There appears to be some noticeable trends when Microsoft PowerPoint is concerned. The first is elimination. Obviously, there’s a big problem with this option – with what do you replace it? The other trend is creating a deck of nothing but beautiful photos with no text.
While I think both of these techniques might have their advantages in the right situation, there are times when we have to create a PowerPoint presentation with words and bullet points. Call it old school, but in some highly regulated professions or certain educational events, traditional PowerPoint slides are de rigueur.
That doesn’t mean slides have to be boring. Barbara Roche from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania offered recommendations during her session at the American Society for Training & Development’s 2011 International Conference & Exposition in Orlando, Fla. Her approach is to have PowerPoint complement your spoken presentation, not compete with it. Some of her suggestions:
- Use a 50-50 ratio. Design your session in such a way that you are speaking half of the time, with PowerPoint only half of the content. Not every thought needs a slide. Too many words will take participants off what you are saying and focus on slides.
- Distinguish between displays and handouts. There might be detailed information contained in the presentation. Use a handout instead of a PowerPoint slide to cover the information.
- Incomplete sentences are allowed. A good guideline is six words per line and no more than six lines per slide. Omit pronouns in your wording. Try using only two fonts, and keep with large sans serif fonts (at least 32 points).
- Put information on multiple slides. If you’re in an industry in which you have to show a full sentence or paragraph on a slide — for example, a regulation — break up the information into multiple slides. Consider having a visual slide to introduce the idea, then a slide with a high-level overview and finally slides that go into detail.
- Highlight key take-aways. Use a kicker box, a framed text box in a different color, to emphasize an important point. If you need more space, try a jolt slide, which has a different background. When placed in the deck, it will jolt or stand out to viewers. It’s a great way to break up visuals.
- Animation can be your friend. Instead of using animation on every slide, use it to make a central point stand out. It also breaks up visuals for the audience.
- Pay extra attention to slide headers. Roche said they should contain messages versus topic titles and serve as an outline of key take-aways.
As much as we might want to rid ourselves of PowerPoint, when done properly, it can enhance the session experience. Got any tried-and-true PowerPoint tips? Share them in the comments.
Image credit: davidf via iStockPhoto.com
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Sharlyn,
Why not use Powerpoint technology to illustrate your message instead of just an article? The technology is there to do this easily, so you can practice what you preach!
I think it's also important to not rely too heavily on PowerPoint in the first place. I've seen plenty of presentations that rely mainly on the PowerPoint. In my experience, the best presentations use PowerPoint to compliment what the speaker is saying, not the other way around. We wrote about some tips on this end as well (http://blog.bodetree.com/?p=1900).
Good post.
Chris
BodeTree
Good article. I think it would be even better if you placed "PowerPoint" in the headline. It would better target readers and possibly get a higher Google ranking.
Just a thought.
Where have you people been? All but the animation bullet are concepts that instructional designers have been using for decades… at least since the invention of the overhead slide transparency. PowerPoint is only the latest technology for presenting material to a group. If you really want to know how to design instructional materials (which is what conveying new information from one person to another actually is), take a look at some of the materials that teacher preparation programs use.
I love powerpoint so I sure hope it never goes away! And I agree with you Sharlyn, a powrepoint presentation is still a highly professional communication for webinars, meetings and sharing important information.
I enjoy putting a PPP together and then I use the free software Screenr – it only allows for 5 minute videos, but that is a great way to break down your presentation into bite sizes that you upload to YouTube and use as posts on your blog!
These are all great tips Sharlyn appreciate you sharing them!
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Hi Russ,
Our design firm works with corporate clients to create effective PowerPoint presentations as well as taking your presentation to the "next level" with engaging, interactive, "WOW-factor" options.
If you'd like to discuss how we might collaborate to make your next presentation outstanding, please contact me at eileen@burick.com
the 50-50 ratio remains outstanding
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Our presentation specialists and our interactive design team enjoy preparing custom Flash and PowerPoint presentations for our B2C corporate clients. We try to keep our client's present as simple and right to point as possible. Often times, our client try to get too much information into the presentation. We try to tell them, it's better to use more visual to illustrate the ideas and cut down on the text/bullet points or leave them out in the hands-outs or brochure.
Well – a friend of mine told me that he is no longer using power point – it neither has power nor a point – . Though told in light vein, the comment has some merit. The flow of ideas, information is better conveyed as an engaging conversation rather than with props of PP slides. Animation some where, bigger fonts at other place and different back ground some where else. But then story telling may need more skills then using power points props!
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I know you can get to the desktop (I have the Preview), but it loses the enhancements when you disable Metro.
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