1. Effective Use of
PowerPoint as a
Presentation
Tool
http://eglobiotraining.com/

2. Contents:
• Rules for the Effective Use of
PowerPoint Presentations
• Ten Secrets For Using PowerPoint
Effectively
• A video of Prof. Erwin using a
PowerPoint presentation in his
discussion
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3. Rules for the Effective
Use of PowerPoint
Presentations
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4. Limit the Number of Slides
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Keeping the message simple usually results in an
effective presentation. By designing a presentation
that contains just the essential information, it
makes it easier for the audience to listen, learn and
act on the content. Effective presentations
contain an introduction, set of topic slides and
then a conclusion slide that summarizes the main
points of the presentation. Engaging presentations
contain complete, accurate, timely and applicable
material. When presenting, effective presenter
spend no more than a minute or two presenting
each topic. Then, the presenter can engage the
audience in conversation for the best results.

5. Pick an Appropriate Theme
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Picking the right background, font (such as Arial)
and font size to meet the needs of the audience
enhances the success of pleasing the viewers. For
example, if the presentation will be viewed from far
away, increase the font size. If the presentation
will be part of a series of presentations, all of the
files should rely on the same theme (from the
"Design" menu, by choosing one the available
themes). Keeping the background subtle makes it
easier for the viewer to see the slide contents.

6. Use Lists and Tables to
Organize Information
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Effective presentation designers avoid including
long paragraphs of text. Using lists consisting of
short phrases that summarize the message
encourages the audience to listen to the
presentation rather than just look at the slides.
Inserting tables of information to categorize the
content helps the viewer quickly see a summary.
Using background colors and block shapes can
further focus attention on the most important
topic. When the audience needs to interpret
complex information, such as operational
metrics, organizing the information into blocks
helps reinforce the important points.

7. Use Relevant Visuals
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Using pictures, photos and multimedia elements to
enhance the visual appeal typically makes a
presentation more effective. However, users
should ensure the graphics relate well. Adding
labels, arrows or captions on charts can further
call attention to the important elements.
Animation and screen builds help make
presentation slides effective because they add
details at the right time, without overwhelming the
user. Using a time line, for example, helps viewers
understand the deadlines and milestones
associated with a project. Chart types such as
bar, line and pie display data making it easy to
interpret.

8. Check Spelling and Grammar
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Using PowerPoint's "Spelling" function from
the "Review" menu helps ensure the
presentation contains no errors. Users should
read aloud their slides while creating the
presentation to ensure there are no
punctuation and grammar problems either. The
PowerPoint "Thesaurus" and "Research"
functions also provide a way for users to
ensure the presentations contain relevant
details in order to tell a convincing story.

9. Ten Secrets For Using
PowerPoint Effectively
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10. 1. Start by creating an outline
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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.

11. 2. Use Contrasting Colors
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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.

12. 3. Use a big enough font
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When deciding what font size to use in your
presentation, make sure it is big enough so that the
audience can read it. I usually find that any font
size less than 24 point is too small to be reasonably
read in most presentation situations. I would
prefer to see most text at a 28 or 32 point size, with
titles being 36 to 44 point size. The only reason I
would use a font less than 24 point is when adding
explanatory text to a graph or diagram, where you
could use a 20 point font size. If you are given a
small screen in a big room, your font will look
smaller because the image will not be as big as it
should be. In this case, see if you can get a larger
screen, use a wall instead of a screen to project
on, move the chairs closer to the screen or remove
the last few rows of chairs.

13. 4. Stop the moving text
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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.

14. 5. Turn the pointer off
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During a presentation, it is very annoying to have
the pointer (the little arrow) come on the screen
while the presenter is speaking. It causes movement
on the screen and draws the audience attention
from the presenter to the screen. The pointer
comes on when the mouse is moved during the
presentation. To prevent this from
happening, after the Slide Show view has
started, press the Ctrl-H key combination. This
prevents mouse movement from showing the
pointer. If you need to bring the pointer on screen
after this, press the A key. If the pointer does
appear during your presentation, resist the urge to
press the Escape key – if you do, it will stop the
presentation and drop you back into the program.
Press the A key or Ctrl-H to make the pointer
disappear.

15. 6. Use visuals instead of text
slides
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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.

16. 7. Have Slides at the End of
Your Presentation
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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.

17. 8. Be able to Jump to Any Slide
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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.

18. 9. Blank the screen
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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 period key (.) on the keyboard and the
image is replaced with a black image. Press the
period key again and the image is restored.

19. 10. Draw on the screen
during a presentation
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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.

20. A video of Prof. Erwin using a
PowerPoint presentation in his
discussion

21. References:
http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/ten-secrets-for-
using-powerpoint-effectively/
http://www.ehow.com/list_6695555_rules-effective-
use-powerpoint-presentations.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93p6jBeoNJg
http://eglobiotraining.com/

22. Respectfully Submitted
to:
Prof. Erwin M.
Globio, MSIT
http://www.slideshare.net/eternaleverlasting/ef
fective-use-of-power-point-as-a-presentation-
tool-16415818