PowerPoint Tips and

Tricks
Waking Up From
PowerPoint-Induced
Sleep: Effective Use of
PowerPoint for Teaching
Adapted from a workshop provided at USC,
Columbia, by DEIS Instructional Developer, Vera
Polyakova-Norwood

Table of Contents:

Format/ General
Format/ Colors
Format/ Text
Type Sizes
Fonts
Emphasis
Effects
Graphics/ Visuals

Format/ General
Avoid overused templates

Format/ General

Place content in the middle of slides

Format/ General

Use bullet points: no complete

sentences
-Start each bullet point with the same
grammatical pattern to convey a sense
of style and to establish a dynamic

Format/ General

Use external and internal links

To demonstrate the content of your

presentation
To break the linearity of PowerPoint

Format/ General

Include a conclusions slide

To provide reinforcement through

summary

Format/ Colors

Select colors with high contrast

Consider people with color blindness
and low-vision

No red on black or vice versa

Format/ Colors

Light type on dark background

Format/ Colors

Black type on yellow background

Format/ Colors

Do not use hot colors for background

Format/ Text

7 lines per slide (including title)

7 words per line

Type Sizes
54

point for titles

32 point for text

24 point is difficult to read

16 point is impossible to read and should not be used

Fonts

Use San Serif Fonts to convey ease of

reading:

Arial Rounded MT Bold

AvantGarde Md Bt
Helvetica
Zurich BT

Do not use fonts that have little feet.

Do not use narrow fonts

Fonts

Different computers have different

fonts loaded on them

This may affect the look of your

presentation

Emphasis

Avoid ALL CAPS

Use color to highlight
Use italics rather than underlining

Underlining runs into some letters that

go below the line
Looks like a hyperlink

Effects

All effects should have a purpose

Do not overuse animation effects

Animation creates a secondary focus

that competes with content

Effects

No moving text
No sound effects
Use appear and dim effects for bullet
points

Graphics/ Visuals

Charts, graphs, tables

Photos with permission of subjects,
copyright holders
Royalty free clip art
WordArt and pop-outs
Multimedia with permission of
copyright holders
Images must relate to content/
teaching points

Charts, graphs, tables

03

Jan
Feb
25000 32000

04

50000 75000

Photos with permission of

subjects, copyright holders

Royalty free clip art

WordArt and pop-outs

WordArt

Multimedia with permission of

copyright holders

Images must relate to content/

teaching points

Red and Black