Preparation of Effective PowerPoints

American Society for Reproductive Medicine

Preparation of Effective PowerPoints

Preparation of Effective PowerPoints

PowerPoint tips for inexperienced speakers and those with lots of experience too.


AcknowledgementsAcknowledgements

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine

has reproduced, in part, this educational PowerPoint presentation, with the kind permission of

Peter Greenhouse, Susan Butler

and

Pacific Coast Reproductive Society


The following slides may be of some assistance to those who are preparing their first, or 100th, presentation.

You’d be surprised…


Please Note: ACCME compliance requires all presentations contain a disclosure slide.

Additionally, please refrain from using company trade names, logos, or institution logos.


PowerPoint tips for inexperienced speakers and those with lots of

experience too.

PowerPoint tips for inexperienced speakers and those with lots of

experience too.There are few hard and fast rules about what makes a good presentation. Yet, most people know when they’ve seen one, and have switched off shortly after the start of a poor offering.Your presentation style is an extension of your personality and creativity.The most important rules are: 1 – Keep it short2 – Make it legible.

The following slides may help to illustrate some pitfalls and potential improvements to aid legibility and assist the flow of the talk. Some of the points are a matter of personal taste, but most are self-explanatory…


Beware:Beware:

Conference rooms can be up to 110 feet deep, so small, or indistinct, typefaces, charts with large amounts of numerical data, or graphs, with very thin lines, will not be legible from the back of the room.


•Lighting varies, room to room and venue to venue.

•Keep in mind a light background, with contrasting type, will work best under most conditions.

Backgrounds:Backgrounds:


a Very Boring Slidea Very Boring SlideLet’s

start

with…Let’s start

with…


DON’T do this…DON’T do this…

Very Boring Slide

• Lots of text or technical information• In very small, serif typeface• With poorly contrasting colours• Difficult to read from the back of the room• Solid block of text appearing all at same time• Only one minor point worth emphasizing• Almost impossible to spot the relevant bit• Laser pointer waving vaguely…

revealing severe hand tremor from nervous speaker

Let’s sta

rt with

a…

NB: Don’t use red text against ablue background (red lines are OK)


an Even Worse Slidean Even Worse SlideNow here’s…

Now here’s…


DEFINITELY…DEFINITELY…

DON’T do this!DON’T do this!

Even Worse Slide

• This slide has even more text than the previous slide.• No attempt has been has been made to précise the sentences by

removing the definite or indefinite article or excising unnecessary verbs.

• The sentences spill over the lines creating ‘orphan’ words (as shown above) taking up more space and decreasing legibility.

• Is there anything MORE annoying or distracting than having the bullet points fly in?

• The slide has been written in an even smaller serif typeface.• This black on white ‘Times’ typeface is almost impossible to read

from halfway down the room.• It would be unimaginably tedious if the speaker then proceeded to

read the entire slide verbatim !!!• By now, the audience has gone to sleep or is reading the next

speaker’s abstract – especially if their first language isn’t English.• A laser pointer is virtually invisible when projecting at distance on a

white background – but nobody’s looking by now anyway…

Now here’s an…


a Slightly Better Slidea Slightly Better SlideAnd

now…And

now…

Remember:

The room could be too dark for a black or blue background…

Slightly Better Slide

• Precise sentences wherever possible• Avoid ‘orphan’ words by condensing text to fit single line• Increase typeface size• Don’t bother with full stops• Fancy slide transformations & fly-ins distract severely• Simple ‘appear’ or wipe down / across is neater• Don’t read quotes on slides if you can avoid it because…

audience will be seriously annoyed – especially if their first language is English

• If you MUST use white on black (NOT PREFERABLE), dark red contrasts best

Slightly (Not Much) Better Slide


Less Boring Slide Less Boring SlideAnd an

even…And an

even…


Less Boring SlideLess Boring Slide

• Brighter background

• Better contrasting colors

• Line spacing appropriate to page

• Most relevant part highlighted

• Brighter background

• Better contrasting colors

• Line spacing appropriate to page


• Less text• Sans Serif typeface


Even Less Boring SlideEven Less Boring SlideAnother

…Another

…

Another Less Boring Slide

• Less text

• Larger, sans serif typeface

Better contrasting colors

• Condensed text where needed to fit



Graphic PresentationsGraphic PresentationsAlternate

…Alternate

…

The following two slides contain the same information.

One is legible, the other is not…

Can you tell which is not?

American Society for Reproductive MedicineCases of gonorrhoea seen in GUM clinics England and Wales, 1918 to 1998

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

1918 1924 1930 1936 1942 1948 1954 1960 1966 1972 1978 1984 1990 1996

Num

ber o

f cas

es

Male

Female

Total

Original Source: PHLS Slide Set

Gonorrhoea (E+W) 1925 - 2000

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

Num

ber o

f cas

es

MaleFemale


Present Graphics

Effectively

Present Graphics

Effectively

Other ways

to…Other ways

to…

SEXUAL INFECTION

Feel - WELLSee - NOTHINGPartner - SAME

Had it before you met?

Fancy slide transformations (eg. the following ‘checkerboard’ pattern) are only usefulwhen words, or a diagram, are very similar, with different text – such as in translation

Fundamental point of information in health promotion about STI*

*from: Greenhouse P. Destigmatising sexual health clinics Brit J Sexual Med 1996; 23 (5): 12-16

Tubal Damage

Vaginal Abnormal Discharge Bleeding

PrePre-menopause-menopause

Hormonal Milieu

Infection

Tubalni Šteta

Vaginalni

Abnormalno Iscjedak Krvarenje

PrePre-menopause-menopause

Hormonalna Sredina

Zaraza


DON’T…read your slides

DON’T…read your slides

A tip…A tip…

rather, look at your audience, while you elaborate on the content.


DO...know your slides

DO...know your slides

Another tip…

Another tip…

duplicate a slide, instead of scrolling back to refer to a previously viewed slide.


Two Ways to

Finish

Two Ways to

Finish

In

conclusion…In

conclusion…


DON’T do this…DON’T do this…


• Don’t try to write the full text of your conclusion on the slide.

• Please don’t read your conclusion verbatim from the slide.

• Don’t spend ages thanking all your co-workers by name as in an Oscar acceptance speech– a simple credit slide at the beginning or end will do.

• Do practice the talk & its timing in front of colleagues• Do précis data & text on slides wherever possible• Remember – you’ve only got 35 or 45 minutes• Get a colleague to think of some difficult questions &

work out brief answers yourself.• If you don’t know the answer – just say so! It’s a great

way of disarming the questioner & you can move on to the next point quickly…

Don’t fly text

in…

Don’t cram too much onto one

slide…

Don’t follow all this advice to

the letter…!


DO do this…DO do this…

Better Conclusion Slide• Summarize with bullet points

• Don’t read from slide

• Don’t use full sentences on slide

• Speak full text over slide bullets

• Finish with most significant finding

…or raise an unanswered question

Finally• Leave a blank slide at the end to help

the switch-over to the next presentation

Like this…


We appreciate any suggestions, or additions, to this presentation that you

think will improve the learning experience and the quality of faculty presentations.

We appreciate any suggestions, or additions, to this presentation that you

think will improve the learning experience and the quality of faculty presentations.

Please e-mail suggestions or comments to

[email protected]

Please e-mail suggestions or comments to

[email protected]

Preparation of Effective PowerPoints

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