EFFECTIVE USE OF POWERPOINT

PowerPoint, when displayed via a projector, is a

useful tool for showing audiences things that

enhance what the speaker is saying. It is a useful

tool for illustrating the content of a speech, such as

by showing photos, graphs, charts, maps, etc., or by

highlighting certain text from a speech, such as

quotations or major ideas. It should not be used as a

slide-show outline of what the speaker is telling the

audience.

Slides used in a presentation should be spare, in terms of how

much information is on each slide, as well as how many slides

are used. A rule of thumb is to put no more than eight lines of

text on a slide, and with no more than eight to ten words per

line. In most cases, less is more, so four lines of text is probably

better. Don’t display charts or graphs with a lot of information

—if it’s useful for the audience to see such things, pass them

out as handouts.

Unless you’re an experienced designer, don’t use

the transition and animation “tricks” that are built

into PowerPoint, such as bouncing or flying text. By

now, most people roll their eyes when they see these

things, and these tricks add nothing of value to a

presentation.

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 (colors, 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

color and the background color. 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 colors duller than they appear on a screen, and

you should check how your colors look when projected to make sure there is

still enough contrast. To check that your colors have enough contrast, use the

Color Contrast Calculator.

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.

Use visuals instead of text slides

Every two years I ask audiences what annoys them about

bad PowerPoint presentations.  The latest survey confirms

that audiences are more fed up than ever with the overload

of text on 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 B key on the

keyboard and the image is replaced with a black image.

Press the B key again and the image is restored. If you

want to use a white image instead of a black image,

press the W key each time.

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

Above all, use high-contrast color schemes so that

whatever is on your slides is readable. Unless you

are a talented graphic designer, use the templates

that come with PowerPoint or Keynote, and keep it

simple—high concept design in a slide presentation

doesn’t help in most circumstances, unless you’re in

the fashion or design fields. If you use graphics or

photos, try to use the highest quality you can find or

afford—clip art and low-resolution graphics blown up

on a screen usually detract from a presentation.

Rehearse your PowerPoint presentation and not

just once. Don’t let PowerPoint get in the way of your

oral presentation, and make sure you know how it

works, what sequence the slides are in, how to get

through it using someone else’s computer, etc. Make

sure that you can deliver your presentation if

PowerPoint is completely unavailable; in other

words, make sure you can give your speech without

your PowerPoint presentation.

Get used to using black slides. There are few speeches

that need something displayed on the screen all the time. If

you include a black slide in your presentation, your

audience will refocus on you, rather than on the screen, and

you can direct them back to the screen when you have

something else to show them. Put a black screen at the end

of your presentation, so that when you’re done, the

PowerPoint presentation is finished and off the screen.

Concentrate on keeping the audience focused on you, not

on the screen. You can do this by using slides sparingly,

standing in front of the audience in a way that makes them

look at you, and, if possible, going to the screen and using

your hand or arm to point out things on a slide. If you

expect to be using PowerPoint a lot, invest in a remote

“clicker” that lets you get away from the computer and still

drive your presentation. If you don’t have one of those, it’s

better to ask someone to run the presentation than to be

behind a screen and keyboard while you talk.

If you show something on a computer that requires

moving the cursor around, or flipping from one screen to

another, or some other technique that requires interaction

with the computer itself, remember that people in the

audience will see things very differently on the projection

screen than you see them on the computer screen.

Keep motion on the screen to a minimum, unless you’re

showing a movie or a video. It’s better to show a static

screenshot of a Web page, embedded on a slide, than to call

up the Web page in a browser on a computer. If you want to

point out something on a Web page, go to the screen and

point at it—don’t jiggle the cursor around what you want

people to look at: their heads will look like bobble-headed

dolls.

Don’t “cue” the audience that listening to your speech

means getting through your PowerPoint presentation. If

the audience sees that your PowerPoint presentation is

the structure of your speech, they’ll start wondering

how many slides are left. Slides should be used

asynchronously within your speech, and only to

highlight or illustrate things. Audiences are bored with

oral presentations that go from one slide to the next

until the end. Engage the audience, and use slides only

when they are useful.

THANK YOU !!

Submitted by: Kristelle Gregorio

BM12103