POWERPOINT PRESENTATION

DON‟Ts

YOUR BEST TO REMEMBER THE

FOLLOWING…

DO

Choose Serif fonts like

Times New Roman

They are harder to read on a screen

Use san-serif fonts like

Ariel, Gil Sans, or Century Gothic

They are easier on the eye

DO

Underline words for emphasis

People mistake these for hyperlinks and

they are harder to read.

Vary a font‟s size, or color

for

or group words together *

DO

*But avoid doing it all on one slide

Use visually complex fonts

Especially a variety of them

Choose easy to read fonts

&

Stay in a font family

DO

Use fonts that are smaller than

24 points

Any smaller and it can‟t be read easily from a distance

Back up about 2 feet

Watch your presentation

See if you can read everything

DO

with every new slide

Overload the

viewer

Change colors

Choose a color palette & layout style

And stick with it

DO

Fill up the screen with lots and lots informationwritten in sentence form. Or even bullet after bulletafter bullet. The visuals in your presentation shouldhelp guide your speaking, not replace it. Peoplecan read faster than they can speak, and theydon‟t want to hear you just read from the slides.Plus, the more you put on a slide, the smaller thetext will get and the smaller the text gets, theharder it is to read. Then, you will annoy youraudience as they try to follow along, but falter intheir attempts. An annoyed audience is not ahappy audience and an unhappy audience won‟treally give you the attention your hard andcarefully researched presentation deserves. Inother words, did you really read all of this? Wouldyou expect your audience to?

Choose only key points to highlight

Follow a 7 words / 6 lines guideline

Make every slide matter

DO

Use visually complex

backgrounds

Use backgrounds that don‟t

compete with the message

Go crazy with sound effects

and animations*

*Imagine many things spinning

& whizzing around on the page

Change the pace by adding

relevant video and website links*

DO

*Just make sure you‟ve loaded

those pages ahead of time

Include werds that are spellled

incorractly

Include incorrect information

Check your spelling

Proofread each slide

Make sure all information is correct

DO

Overload slides with images

Copy and paste images from the Internet

Choose images

that match

your message

DO

p.s. That„s jazz great

Dizzy Gillespie looking

for the right picture

Simply read off the screen

Practice ahead of time

Make notes for reference

Look at the audience

DO

Forget to review

your main points

Choose easy to read fonts &

backgrounds

Follow the same color scheme &

layout throughout

Use animation, sound, & images

with care

Proofread and spellcheck each

slide

Review your slideshow from a

distance & practice

Credit your sources

Web Resources

Credit your sources*

1. Colourlovers.com –

great for finding

color palettes

2. Flickr.com –

find free images

open to public use

3. Slideshare.net –

see how others approach the same

idea

DO

*Images can be sited throughout the presentation or

on the very last slide

Huber, Elaine. “PPT Dos and Don‟ts.” accessed Oct. 25, 2010. http://www.slideshare.net/elainehuber/ppts-dos-and-donts.

Desjardins, Jesse. “Steal this presentation.” accessed Oct. 22, 2010. http://www.slideshare.net/GlobalGossip/ steal-this-presentation-5038209.

Marcello, Tom. “Dizzy Gillespie – contact sheet.” accessed Oct. 26, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/tommarcello/435710613/in/faves-78239079@N00/.

Works Used & Consulted

THAT’S IT!

THANKS FOR WATCHING!

Created by K. Covintree

Fall 2010