CSC106 Intermed PC Appls and Programming - PowerPoint Slide Guidelines

PowerPoint Slide Guidelines

Your slides should highlight the important points in your presentation. Each slide should be an outline of the information you will present, not be a copy of what you will say during your presentation. The text on your slides should be phrases, not full sentences. If there is a lot of text it will be too small for your audience to read, and they won't have time to read it during your presentation.

Some important guidelines to remember:

Your slides should be simple. Each slide should contain info on a single topic.
Think of your slides as an outline of the information you will be presenting. Your slides should not contain complete sentences, they should contain phrases that highlight your main points. Use the PowerPoint notes feature to make notes for yourself on what you want to say.
Use bullets for lists without priority or sequence. Use numbered lists only if the information is ordered.
Remember the "6 x 6 rule": a slide should contain at most six lines of text, and each line should contain at most six words.
Use a large font so your audience can read it. Size 36 or 40 is good for titles; size 24 is good for text.
San serif fonts (such as Arial or Tahoma) are more readable than serif fonts (such as Times New Roman).
Be sure the text contrasts with the background. A darker background (like a medium green or blue) with light text is easy on the eyes.
It's a good idea to use one of PowerPoint's predefined slide designs.
Use bold face or a different size or color to emphasize important information. Italics are hard to read on the screen.
Some people have problems distinguishing certain colors, so avoid using the following color combinations: red/green, brown/green, blue/black, and blue/purple.
Colors help set a tone. Generally blue, green and gray say professional. Red and orange are high energy, but can be difficult to look at for long periods. Use them sparingly.
Be consistent with color, font, and size. Differences draw attention and imply importance, so you should only use them for that purpose.
Too many graphics can be distracting. A general rule is to have no more than two graphics per slide
Sounds are fun but are almost always distracting and should be used only when they relate to the presentation.
Too many animations can be distracting. It's best to pick one slide transition and use it for every slide. Like sounds, animating individual text or graphic elements is fun but usually distracting.