Sophia FLA Writing Center Workshop: Basic PowerPoint

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Basic PowerPoint Skills (MAC version)

To design an effective PowerPoint presentation, you must think about your audience, your

subject matter and then how to design your presentation.

1. Your audience will be all the people your presentation will reach.

2. Your subject matter will be the message your PowerPoint is trying to convey.

3. Your presentation incorporates all that you do to communicate your subject matter to

your audience.

Good PowerPoint projects come from making design decisions that fit the presentation’s

purpose, so you should base every design decision in your presentation on what would be

suitable for your audience relative to what works the best with your subject matter.

As part of this process it is a good idea to make a to-do list before you start:

Presentation to-do list

• Decide what you are going to include in the PowerPoint

• In a Word file, draft the titles of each section/slide

• Pick images / tables / charts you are going to use and save them in a separate folder or file.

• Consider the time it would take to present each slide; pick only the most important information.

Organizing your PowerPoint Presentation

How you organize your presentation will differ depending on the content, audience and

purpose of your presentation. Decide how you want to organize your presentation.

Possible Organization Strategies

The order of your PowerPoint will depend on what you think your audience needs. If they

need clarity in your presentation because you think there is a risk of them getting lost in your

complicated points, you might start by giving them an overview of the order and goals of

your presentation, then proceed into the “Body” of your presentation, making your points and

providing your evidence, and finally wrap everything up with a conclusion of what you went

over (it’s important if you choose this ordering scheme to not be repetitive in your

vocabulary).

Overview ► Body ► Conclusion

If, on the other hand, your audience might be bored even before you start, you might start

with an anecdote. Using an amusing or emotionally compelling story can get your audience

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invested in your presentation right away.

Anecdote ► Content ► Conclusion

Similarly, if you are attempting to convince an audience to establish something new such as

buying new chairs or starting a recycling program, and are facing an audience that demands

your presentation be short and to the point, you can start with the plan of action you suggest,

then discuss the benefits of that plan, and once your audience is hooked perhaps throw in an

anecdote at the end to make the plan’s benefits real in your audience’s mind. Whatever you

do, organize your PowerPoint conscientiously and create it squarely for the benefit of your

audience.

Plan ► Benefits ► Anecdote

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Getting Started

1. Open Microsoft PowerPoint and choose Blank Presentation.

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2. Select Layout and choose which layout you want to use.

Remember you can choose different layouts for different slides.

3. When you add titles ensure the text is large – at least size 40. When you add other

text, it should be at least size 28. Choose a clear easy to read font e.g. Times New

Roman, Arial or Calibri.

4.

General rule: Do not use more than two different fonts in a presentation.

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5. To insert images select Insert then select Pictures.

6. Find the image you want to insert on your computer and select it.

Then select Insert.

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And insert the image….

Animations

Animations allow you to reveal text and images on one slide at different times. This is useful

because the presenter can focus the audience’s attention on the point they want to focus on

without distracting the audience with information they will be talking about later. Animations

should be used sparingly. It is recommended you only use the appear animation because the

animations can be distracting.

7. To add animations to your presentation, select Animation. Highlight the text you

want to animate and select Appear

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Note, you can only check your animations when your presentation is in Slide Show mode.

Do’s and Don’ts When Preparing Presentations

Do’s Don’ts

Save your work frequently (Ctrl+S)

Backup your work frequently (every day, if

possible)

Store each presentation and its associated

files in its proper folder

Be brief (no more than 6 bullets/points per

slide)

Use appropriate fonts: big (min. 28pts) and

clear (sans-serif). If possible, test your

slides: run the slide show and see if you can

read your slides from the last row of the

room where you will be presenting.

Use appropriate colours: not too bright,

high contrast, consistent. Remember that

what looks good on your monitor does not

necessarily look good on the big screen.

Create contrast using font size, colours.

Put everything you present on the slides.

Remember that slides are just a visual aid --

if you overload them, the audience will end

up trying to read the slides and not paying

attention to you.

Use different colours / fonts on every single

slide.

Use bright background colours that will

strain your audience's eyes

Use too many animation effects! They are

VERY distracting for the audience and make

you look like a show-off. Use animation

only to make a point and not to make your

presentation more interesting (use content

to do that!).

Run experiments at the last minute.

Run experiments before you save a

separate copy of your file.

Do’s & Don’ts adapted from: http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/workshops/biomed/ppt/dodont.html