PowerPoints

After reading the articles regarding ways to improve your powerpoints, I definitely learned a lot. I found the last article "Really Bad Powerpoint - and How to Avoid It" the most helpful. Although it was tedious to read, the information was much more in depth and constructive than "Top Ten Slide Tips" and "Recommendations for Faculty on Powerpoint". Still, "Top Ten Slide Tips" offered quick and simple ways to clean up a presentation. "Recommendations for Faculty on Powerpoint" provided insight on how to better make a PowerPoint presentation, but was not as specific as the other articles.

I encourage my fellow students (including those not in Computer Skills) to read these articles in order to improve presentations. I actually used them for a presentation in my Mass Media class just after reading them! The suggestions made in the articles are helpful and accurate. If trying to sell a product to a potential investor, would you have silly dancing letters fly in and out of the screen? Likely not. So here's my five favorite ways to improve a Powerpoint (or criticize a bad one):

1. Don't write too many things on a slide.

- I know I've tuned out speakers to read the difficult slides or I've completely zoned out because I didn't feel up to reading all that material.

2. Avoid overwhelming transitions into slides.
- I think that a few transitions can actually be beneficial to a presentation, but kept to an absolute minimum and may not be appropriate depending on the subject being discussed.
3. Don't use cheesy clip art.
- It lowers the maturity of your presentation.
4. Use backgrounds that are appropriate and original.
- If you're going to use a Powerpoint template background, at least change the color theme.
5. Reinforce your words with your slides, don't repeat them.
- This works on many levels. Your presentation will be balanced and interesting, you're not simply killing time with a useless slide, and you will stay on topic.

These are important ideas that I gathered from the articles selected (Top Ten Slide Tips," "Recommendations for Faculty on Powerpoint" and "Really Bad Powerpoint - and How to Avoid It"). My presentations have been far from perfect, but these ideas will undoubtedly improve them. I hope they will be beneficial to you!

Thanks for reading,

John Runge
jrunge@trinity.edu