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Tips
for Using PowerPoint™ for Academic Presentations
©John
de Szendeffy [
1/27/09
]
 THE
SLIDESHOW is a visual supplement to your presentation,
not the presentation itself. At best, it can only help illustrate
your points, not give your presentation. What you say is the main event. Spend more time on what you plan to say
than creating the slideshow. Be careful that your slideshow provides
a visual supplement to what you say instead of limiting
what you say or distracting you or your audience. Most of these
tips apply to any slideshow presentation program (aka slideware), not just PowerPoint.
Content
1.
Finish text first. Write your text or outline first, spell
check it, and double-check the grammar. People will be looking at
what you've written—because they'll have little else to do—and
will notice any mistakes. 2.
Content before form. Don't get caught up with clip art,
animations, transitions, sounds, etc., before finishing your text—if
at all. Focus on content before form, just as in your writing.3.
First and last slides. Your first slide should be a title
slide and the last a closing slide, either may stay visible to your
audience for considerably longer than any other slide. Make both
informative and interesting.
- A
title slide should include your name, presentation title, and
class information with a relevant, complex graphic to stir interest.
- A
closing slide should include your contact information and references
for further information.
Mechanics
4.
Slides. A slideshow is basically made up of a series of
slides, each having text objects and/or graphic objects arranged
around each other or the text overlaying (placed on top of) the
graphic.
5.
Templates/AutoContent Wizard. New users might be attracted to PowerPoint's
built-in templates (ready-made designs) or the AutoContent Wizard. Templates provide a background
design and layout of text in header-bullet format. The Wizard attempts to build content for you through a question-and-answer process. AVOID USING BOTH OF THESE TOOLS! Viewers recognize and hate them. More importantly, they will corrupt your message. They make grossly inefficient use of space and dictate the meaningless bullet list format. 
6.
Background images. If you use a background image for custom
slides (on a master slide), select the Watermark option on the image
toolbar (Picture Toolbar > Image Control > Watermark). Be careful. The background image should not
interfere with the readability of the foreground content at all. Resize
the image in PP to fit the slide. Crop if necessary to fill the
entire slide.
7.
Section large presentations. For large presentations with
several distinct sections, consider using a different color slide
background to distinguish each section, such as different page or
margin colors might be used for chapters in a textbook.
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Opening
the master slide to edit. |
8.
Master slide. For items or content that will repeat on
every slide (e.g., slide number, title, author, copyright information,
etc.) use a master slide. Each new slide will then contain these
elements automatically. Think carefully about whether or not you really need this information displayed. How will your audience use it or benefit from it?
The bottom "footer" area of the master slide. These items
will appear on every slide.
9.
Compatibility. PowerPoint applications of the same version
are the same on Macs and PCs. It's the same file format. They are
equally backwards compatible; that is, they can open documents created
on either platform from earlier versions of the application. PP on Macs or PCs is not forward-compatible; that is, for example, PowerPoint in Office 2004 cannot open the OpenXML version of .pptx produced by Office 2007/2008. more information...
10.
Mouse functions. On PCs, access common PP commands
using the right mouse button. On a Mac with a one-button mouse,
access the same commands using the Control key with a mouse click (or use a two-button mouse on the Mac just as you do a PC).
Text
11.
Size matters. Text on a slide is much larger than printed
text because it must be readable from the back of the room during
the presentation. Default point sizes for text, therefore, range
from about 40 points for headings to 20 for subtitles or list items.12.
Fill slides. Slides have very poor information density, which means they are not good at presenting a lot of information in one eyescan. Don't make this worse by making your text larger than you have to or by reducing the size of graphics. Use as much of the space as possible, from corner to corner, top to bottom. Because of these space and density limitations, many users feel forced to use the list, or • bullet, format using key words instead of complete sentences. However,
if your meaning will be distorted or diluted in this format, write
complete sentences. Unlike printed type, a slide is not meant to
be read as a stand-alone document (except in kiosk mode) but rather highlight facts, figures,
salient points, etc., which you explain in more detail and connect
with a narrative—still the most important part of your presentation!).13.
Text boxes. Adjust the size and shape of text boxes to
accommodate the length of text contained within them and work around
adjacent pictures, unless using text wrap on the graphic object
or overlaying the graphic with the text. If a graphic or text box
has the text wrap feature enabled, then text automatically flows
around it on the same line.14.
Fonts. Don't use nonstandard fonts. PowerPoint is machine-dependent,
which means that if you choose to use the font "Bodini MT Ultra
Bold," then any computer that plays that slideshow will also
have to have that font installed. If it doesn't, then it will substitute another
and your layout will likely change, including text that overruns
its box and no longer displays in its entirety on a slide. Fonts
standard to most computers, Macs and PCs, include Arial, Courier,
Georgia, Helvetica, Palatino, and Times New Roman. Stick to the
default font that PowerPoint gives you and you'll be fine.
Graphics,
animations, transitions
15.
Effective images. Use relevant pictures and graphics—staring
at text alone on a slide is boring—but AVOID THE BUILT-IN CLIP ART gallery. Clip art is silly, generic, and not illustrative of anything meaningful.
16.
Picture=1,000 words. An image conveys
far more information than text filling the same space. Enlarge important
images to fill the entire slide rather than sacrificing image size
to accommodate text that's not critical to the point or doesn't
need to be shown.
 17.
Object layers. Graphic and text boxes each occupy a layer
on the slide, the order of which can be changed forward and backward
(see menu at right). Text can overlay an image by adjusting the
order of the text box to bring it to the front (Draw menu > Order).
18.
Empty space. The lower left corner of a slide may develop
space for a small, related graphic when using text in indented lists,
which move farther and farther to the right. Again, if it's an important or highly detailed image, give it its own slide and maximize the size. 
19.
Image size. Resize graphics proportionally (changing height
and width by the same percentage) using one of the four corners
of the graphic box. The resizing handles in the middle of the sides
will only stretch the X axis (top, bottom) or Y axis (sides), thereby
distorting the shape of the image.
20.
Animation. In general, avoid animating objects. Text cart-wheeling onto the slide might seem amusing, but it usually isn't to viewers over 12 years old. Iit distracts from the message with a sophomoric effect. Animations
also tend to look cooler on your computer screen than they do projected
before an audience. Use functional animation effects, such as in a
text box where successive lines appear one at a time to
coordinate with your talking about each in turn.
Delay showing text or graphics on a slide for suspense or to allow
the audience to guess or predict it.
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(Left) Select
a text box first then set Custom Animation effects.
(Below left) Custon Animation shows all animated objects on this slide and one
selected. The Effects tab controls appearance of effect and
the Order and Timing tab (below right) how much text will come in at a time (by letter, word, line,
or all text). |
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in Effects, choose which objects, text or graphic, are to be animated on the slide. Choose effect (Appear only!). |
Then click on Order and Timing and choose the order in which objects appear on screen. |
21.
Transitions. If using transitions between slides, pick
one that goes to the next slide quickly and stick with it. Using
a different transition between every slide distracts from your message.
A transition that opens up from the center, like a camera lens,
opens up a new topic; one that closes to the center ends a topic.
Simple right-to-left transitions ("push left" or "wipe
left") corresponds to how
we experience text on paper while clearly signaling that the slide
has changed.
22.
Sound. If you add sound to your presentation, you will
need to amplify it for a large audience. At the very least, the
computer or laptop running your presentation should have external
speakers that can be aimed toward the audience. Sound files that
play automatically when a slide appears may greatly slow down your
slideshow (how fast a slide loads and can be exited) and increase
its file size. DO NOT USE POWERPOINT SOUND EFFECTS FOR ANYTHING. They are frivolous and add nothing to your content.
Printing/Saving
 23.
Saving. Save your presentation file early and often. The
default saving format is "Presentation" (.ppt), which
is an editable version. When sending a finished presentation to
someone, use the "PowerPoint Show" (.pps) file type in
the Save As... dialog box, a read-only format that
cannot be modified and opens automatically in slideshow mode (full
screen). (See note about the OpenXML format (.pptx) of Office 2007 and compatibility problems.)
24.
Place-holder text. Place-holder text is text on slides
from built-in templates, e.g., "Click to add title," that
you replace with your content. It does not print; therefore, you
don't have to delete the box if it's not being used.
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| Printing
multiple slides on a page is more practical to use and cuts
down on paper. |
25.
Printing. To practice your presentation without a computer,
print out the slides. Use the 4-up or 6-up printing option (under
"Print What") to print 4 or 6 reduced—though still
easily readable—slides on each page to save paper and allow
you to see the next slide while thinking about what you'll say for
the current one. You can also print notes under each slide that
do not appear in the slideshow.
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