Designing Effective Presentations

Prof. Dr. Hasan AMCAElectrical and Electronic Engineering Department

Eastern Mediterranean University

September 2020

http://mediaexper.com/blog/EffectivePresentations.pdf

1. You should be the Star of the Show

• Slides are not star of the showsince people came to listen to you

• Slides are designed to • support the speaker and• supplement the presentation

2. Don’t get derailed by unnecessarily complicated slides

• The less crowded your slides, the more powerful your visual messagewill become

3. Limit Bullet Points and Text for Duration Control

Have maximum 6 logically related bullets in a page

Each bullet should have maximum 2 lines

prepare as many slights as # of minutes

4. Never Turn Your Back to The Audience and Read Text from the Slide Word for Word

5. Limit Slide Transitions

Don’t animate bullets on every slide

Stick to professional (e.g. evening TV news broadcast)

Simple “Wipe Left-to-Right” might be good for a bullet

6. Use High-Quality Pictures and Graphics

Take your own pictures or buy one watch the copyright issues . Avoid using Clip Art Use images of people to

impress them

Bad Example

A collision with a moving particle excites the atom

How Atoms Emit LightParticles

Light Photon

Better Example

Electrons collide with the molecules

BestExample

7. Have a Visual Theme

• Strong impact via consistent visual themes

• Audience expects a unique presentation with new content

• Templates may suggest that your presentation is prepackaged

• Make your own background templates tailored to your needs

Buy Professional Templates On-line (for example: www.powerpointtemplatespro.com)

8. Use Appropriate Charts

Ask yourself, “How much detail do I need?” May display your data in graphic form

Pie Charts: Used to show percentages Contrast important slice with color or by exploding itVertical Bar Charts: Used to show changes in quantities Best if you limit the bars to 4-8Line Charts: Used to demonstrate trendsThe arrow comes in later to underscore the point

9. Colors Increase Interest and Improve Learning Conception

Cool colors (blue and green) ~ work best for backgrounds

Warm colors (orange & red) ~ work best for objects in

foreground use dark background in a

dark room if lights are on, use a white

background with dark text

10. Use Appropriate Picture Formats

GIF

PNG

JPG• PNG supports ~ 8-bit color like GIF, ~ 24-bit color RGB, like JPG

• PNG tends to be the largest of the three filetypes and isn't supported by some older browsers

11. Choose Suitable Fonts• Use same font set throughout your presentation

~ with min 28 point size, typically 32 pt

• Serif fonts (e.g. Times New Roman)~ Printouts easier to read at small point sizes, ~ Has problems with lower resolution projectors

• Sans-Serif fonts (e.g. Helvetica or Arial)~ text can be read at the back of the room

Sans SerifSans Serif

12. Use Related Video or Audio

• Using video clips promotes cognition

• Use video clips to enhance interest of audience by changing the pace

• Avoid cheesy sound effects in your presentations such as applause at slide transitions

13. Spend Time in the Slide Sorter• You can see logical flow of your presentation better in

slide sorter view where you…

• Improve fluency and visual clarity by removing irrelevant visual data

Thank You

Designing Effective Presentations

Prof. Dr. Hasan AMCAElectrical and Electronic Engineering Department

Eastern Mediterranean UniversitySeptember 2020

http://mediaexper.com/blog/EffectivePresentations.pdf