HowtoMakeAttractiveandEffectivePowerPointPresentations

A)MicrosoftPowerPointhasdramaticallychangedthewayinwhichacademicandbusinesspresentationsaremade.ThisarticleoutlinesfewtipsonmakingmoreeffectiveandattractivePowerPointpresentations.

TheText

B)Keepthewordingclearandsimple.Useactive,visuallanguage.Cutunnecessarywords—agoodruleofthumbistocutparagraphsdowntosentences,sentencesintophrases,andphrasesintokeywords.Limitthenumberofwordsandlinesperslide.TrytheRuleofFive-fivewordsperline,fivelinesperslide.Iftoomuchtextappearsononeslide,usetheAutoFitfeaturetosplititbetweentwoslides.ClickwithintheplaceholdertodisplaytheAutoFitOptionsbutton(itssymbolistwohorizontallineswitharrowsaboveandbelow),thenclickonthebuttonandchooseSplitTextbetweenTwoSlidesfromthesubmenu.

C)Fontsizefortitlesshouldbeatleast36to40,whilethetextbodyshouldnotbesmallerthan24.Useonlytwofontstylesperslide—oneforthetitleandtheotherforthetext.Choosetwofontsthatvisuallycontrastwitheachother.GaramondMediumCondensedandImpactaregoodfortitles,whileGaramondorTempusSanscanbeusedforthetextbody.

D)Embedthefontsinyourpresentation,ifyouarenotsurewhetherthefontsusedinthepresentationarepresentinthecomputerthatwillbeusedforthepresentation.Toembedthefonts:(1)OntheFilemenu,clickSaveAs.(2)Onthe

toolbar

,clickTools,clickSaveOptions,selecttheEmbedTrueTypeFontscheckbox,andthenselectEmbedcharactersinuseonly.

E)Usecolorssparingly;twotothreeatmost.Youmayuseonecolorforallthetitlesandanotherforthetextbody.Beconsistentfromslidetoslide.Chooseafontcolorthatcontrastswellwiththebackground.

F)Capitalizingthefirstletterofeachwordisgoodforthetitleofslidesandsuggestsamoreformalsituationthanhavingjustthefirstletterofthefirstwordcapitalized.Inbulletpointlines,capitalizethefirstwordandnootherwordsunlesstheynormallyappearcapped.Upperandlowercaseletteringismorereadablethanallcapitalletters.Moreover,currentstylesindicatethatusingallcapitallettersmeansyouareshouting.Ifyouhavetextthatisinthewrongcase,selectthetext,andthenclickShift+F3untilitchangestothecasestylethatyoulike.ClickingShift+F3togglesthetextcasebetweenALLCAPS,lowercase,andInitialCapitalstyles.

G)Useboldoritalictypefaceforemphasis.Avoidunderlining,itcluttersupthepresentation.Don’tcenterbulletedlistsortext.Itisconfusingtoread.Left

align

unlessyouhaveagoodreasonnotto.Run“spellcheck”onyourshowwhenfinished.

TheBackground

H)Keepthebackgroundconsistent.Simple,lighttexturedbackgroundsworkwell.Complicatedtexturesmakethecontenthardtoread.Ifyouareplanningtousemanyclipsinyourslides,selectawhitebackground.Ifthevenueofyourpresentationisnotadequatelylight-proof,selectadark-coloredbackgroundanduseanylightcolorfortext.Minimizetheuseof“bellsandwhistles”suchassoundeffects,“flyingwords”andmultipletransitions.Don’tuseredinanyfontsorbackgrounds.Itisanemotionallyoverwhelm