Creating professional, unique presentations can be much easier than you think

Making PowerPoint Slides

Grab the viewer's attention

It's about using the space on your slides effectively. Don't crowd your slides, and only include elements that contribute to the points you want to make. When you use graphics on a slide, choose images that serve a purpose (such as a chart or diagram that displays a direct benefit of your idea).

1. Select or create your own theme

A theme is a coordinated set of fonts, colors, and graphic effects that you can apply to your entire document with just a click.

It's easy to create your own personal or business branding throughout all of your documents.

2. Use video and audio to convey message more effectively



Dynamic content, such as a brief video that illustrates an important point, is a great way to engage your audience.

Using audio that helps convey your message can also help you keep your slides clean and approachable,

such as by adding recorded narration to slides when sending your presentation to others to view on their own.

3. Use graphics to emphasize key points

Office graphics coordinate automatically with the active theme in your presentation.

SmartArt graphics, introduced in Office 2007, enable you to create a professional-quality diagram literally as easily as typing a bulleted list.

MS Excel Charts may be embedded in your slides with little efforts.

Example:

Courses Offered Management Technology PGDM Specializations Human Resource Management Finance International Business Marketing Engineering Mechanical Civil Computer Science Electronics

Outlines Slide Structure Fonts Colour Background Graphs Spelling and Grammar Conclusions Questions

4. Use animations & transitions wisely

Having text and graphics appear on-screen just when you need them can be a nice touch.

However, using too much animation can distract from your presentation's content.

For effects that emphasize your points without overwhelming your audience, limit animation to key points,

Use consistent animation choices throughout the presentation.

Clearly communicate your information

PowerPoint provides a host of tools for keeping your slides consistent, precise, and professional. Take a look at two versions of a basic bulleted text slide below. The text in both slides is identical. Which would you prefer to present?

5. Start by outlining your presentation

Take time to outline your presentation before you begin to create your slides. You can create your outline by typing a slide title and bullets points for your main topics on each slide. But you can also use the Outline pane to type your entire presentation outline in one window and add slides to your presentation as you go. Press TAB to demote the text level and add points to the current slide in your outline. Or press SHIFT+TAB to promote the text level and add an additional slide.

6. Use masters and layouts

The master gives you a central place to add content and formatting that you want to appear on all (or most) of your slides.

Formatting and layout that you do on the slide master automatically updates throughout the slide layouts in your presentation

 

Helps to keep your slides consistent. For example, place your logo on the slide master, and it will appear on all slides in the presentation.

Tips to be Covered
        

Outlines Slide Structure Fonts Colour Background Graphs Spelling and Grammar Conclusions Questions

Outlines Slide Structure Fonts Colour Background Graphs Spelling and Grammar Conclusions Questions

Outline


Make your 1st or 2nd slide an outline of your presentation

Ex: previous slide

Follow the order of your outline for the rest of the presentation Only place main points on the outline slide

Ex: Use the titles of each slide as main points

Slide Structure Good

   

Use 1-2 slides per minute of your presentation Write in point form, not complete sentences Include 4-5 points per slide Avoid wordiness: use key words and phrases only

Slide Structure - Bad



This page contains too many words for a presentation slide. It is not written in point form, making it difficult both for your audience to read and for you to present each point. Although there are exactly the same number of points on this slide as the previous slide, it looks much more complicated. In short, your audience will spend too much time trying to read this paragraph instead of listening to you.

Slide Structure Good



Show one point at a time:

Will help audience concentrate on what you are saying Will prevent audience from reading ahead Will help you keep your presentation focused

Slide Structure - Bad



Do not use distracting animation Do not go overboard with the animation Be consistent with the animation that you use

Fonts - Good
 

Use at least an 18-point font Use different size fonts for main points and secondary points

this font is 24-point, the main point font is 28-point, and the title font is 36-point

Use a standard font like Times New Roman or Arial

Fonts - Bad


If you use a small font, your audience wont be able to read what you have written

CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT IS DIFFICULT TO READ Dont use a complicated font

Colour - Good


Use a colour of font that contrasts sharply with the background

Ex: blue font on white background

Use colour to reinforce the logic of your structure

Ex: light blue title and dark blue text But only use this occasionally

Use colour to emphasize a point

Colour - Bad
  

Using a font colour that does not contrast with the background colour is hard to read Using colour for decoration is distracting and annoying. Using a different colour for each point is unnecessary

Using a different colour for secondary points is also unnecessary

Trying to be creative can also be bad

Background - Good


Use backgrounds such as this one that are attractive but simple Use backgrounds which are light Use the same background consistently throughout your presentation

Background Bad


Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult to read from Always be consistent with the background that you use

Graphs - Good


Use graphs rather than just charts and words

Data in graphs is easier to comprehend & retain than is raw data Trends are easier to visualize in graph form

Always title your graphs

Graphs - Bad

January Blue Balls ed Balls

February

Marc 9

A ril

Graphs - Bad
100 90 90

80

70

60 lue alls

50

Red alls 38.6 34.6 30.6 31.6 27.4 20.4 20.4

40

30

20

10

0 January February ar

ril

Graphs - Bad
    

Minor gridlines are unnecessary Font is too small Colours are illogical Title is missing Shading is distracting

Graphs - Good
I
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 January F ruary arch April

s od

F rs Q ar r o 2002

lue Balls ed Balls

Spelling and Grammar



Proof your slides for:

speling mistakes the use of of repeated words grammatical errors you might have make

If English is not your first language, please have someone else check your presentation!

Conclusion


Use an effective and strong closing

Your audience is likely to remember your last words

Use a conclusion slide to:

Summarize the main points of your presentation Suggest future avenues of research

Questions??


End your presentation with a simple question slide to:

Invite your audience to ask questions Provide a visual aid during question period Avoid ending a presentation abruptly