< Animation tips

PowerPoint is a support tool for making presentations. 

Sadly, many PowerPoint slide shows are poorly organized, difficult to watch, and a crutch that presenters lean on when trying to make a point.

Poorly designed slide shows reflect negatively on the presenter's credibility. So if you're going to use PowerPoint, consider these tips.

All presentations follow a structure 

Audiences appreciate slide shows that have a beginning, a middle, and an ending. Slide designs are consistent, meaning that text and graphics always appear in the same places.

PowerPoint provides templates, but other than a title screen, there's nothing to tell you which screen to use next. Here's a standard ordering of slides for a typical deductive presentation:

1. Black slide (nothing on screen)

2. Graphic or text screen with presentation title

3. Agenda screen (BI + 3 support points)

4. Text slide: support point #1
   (or #3 for a persuasive presentations)

5. Support graphic/text slide for point #1 or #3

6. Text slide: support point #2

7. Support graphic/text slide for point #2

8. Text slide: support point #3
   (or #1 for persuasive presentation)

9. Support graphic/text slide for point #3 or #1

[ For extended presentations that cover more than one major point, subsets of slides 4-9 are inserted. Each new topic is introduced with a separate screen. ]

10. Summary slide (see below with reversed points leading to the BI)

11. Action slide: what you want audience to do: next steps

12. Q&A slide (repeat summary slide and continue to display during your Questions & Answer session)

13. Black screen

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Slide layout tips 

1. Color schemes: For our classroom (and most brightly lit boardrooms), use a soft colored background (white, gray or tan) with black, navy, dark green text color. Avoid busy background (solid or fading colors work best). Provide contrast between background color and text.

[ Avoid PowerPoint templates with elements that serve no useful purpose: lines, dots and images that call unwanted attention to themselves. They suck space. ]

2. Text color and positioning:  

   • All text is bold

   • Set headlines in 28-36 size

   • Set body/bullet text in 24-28

   • Sans serif fonts are best: Arial, Verdana, Tahoma

   Placement should be based on the gravity principle. 

   • Suggest a 4.5 left and right margin (using the grid)

   • Set headlines approximately 1/2" from top (3.25 on grid)

   • Bullet/support text should be begin at about 2.00 
     above center on the grid

   • Paragraph line spacing between .35 to .5

   • Bullets should be no more than 100% of text size
     (75% is better)

Turn on grid lines under the View menu. 
To move a grid line: click line; hold down mouse button; drag; 
To add lines: click a line: hold down CTRL key and mouse button; drag

3. Photos and other graphic elements: Consider the diagonal scan when you place photos, charts, or other graphics on slides. 

   • Charts and graphs should fill the screen (4.50 to 4.50)

   • Labels need to be at least 12-14 point bold

Avoid hard to read data. Enlarge charts to fill the screen.

4. Consistency: All slides should follow the same format.

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Transitions and animations 

1. Start and end with a black screen (use a slow or medium fade).

2. Transitions: Select slow to medium slide changes that include dissolves, fades, box in/out, uncover, strips, and wipes. Avoid blinds, checkerboards, and cuts. They're visually distracting.

3. Text/image animations: Build slides, one point at a time, starting with the heading. Only the text you are discussing is visible to the audience.

It takes approximately 45 seconds to read aloud the words on this slide.
If you project all the text at the same time, your audience can scan it in about 10 seconds, then tune out.

There are many other problems with this slide that reduce readability and comprehension. The visual does not stand on its own; it should be placed to the right of the text. Line spacing should be tighter between the 2 lines, and looser with the bullet points (especially the line spacing after each point, and the distance between the bullets and the text). Poor line breaks make this a difficult read (hanging words: "when" should appear on the next line, along with "or," "has," "for two," "a," "in," and "old").

Use smooth animations such as medium fades, dissolves, zoom in slightly, and wipes. Avoid spirals, wedges, and other abrupt movements, unless used for emphasis.  

When you click to display the next point, soften the color of previous text by changing its color in the Custom Animation Effects window (try shades of gray).

Be consistent. Use the same screen transitions and text/graphic animations on each slide. Sudden changes without an introduction is cause for audiences to tune out.

Other tips:

• When not reading what's on the screen, fade to black whenever you want the audience to look at you.

• Audiences bore easily. Change something every 30 seconds.

• Use the full screen. A PowerPoint slide is 960 pixels wide) x 720 pixels high (at 72 dots per inch). Google and Yahoo Internet image search engines provide file size. Use the Crop feature (Picture Tool Bar) to cut parts of the image or resize it to fit the screen.

• Point the audience in the right direction. Use the mouse cursor or a laser pointer to keep your audience focused (You can also enlarge the size of your mouse cursor arrow in Windows XP at your Control Panel. Click the mouse icon, then Pointers).

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Copyright 2007 | Steve Toms
All materials posted on the webpage are for educational purposes
and for the expressed use of those enrolled in this class