P resentation programs like Microsoft Power-Point, also known as “slideware,” present textand graphics in a consistent format on a se-

ries of slides to display on a computer. When pro-jected for an audience, they must also be readable ata distance. Largely absent in the stampede to jumpon the slideware bandwagon is careful considera-tion of the e ff e c t i v e n e s s of this media, as popularlyemployed, for the purpose of education and the ef-fects it has on language learning. Like computersin general, slideware is a tool that can be used wise-ly to advantage or unwisely for a waste of time.

USE THE TOOL—DON’T LET IT USE YOU

Though supposedly designed to present content,PowerPoint is pre-occupied with format. We can’tassume, therefore, that students can use it to createa meaningful presentation without instru c t i o n ,guidance, and critical feedback on the effectivenessof their slideshow as a visual aid that actually en-hances their presentation. Creating an effectiveslideshow starts with mastering the basics and con-centrating on the message, not the medium.

THE ELEMENTAL SLIDE

Because of space limitations, slides often need to dis-play talking points in outline format, which also serv eas notes for the pre s e n t e r, so she doesn’t have to lookdown at separate notes. Slides also display graphics,such as charts, diagrams, photos, and illustrations.Most everything else is extraneous to the message.

PowerPoint for the Tweed CrowdA guide for students and teachers†

† Adapted from C o m p u t e r-assisted Language Learn i n g : A Practical Guide for Te a c h e r s , John de Szendeffy (© University of Michigan Press, 2004).

CO M P ON E N T S O F A S L I D E S H OW

Slide: what you view one at a time like a single page in aword processing document; a slideshow comprises asequence of slides.

Master slide: the slide that all others are based on, con-taining repeating elements—presentation title, presen-ter name, slide number, company logo—that automati-cally appear on every slide.

Template: a ready-made design with text and graphicboxes already in place.

Wi z ard (or “AutoContent W i z a rd” in PP): a utility to assistin creating a slideshow by offering a limited set of choic-es in step-by-step pro c e d u re s , h aving the user choose abasic layout type from among a few generic choices aswell as a background design and color scheme.

Background: a custom image used as the graphic back-ground on a slide (usually the master). Backgroundimages need to be semi-transparent to recede intothe background and keep foreground text readable.

Text box: holds text that can be formatted just as in aword processor and can be moved around the slideand reshaped, which affects how the text flows; sever-al text and picture boxes can coexist on a slide.

Picture box: holds an image from an existing image file,the clipboard, or clip art.

Animation: the orchestrated movement of text or pic-tures on a slide with varying speeds and visual effects.

Sound effects: added to animations or transitions toaccompany movement.

Transition: visual effect of one slide going to the next.

Hyperlink: linked text or graphic that opens the desig-nated page in Web browser.

Don’t let PowerPointdistort your ideas.

2 PowerPoint for the Tweed Crowd (from Computer-assisted Language Learning: A Practical Guide for Teachers, John de Szendeffy)

The weight of each slide needs to be appro p r i a t efor the amount of time the presenter will spend talk-ing about it. The audience will read all the text thatfits on a slide in seconds, a fraction of the time it willlikely remain up. Graphics provide balance for thetext and convey far m o re inform a t i o n in as much space,occupying viewers’ attention longer.

THE LOOK

A simple, clean, bright background design pro v i d e shigh c o n t r a s t and readability for dark text without in-t e rfering with the content. Many built-in Power-Point t e m p l a t e s ( ready-made designs) are too dark andb u s y. Although each slide could be an entirely diff e r-ent design from the others, consistent backgro u n dand layout draw less attention away from content.

A custom layout of larger text boxes could makebetter use of space than the small boxes used ontemplates. And a custom image related to the con-tent used as the graphic background of every slidecan be added to the master slide for a strong cus-tom-made look.

First time users might be attracted to the “Au-toContent Wizard” (Fig. 1), which works like aWeb page wizard—with similarly uninspiring re-sults. This utility assists in creating a slideshow byoffering a limited set of choices in a step-by-stepprocedure. The user chooses a basic layout typefrom among a few generic or corporate choices aswell as a slide design. The wizard creates slideswith placeholder text and image boxes that you re-place with your own. You will still need to changesome elements to fit your exact content. Be warnedthat the familiarity of the stock design to many au-diences and the awkward fit of your content mayexpose your use of this novice device.

THINKING OUTSIDE THE LIST

Many PowerPoint users feel compelled to contorttheir information into the hierarchical bullet listformat of templates. Bullets shun complete sen-tences to conserve room, but it’s the embedded hi-erarchal format resulting from the indented listthat crowds itself to the right side of the slide, leav-ing a large empty space on the left (Fig. 2).

Instead, display the data in a format most ap-propriate to its analysis—a table, schematic, flow-chart, clustering bubbles, or other visual represen-tation—using complete sentences if your meaningwould be distorted or diluted with compressedheadline phrases.

Bullet lists use slide space inefficiently, compressing text to the lowerright corner, leaving the void filled by unhelpful clip art.

Pick a c a t e g o r y and purpose for the slideshow, click N e x t, thenanswer the questions that follow. The Wizard will produce severalslides. The placeholder text on the slides also provide prompts forwhat type of information would go on each heading, each bulletedlist. This very generic approach to layout and content will not likelyconform to content already developed.

Fig. 1 — The AutoContent Wizard utility.

Fig. 2 — How indented lists work themselves into a corner.

3PowerPoint for the Tweed Crowd (from Computer-assisted Language Learning: A Practical Guide for Teachers, John de Szendeffy)

THE GIMMICKS

S o f t w a re developers may add features to pro g r a m sfor marketing purposes without any demonstratedreason to use them—PowerPoint being a case inpoint. To keep students thinking about their con-tent instead of amusing themselves with gimmicks,tell them what to a v o i d .

Animating text or pictures with a variety ofspeeds and visual effects adds little but distrac-tion, delay, and a frivolous feel. Functional an-imations, on the other hand, such as one thatdelays text or pictures in order to evoke an au-dience response first, may contribute to the ef-fectiveness of a presentation.

Most built-in clip art in slideware is genericenough to add little or nothing illustrative tothe slide and goofy enough to threaten thecredibility of the presenter. Instead, use yourown images, ones that illustrate specificallywhat you’re talking about.

Adding sound effects to distracting animationsbuilds on the frivolity effect to a gratuitouslyannoying intensity.

Subtle transitions have a purpose. Some resem-ble ones familiar to film and video: fades, dis-solves, iris open or close. And just as film andvideo editing observe a grammar of such tech-niques, so do professional-looking slideshows.A transition should provide an appropriatesegue to the next slide and prepare the viewerfor what follows while signaling a change inslide, not draw attention to the transition ef-fect itself (such as with sound effects). Whenin doubt, consider the fastest, least intrusivetransition for the entire slideshow.

THE DANGERS

As a Crutch. Some inexperienced presenters,particularly those using a second language,mistakenly see slideware as a crutch they canlean on to prop up poor presentation or lan-guage skills. This notion assumes that what’son the screen will divert the audience from thepresenter. On the contrary, coordinating ascreen presentation with an oral presentationwhile attempting to keep the audience in-volved (or awake) and dealing with technicalglitches on the fly only complicates the task.

As a telepro m t e r. An inexperienced or nerv o u sp resenter might be tempted to read the slidesverbatim as a telepromter—an excrutiatingly an-noying practice to any audience—rather thanuse it as an outline of a more complete narr a t i v e .

Distorts preparation. Obsession with the ap-pearance and “features” (see Gimmicks) of aslideshow can distort preparation if a presenterfocuses dispro p o rtionately on creating theslideshow itself (especially one laden with ef-fects) at the cost of thinking about and rehears -ing what he’s going to say.

Discourages interaction. Slideshow pre s e n t a t i o n soften re p resent pre s e n t e r- c e n t e red, one-waycommunication. Where the lights are turn e dout, interaction with the audience is furthur puto ff or made awkward. Without interaction, then,the process becomes one of transferring infor-mation in one direction but without a suitablycapable means of doing so: the information for-mat is reductionist, the graphics simplified andlow resolution.

Powe r Point features to avo i d

animationsclip artsound effectselaborate transitions

The dan g e rs of using Powe r Po i n t

used as a crutchused as a telepromterdistorts preparationdiscourages audience interactionsells better than explainsreduces complex ideasfragments complex information

4 PowerPoint for the Tweed Crowd (from Computer-assisted Language Learning: A Practical Guide for Teachers, John de Szendeffy)

Sells better than explains. The information designtheorist Edward R. Tufte, in a stinging indict-ment of PowerPoint, suggests that imposing thebullet list format organizes information simplis-t i c a l l y, defying analysis of complex re l a t i o n s h i p s ,and is suited to s e l l i n g an idea but not e x p l a i n i n gi t .1 The problem, he concludes, has to do withthe relative “density” of information that can fiton a slide—a paucity—particularly on a genericPowerPoint template, compared to the printedpage or even a Web page. (See table on page 5.)

R e d u c t i v e. The limited density inherent in slides,Tufte says, is compounded by “rules” that slide-w a re proponents impose on users, codifying themaximum number of words on a line and lineson a slide and reducing all information, all analy-ses to hierarchical bullet lists written in a “chop-

py style that impedes understanding.” The com-p ressed phrasing of bullet lists leave out the nar-rative between the points that the pre s e n t e rshould supply but often doesn’t.

F r a g m e n t a t i o n. Because each slide holds so littlei n f o rmation, many slides must be used, frag-menting information and making comparisonsor meaningful analyses of large amounts of dataimpossible. The greatest damage, there f o re, re-sults from the design of the software guiding orlimiting what would otherwise be an analyticala p p roach, rendering a presentation far less eff e c-tive at transmitting information than one wherea paper handout was distributed, which coulddisplay in one view much more information forcomparison and analysis.

INFORMATION DENSITY: SLIDES VS. A PAPER

The table on the facing page (p. 5), comparing file saving options, would re q u i re at least 22 slides, aspan in the display of information that would render a comprehensive comparison in a slideshow im-practical if not impossible. Below are the first 6 slides of such a slideshow.

1 Tufte, E.R., “The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint.” Self-published monograph, 2003. www.edwardtufte.com.

6 PowerPoint for the Tweed Crowd (from Computer-assisted Language Learning: A Practical Guide for Teachers, John de Szendeffy)

Content first

Write your text outline first, spell check it, anddouble-check the grammar. People will be look-ing at what you’ve written—because they’ll havelittle else to do—and will notice any mistakes.

Don’t get caught up with effects before finishingyour text—if at all. Focus on content beforeform, just as in your writing in general.

Your first slide should be a title slide and thelast a closing slide, either may stay visible toyour audience for considerably longer thanany other slide. Make both informative andinteresting.

A title slide should include your presen-tation title, your name, class informa-tion, and a graphic to stir interest (or textover a screen-filling graphic).

A closing slide should include your con-tact information and references for fur-ther information.

Mechanics

A slideshow is simply made up of a series of slides,and each slide has text objects and/or graphicobjects arranged around each other or the textoverlays (is on top of) a graphic.

Avoid the AutoContent Wizard, but create your

first practice slideshows using one of Power-Point’s built-in templates. While not ideal (theydon’t make good use of space), they offer sounddesign examples vis-à-vis color contrast of textand background and text size. When you be-come comfortable with making slides, createcustom designs from “blank” slides that are morespecifically suited to your subject and audience.New users without design experience makingcustom slides might make problematic stylechoices on their own at first.

For objects or information that will repeat on everyslide (e.g., slide number, date, title, author, com-pany logo) use a master slide (View > Master >Slide Master). Each new slide will then containthose elements automatically.

For custom slide designs, if you use a backgroundimage on a master slide, apply the Watermarkoption on the image toolbar with the image se-

Tips for Using PowerPoint for Academic Presentations

The slideshow is a visual supplement to your presentation, not the presentation itself. At best, itcan only help illustrate your points, not give your presentation. If the audience is focussing onyour slideshow, then they might be bored with you. What you say and how you say it is the mainevent. Be careful that your slideshow provides a visual supplement to what you say instead oflimiting what you say or distracting you or your audience. Spend more time on what you plan tosay than creating the slideshow. Most of these tips apply to any slideshow presentation program.

Fig. 1 — Picking a slideshow template for practice

7PowerPoint for the Tweed Crowd (from Computer-assisted Language Learning: A Practical Guide for Teachers, John de Szendeffy)

lected (Picture Tool-bar > Image Control >Wa t e rm a r k). Theb a c k g round imageshould not interf e rewith the readability ofthe foreground content.Resize the image to fitthe entire slide. Crop ifnecessary.

For large presentations with several distinct sec-tions, use a different color slide background foreach section to distinguish them, such as differ-ent page or margin colors for chapters in a refer-ence book.

PowerPoint applications of the same version are thesame on Macs and PCs. It’s the same file type.They are equally backwards compatible; that is,they can open documents created on either plat-form from earlier versions of PowerPoint.

On PCs, access common commands using the rightmouse button. On Macs, access the same com-mands using the Control key with a mouse click.

Text

Text on a slide is much larger than printed text be-cause it must be readable from a distance. De-fault sizes for text range from 44 points for head-ings to 28–20 for indented lists.

Use as much text as will fit on a slide at the font sizesPowerPoint gives you, enlarging the text box ifn e c e s s a ry. Because of these space limitations, thelist format may work better than prose but only ifthe information is suitable to a list to begin with. U n-like printed type, a slide for a presentation high-lights facts, figures, and salient points illustratedwith images, which you explain in more detailand connect with a narr a t i v e .

Adjust the size and shape of text boxes to accom-modate the length of text contained within themand work around adjacent pictures, unless over-laying the graphic with the text. (If a graphic ortext box has the text wrap feature enabled, thentext automatically flows around it on the sameline).

Don’t use nonstandard fonts. PowerPoint is ma-chine-dependent, which means that if youchoose to use the font “Bodini MT Ultra Bold,”then any computer that plays that slideshow willalso have to have that font. If it doesn’t, then itwill substitute another and your layout will like-ly change. To be safe on a variety of computers,stick to the default PowerPoint fonts: Arial forheadings and Times New Roman for lists orlonger text.

Graphics, animations, transitions

Use relevant images—staring at text alone on aslide is boring—but avoid the built-in clip art,which tend to be silly and unhelpful.

An image conveys far more information than textfilling the same space. Enlarge important im-ages to fill the entire slide rather than squeezingthem in to accommodate text that’s not critical tothe point or doesn’t need to be shown.

Text can overlay an image by adjusting its layer po-sition to bring it to the front (Draw menu > Or-der). Graphic and text boxes each occupy a layeron the slide, the order of which can bechanged—forward and backward.

• click on an image• look at the Picture

Toolbar for image editingoptions

• choose Watermark

Fig. 3 — Moving objects frontward or backward

Fig. 2 — Applying a Wat ermark e ffe ct w ith the Pic ture To o l b a r

The lower left corner of a slide may developspace for a small graphic (not clipart) when us-ing text in indented lists, which move fartherand farther to the right.

Resize graphics p ro p o rtionally (changing heightand width by the same percentage) using one ofthe four c o rn e r s of the graphic box (see Fig. x).The resizing handles in the middle of the sideswill only stretch the X axis (top, bottom) or Y axis(sides), thereby distorting the shape of the image.

In general, avoid animating objects. Text cartwheeling onto the slide might be somewhatamusing once, but it distracts from your mes-sage. Animations also tend to look cooler onyour computer screen than they do projectedon a big screen before an audience. Use func-tional animation effects instead, such as a textbox where successive bulleted items appear oneat a time to coordinate with your talking aboutone before the next is introduced. Or, delayshowing text or graphics on a slide for suspenseor to allow the audience to guess or predict it.

If using transitions between slides, pick one thatgoes to the next slide quickly and stick with it.Using a different transition between every slidedistracts from your message.

• a transition that opens up from the center, like a

camera lens, opens up a new topic

• one that closes to the center ends a topic.

• simple right-to-left transitions (“push left” or“wipe left”) simulate the turning of a page whileclearly signaling that the slide has changed.

If you add sound to your presentation, you will needsome way of a m p l i f y i n g it when you play it for al a rge audience. The computer running yourp resentation should have external speakers thatcan be aimed toward the audience. Sound filesthat play automatically when a slide appears mayslow down your slideshow (how fast a slide loadsand can be exited) and will increase its file size.

Printing/Saving

Save your presentation file early and often. Thedefault saving format is “Presentation” (.ppt)which is an editable version. If you want to senda finished presentation to someone, use the“PowerPoint Show” (.pps) file type in the SaveAs… dialog box. The latter is read-only (cannotbe modified) and opens automatically inslideshow mode (full screen).

Place-holder text is text on slides from built-intemplates, e.g., “Click to add title,” that you re-place with your content. Place-holder text doesnot print; therefore, you don’t have to delete thebox if it’s not being used.

To practice your pre s e n t a t i o n without a computer,print out the slides. Use the 4-up or 6-up printingoption (under “Print What”) to print 4 or 6 re-duced—though still readable—slides per page tosave paper and allow you to see the next slide whilethinking about the current one. You can also printnotes un-der eachslide thatdo notappear inthe slide-s h o w.

PowerPoint for the Tweed Crowd (from Computer-assisted Language Learning: A Practical Guide for Teachers, John de Szendeffy)8

Proportional resizehandles (corners)

Non-proportional stretchhandles (middle)

Fig. 4 — Resizing vs. stretching an image

Fig. 5 — Printing several slides to a page