STOP! YOU’RE DOING

POWERPOINT WRONG.

SEVEN THINGS YOU SHOULD BE DOING, BUT PROBABLY AREN’T. CrispyPresentations.com

ODDS ARE,

YOU’VE USED POWERPOINT

AND ODDS ARE, YOU’RE PROBABLY

USING IT WRONG.

BUT, IT’S

COOL THOUGH! HERE’S SEVEN PROTIPS

NOW. YOU CAN USE

1) STOP TRYING TO STYLE EVERYTHING MANUALLY

START USING MASTER SLIDE LAYOUTS

Here’s a text box I just added by double clicking the slide •  Here, I decided to click the bullet point

button •  And am hoping that it looks ok – but it

needs some serious formatting help…

The one to the left doesn’t look so hot –  It was created by hand, which makes it hard to

style

On the other hand… –  These bullets were created using elements from a

Master Slide layout, ensuring consistency of formatting on every bullet

styling elements you add yourself takes time & skill These buttons are

your best friends!

2) STOP EMAILING RAW POWERPOINT FILES

START SENDING COMPRESSED PDF FILES

PPT

20.5 MB .PPT FILE EDITABLE BY ANYONE

FORMATTING IS THROWN OFF DEPENDING ON DEVICE

BAD FOR SENDING AS THE FINAL DOCUMENT

PDF

3 MB .PDF FILE

NOT EDITABLE FORMATTING PRESERVED

ACROSS DEVICES EXCELLENT FOR SENDING AS

YOUR FINAL DOCUMENT

Small, secure, consistent

3) STOP USING ANIMATIONS

START NOT USING ANIMATIONS

Resist the urge to touch these…

SERIOUSLY, STOP USING ANIMATIONS. –  THEY’RE CHEESY –  THEY DON’T PRINT –  THEY’RE DISTRACTING –  ANIMATIONS ALONE WON’T

MAKE YOUR PRESENTATION AWESOME

4) STOP USING AUTOFITTED TEXT BOXES

START KEEPING TEXT BOXES THE SAME SIZE

Here’s an auto-fitted, fixed-height text box –  The font automatically resizes based on the

amount of text in the box.

Here’s an auto-fitted, fixed-height text box –  The font automatically resizes based on the amount of

text in the box. –  So the more stuff I try and cram into it…

Here’s an auto-fitted, fixed-height text box –  The font automatically resizes based on the amount of text in the box. –  So the more stuff I try and cram into it… –  The smaller the text gets… –  See?

Disable auto fit for consistent font size –  These bullets were made AFTER auto-fit was

disabled

–  Keeping font sizes similar throughout a presentation is important for uniform design

If you don’t disable it: –  You can end up with very different font sizes

throughout (which looks sloppy)

–  You might be tempted to put too much text on a slide in teensy, tiny font due to the resizing

This keeps your font sizes

consistent! Enabling auto-fit causes

size inconsistencies

5) STOP USING STANDARD SMART ART

START STYLING IT TO MATCH YOUR TEMPLATE

Smart Art

Can Be

Really Useful

BUT IT LOOKS

BEST

WHEN YOU STYLE

IT TO

MATCH YOUR

TEMPLATE

Cool, but doesn’t look right…

Now we’re talkin’!

6) STOP PUTTING SHADOWS ON EVERYTHING

START USING SHADOWS VERY SELECTIVELY

WHEN

everything HAS a

SHADOW

your

brain

GETS

CONFUSED

WHEN IS IT OK? WHEN YOU WANT TO MAKE SOMETHING LOOK SEPARATED FROM THE REST OF THE PRESENTATION , LIKE THIS:

7) STOP TRYING TO LINE THINGS UP BY HAND

START USING THE ALIGN & DISTRIBUTE BUTTONS

1 2 3 4

Are these all lined up?

1 2 3 4

Nope!

1 2 3 4

Boom!

my favorite Powerpoint menu!

GO FORTH &

DECK! (deck means presentation)

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