Tips for Writing PowerPoint Presentation
PowerPoint Presentations are a great way to back up your talk, visualize obscure ideas or focus on audience’s attention.However, poor construction of slides with too much content or graphics can take the attention of the audience away from the message. Below are the tips for writing PowerPoint Presentation to avoid errors-:
1) Develop a Clear Design Pattern - It is important to create consistency in your design. The means of writing presentation i.e. text, images, list all depends on the content but the regularity with other elements such as fonts, colors etc. during the entire presentation is vital.
2) Apply Suitable Font and Size- Select your font and size properly. Use sans serif fonts such as Arial rounded MT Bold and 32 point font size for text. Prevent all caps, use color to feature, restrict punctuation. There should be only 6 lines of text per slide and 6 words in each line of text.Â
3) Add Good Images - Images are added to highlight and support the message. Only include images if they are adding value to the message. While making the slides,check whether the images are of high quality by putting it on projector to see the clarity on the larger screen.
4) Ward Off Too Many Special Effects - Special effects looks influential at first, but if used too much then it draws away the attention of the audience. It is a feature and should be used to highlight the message.
5) Reduce the Number Of Slides - The rule of thumb is one slide per minute. Timing is important while giving a presentation. Few slides and focusing on elaborating the points helps to deliver your presentation on time.
6) Practice Navigating you Presentation - The presenter can move forward and backward, so it is important to know the shortcuts which are listed below:
N, ENTER, PAGE DOWN,SPACE BAR,DOWN ARROW- Â Go to next slide
P, PAGE UP, LEFT ARROW,BACKSPACE - Restore to previous slide
<number> + Enter - Advance to slide <number>
B OR PERIOD - Display a black screen
W or COMMA - Display a white screenÂ
S or PLUS SIGN - Stop or restart slideshow
ESC, HYPHEN - End a slideshow
7) Don’t Speak from Slides - The points written on your slides are there to support your message or idea, but it cannot replace your talk. Slides are used as a reference, when you want to describe the data or explain situations.
