Effective Use of PowerPoint

as a presentation tool

What is PowerPoint?

PowerPoint is a software program to enhance your oral presentation and to keep the audience focused on your subject.

Why Would I Want to Use PowerPoint?

It operates like an old-fashioned slide show, but uses modern technology in the form of computers and digital projectors rather than a slide projector of old. 

Types of PowerPoint Movie

Compatibility

can play will vary between operating systems. Macintosh programs prefer to use Quicktime Movie (.mov) formats. Therefore, PowerPoint for Mac allows these types movie types; however, they generally will not play on a PC that is running PowerPoint for Windows. Similarly, Windows uses Windows Media files (.wmv). These types of movies will not play in Macintosh. Therefore, if you plan to use movie on a Mac and Windows platform, MPEG files are your best option.

WMV

Microsoft Windows Media Video or WMV is a format that was created by Microsoft specifically for playing high quality videos in Windows with Microsoft's Media Player. This file type is also compatible with Microsoft's PowerPoint; therefore, it is usually your best choice for playing videos inside PowerPoint.

AVI

Audio Video Interleave, or AVI files, are the standard audio and video format in Windows. Microsoft developed this file type in order to capture files from A/V devices; therefore, most videos that come from a recorder are saved as AVI files. PowerPoint can usually play AVI files because it a format that is commonly used. One concern with AVI files is that video files are large and require a lot of space. This also means that they will play slower in PowerPoint. You can compress the video; however, this will make the image pixellated.

MPG

Moving Picture Experts Group developed a standard for smaller video formats that display at practically the same quality as AVI files. The standards are continually improving the quality of compressed videos. As a result, developers have several different file extensions including MPEG, MPG, MP3 and M1V. However, PowerPoint can only play videos in MPG and MPEG. These two file types usually contain separate layers for the audio and video.

ASF

In addition to the three common file types, PowerPoint can include some Advanced Streaming Formats, or ASF. This file type is an open source audio and video format. Because it is open source, it is encoded with Codecs. ASF can be played in many different types of media players, including PowerPoint. PowerPoint uses this format when you publish your presentation for streaming

The uses of PowerPoint The uses of PowerPoint it seem to be

endless. Almost any presentation can be enhanced through visual and sound effects, and this application has become the standard tool to do so. Unfortunately, it is often misused and almost everyone at some time in their life has experienced the dreaded "death by PowerPoint."

PowerPoint is commonly used by presenters as a

digital aid when presenting their topic to an audience. Microsoft has called this type of software a "presentation", which is a misnomer.

Your First PowerPoint Presentation

Start learning PowerPoint right from the beginning. Your first PowerPoint presentation does not have to be an intimidating process. With every skill you mastered in the past, you were a beginner once. Learning how to use PowerPoint is no different. Everyone has to start at the beginning, and luckily for you, PowerPoint is a really easy software to learn. Let's get started.

10 Font Tips for Presente

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Sharp Contrast Between Fonts and Background

The first point and most important about using fonts in presentations is to make sure that there is sharp contrast between the color of the fonts on the slide and the color of the slide background. Little contrast = Little readability.

Use Standard Fonts Stick to fonts that are common to every

computer. No matter how fabulous you think your font looks, if the displaying computer doesn’t have it installed, another font will be substituted – often skewing the look of your text on the slide.

Consistency Makes for a Better Presentation

Be consistent. Stick to two, or at most, three fonts for the whole presentation. Use the slide master before you start entering text to establish the chosen fonts on the slides. This avoids having to change each slide individually.

Types of Fonts Serif fonts are the ones with little tails

or “curly-ques” attached to each letter. Times New Roman is an example of a serif font. These types of fonts are easiest to read on slides with more text –- (More text on slides is something to avoid if at all possible when making a PowerPoint presentation). Newspapers and magazines use serif fonts for the text in the articles as they are easier to read.

Don't Use All Capital Letters

Avoid using all capital letters – even for headings. All caps are perceived as SHOUTING, and the words are more difficult to read.

Use Different Fonts for Headlines and Bullet Points Choose a different font for the

headlines and the bullet points. This makes text slides a little bit more interesting. Bold the text whenever possible so that it is easily readable at the back of the room.

Avoid Script Type Fonts Avoid script type fonts -- always.

These fonts are hard to read at the best of times. In a darkened room, and especially at the back of the room, they are almost impossible to decipher.

Use Italics Sparingly Avoid italics unless it is to make

a point – and then make sure to bold the text for emphasis. Italics pose the same problems as script type fonts – they are often hard to read.

Make Fonts Large for Readability

Don’t use anything smaller than an 18 point font – and preferably a 24 point as the minimum size. Not only will this larger sized font fill up your slide so there is not so much empty space, it will also limit your text. Too much text on a slide is evidence that you are a novice at making presentations.

Make Use of the Dim Text Feature

Use the “dim text” feature for bullet points. This places the emphasis on the current issue and brings it to the forefront while you are making your point.