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MARGINS Theoretical Institute
The Seismogenic Zone Revisited

Suggestions for PowerPoint presentations


These are some general pointers, gathered from various sources, to keep in mind when making a PowerPoint presentation. If you have any questions about this, please do not hesitate to contact Olaf Svenningsen at the MARGINS Office.

General

  • Think carefully about what you have liked and disliked in all the presentations you have ever listened to. What caught your attention, and what was really awful? Don't repeat the latter... ;-)
  • Plan carefully and start preparing in good time.
  • Know your audience.
  • Time your presentation.
  • Practice your presentation.
  • Speak comfortably and clearly.
  • Emphasize content, not form (particularly important when using PowerPoint!).

File size

  • If your presentation is larger than 10-15 MB, it's almost certainly bigger than necessary (unless it includes elephant-sized animations).
  • Adher to web standards when you prepare the files for your presentation, i.e. use standard fonts and web-safe colors (tools for fixing this is built in to almost all graphics software packages).
  • In PowerPoint presentations the only effect of high-resolution (more than 72 dpi) graphics is to make the file size bigger, thereby slowing the presentation; it has absoutely no effect on how the figure displays on the screen. The projector's resolution is 1024 x 768 pixels. Any graphic that is bigger than 1024 x 768 pixels at 72 dots per inch resolution is therefore bigger than necessary.

Effective PowerPoint Slides

  • Use design templates.
  • Standardize position, colors and styles of elements.
  • Include only necessary information.
  • Limit the information to essentials.
  • Content should be self-evident.
  • Use colors that contrast.* important note!
  • Be consistent and cautious with effects, transitions and animations; it is easy to overuse flashy effects.
  • Too complex slides will confuse and distract.
  • Tables with more than 4 rows x 4 columns cannot be read by the audience while they listen to you. If your table is bigger, consider using a diagram instead.
  • Too many slides can lose your audience, and your message will be lost.

Text guidelines

  • Avoid long sentences on slides, or people will read the text, not listen to you:
  • Generally no more than 7 words per line.
  • Generally no more than 6 lines per slide.
  • Font size should generally range from 18 to 48 point.
  • Make sure that text contrasts with background. * important note!
  • Fancy fonts can be hard to read.
  • Unusual fonts may display unexpectedly if the presentation is not run on your own computer. Stick to standards, however boring that may be.
  • Words in all capital letters are hard to read.
  • Avoid abbreviations and acronyms.

Clip Art and Graphics

  • Should balance the slide.
  • Should enhance and complement the text, not overwhelm.
  • Generally no more than two graphics per slide

Animations

  • If you plan to use animations, always make sure that you know that the computer the presentation is run from has the proper software installed.


* Consider the fact that c. 10% of all men are color-blind, the most common variety being inability to distinguish between red and green. Using these two colors together is therefore both inconsiderate and ineffective. Contrast is very important!

Another classic no-no is red text on blue background, which the human eye is ill equipped to distinguish (it will give everyone a headache, too). See for yourself:

Read this, if you can!
Read this, if you can!
Read this, if you can!
Read this, if you can!

 


 

 
Last updated Tuesday, January 18, 2005