1. Effective Use of
PowerPoint as a
Presentation Tool
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2. Contents
Rules for the Effective Use of
PowerPoint Presentation
Ten Secrets For Using
PowerPoint Effectively
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3. Effective Use of
PowerPoint as a
Presentation Tool
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4. Limit the Number of
Slides
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Keeping the message simple usually results in an
effective presentation. By designing a presentation that
contains just the essential information, it makes it
easier for the audience to listen, learn and act on the
content.
Effective presentations contain an introduction, set of
topic slides and then a conclusion slide that
summarizes the main points of the presentation.
Engaging presentations contain complete, accurate,
timely and applicable material. When presenting,
effective presenter spend no more than a minute or two
presenting each topic. Then, the presenter can engage
the audience in conversation for the best results.

5. Pick an Appropriate
Theme
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Picking the right background, font (such as Arial) and
font size to meet the needs of the audience enhances
the success of pleasing the viewers. For example, if
the presentation will be viewed from far away,
increase the font size.
If the presentation will be part of a series of
presentations, all of the files should rely on the same
theme (from the "Design" menu, by choosing one the
available themes). Keeping the background subtle
makes it easier for the viewer to see the slide
contents.

6. Use Lists and Tables to
Organize Information
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Effective presentation designers avoid including
paragraphs of text. Using lists consisting of short
phrases that summarize the message encourages the
audience to listen to the presentation rather than just
look at the slides. Inserting tables of information to
categorize the content helps the viewer quickly see a
summary.
Using background colors and block shapes can further
focus attention on the most important topic. When the
audience needs to interpret complex information, such
as operational metrics, organizing the information into
blocks helps reinforce the important points.

7. Use Relevant Visuals
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Using pictures, photos and multimedia elements to
enhance the visual appeal typically makes a
presentation more effective. However, users should
ensure the graphics relate well. Adding labels, arrows
or captions on charts can further call attention to the
important elements.
Animation and screen builds help make presentation
slides effective because they add details at the right
time, without overwhelming the user. Using a time
line, for example, helps viewers understand the
deadlines and milestones associated with a project.
Chart types such as bar, line and pie display data
making it easy to interpret.

8. Check Spelling and
Grammar
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Using PowerPoint's "Spelling" function from the
"Review" menu helps ensure the presentation contains
no errors. Users should read aloud their slides while
creating the presentation to ensure there are no
punctuation and grammar problems either. The
PowerPoint "Thesaurus" and "Research" functions also
provide a way for users to ensure the presentations
contain relevant details in order to tell a convincing
story.

9. Ten Secrets For
Using PowerPoint
Effectively
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10. Start by creating an
outline
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The most important part of any presentation is the content, not the
graphical appeal. That is why you should develop your presentation
with the content first, before deciding on the look (colours, graphics,
etc.)
Create a good structure for your presentation by reflecting on the
goal of the presentation, what your audience is thinking right now,
and what points you need to make in order to move the audience
from where they are to where you want them to be.
Write an outline on paper or use sticky notes so you can move ideas
around. By creating an outline first, you ensure that the content of
your presentation is solid before you concern yourself with the visual
elements.

11. Use Contrasting
Colours
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If you want your audience to be able to see what you have on the
slide, there needs to be a lot of contrast between the text colour and
the background colour. I suggest a dark background with light text –
I usually use a medium to dark blue background and white or yellow
letters. Some prefer a light background and dark letters, which will
also work well – which you choose will depend on personal
preference.
Don’t think that just because the text looks fine on your computer
screen that it will look fine when projected. Most projectors make
colours duller than they appear on a screen, and you should check
how your colours look when projected to make sure there is still
enough contrast. To check that your colors have enough
contrast, use the Color Contrast Calculator.

12. Use a big enough
font
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When deciding what font size to use in your presentation, make sure it is big
enough so that the audience can read it. I usually find that any font size less
than 24 point is too small to be reasonably read in most presentation
situations. I would prefer to see most text at a 28 or 32 point size, with titles
being 36 to 44 point size. The only reason I would use a font less than 24
point is when adding explanatory text to a graph or diagram, where you could
use a 20 point font size.
If you are given a small screen in a big room, your font will look smaller
because the image will not be as big as it should be. In this case, see if you
can get a larger screen, use a wall instead of a screen to project on, move the
chairs closer to the screen or remove the last few rows of chairs. I’ve put
together a chart that lists how far away the last row of your audience should
be based on the size of screen, font size and visual acuity testing -use the Font
Size chart here.

13. Stop the moving
text
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When text comes on the screen, we want the audience
to read the text, then focus back on the presenter to
hear the message. If the text moves onto the screen in
any way – such as flying in, spiral or zooming – it
makes it harder for the audience members to read
since they have to wait until the text has stopped
before they can read it. This makes the presenter wait
longer between each point and makes the audience
members focus more on the movement than on what is
being said. I suggest the use of the “Appear” effect,
which just makes the text appear and is the easiest for
the audience to read.

14. Turn the pointer
off
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During a presentation, it is very annoying to have the pointer
(the little arrow) come on the screen while the presenter is
speaking. It causes movement on the screen and draws the
audience attention from the presenter to the screen. The
pointer comes on when the mouse is moved during the
presentation.
To prevent this from happening, after the Slide Show view
has started, press the Ctrl-H key combination. This prevents
mouse movement from showing the pointer. If you need to
bring the pointer on screen after this, press the A key. If the
pointer does appear during your presentation, resist the urge
to press the Escape key – if you do, it will stop the
presentation and drop you back into the program. Press the
A key or Ctrl-H to make the pointer disappear.

15. Use visuals instead of
text slides
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Instead of using slides that only contain text,
use visuals such as graphs, diagrams, photos
and media clips to engage the audience.
I’ve developed a five-step method for
creating persuasive visuals in my book The
Visual Slide Revolution.

16. Have Slides at the End
of Your Presentation
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The last slide you speak to should not be the last slide in
your presentation file. You should have three identical copies
of your last speaking slide so that if you accidentally
advance one too many times at the end of your presentation,
your audience never knows because you don’t drop into the
program, the slide looks like it has not changed. After these
slides, you should include some slides that answer questions
that you expect to be asked. These slides will be useful
during Q&A sessions after the presentation. The final slide
should be a blank slide so that if you go through all the other
slides, you have a final backup from dropping into the
program.

17. Be able to Jump to
Any Slide
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PowerPoint has a feature that allows you to be able to move
quickly and seamlessly to any slide in your presentation. To
do so, you need to know the slide numbers. The easiest way
to print a list of the slide numbers and associated slide titles
is to go to the Outline View and collapse the details for each
slide (there is a button on the left side of the screen in this
view that will do this).
Then print the view. To jump to any slide, just enter the slide
number on the keyboard and press the Enter key. This will
move you directly to that slide. This technique is very useful
for moving to a prepared Q&A slide or for skipping parts of
your presentation if time becomes an issue.

18. Blank the screen
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Sometimes we want the image on the screen to
disappear so that the audience is focused solely on the
presenter. There are two ways to do this. The first is if
you want to blank the screen with a black image,
similar to shutting the projector off (we used to do this
all the time with overhead projectors by just shutting
the projector off). Just press the period key (.) on the
keyboard and the image is replaced with a black
image. Press the period key again and the image is
restored.

19. Draw on the screen
during a presentation
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Sometimes it can be valuable to be able to draw on the
screen during your presentation to illustrate a
particular point or item. This can be done in the
following way.
Press the Ctrl-P key combination to display a pen on
the screen. Then, using the left mouse button, draw on
the slide as you wish. To erase what you have drawn,
press the E key. To hide the pen, press the A key or
the Ctrl-H key combination.

20. When you employ these secrets to use
PowerPoint effectively, you will greatly
enhance your audience’s
understanding of your message and
help to make your presentation the best
it can be.
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