Effective use of power point as a presenting tool

Effective Use of
PowerPoint as a
Presentation Tool

http://eglobiotraining.com/

Contents

 Rules for the Effective Use of
PowerPoint Presentation

 Ten Secrets For Using PowerPoint
Effectively


Rules for the Effective
Use of PowerPoint
Presentation


Limit the Number of Slides
 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.

Pick an Appropriate Theme
 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.

Use Lists and Tables to
Organize Information
 Effective presentation designers avoid including long 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.

Use Relevant Visuals
 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.

Check Spelling and Grammar
 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.

Ten Secrets For Using
PowerPoint Effectively


Start by creating an outline
 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.

Use Contrasting Colours
 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

Use a big enough font
 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.

Stop the moving text
 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.

Turn the pointer off
 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.

Use visuals instead of text slides

 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.

Have Slides at the End of Your
Presentation
 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.

Be able to Jump to Any Slide
 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.

Blank the screen
 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.

Draw on the screen during a
presentation
 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.

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.


Effective use of power point as a presenting tool

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