How to Create an Effective PowerPoint

Learning — By 88DB Knowledge on March 21, 2011 12:00 pm

Everyone has had to speak in front of people. Some in the form of speeches and others have had to make presentations on a specific subject. PowerPoint has become a very effective tool for public speaking, but some people have made terrible Powerpoints that actually hinder their speaking ability. By following these steps you can make a very effective, clean, and professional looking PowerPoint that will impress anyone.

Steps

Find a topic that you can talk about.
Create a basic outline on a sheet of paper.
Apply a template (one that is not hard on the eyes, and looks organized and professional).
Summarize the main purpose or idea of your PowerPoint in your title slide.
Instead of citing your sources all on one slide, cite the sources you referenced as you present them throughout the PowerPoint presentation.
Try not to use pictures as a background.
If you feel you must use a picture as a background, use a transparency behind your text so it is easy to read, and have your text and your transparency contrasting colors. To do this, right click the text box, click on format placeholder, and change the fill to a color and make it transparent. (Around 70-80% transparency works well)
Use graphs and tables to show your information often, but not too often.
Use short sentences and phrases, keep your text short. Remember the 5 by 5 rule. Five bullets with less than 5 words each. Please, no long paragraphs or slide long quotes!
Only use animations for emphasis. (Don’t over-exaggerate your animations, slide-ins work really well for bullets)
If you use slide transitions stick to only one, don’t try to mix it up because then it will look sloppy. (Note: just because you should stick to one slide transition does not mean that you should only stick to one animation.)
Look it over at least 5 times and look for mistakes and do touch-ups.

Tips

Use attention grabbers to get listeners interested in your subject.
Make titles short and to the point after you have filled in the information. (in other words make your titles last)
Memorize your information so you don’t read off of the Powerpoint. This will make it appear that you’re speaking to the people in the audience, instead of just the audience.
Don’t use animations that distract from your points and don’t use them too often.
Animations should be used for only two things: emphasis on a point and introducing bulleted information.
Templates are there for a reason, so don’t be afraid to use them. If you don’t like any of the templates, look up a few online and find a fitting one that you would like to use.
Change the format of your slides often (i.e. change your text from left to right, and pictures from left to right, etc…)
Make sure you save your work often.

Warnings

Do not use pictures as your background too often, only use them if your picture and your text will not fit on the same slide neatly.
Don’t use sentences, it is too tempting to try to just read off the Powerpoint, and thus, the presentation will become boring and interminable.

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