Create A Title Slide To Introduce Guidelines for Preparing Slides Create A Title Slide To Introduce Your Presentation

Outline Formats Are Easier To Follow Do not try to cover too many topics—this may strain the audience’s attention or cause confusion.

No More Than One Topic Per Slide

Maintain A Consistent Layout A consistent layout and color scheme will create continuity and cohesiveness.

Use Bullets, Not Numbers Bullet points replace complete sentences. Bullets imply no significant order. Use numbers only to show rank of sequence.

6 lines of text 6 words per line Use The 6 x 6 Rule 6 lines of text 6 words per line (Sometimes 7 X 7 Rule)

Keep Slides Easy To Read And Uncluttered Allow plenty of room around borders and illustrations.

45 Point Select Readable Type Size 40 Point 35 Point 36 point for titles— minimum. 24 point for body text— minimum.

Use A Readable Typeface And Font Use Sans serif (no curly feet) such as Arial or universal for body text. Use Serif (curly feet) such as Times New Roman or Courier for body text. No more than two fonts per slide.

Typeface Examples Typeface Examples Comic Sans MS Universal Times New Roman Arial Century Schoolbook

Adjust Lettering To Discriminate Or Emphasize Make titles a larger type size than body elements. Emphasize important statements or words with bold, italic, larger size, color, underline, or different fonts.

Choose Color Carefully Use the same color consistently throughout the presentation. Use light letters on a dark background and dark letters on a light background. Do not let color overpower the words. Use color to communicate, not decorate.

Use Solid Colors Instead Of Fill Patterns On Charts 100 80 60 40 20 Patterns on bars or pie slices cause confusion. East West North Solid colors convey a clear bold message. 1st 3rd Qtr Qtr

Use Simple Tables to Present Numbers Use Tables This Row This Row That Row For Your Numbers But, Not Too Many .06 .04 1 100 10 10 90 5 5

Enhancing the Presentation Add Clipart, Pictures, Bitmaps, Animation, Video Clips, and Sound where appropriate. If ever.

Enhancing The Presentation Transitions The most natural movement is from left to right. If making a special point, text could move from the right to left. Too many things flying around the screen detracts from the presentation. Not every slide needs to be animated.

Enhancing the Presentation Keep everything in alignment. Don’t go outside the default title and text block. Use handouts to show more detail than will project well on a slide.

Your Slides Are Not Your Presentation Slides draw attention to presentation. Focus interest on what is important. Audience must finish reading before you start talking. Do not read slides.

Summary Slide Always use at least one but no more than two summary/conclusion slides.

Finish Slide “Thank You For Your Attention” or other appropriate finish slide. Include 2 or 3 copies of finish slide to avoid inadvertent mouse “clicks”.