A topic I presented to my chapter on the misuse of Power Point for a presentation.

1. A Lesson In PowerPoints Krystal AKA Savant in DeltaSig Land

2. Have you ever: Watched a desperate presenter dealing with technical problems? Heard a droning voice reading word for word from dense slides? Gotten eyestrain from slides that you couldn’t see from the first row? Been put into a PowerPoint coma? "PowerPoint Makes You Dumb" - The New York Times

3. Limit lines to 5 and words per line to 5. Have one slide per 2 minutes of presentation. Use strong contrasts: black on white; white on black. Use large fonts: 40-44 point for titles, 32-38 point for body text PowerPoints – Visually

4. No words flying in from all directions. No overuse of animation and sound effects. PowerPoints -Visually

5. Arrive early, check the equipment and give it a test drive. Always have a back up. Burn a CD of your presentation, bring thumb drive, or hard copy. Print out your speaker notes to use “just in case”. PowerPoints- Technically

6. Reading word-for-word from your visuals equals presentation death. Instead, have a conversation with the audience. Make eye contact. They didn't come to see the back of your head. Give your visuals and our eyes a rest. Use the “B” key to bring the screen to black. (Useful during audience interaction). Hit “B” again, and you’re back in your presentation PowerPoints- Keep The Attention

7. Transitions are road maps that keep the audience with you. Instead of “on this next slide you can see …”, try “That’s the state of the industry. Let’s look at what we’re doing to increase market share …” What do you want? Have a strong concluding slide with action steps. PowerPoint- In Conclusion

8. http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/workshops/biomed/ppt/dodont.html PowerPoints- Video