PowerPoint Best Practices

 

Have you ever sat through a presentation and the presenter reads every word on the slide? Do you think that is an effective use of a PowerPoint presentation? Well, Microsoft PowerPoint has been used and abused by college professors, school teachers, businessmen and women, and even CEOs of major corporations. A quick course on how to use PowerPoint presentations effectively should be mandatory for anyone preparing to use the software to give a presentation. This would ensure that everyone gets the basic knowledge required to create an effective presentation. Here are some tips to help you create an effective PowerPoint presentation.


1. Presentation Title and Presenter’s Name

Let's start from the beginning. Most slide templates in MS PowerPoint usually include a textbox for your presentation’s title and your name as the very first slide. Do not take this for granted as this is an important aspect of your presentation. Ensure that this is the first thing that you include in all of your presentations.

2. Engagement, engagement, engagement

How do you engage your audience? The way you begin and end your presentation will make a lasting impression on your audience. Therefore, it is not only important to be engaging throughout your presentation but especially at the beginning and end of your presentation. There are many ways to engage your audience. You can do this with a short video clip, a meme, or even a joke. Whichever strategy you use to engage your audience, remember to make sure they leave knowing what your presentation was about.

3. Use limited text

When you are presenting, whether face-to-face or using a narrated PowerPoint, remember to limit your text on each slide. Everything you are about to say, whether face-to-face or on a voiceover, does not have to be on the slide. Putting everything on a slide and then reading it to the audience is a no-no. If you have a lot of information, it is best to:

• Condense the information
• Use bullet points with short sentences, phrases, or words
• Explain each bullet point without any lengthy text on the screen.
• Familiarize yourself with the information so that as you refer to the points of your presentation you can expand on that information orally.
• If you cannot remember the explanation for each point, use presentation notes that you can refer to, that the audience will not be able to see.

4. Consistent Design Elements

Remember to use a consistent font and font size for all your slide headings and paragraphs. The same is true for your slide background colors or design. A good way to make sure you have a consistent design is to use a slide template or master slides. These help you by repeating the exact slide design throughout your presentations by simply copying and pasting the slides that you need. If you are tempted to use a wide variety of font styles remember it is best to keep it simple and consistent.

5. Font Size and Style

Use a font size that is big enough for all to see. According to the Accessibility Guidelines, font sizes should be no smaller than 24 points. It is also recommended to use fonts such as Palatino, Georgia, Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, and Helvetica. These fonts fall under the font style of sans serif and are easier to read. Using any other font in that font family is also recommended.

6. Colors and Highlight

Sometimes simple is best. Using a white slide or a background color that complements your text color is a best practice. If you want to use colors, it is best to use contrasting colors. The background color and text need to be contrasting colors in order for the text to be legible. For example, white background color with dark text or dark background color with white text. To highlight text, sometimes using bold text is sufficient. However, if you use a highlight color, ensure that the text is bold and also readable. Steer away from blinking or flashing text or text that has a similar effect. This will not only distract from your message but will make it difficult to read the information.

7. Use graphics, images, video, or visuals

In the previous points, we emphasized the importance of not overloading your slide with text. The same is true with images, graphics, or visuals. Having a visual per slide can help further convey your message. This can include a photo, tables, diagrams, or short video clips. A good practice when using diagrams or tables is to print it out to give everyone a copy. If you are unable to do that, make sure that the table or diagram is the only thing on the slide, it is big enough, it is simplified, easy to read, and understand. Having a multitude of graphics, images, visuals or animated graphics on a slide is not good practice.

8. Practice, Prepare, Present

Before you present, it is important to:

• Familiarize yourself with the presentation
• Read it aloud to make any edits
• Practice it in the mirror or with someone who can give you constructive feedback
• Prepare a backup of your work and have a backup plan just in case
• Present the presentation on the computer and hardware you will be using the day of the presentation to make sure everything works

When creating your presentations, there are great examples out there of best practices. If there is a presentation that you sat through that you did not like, do not replicate it, instead look for ways to keep your audience engaged using the best practices. If all else fails, remember to keep it simple, professional with a clean design.