Information Sheet No.

Do’s and Don’ts in Powerpoint Presentation

As anyone who is ever sat through a particularly dull slide deck can attest, there is a fine art to building and
exhibiting a compelling presentation that keeps an audience’s attention. Here are some few tips to make your
next Powerpoint simple and presentable:

1. Stay Concise
The biggest rookie Powerpoint mistake is to copy and paste all your information verbatim into the slides.
Not only is this incredibly boring, but no one is going to have the time or inclination to read a wall of text.
Don’t turn a presentation into a book. A good general principle is to limit yourself to five words per line
and five lines per slide.

2. Don’t Overdo The Special Effects

While it can be fun to play with all the bells and whistles, too often they just end up being distractions.
Avoid overusing animations, flashy transitions, jarring sound effects, busy backgrounds, unnecessary drop
shadows, ornate fonts, or any other effect that doesn’t make your information clearer.

3. Don’t Just Read The Slides

Your audience, presumably can already read. They don’t want to have the words on the screen read back
to them word for word. Know the material well enough that your bullet points will jog your memory of the
finer details that need to be addressed.

4. Look Up
Even if you aren’t just reading from the slides and are just referring to them, you should still look up now
and then to maintain eye contact with the audience.

5. Don’t Rush
Give audience ample time to read each slide, but don’t delay so long as to lose their attention. Give the
audience a few moments to scan the slide and get ready to hear what you have to say about it. Likewise,
don’t hit the next slide as soon as you finish discussing the current one. Give the readers time to digest the
information.

6. Be Bold and Direct

Use bold colors and sharp contrasts, not only because it will enhance legibility but because it imparts
emotion and energy into your presentation. Similarly, when it comes to fonts for presentations, bigger is
almost always better. A point size of 18 is just about the bare minimum. Shoot for something closer to the
mid to upper 20s. also, bear in mind, sans serif fonts are considered more legible at big sizes.

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 7. Don’t Over Rely On Clipart
Especially in creative fields, people will notice clip art that doesn’t quite fit. Pull images and video from the
web that are highly relevant and help drive your point home in an appealing way.

8. Save Handouts For The End

Some authorities believe following a handout will improve audience recall, but many believe it just pulls
awareness away from the presenter. Don’t give them anything else that might overshadow the main
event. Be the center of attention at all times. Make your case and make it well, and then provide
supplementary materials for people to look over their leisure.

9. Don’t Overuse Statistics

No one needs to see all the raw data that went into your presentation. They want you to synthesize that
information for them. Slides overloaded with too many facts and figures will be tuned out. Besides anyone
who needs all the granular details will ideally be able to get them on your website or handout materials.
Try to at least format it in a visually interesting way like a simple chart or graph.

10. Use Bullets And Numbered List

Humans process information better when it’s organizes in discrete chunks. Take out information and
break it down into major sections, and break those down into subsections. Information should flow in an
orderly fashion and be extremely easy to understand and digest.

11. Don’t Be Afraid To Take A Pause

You don’t have to run through your slides unceasingly. Some presenters prefer to leave questions to the
end, but other allows questions at any time. But if a question arises that causes a digression, consider
hitting the letter “B” on the keyboard. This will pause the presentation and clear the screen. If you leave
the current slide up many eyes will stay fixated on it even as you are discussing something totally
different.

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