Making PowerPoint Slides

Avoiding the pitfalls of

bad slides

A title slide is always required.

Tips to be Covered

Outline of presentation
Slide structure
Fonts
Colour
Background
Pictures/graphics
Graphs
Spelling and grammar
Conclusions
Questions

Outline
After

the title slide, your next slide should be an

outline of your presentation (see previous
slide)
Follow the order of your outline for the rest of
the presentation
Only place main points on the outline slide (see
previous slide)

Slide Structure good example

Select

a template from the design library

Ensure it complements the theme and
audience of your presentation
Use 1-2 slides per minute in your presentation
Write in point form, not complete sentences
Include 4-5 points per slide
Avoid wordiness: use key words and phrases
only

Slide Structure bad example

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.

Slide Structure good example

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
Select one slide transition and apply it to all slides
Select one entrance animation for your text
The use of emphasis animation should be kept to an
minimum
An exit animation is not necessary. (However, some slide
designs have a default exit animation.)

Slide Structure bad example

Do

not use distracting animations

Valuable speaking time will be lost waiting for
the transitions to finish
The audience will lose the thread or focus of
your oral presentation

Fonts good example

Use

at least an 24-point font

Use different sizes of the same style of font for
main points and secondary points

this font is 24-point, the main point font is 28-point,

and the title font is 36-point

Use

a standard font like Calibri, Arial or Century

Gothic
Use bold or italics of the same font for
emphasis if necessary

Fonts bad
example

If you use a small font, your audience wont be able to read what you have written

CAPITALISE

ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT

CAN BE DIFFICULT TO READ

Dont

use a complicated font

When in doubt get a second
opinion from your teacher

Colour good example

Use

a font colour that contrasts sharply with the

background

Example blue/black font on white background

Use

Example: light blue title and dark blue text

Use

colour to reinforce the logic of your structure

colour to emphasise a point

But only use this occasionally

Template

designs will already have colour sorted

(hopefully)

Colour bad example

Using

a font colour that does not contrast with

the background colour is hard to read
Using colour for decoration is distracting and
annoying
Using a different colour for each point is
unnecessary

Using a different colour for secondary points is also

unnecessary

Trying

to be creative can have disastrous effects

Background good example

Use

templates with backgrounds (such as this

one) that are attractive but simple
Use backgrounds which are light
Use the same background (or slide design)
consistently throughout your presentation
When selecting a design, keep in mind the
topic of your presentation and the intended
audience

Background bad example

Background unbelievably BAD

Avoid

backgrounds that are distracting or

difficult to read from

FORGET

RAINBOW BACKGROUNDS or
those that have a heavy gradient

Adding images good example

For

a professional presentation, always use

real images
One image per slide is the general rule

Adding images bad example

Clipart

images on slides do not give a

professional finish to presentations and should
be avoided
Clipart images can be amusing and thus
detract from the intended message of the
speaker and slide information
(There are some exceptions to the rule above
. but not many!)

Graphs
Use

graphs/charts rather than just words

Data represented in graph form is easier to

comprehend and retain than raw data in a
spreadsheet
Trends are easier to visualise in graph form

Always

have a title on your graphs

Graphs bad example

January February
Blue Balls
20.4
27.4
Red Balls
30.6
38.6

March
90
34.6

April
20.4
31.6

A spreadsheet does convey some information,

but it would look much better in chart format.

Graphs good example

Graphs bad example

Minor

gridlines are unnecessary

Font is too small
Title is missing
Shading is distracting

Spelling and Grammar

Proofread

your slides for:

speling mistakes
the use of of repeated words
grammatical errors you might have make

Finding

errors on a presenters slide can be

distracting for the audience and embarrassing
for the speaker
If English is not your strong point, please have
someone else check your presentation!

Conclusion
Use

an effective and memorable closing

Your audience is likely to remember your final words

Questions?
End

your presentation with a simple question

slide to:

Invite your audience to ask questions

Provide a visual aid during question period
Avoid ending a presentation abruptly