Some advice on Power Point presentations

·         The first slide should have the title of the presentation, your name and university, and a short outline.

·         The last slide should have conclusions, preferable in bullet form (like this page).

·         Use large font, particularly on figures and tables.  Remember, one should be able to read the slides from the back of the room.  Probably font 18 and above.  Bold font may also be helpful.

·         Do not put too much on each slide, e.g. lengthy text or many small figures.

·         Don’t get too fancy.  You don’t want flashy graphics, for example, to distract the viewer from the message.  On the other hand, a video clip may be the message and therefore very useful.

·         Be careful with the color scheme.  What may be readable on your computer may not be when projected.  A white background with black font is always safe.  Don’t use background and font that are both dark or nearly the same color, e.g. dark red type on a dark purple background.  In a room that is not completely dark, black font on a yellow background is easiest to read.  If this is not colorful enough for you, try white type on a dark blue background, or any light colored type on a black background.

·         Check your spelling.  There's no excuse for misspelled words with the spell-checkers built into modern software, although these will not catch misuse errors such as "it's" rather than "its," or "data is" rather than "data are."  ("Data is the plural of the Latin "datum."  "It's" is short for "it is" and is not possessive.)

How to:

·         Paste graphics:  Use Edit, Paste Special and then try available formats.  Then use your mouse to move this snapshot and drag the boundaries to change its dimensions, particularly to make certain the font is large enough to be read.

·         Copy the current window into Power Point (or Word or Excel):  Press Alt & Print Screen simultaneously.  Place the cursor where you wish that screen to be displayed.  Then Edit, Paste Special, Bitmap. 

·         Copy everything showing on your screen into Power Point (or Word or Excel):  Same as above, but press Ctrl and Print Screen simultaneously.

Last modified May 7, 2004.  Please contact Professor Wilcox to suggest additions, changes and improvements.