Do’s and Don’ts of PowerPoint Presentations

1. Do’s and Don’ts of PowerPoint Presentations English 105 Northern Arizona University

2. Overview DO provide an overview page • Slide Content • Slide Design • Presentation Strategies

3. Slide Content • Don’t put too much text on one slide. It’s overwhelming for your audience, and can lead to you reading the slides instead of presenting information and using the slide only as an aid. In general avoid using complete sentences. If there’s too much text, the audience will concentrate on reading the text rather than listening to you speak. And, they probably won’t even be able to read everything before you get done with that slide and move on to the next one.

4. Slide Content • Too much text • Too little text • DO focus on one topic per slide

5. Slide Design • Consistency is the key! • DON’T use multiple slide designs in one presentation • Why?

6. Slide Design • DO consider your audience • Choose an appropriate design • Choose appropriate colors • Choose appropriate visuals

7. Slide Design • Use animations • Sparingly • Only when you want your audience • To focus • On 1 point at a time • And you’re going to expand on each point • Before moving on to the next

8. Slide Design • DO choose appropriate fonts & colors • Tone of font • Size & weight • Colors are readable • Be consistent • Within one slide • Across slides

9. Presentation Strategies • DON’T • Read from slides • Stare at screen • DO • Use slides only as an aid • Make eye contact with the audience

10. Presentation Strategies • DO have a concluding slide Thank you. Are there any questions?