McNair Scholars Program

1
PowerPoint 101

• McNair Scholars Program
• December 2004

2
Why PowerPoint?

• Help the audience focus
• Visual outline
• Audience can focus on what is being said
• Visual content
• Graphics, charts, animation, video
• Audience wont focus solely on you
• Allows for audience interaction
• Discussion questions or problems

3
Basics

• Be conservative and simple
• Plan on 2-3 minutes per slide
• Keep text simple and concise
• Avoid full sentences (or paragraphs)
• About 1 concept per slide

4
Not too fancy!

• Limit the following
• Animated text or graphics
• Inappropriate clip art
• Sound effects
• Screen transitions
• Wild color schemes
• Fancy/weird/hard-to-read fonts

5
Type

• Larger is better (at least 24 point)
• Stick to 1 or 2 fonts
• Avoid using all uppercase
• Keep bulleted lines smaller than the title

6
Presenting Techniques

• Know your stuff
• Use slides as an outline for yourself
• Present the bullet and then elaborate
• Use notes, but dont read from them
• Use a laser pointer, if needed
• Clear slide after discussing it
• Leave some lights on for note-taking

7
Extras

• Handouts
• Back-up plan
• Test the equipment beforehand
• Bring overheads just in case
• Check sound if applicable