1. Tips for a good “Journal club” presentation In a dark room, consider a dark background with pale pastel text. –Pale yellow and blue work well. White does not project well, particularly in large rooms with much magnification —If the room will be bright, a pale background with dark text works well Overall, be careful with color. Use no more than 2 colors/slide for text and not many more for graphics. —Red should be reserved for creating emphasis as the eye is immediately drawn to red in a slide. Always strive for large differences in contrast between text and background, otherwise the slide will be difficult to read The “golden rule” is 5 lines with 5 words/line for text slides –large blocks of text is to be avoided

2. This color is not bad for the title But as You Get Farther Down The page The contrast is getting less and less

3. Bad example I saw a seminar recently by a very famous scientist from UCSF It was astoundingly bad, primarily because the text was nearly completely unreadable due to the color scheme I saw a seminar recently by a very famous scientist from UCSF It was astoundingly bad, primarily because the text was nearly completely unreadable due to the color scheme

4. Fonts and Backgrounds are important Simple black and white is very good for journal club presentations White on black sometimes has too much contrast and does not always project well Pale pastels on a dark background project very nicely Yellow and blue work well, white less so Other high contrast combinations work well too Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Trebuchet Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Arial Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Helvetica Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Times Fonts make a big difference in clarity - Courier

5. Selecting fonts Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Trebuchet Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Arial Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Helvetica Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Times Fonts make a big difference in clarity – Courier Red text is to be avoided except for emphasis as it draws the eye Fluorescent colors are also to be avoided as they distract the audience Bold text does not project well when blown up as in a large meeting hall Bold white text is a complete disaster Particularly with serif fonts like Times

6. Use animations with extreme care Simple appears are ok As are sliding in from one part of the slide or another Getting too fancy is distracting to the audience You get the idea, right?

7. Titles should be 28 to 32 point fonts Text should be either 24 point Or 20 point Or rarely 18 point but Not smaller Do not make images too small

8. For more information An excellent Powerpoint tutorial can be found here http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/workshops/biomed/ppt /index.html Every person who has the need to convey information graphically, particularly quantitative information, needs to read “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” by Edward R. Tufte