PowerPoint Do's and Don'ts

By:Nicho Sindane

Why do you present?

To “pass the information”?

Your boss told you to?

Or to make meaning?

Connect with the Audience

is the primary objective

Boring bad presentation with

meaningless Bullet points …

Do:Organize your thoughts on paper before working with PowerPoint

Use the Outline View for preparing the text part of your presentation

Spell check your content

Use only appropriate graphs, charts and images that closely follow or complement the concept expressed in each slide

Divide topics in one or more slides and keep text to a minimum on each slide

Keep a certain consistency in titles, backgrounds, colours and slide transitions

Run the show for final adjustments, stand back from the screen at least a meter, perhaps ask a colleague to assist and to give useful ideas

Don't:Don’t work on the visual part of the presentation before having inserted all the necessary text

Don’t use too many pictures and graphics which might take the focus away from more important items such as keywords and relevant data

Don’t use so many bullet points, use the keywords to express

Don’t use flashy transitions (too much movement will distract your audience)

Don't read your material directly from the screen (usethe slides as prompts, outlines, or conversation points, not cue cards)

Project Process

Presentation Process

Initiation

Planning

Execution

Monitoring & Controlling

Closing

Think

Story

Design

Optimize

Present

Translate to…

What is story?

Don’t use Too much info

Putting all your points on one slide!

The more your audience has to read the less they are listening to you.

Use statement not sentencekeep relevant points on the same slide.

Use Keyword.

Font size should range between 18 to 48 (according to importance)

Use fonts that are easy to read, such as Arial, Tahoma, Times New Roman, etc. (San Serif fonts )

Use uppercase letters for the first letter

Leave space between the lines of text

Use statements, not sentences

Use keywords to help the audience focus on your message

Don't include too many details and data (no more than 7 words to a line and 7 lines to a slide)

Don't crowd the information, don't use flashy or curvy fonts (Serif fonts)

Don't use all uppercase letters (they are difficult to read and will appear to your audience that you are yelling)

Don't use abbreviations

Don't use too may font type and colour in a slide

Large font size increases legibility and forces the issue of limiting text per slide

Fonts

Use appropriate colours

Use high contrast colour( light background with dark text or vice versa)

Use colours that will stand out and will be easy on the eyes(dark backgrounds and light text is best)

Use PowerPoint colour scheme

Limit the use of colour to 2 to 4 colours/shades

Don't have multiple colour schemes

Don't use dark colours on a dark background (red, blue, and black should not be used together as text and background)

Don’t use too bright colour

Don’t use yellow on blue and red on green

Colors

Use contrasting colours

Light on dark vs dark on light Use complementary colours

Use contrasting colours

Light on dark vs dark on light Use complementary colours

Use Proper grid

Put the either the text or object in a symmetric flow

Use proper white space

Use proper alignment to place the object

Don’t put scatter object

Alignment

Include graphs and chart that shows relationships, changes and growth

Use relevant images and graphics

identify with it

Use 1 to 2 images per slide

Use shapes to illustrate complex topics

Don't use too many shapes and charts

Don’t use to many graphics and images (this can be distracting)

Don’t use low quality images

Don’t use meaningless graphs that are difficult to read

Images, Shapes and Graphs

Not like this

Use sounds to help convey, complement, or enhance the message

Keep transitions to a minimum

Use the same transition or a variation of the transition

Use appropriate animation if needed

Don't use sounds when they aren't appropriate

Avoid flashy transitions (too much movement will distract your audience)

Avoid using random slide transitions

Avoid meaningless animation

Special Effect

How r u?

Input Output

Practice Your PresentationUse a data projector to view your presentation:

Is it easy to read the text?

Is the amount of information on each slide kept to a minimum?

Are there any distracting elements?

Don't read your material directly from the screen (use the slides as prompts, outlines, or conversation points, not cue cards)

Don't leave all the lights on in the room (be sure people can actually see the screen)

Thank you!

The aim is not to sweat!

References

• Sansahu, S.(2011). Powerpoint-do-dont.Accessed: 31 October 2016 Availablie from:

http://www.slideshare.net/sudarsansahu/powerpoint-do-dont.Kout, R. (2012). Powerpoint-what-not-to-do. Accessed: 31 0ctober

2016. Available from : http://www.slideshare.net/rahkout/powerpoint-101-what-not-to-do