Gill and Macmillan - Book Ordering & Publishing services Gill and Macmillan - Book Ordering & Publishing services
home how to order order status shopping cart Click here to view your shopping cart No Items in your basket

University and College
Further Education and PLC
Schools
Non-Fiction
Lecturers
Teachers
Students
Readers
Authors
Booksellers
eTest.ie
About Us
FAQs
Useful links
Contact Details Advanced Search
Search by Author A - Z

Best Practices In Using Power-Point

  • Choose colours that are easy on the eyes and have mutual contrast e.g blue and white.
  • Do not have too many colours on the same slide.
  • Keep to a limited number of key points.
  • Don't pack too much onto any one slide.
  • DON'T SHOW OFF!! REMEMBER IT IS THE LEARNING THAT IS IMPORTANT NOT THE EFFECTS, so avoid too many whistles and bells.
  • Handouts of PowerPoint presentations are best reproduced in black and white.
  • Convert the background into this before printing handouts.

We've all been there — sitting through computer presentations with endless screens of boring text. Of course, it is not the program that's the problem. It's the way the program is used. Here are some ways to avoid 'Death by PowerPoint'.

Limit the number of words on each slide: Fifteen words maximum. Only a few words to emphasise an idea.

Use a bold, simple, and large font: Veranda and Arial (emboldened) are my favourites. Very legible. Minimum font size should be 18 point, but my average font size is 40 point, to allow for easy reading.

Use transitions wisely: You can always tell a new PowerPoint user who has just discovered slide transitions: Words are flying in from every direction — with more sound effects than a Star Wars movie. Keep in mind you are the show — not what's on the screen. Transitions distract from the message.

Avoid stock templates: Stay away from the standard background templates that come with the program. Instead, use a custom template to make your presentation look different.

Choose a design template in which the words are easily distinguished from the background: Avoid busy backgrounds, or ones with hard-to-read fonts, or fonts with equal colour density to the background.

Let the audience know where you are going: PowerPoint is great to help audiences know where you are in a program. List the agenda and key points, use topic headers on your slides, and include a conclusions slide. The more you help an audience know where you are, the more they will stay with you and learn.

Use pictures and graphs: The old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words has never been truer than with computer presentations. Pictures add interest and humour, and they can show in a few seconds what it would take minutes to explain.


Disadvantages and advantages of PowerPoint
    + It looks professional
    + It is a good visual media
    + It allows multi-media
    + It looks corporate

    - It can be over-fussy
    - It can discourage student engagement
    - It may not work!! Or be available in the lecture room (be prepared for this)

For more information try these tips and trick for using PowerPoint from the Microsoft website >>

See more resources for lecturers >>
 
© 2004-2009 Gill & Macmillan Ltd. Hume Avenue, Park West, Dublin 12, Ireland
Privacy Policy | Terms and Condtions | Site Map
Design by clearscape™ and developed by System Dynamics