1. EFFECTIVE USE OF POWERPOINT

2.  Start by creating an outline
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 (colours, 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.

3. 
Use Contrasting Colours
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 colour and the background colour. 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 colours duller than they appear on a
screen, and you should check how your colours look when
projected to make sure there is still enough contrast.

4.  Use a big enough font
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.

5.  Stop the moving text
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.

6.  Turn the pointer off
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.

7.  Use visuals instead of text slides
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 (see the latest survey results
here). Instead of using slides that only contain
text, use visuals such as graphs, diagrams,
photos and media clips to engage the
audience. I've developed a five-step method for
creating persuasive visuals in my book The Visual
Slide Revolution.

8.  Have Slides at the End of Your Presentation
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.

9.  Be able to Jump to Any Slide
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.

10.  Blank the screen
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 B key on the keyboard and the image is
replaced with a black image. Press the B key
again and the image is restored. If you want to
use a white image instead of a black image,
press the W key each time.

11.  Draw on the screen during a presentation
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.

12.  PowerPoint, when displayed via a projector, is
a useful tool for showing audiences things
that enhance what the speaker is saying. It is
a useful tool for illustrating the content of a
speech, such as by showing photos, graphs,
charts, maps, etc., or by highlighting certain
text from a speech, such as quotations or
major ideas. It should not be used as a slide-
show outline of what the speaker is telling the
audience.

13.  Slides used in a presentation should be spare, in
terms of how much information is on each slide,
as well as how many slides are used. A rule of
thumb is to put no more than eight lines of text
on a slide, and with no more than eight to ten
words per line. In most cases, less is more, so
four lines of text is probably better. Don’t display
charts or graphs with a lot of information—if it’s
useful for the audience to see such things, pass
them out as handouts.

14.  Unless you’re an experienced designer, don’t
use the transition and animation “tricks” that
are built into PowerPoint, such as bouncing or
flying text. By now, most people roll their
eyes when they see these things, and these
tricks add nothing of value to a presentation.

15.  Above all, use high-contrast color schemes so
that whatever is on your slides is readable.
Unless you are a talented graphic designer, use
the templates that come with PowerPoint or
Keynote, and keep it simple—high concept
design in a slide presentation doesn’t help in
most circumstances, unless you’re in the fashion
or design fields. If you use graphics or photos, try
to use the highest quality you can find or
afford—clip art and low-resolution graphics
blown up on a screen usually detract from a
presentation.

16.  Rehearse your PowerPoint presentation and not
just once. Don’t let PowerPoint get in the way of
your oral presentation, and make sure you know
how it works, what sequence the slides are in,
how to get through it using someone else’s
computer, etc. Make sure that you can deliver
your presentation if PowerPoint is completely
unavailable; in other words, make sure you can
give your speech without your PowerPoint
presentation.

17.  Get used to using black slides. There are few
speeches that need something displayed on the
screen all the time. If you include a black slide in
your presentation, your audience will refocus on
you, rather than on the screen, and you can
direct them back to the screen when you have
something else to show them. Put a black screen
at the end of your presentation, so that when
you’re done, the PowerPoint presentation is
finished and off the screen.

18.  Concentrate on keeping the audience focused on
you, not on the screen. You can do this by using
slides sparingly, standing in front of the audience
in a way that makes them look at you, and, if
possible, going to the screen and using your
hand or arm to point out things on a slide. If you
expect to be using PowerPoint a lot, invest in a
remote “clicker” that lets you get away from the
computer and still drive your presentation. If you
don’t have one of those, it’s better to ask
someone to run the presentation than to be
behind a screen and keyboard while you talk.

19.  Mendoza, Patrick T.
BM12103