By Mr. Free

My slide show will provide helpful information about creating an effective PowerPoint presentation. My slide show will present six areas of design tips plus supporting details and examples.

Repeat design elements on each slide: layout, colors, and bullets. Leave space between lines for easier reading. Avoid busy backgrounds.

Focus on the content of your presentation. Avoid subheadings; break major points into separate slides. Use sound and video sparingly, with a specific purpose that enhances the slide.

Limit your points on a slide to 3 to 6 points. Bring points on a slide one at time for a better pace. Know your audience.

Picture what your audience will be seeing and hearing. Spend more time on content than design issues. Make sure your slides are readable with large fonts.

Use short sentences, action verbs, and simple grammar. Get comfortable with your material so you aren’t dependant on just reading a script. If you use notes, keep them short and highlight points you want to make.

Create a conclusion slide that includes 3 to 5 summary points. Focus on the final impressions that you want to create in these points. You can never emphasize your points too often.

In alphabetical order, list all the sources you used, including the web addresses of any online sources of information, images, and audio files. Be sure that you indicate all direct quotations from sources and paraphrases of sources in your presentation. Use the complete URL address for web sources.

When designing a PowerPoint presentation: Be consistent with colors, layouts, fonts, bullets, etc. Use bold, italics, or color for emphasis. Keep it simple and be brief.

Microsoft Clip Art National Council of the Teachers of English, lesson_images/lesson787/PPDesignTips.pdf