This is a presentation about presentationsAlternately titled: #GettingMetaWithItAlternatively, alternatively titled: Slides on Slides on SlidesAlternatively, alternatively, alternatively titled: Michelle, we get it.

— Peter Norvig, Director of Research, Google

“ PowerPoint doesn’t kill meetings. People kill meetings. But using PowerPoint is like having a loaded AK-47 on the table: you can do very bad things with it.

How to design effective slides● The first rule of creating a great powerpoint (and great presentation) is make sure you’

re appropriately using your text, font, color and use of space on the page● You don’t want your slides to be drowning in bulleted lists with information that would be

much better suited spoken aloud than written on a slide● Having too much information on your slide often causes the number one issue of

PowerPoint presentations, which is speaking to your slides instead of the audience● Having a slide that is crowded with lists and information is a sure-fire way to lose the

attention of your audience● Additionally, when creating a powerpoint slide, you want a strategic use of font and color● Having “fun” text styles, bright text colors, or too many contrasting variables is another

great example of how your PowerPoint design can detract from the main idea of your presentation

● When creating a PowerPoint presentation, each slide should have the main ideas, an eye-catching visual, and text and color uses that emphasize your point, not detract from it.

What Makes a Good Presentation?

● Engaging visuals

● Short, sweet and to the point

● Comfortable use of color

● Key words on slide, main ideas out loud

666(This is not the Devil’s work.)

Bullet List Best Practices● Pay attention to the 6 rule● Bullets help organize your thoughts● Lines should stay within 6 words● Slides should stay within 6 lines● Keep your slides clear and concise● These list provide key takeaways

Use Serif Fonts for Headlines

● Use sans-serif fonts for the body of text

● Serif fonts for large bodies of text is crowded and hard to read

Themes, Layout and Color

● Choose simple, clean theme

● Customization is your friend

● Purposeful use of color

● Let the content speak for itself

Embedding Media

● Embed videos directly

● Keep length less than 2 minutes

● Only use animated text if relevant

● Eliminate use of Word Art

● Utilize PowerPoint SmartArt

● Use SmartArt to organize intricate visuals of your main points and show relationships between main ideas

● Keep levels to 5-6 main points to keep focus clear and concise

● Coordinate colors to the overall color scheme of your presentation

More Resources About Presentations

● 14 PowerPoint Presentation Tips to Make Your PPT Designs More Effective - Hubspot

● Feng Shui Your Microsoft Word Tables - Cult of Pedagogy

Additional Tools● Prezi