Guidelines for Making Power Point Slides

1
Guidelines for Making Power Point Slides
2
DOS AND DONTS FOR

• Outlines
• Slide Structure
• Fonts
• Colour
• Background
• Spelling and Grammar
• Addressing the audience
• Conclusions

3
Outline

• Make your 1st or 2nd slide an outline of your
  presentation
• - Ex previous slide
• Follow the order of your outline for the rest of
  the presentation
• Only place main points on the outline slide Ex
  use the titles of each slide as main points
• Plan your presentation carefully
• Do your research and know your audience

4
Slide structure - 1

• DO
• Use designed templates wherever possible
• Write in point form, not complete sentences
• Include 4-5 points per slide 4-5 lines per
  slide
• Use only keywords and essential
  phrases/information
• Content should be self evident
• Avoid abbreviations and acronyms

5
Slide structure 1 (Dos Contd.)

• Show one point at a time
• - Will help audience concentrate on what you are
  saying
• - Will prevent audience from reading ahead
• - will help you keep your presentation focused
• Limit punctuation marks
• Standardized position, colour style

6
Slide Structure - 2

• DONT
• Do not write too many words and paras, making it
  difficult both for your audience to read and for
  you to present each point. It looks much more
  complicated. Your audience will spend too much
  time trying to read this paragraph instead of
  listening to you.
• Do not use distracting animation
• Do not go overboard with the animation

7
FONTS

• DO
• Use 18 to 48 point font size
• Use different size fonts for title (36), main
  points (28) and secondary points (24).
• Use a standard font like Times New Roman or Arial
• DONT
• If you use a small font, your audience wont be
  able to read what you have written
• CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY, IT IS DIFFICULT
  TO READ
• Dont use a complicated and fancy font

8
Colour

• Do
• Use a colour of font that contrasts sharply with
  the background
  Ex blue font on white background
• Use colour to reinforce the look of your
  structure eg., light blue title and dark blue
  text.
• Dont
• Use a colour that does not contrast with the
  background. It is hard to read
• Using colour for decoration is distracting and
  annoying
• Using a different colour for each point is not
  desirable

9
Background

• Do
• Use backgrounds that are light, attractive and
  simple
• Use the same background consistently throughout
  your presentation
• Dont
• Do not use heavy, clustered and complex
  background
• Do not change background with every slide

10
Spelling and Grammar

• Proof your slides for
• - spelling mistake
• - use of repeated words
• - grammatical errors
• If English is not your first language, please
  have someone else check your presentation!

11
Addressing the audience

• Do
• Know your audience
• Time your presentation
• Practice your presentation
• Speak comfortably and clearly
• Dont
• Use too many slides. You can lose your audience
• Ignore the audience response to know level of
  detailing required
• Read from the slides instead use them as guides

12
Conclusion

• Use an effective and strong closing
  - Your audience is likely to remember your last
  words
• Use a conclusion slide to
• - Summarize the main points of your
  presentation
• End your presentation by inviting audience to ask
  questions if any
• Avoid ending presentation abruptly