CREATING AN EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION

IMROVING SLIDE PRESENTATION

Designing your presentation is the fun part of
creating a report for it gives you a chance to be
creative. Placing animations, transitions, and art
could be on your mind right now. But whether or
not these features would help is generally up to
you. Sometimes, these things could actually
distract your audience rather than help you.
MINIMIZE

Keep slide counts to a minimum to

maintain a clear message and to keep the
audience attentive. Remember that the
presentation is just a visual aid. Most
information should still come from the
reporter.
CLARITY

Avoid being fancy by using a font style that

is easy to read. Make sure that it is big
enough to be read by the audience. Once
you start making your presentation,
consider how big the screen is during your
report.
 Fonts - Good
• Use at least a 24-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 60-point
• Use a standard font like Times New Roman or Arial

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 Fonts - Bad
• If you use a small font, your audience won’t be able to read what you have
written

• CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT IS DIFFICULT TO

READ

• Don’t use a complicated font

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SIMPLICITY

 Use bullets or short sentences

 Summarize the information on the screen to have your
audience focus on what the speaker is saying than on
reading the slide.
 Limit the content to six lines and seven words per line.
This is known as 6 x 7 rule.
VISUALS

 Use graphics to help you in your presentation but not too

many to distract the audience. In addition, instead of
using a table of data, use charts and graphs.
 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

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 Graphs - Bad

January February March April

Blue Balls 20.4 27.4 90 20.4
Red Balls 30.6 38.6 34.6 31.6

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 Graphs - Good
Items Sold in First Quarter of 2002

100
90
80
70
60
Blue Balls
50
Red Balls
40
30
20
10
0
January February March April
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 Graphs - Bad
100

90
90

80

70

60

Blue Balls
50
Red Balls

38.6
40
34.6
30.6 31.6
30 27.4

20.4 20.4
20

10

0
January February March April
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CONSISTENCY

Make your design uniform. Avoid having different font styles

and backgrounds
 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

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CONTRAST

 Use light font on dark background or vice versa. This is

done so that it is easier to read.
 In most instances, it is easier to read on a screen if the
background is dark, this is due to the brightness of the
screen.
 Background – Bad
• Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult to read from
• Always be consistent with the background that you use

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