creating great presentations basic steps to remember!
TRANSCRIPT
Presentation Basics!• Orientation & contrast
• Font size & style
• 4x7 rule – KISS
• Balanced designs
• Text & capitalization rules
• Transitions & animation
Contrast Light type on a dark background is
easier to read Be consistent Do not change colors on every
slide Exception – if you are changing
focus, ideas or presenters
Readability - Font Style
This is sans serif (Arial)
• easier to read
• best for video This is serif (Times New Roman)
• fills in screen
• harder to read
Readability – the Rule
4/7 x 4/7 rule
4/7 lines of text MAX
4/7 words per line MAX
Follow the 4x7 Rule
Balanced Design
Bullet points should not be centered Presents a ragged look
Difficult to follow text in a presentation
Always left-align bullets
Balanced Design Titles can be centered, left-aligned
or right-aligned Keep text and graphics neat, easy
to follow Try using an anchor element Picture/graphic placed in the same
position on each slide
Balanced Design
Place graphics to the left or off center
Left placement leads eye to text
Allows room for text Presentation is more
interesting
Text & Capitalization Rules
Bullets are followed by a capital letter No periods Avoid all caps This is an Example of Capitalizing
Only the Important Words More Formal but more Decisions
Keep it Simple!
Refrain from having audience read long lines of text like this one
Lengthy text forces down the point size, making the slide difficult to read
Lengthy text distracts from the main message being delivered
This is 24 point Arial
This is 36 point Arial
Transitions
Avoid distracting transitions and review
The way in which the presentation moves from one slide to the next
Animations
How text or graphics come on the slide
Use consistency with animations Too much movement reduces
readability Always review animations
Animation
Text may fly in from the right, left, bottom, or top
Or, text can come from any direction
It can swivel, swirl, fade…
Planning Your Presentation There are three major sections:
• Objective slide – tell them what you’re going to tell them
• Content slides – tell them
• Closing slide – tell them what you just told them
Remember…When planning your presentation
keep in mind the following: Orientation should be landscape Light type on a dark background is
easiest to read Font size should be 36pts Use a san serif font
Remember…
4/7x4/7 rule – no more than 4 to 7 lines per slide, no more than 4 to 7 words on each line
Balance your design Capitalize the first word of a
bullet Avoid using all caps