1. Making PowerPoint Slides
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Bad Slides

2. We may not be experts at public speaking, but we are all experts at listening to talks

3. What do you want from a talk?

4. Before planning your talk think about its purpose,
the audience you will be talking to, and the setting.
Don’t assume the audience will all be experts.
Never underestimate your audience!
Check on the time that has been allotted to you.
How big is the room?

5. What do you think of the following slide?

6. Emk1 knockdown inhibits lumen formation in MDCK cells:
RT-PCR: EMK1 is effectively knocked down in MDCK cells 24 hours after transfection with P-SUPER (control) or P-SUPER-siEMK1 plasmid; knockdown confirmed on the right with antibodies to EMK1.
Collagen overlay assay: cells cultured 24 h on collagen I before being overlaid with additional collagen on the apical surface, analyzed 24 h later. Note the lack of lumen in EMK1-KO cultures.
Ca switch: control or EMK1-KO cells were plated in low Ca medium 24 h upon transfection with pSUPER or pSUPER-KO. After 12 h, cultures were switched to normal medium for 24 h. Transmission EM of cells sectioned perpendicular to the substratum shows lack of microvilli in EMK1-KO cells.

7. Of course, it is far too confusing and a clear take-home message does not come across !
This presentation will take you through a strategy for presenting the data in a clear and logical way.

8. Tips to be Covered
Fonts
Color
Layout
Style
Proofreading

9. Fonts - Good Serif fonts take longer to read, use for title…
This font is Times New Roman.
This font is Century.
This font is Constantia.
Use a Sans Serif font for sentences:
This font is Arial.
This font is Comic Sans.
This font is Papyrus.

10. Fonts - Good Some fonts look good in boldface: Arial vs. Arial bold
Comic Sans vs. Comic Sans bold
Papyrus vs. Papyrus bold

11. Type size should be 18 points or larger:
Fonts - Good
Type size should be 18 points or larger:
18 point
20 point
24 point
28 point
36 point
* References can be in 14 point font

12. CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT IS DIFFICULT TO READ
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 fancy font that is difficult to read

13. Dark letters against a light background work.
Color
Dark letters against a light background work.
Best in small room

14. Light letters against a dark background also work.
Color
Light letters against a dark background also work.
Best in large room

15. Using color for decoration is distracting and annoying.
Color - Bad
Using a font color that does not contrast with the background color is hard to read
Using color for decoration is distracting and annoying.
Trying to be creative can also be bad

16. Powerpoint basics: 2. Color
Avoid red-green combinations because a large fraction of the human population is red-green colorblind.
Lots of people can’t read this –
and even if they could, it makes your eyes hurt.

17. Powerpoint basics: 2. Color
Other color combinations can be equally bad:

18. Write in point form, not complete sentences
Layout – Good
Write in point form, not complete sentences
Include 2-4 points per slide
Avoid wordiness: use key words and phrases only
Every slide should have a heading

19. Show one point at a time:
Layout – Good
Show one point at a time:
Will help audience concentrate on what you are saying
Will prevent audience from reading ahead
Will help you keep your presentation focused

20. Layout - Bad
This page contains too many words for a presentation slide. It is not written in point form, making it difficult both for your audience to read and for you to present each point. Although there are exactly the same number of points on this slide as the previous slide, it looks much more complicated. In short, your audience will spend too much time trying to read this paragraph instead of listening to you.

21. Do not use distracting animation or sounds
Layout - Bad
Do not use distracting animation or sounds
Do not go overboard with the animation
Be consistent with the animation that you use
Don’t animate an object more than once

22. Be generous but meaningful with empty space
Layout
Be generous but meaningful with empty space

23. Layout
If you try to cram too much into a slide, and place things too close to the sides, they can get cut off if you’re using a poor projector. In any case, the slide looks all cluttered and junky.

24. Always title your graphs Clipart should match in style
Style - Good
Use graphics occasionally rather than just words all the time (Smart Art)
Always title your graphs
Clipart should match in style

25. Style – Good - Clipart
With

26. Style – Bad - Clipart
With

27. Style - Good
Graphic
Text
Slide
Great

28. Style - Good

29. Style - Background - Good
Use backgrounds such as this one that are attractive but simple
Use the same background or elements from the background consistently throughout your presentation

30. Style - Background – Bad
Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult to read from
Always be consistent with the background that you use

31. the use of of repeated words grammatical errors you might have make
Spelling and Grammar
Proof your slides for:
speling mistakes
the use of of repeated words
grammatical errors you might have make

32. It’s very easy to use
Powerpoint poorly

33. It takes some thought
and hard work to use
Powerpoint well.