Effective PowerPointAdam Kurth

ADM Community School District

December, 2012

Consider the PurposePowerPoint is a presentation supplementEffective uses:

highlight key pointshelpful imagesprovide reference information (i.e., web addresses)create interest in the topic

Consider the AudienceHow does your audience impact …

color / font / background choices? content choices? length considerations? animation implementation?

Content Considerations: SimplifySimplify

avoid paragraphs6x6 rule

Too often, it’s tempting to include too much text on a slide. The tendency is there to write complete sentences and paragraphs, which are then almost impossible to avoid reading verbatim. Even if you don’t read them to the audience, the audience spends their time reading instead of listening to you.

Even worse is when there is so much text on a slide that it ends up needing to be very small to fit. This is especially true in an online class environment, where the slide on a users’ screen is generally not all that sizeable, since it has to fit into an Adobe Connect subwindow

Content Considerations: VisualsAvoid using too many numbers

According to 2008 U.S. Census estimates, only 3.1% and 4.1% of Des Moines MSA residents and Iowans, respectively, have less than a 9th grade education. The percentages with a high school diploma are also close, at 91.3% and 89.6%, respectively, but a tremendous gap is created at the undergrad degree and some college levels, with 14.7% and 14.8% gaps in those areas, respectively.

At lea

st 9

th g

rade

At lea

st H

S Dipl

oma

At lea

st s

ome

colle

ge

At lea

st u

nder

grad

deg

ree

(AA, B

A, etc

.)

Advan

ced

Degre

e0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

Educational Attainment

Des Moines MSAState of Iowa

Source: US Census Bu-reau, 2008 Estimates

Design Considerations: Font

Content Fonts

Arial (sans serif)

Calibri (sans serif)

Tahoma (sans serif)Times New Roman (serif)

Bookman (serif)Garamond (serif)Comic Sans (informal)

Always avoid fonts smaller than 24

Design Fonts

Brush ScriptEarwig FactoryRosewoodSybil GreenHurry UpBurnstownMesquite

Design Considerations: ColorKnow your audienceBe consistentMake sure that text is clear

This is a decent font color for this background color

As is this

This is not

Nor is this

Design Considerations: AnimationUse animation purposively to draw attentionIt is important to avoid distracting animationsDo not talk over your transitions

Presentation Notes

Presentation Notes: How-ToPrint as “Handouts” 3 slides per pageUse oversized text in notes

Engage the audienceeye contactbody orientation

Presentation Follow-UpHandouts

before or after? handout of PowerPoint presentation?

This presentation is available on the ADM Technology Blog (http://admtechnology.wordpress.com)

Effective PowerPointAdam Kurth

ADM Community School District

December, 2012