Making PowerPoint Slides

Avoiding the Pitfalls

of Bad Slides

Tips to be Covered

Outlines

Slide Structure

Fonts

Colour

Background

Graphs

Spelling and Grammar

Conclusions

Questions

Outline

Make your
st
or !
nd
slide an outline of your
presentation
"
#$% previous slide

Follo& the order of your outline for the rest of

the presentation

Only place main points on the outline slide

"
#$% 'se the titles of each slide as main points

Slide Structure Good

'se (! slides per minute of your presentation

)rite in point form* not complete sentences

+nclude ,(- points per slide

Avoid &ordiness% use key &ords and phrases

only

Slide Structure - Bad

.his page contains too many &ords for a

presentation slide/ +t is not &ritten in point
form* making it difficult 0oth for your audience
to read and for you to present each point/
Although there are e$actly the same num0er of
points on this slide as the previous slide* it
looks much more complicated/ +n short* your
audience &ill spend too much time trying to
read this paragraph instead of listening to you/

Slide Structure Good

Sho& one point at a time%

"
)ill help audience concentrate on &hat you are
saying
"
)ill prevent audience from reading ahead
"
)ill help you keep your presentation focused

Slide Structure - Bad

1o not use distracting animation

1o not go over0oard &ith the animation

Be consistent &ith the animation that you use

Fonts - Good

'se at least an 2(point font

'se different si3e fonts for main points and

secondary points
"
this font is !,(point* the main point font is !2(point*
and the title font is 45(point

'se a standard font like .imes 6e& 7oman or

Arial

Fonts - Bad

+f you use a small font* your audience &on8t 0e a0le to read &hat you have &ritten

CAP+.A9+:# O69; )<#6 6#C#SSA7;/ +.

+S 1+FF+C'9. .O 7#A1

Dont use a complicated font

Colour - Good

'se a colour of font that contrasts sharply &ith

the 0ackground
"
#$% 0lue font on &hite 0ackground

'se colour to reinforce the logic of your

structure
"
#$% light 0lue title and dark 0lue te$t

'se colour to emphasi3e a point

"
But only use this occasionally

Colour - Bad

'sing a font colour that does not contrast &ith

the 0ackground colour is hard to read

'sing colour for decoration is distracting and

annoying/

'sing a different colour for each point is

unnecessary
"
'sing a different colour for secondary points is also
unnecessary

.rying to 0e creative can also 0e 0ad

Background - Good

'se 0ackgrounds such as this one that are

attractive 0ut simple

'se 0ackgrounds &hich are light

'se the same 0ackground consistently

throughout your presentation
Background Bad

Avoid 0ackgrounds that are distracting or

difficult to read from

Al&ays 0e consistent &ith the 0ackground that

you use

Graphs - Good

'se graphs rather than =ust charts and &ords

"
1ata in graphs is easier to comprehend > retain
than is ra& data
"
.rends are easier to visuali3e in graph form

Al&ays title your graphs

Graphs - Bad
?anuary Fe0ruary March April
Blue Balls !@/, !A/, B@ !@/,
7ed Balls 4@/5 42/5 4,/5 4/5

Graphs - Good
te!s Sold in First "uarter o# $%%$
@
@
!@
4@
,@
-@
5@
A@
2@
B@
@@
?anuary Fe0ruary March April
Blue Balls
7ed Balls

Graphs - Bad
!@/,
!A/,
B@
!@/,
4@/5
42/5
4,/5
4/5
@
@
!@
4@
,@
-@
5@
A@
2@
B@
@@
?anuary Fe0ruary March April
Blue Balls
7ed Balls

Graphs - Bad

Minor gridlines are unnecessary

Font is too small

Colours are illogical

.itle is missing

Shading is distracting

Spelling and Gra!!ar

Proof your slides for%

"
speling mistakes
"
the use of of repeated &ords
"
grammatical errors you might have make

+f #nglish is not your first language* please

have someone else check your presentationC

Conclusion

'se an effective and strong closing

"
;our audience is likely to remem0er your last &ords

'se a conclusion slide to%

"
Summari3e the main points of your presentation
"
Suggest future avenues of research

"uestions&&

#nd your presentation &ith a simple Duestion

slide to%
"
+nvite your audience to ask Duestions
"
Provide a visual aid during Duestion period
"
Avoid ending a presentation a0ruptly