PowerPoint

Do's and Don'ts

By:
Sudarshan
Why do you present?
To pass the information?
Your boss told you to?
Or to make meaning?
Connect with the Audience
is the primary objective
Boring bad presentation with

meaningless Bullet points
Do:

Organize your thoughts on paper before working with PowerPoint
Use the Outline View for preparing the text part of your presentation
Spell check your content
Use only appropriate graphs, charts and images that closely follow or
complement the concept expressed in each slide
Divide topics in one or more slides and keep text to a minimum on each slide
Keep a certain consistency in titles, backgrounds, colours and slide
transitions
Run the show for final adjustments, stand back from the screen at
least a meter, perhaps ask a colleague to assist and to give useful ideas
Don't:

Dont work on the visual part of the presentation before having
inserted all the necessary text
Dont use too many pictures and graphics which might take the focus
away from more important items such as keywords and relevant data
Dont use so many bullet points, use the keywords to express
Dont use flashy transitions (too much movement will distract your
audience)

Don't read your material directly from the screen (use
the slides as prompts, outlines, or conversation points, not cue cards)
What is story
Dont use
Too much info
Putting all your points on one slide!

The more your audience has to read
the less they are listening to you.
Use statement not sentence

keep relevant points on the same slide.

Use Keyword.
Font size should range between 18 to 48
(according to importance)
Use fonts that are easy to read, such as
Arial, Tahoma, Times New Roman, etc.
(San Serif fonts )
Use uppercase letters for the first letter
Leave space between the lines of text
Use statements, not sentences
Use keywords to help the audience
focus on your message

Don't include too many details and data
(no more than 7 words to a line and 7
lines to a slide)
Don't crowd the information, don't use
flashy or curvy fonts (Serif fonts)
Don't use all uppercase letters (they are
difficult to read and will appear to your
audience that you are yelling)
Don't use abbreviations
Don't use too may font type and colour
in a slide
Large font size increases legibility and forces the issue of limiting text
per slide
Fonts
Serif fonts
Use appropriate colours
Use high contrast colour( light
background with dark text or vice versa)
Use colours that will stand out and will be
easy on the eyes(dark backgrounds and
light text is best)
Use PowerPoint colour scheme
Limit the use of colour to 2 to 4
colours/shades
Don't have multiple colour schemes
Don't use dark colours on a dark
background (red, blue, and black should
not be used together as text and
background)
Dont use too bright colour
Dont use yellow on blue and red on
green

Colors
Use contrasting colours
Light on dark vs dark on light
Use complementary colours
Use contrasting colours
Light on dark vs dark on light
Use complementary colours
Use Proper grid
Put the either the text or object in a
symmetric flow
Use proper white space
Use proper alignment to place the object
Dont put scatter object




Alignment
Include graphs and chart that shows
relationships, changes and growth
Use relevant images and graphics
identify with it
Use 1 to 2 images per slide
Use shapes to illustrate complex topics
Don't use too many shapes and charts
Dont use to many graphics and images
(this can be distracting)
Dont use low quality images
Dont use meaningless graphs that are
difficult to read
Images, Shapes and Graphs
Not like this
Use sounds to help convey,
complement, or enhance the message
Keep transitions to a minimum
Use the same transition or a variation of
the transition
Use appropriate animation if needed

Don't use sounds when they aren't
appropriate
Avoid flashy transitions (too much
movement will distract your audience)

Avoid using random slide transitions

Avoid meaningless animation
Special Effect
How r u?
Input Output
Practice Your Presentation
Use a data projector to view your
presentation:
Is it easy to read the text?
Is the amount of information on each slide
kept to a minimum?
Are there any distracting elements?

Don't read your material directly from the
screen (use the slides as prompts,
outlines, or conversation points, not cue
cards)
Don't leave all the lights on in the room
(be sure people can actually see the
screen)
Wow !