Making PowerPoint Slides

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Bad Slides

Tips to be Covered
Outlines Slide

Structure Fonts Colour Background Graphs Spelling and Grammar Conclusions Questions

Outline
Make
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your presentation
Follo&

st

or !nd slide an outline of your

previous slide

the order of your outline for the rest of the presentation Only place main points on the outline slide
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'se the titles of each slide as main points

Slide Structure Good

'se

(! slides per minute of your presentation )rite in point form* not complete sentences +nclude ,(- points per slide Avoid &ordiness% use key &ords and phrases only

Slide Structure - Bad

.his

page contains too many &ords for a presentation slide/ +t is not &ritten in point form* making it difficult 0oth for your audience to read and for you to present each point/ Although there are e$actly the same num0er of points on this slide as the previous slide* it looks much more complicated/ +n short* your audience &ill spend too much time trying to read this paragraph instead of listening to you/

Slide Structure Good

Sho&
")ill

one point at a time%

help audience concentrate on &hat you are saying ")ill prevent audience from reading ahead ")ill help you keep your presentation focused

Slide Structure - Bad

1o 1o Be

not use distracting animation not go over0oard &ith the animation consistent &ith the animation that you use

Fonts - Good
'se

at least an 2(point font 'se different si3e fonts for main points and secondary points
"this

font is !,(point* the main point font is !2(point* and the title font is 45(point
'se

a standard font like .imes 6e& 7oman or

Arial

Fonts - Bad
+f

you use a small font* your audience &on8t 0e a0le to read &hat you have &ritten

CAP+.A9+:#

O69; )<#6 6#C#SSA7;/ +. +S 1+FF+C'9. .O 7#A1

Dont use a complicated font

Colour - Good
'se
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a colour of font that contrasts sharply &ith the 0ackground

0lue font on &hite 0ackground
'se
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colour to reinforce the logic of your structure

light 0lue title and dark 0lue te$t
'se
"But "

colour to emphasi3e a point

only use this occasionally

Colour - Bad
'sing

a font colour that does not contrast &ith the 0ackground colour is hard to read 'sing colour for decoration is distracting and annoying/ 'sing a different colour for each point is unnecessary
"'sing

a different colour for secondary points is also unnecessary

.rying

to 0e creative can also 0e 0ad

Background - Good
'se 'se 'se

0ackgrounds such as this one that are attractive 0ut simple 0ackgrounds &hich are light

the same 0ackground consistently throughout your presentation

Background Bad
Avoid

0ackgrounds that are distracting or difficult to read from Al&ays 0e consistent &ith the 0ackground that you use

Graphs - Good
'se
"1ata

graphs rather than =ust charts and &ords

in graphs is easier to comprehend > retain than is ra& data ".rends are easier to visuali3e in graph form
"

Al&ays

title your graphs

Graphs - Bad

?anuary Fe0ruary Blue Balls !@/, !A/, 7ed Balls 4@/5 42/5

March B@ 4,/5

April !@/, 4 /5

Graphs - Good
te!s Sold in First "uarter o# $%%$
@@ B@ 2@ A@ 5@ -@ ,@ 4@ !@ @ @ ?anuary Fe0ruary March April
Blue Balls 7ed Balls

Graphs - Bad
@@ B@ B@

2@

A@

5@ Blue Balls 7ed Balls 42/5 4,/5 4@/5 4@ !@/, !@ !A/, !@/, 4 /5

-@

,@

@ ?anuary Fe0ruary March April

Graphs - Bad
Minor

gridlines are unnecessary Font is too small Colours are illogical .itle is missing Shading is distracting

Spelling and Gra!!ar

Proof
"speling

your slides for%

mistakes "the use of of repeated &ords "grammatical errors you might have make
"

+f

#nglish is not your first language* please have someone else check your presentationC

Conclusion
'se
";our "

an effective and strong closing

audience is likely to remem0er your last &ords

'se

a conclusion slide to%

"Summari3e

the main points of your presentation "Suggest future avenues of research

"uestions&&
#nd
"+nvite

your presentation &ith a simple Duestion slide to%

your audience to ask Duestions "Provide a visual aid during Duestion period "Avoid ending a presentation a0ruptly