zuckerberg's appearance at D8 brought him attention for all the wrong reasons. In an interview with Swisher and Mossberg, he grew sweaty and visibly uncomfortable with questions about Facebook privacy issues, ducking some of the questions entirely. The interview might have been a low-water mark at a time when Facebook was under attack over privacy and security concerns. Zuckerberg's image would rebound in the following months with some smoother media outings, news of his generous charitable donations and, perhaps ironically, "The Social Network," the fictionalized movie about Facebook that many predicted would cast him in a negative light.

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Page 1: Memorial Day weekend is over

Making PowerPoint Slides

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Bad Slides

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Tips to be Covered

Outlines Slide Structure Fonts Colour Background Graphs Spelling and Grammar Conclusions Questions

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Outline

Make your 1st or 2nd 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

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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

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Slide Structure - Bad

This page contains too many words for a presentation slide. It is not written in point form, making it difficult both for your audience to read and for you to present each point. Although there are exactly the same number of points on this slide as the previous slide, it looks much more complicated. In short, your audience will spend too much time trying to read this paragraph instead of listening to you.

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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

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Slide Structure - Bad

Do not use distracting animation

Do not go overboard with the animation

Be consistent with the animation that you use

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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

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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

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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

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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 Trying to be creative can also be bad

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Background - Good

Use backgrounds such as this one that are attractive but simple

Use backgrounds which are light

Use the same background consistently throughout your presentation

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Background – Bad

Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult to read from

Always be consistent with the background that you use

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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

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Graphs - Bad

January February March AprilBlue Balls 20.4 27.4 90 20.4Red Balls 30.6 38.6 34.6 31.6

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Graphs - Good

Items Sold in First Quarter of 2002

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

January February March April

Blue Balls

Red Balls

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Graphs - Bad

20.4

27.4

90

20.4

30.6

38.6

34.631.6

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

January February March April

Blue Balls

Red Balls

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Graphs - Bad

Minor gridlines are unnecessary Font is too small Colours are illogical Title is missing Shading is distracting

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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!

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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

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Questions??

End your presentation with a simple question slide to:– Invite your audience to ask questions– Provide a visual aid during question period– Avoid ending a presentation abruptly