Make PowerPoint Look Good! (...because friends don't let friends use bad design)

Make PowerPoint Look Good!

(...because friends don't let friends use bad design)

Agenda●Design Guidelines●Resources●For More Information ...

Agenda

Please feel free to interrupt me at any time.This session is for YOU,

not me.

The Bottom Line

The Bottom Line● What is the purpose of your presentation?

The Bottom Line● What is the purpose of your presentation?

● Don't do anything that detracts from that.

The Bottom Line● What is the purpose of your presentation?

● Don't do anything that detracts from that.

● That's it.

Too Many Words!A common mistake among presenters is the assumption that a multimedia

presentation can be treated the same as a report. The problem is that reports are meant to be read by one individual at a time, while most multimedia presentations are given to a larger audience while the presenter stand in front of them and talks.

The purpose of a PowerPoint in that case should be to reinforce, rather than usurp, the role of the speaker. The audience should be looking to the presenter for information first, with only the key points or relevant visual aids being shown on the screen.

Unfortunately, PowerPoint has the nifty feature of shrinking the text to make it fit, no matter how much you write. This means amateur PowerPointers decide to write until they run out of room, but don't really run out of room. The result is something like what you see before you now – text that is too small to read for all but the front row of the audience.

This can be confusing, annoying, or at best, the audience will ignore the text completely. But if the audience is ignoring your text, then why did you bother to write it in the first place?

6x6x6 Rule

6x6x6 Rule● Not really evil.

6x6x6 Rule● Not really evil.● 6 lines of text/slide.

6x6x6 Rule● Not really evil.● 6 lines of text/slide.● 6 words/line.

6x6x6 Rule● Not really evil.● 6 lines of text/slide.● 6 words/line.● 6 seconds to understand.

Too Many Colors!

Too Many Colors!• Can you read

this?

Too Many Colors!• Can you read

this?• Does it hurt

your eyes?

Too Many Colors!• Can you read

this?• Does it hurt

your eyes?• Are you

uncomfortable?

Color Scream Scheme

Color Scream Scheme●Pick a color scheme with high contrast.

Color Scream Scheme●Pick a color scheme with high contrast.●Keep those colors for the whole thing.

Animations & Sounds

Animations & Sounds● This is my college roommate.

Animations & Sounds● This is my college roommate.

● This is also an in-joke.

Animations & Sounds● This is my college roommate.

● This is also an in-joke.● I think it's funny.

Animations & Sounds● This is my college roommate.

● This is also an in-joke.● I think it's funny.● But it shouldn't be here.

Transitions

Transitions● Transitions spice up a presentation.

Transitions● Transitions spice up a presentation.

● PowerPoint provides a wide variety of them.

Transitions● Transitions spice up a presentation.

● PowerPoint provides a wide variety of them.

● There's a strong temptation to use all of them.

FlamingText.com

http://flamingtext.com/

Flickr.com/creativecommons

http://flickr.com/creativecommons

PresentationZen.com

http://presentationzen.com/

Sources

● http://slideshare.net/tosime/how-to-get-your-slides-noticed

● http://www.presentationzen.com/● http://www.flickr.com/photos/gabu-chan/579916

48/● http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominicsayers/237

591638/in/photostream