HowtoMakeAttractiveandEffectivePowerPointPresentationsA)MicrosoftPowerPointhasdramaticallychangedthewayinwhichacademicandbusinesspresentationsaremade.ThisarticleoutlinesfewtipsonmakingmoreeffectiveandattractivePowerPointpresentations.TheTextB)Keepthewordingclearandsimple.Useactive,visuallanguage.Cutunnecessarywords—agoodruleofthumbistocutparagraphsdowntosentences,sentencesintophrases,andphrasesintokeywords.Limitthenumberofwordsandlinesperslide.TrytheRuleofFive-fivewordsperline,fivelinesperslide.Iftoomuchtextappearsononeslide,usetheAutoFitfeaturetosplititbetweentwoslides.ClickwithintheplaceholdertodisplaytheAutoFitOptionsbutton(itssymbolistwohorizontallineswitharrowsaboveandbelow),thenclickonthebuttonandchooseSplitTextbetweenTwoSlidesfromthesubmenu.C)Fontsizefortitlesshouldbeatleast36to40,whilethetextbodyshouldnotbesmallerthan24.Useonlytwofontstylesperslide—oneforthetitleandtheotherforthetext.Choosetwofontsthatvisuallycontrastwitheachother.GaramondMediumCondensedandImpactaregoodfortitles,whileGaramondorTempusSanscanbeusedforthetextbody.D)Embedthefontsinyourpresentation,ifyouarenotsurewhetherthefontsusedinthepresentationarepresentinthecomputerthatwillbeusedforthepresentation.Toembedthefonts:(1)OntheFilemenu,clickSaveAs.(2)Onthetoolbar,clickTools,clickSaveOptions,selecttheEmbedTrueTypeFontscheckbox,andthenselectEmbedcharactersinuseonly.E)Usecolorssparingly;twotothreeatmost.Youmayuseonecolorforallthetitlesandanotherforthetextbody.Beconsistentfromslidetoslide.Chooseafontcolorthatcontrastswellwiththebackground.F)Capitalizingthefirstletterofeachwordisgoodforthetitleofslidesandsuggestsamoreformalsituationthanhavingjustthefirstletterofthefirstwordcapitalized.Inbulletpointlines,capitalizethefirstwordandnootherwordsunlesstheynormallyappearcapped.Upperandlowercaseletteringismorereadablethanallcapitalletters.Moreover,currentstylesindicatethatusingallcapitallettersmeansyouareshouting.Ifyouhavetextthatisinthewrongcase,selectthetext,andthenclickShift+F3untilitchangestothecasestylethatyoulike.ClickingShift+F3togglesthetextcasebetweenALLCAPS,lowercase,andInitialCapitalstyles.G)Useboldoritalictypefaceforemphasis.Avoidunderlining,itcluttersupthepresentation.Don’tcenterbulletedlistsortext.Itisconfusingtoread.Leftalignunlessyouhaveagoodreasonnotto.Run“spellcheck”onyourshowwhenfinished.TheBackgroundH)Keepthebackgroundconsistent.Simple,lighttexturedbackgroundsworkwell.Complicatedtexturesmakethecontenthardtoread.Ifyouareplanningtousemanyclipsinyourslides,selectawhitebackground.Ifthevenueofyourpresentationisnotadequatelylight-proof,selectadark-coloredbackgroundanduseanylightcolorfortext.Minimizetheuseof“bellsandwhistles”suchassoundeffects,“flyingwords”andmultipletransitions.Don’tuseredinanyfontsorbackgrounds.Itisanemotionallyoverwhelmingcolorthatisdifficulttoseeandread.TheClipsI)Animationsarebestusedsubtly;toomuchflashandmotioncandistractandannoyviewers.DonotrelytooheavilyonthoseimagesthatwereoriginallyloadedonyourcomputerwiththerestofOffice.YoucaneasilyfindappropriateclipsonanytopicthroughGoogleImages.Whilesearchingforimages,donotuselongsearchphrasesasisusuallydonewhilesearchingtheweb-usespecificwords.J)Whenimportingpictures,makesurethattheyaresmallerthantwomegabytesandareina.jpgformat.Largerfilescanslowdownyourshow.Keepgraphs,chartsanddiagramssimple,ifpossible.Usebargraphsandpiechart...
