PowerPoint for Students

1. PowerPoint for Students Creating Effective Visual Multimedia Presentations

2. Slide Design Elements • Templates • Hierarchy • Contrast • Bullets & Balance • Fonts • Colors

3. Basic Rules: Templates • Ensure consistency in specific design elements • Provide overall presentation look-and-feel • Where you can find free templates: • http://www.presentersuniversity.com/index.cfm • http://www.websiteestates.com/freetemplates.html • http://www.presentationpro.com/FreeSamples/ • http://www.graphicsland.com/powerpoint-templates.htm

4. Basic Rules: Templates • Stick with a single background. • The background is the stage for information. • Set the stage and leave it alone.

5. Basic Rules: Hierarchy • Rank and Simplify • Rank your elements • Group related elements

6. Basic Rules: Contrast Contrast is Important • For Paper • Dark text on a light background

7. Basic Rules: Contrast • For Projection • Light text on a semi-dark background. • The eye is attracted to light.

8. One of the most common mistakes in creating a presentation is to place too much information on the screen. This can cause the reader to become distracted from the speaker…Just like you are now. Audiences are much more receptive to the spoken word. Basic Rules That You Must Follow In Order to Have A Good Presentation

9. Basic Rules: Bullets and Balance Balance • Do not center bullet points • It makes the text ragged • and hard to read and follow with your eyes

10. Basic Rules Balance • Generally, left justify bullets. • This keeps things neat… • and easy to follow.

11. Basic Rules Balance • Centered graphics leave little room for text

12. Basic Rules Balance • Place graphics off-center • More room for text • Better balance • More pleasing to the eye • Left placement leads the eye to text.

13. Basic Rules: Fonts • Type is unconscious persuader, sets style and tone • Fonts can convey formal vs casual, cold vs warm • Should serve text, not overpower • No good/bad, just appropriate/inappropriate

14. Fonts On-screen: headerPrint: body • Font families: • Serif: Times New Roman, Garamond • Sans-serif: Verdana, Arial • Cursive: Comic, Corsiva On-screen: bodyPrint: header Quotes, special effects

15. Basic Rules: Fonts • Use no more than TWO fonts. • Use a standard serif font for most text • The second font choice should be specifically chosen enhance the piece stylistically • For example, use Comic Sans in a presentation on the psychology of visual media for children • The 28-32 point font is best for general text

16. Basic Rules: Mixing Fonts • Don’t use same font for body and headlines. Rather, vary weights/widths • 1 Serif (body) + 1 Sans serif (headlines) – ideally of the same style (formal, casual, etc.) • Be consistent throughout

17. AVOID ALL CAPS, IT IS VERY HARD TO READ First Cap - More Formal Harder To Type And More Decisions This is an example of capitalizing the first word. Less formal Easy to type and fewer decisions Basic Rules: Fonts & Capitalization

18. Basic Rules: Graphics Graphics: A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words “The medium is the message” Images reinforce text and narrative: • Increase retention of main points by 38% • Reduce explanation time by 40%

19. Basic Rules Keep It Simple • Make bullet points easy to read. • Keep text easy to understand. • Use concise wording. • Bullets are focal points. • Presenter provides elaboration. • Keep font size large. • Depends on size of room or distance from screen. • Never smaller than 14 pt.

20. Basic Rules How to make better presentations • Experiment with different templates, transitions • Use graphics that support your presentation • Practice before your presentation to work out kinks

21. Additional Resources Excellent site for walking you through the “how to” process. http://www.actden.com/pp/index.htm More “how to” http://www.west.asu.edu/achristie/powerpoint/howto/sld001.htm