This is a presentation

about presentations
Alternately titled: #GettingMetaWithIt
Alternatively, alternatively titled: Slides on Slides on Slides
Alternatively, alternatively, alternatively titled: Michelle, we get it.
“
PowerPoint doesn’t kill
meetings. People kill meetings.
But using PowerPoint is like
having a loaded AK-47 on the
table: you can do very bad
things with it.
— Peter Norvig, Director of Research, Google
How to design effective slides
● The first rule of creating a great powerpoint (and great presentation) is make sure you’
re appropriately using your text, font, color and use of space on the page
● You don’t want your slides to be drowning in bulleted lists with information that would be
much better suited spoken aloud than written on a slide
● Having too much information on your slide often causes the number one issue of
PowerPoint presentations, which is speaking to your slides instead of the audience
● Having a slide that is crowded with lists and information is a sure-fire way to lose the
attention of your audience
● Additionally, when creating a powerpoint slide, you want a strategic use of font and color
● Having “fun” text styles, bright text colors, or too many contrasting variables is another
great example of how your PowerPoint design can detract from the main idea of your
presentation
● When creating a PowerPoint presentation, each slide should have the main ideas, an eye-
catching visual, and text and color uses that emphasize your point, not detract from it.
What Makes a Good Presentation?

● Engaging visuals

● Short, sweet and to the point

● Comfortable use of color

● Key words on slide, main ideas out loud

666
(This is not the Devil’s work.)
Bullet List Best Practices
● Pay attention to the 6 rule
● Bullets help organize your thoughts
● Lines should stay within 6 words
● Slides should stay within 6 lines
● Keep your slides clear and concise
● These list provide key takeaways
Use Serif Fonts for Headlines
● Use sans-serif
fonts for the body
of text

● Serif fonts for

large bodies of
text is crowded
and hard to read
Themes, Layout and Color
● Choose simple, clean theme
● Customization is your friend
● Purposeful use of color
● Let the content speak for itself
Embedding Media

● Embed videos directly

● Keep length less than 2 minutes
● Only use animated text if relevant
● Eliminate use of Word Art
● Utilize PowerPoint SmartArt
● Use SmartArt to
organize intricate
visuals of your main
points and show
relationships between
main ideas
● Keep levels to 5-6 main
points to keep focus
clear and concise
● Coordinate colors to the
overall color scheme of
your presentation
More Resources About Presentations

● 14 PowerPoint Presentation Tips to Make Your

PPT Designs More Effective - Hubspot
● Feng Shui Your Microsoft Word Tables - Cult of
Pedagogy

Additional Tools
● Prezi