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Creating an Effective PowerPoint Presentation
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Hints for a successful presentation: 

    • Plan carefully
    • Do your research
    • Know your audience
    • Time your presentation 
    • Practice your presentation 
    • Speak comfortably and clearly 
Effective PowerPoint Slides
    • Use design templates
    • Standardize position, colors and styles 
    • Include only necessary information 
    • Limit the information to essentials
    • Content should be self-evident
    • Use colors that contrast 
    • Be consistent with effects, transitions and animation 
    • Too many slides can lose your audience
Text guidelines
    • Generally no more than 6 words a line
    • Generally no more than 6 lines a slide
    • Avoid long sentences
    • Larger font indicates more important information 
    • Font size generally ranges from 18 to 48 point
    • Be sure text contrasts with background
    • Fancy fonts can be hard to read
    • Words in all capital letters are hard to read
    • Avoid abbreviations and acronyms
    • Limit punctuation marks
Clip Art and Graphics
    • Should balance the slide 
    • Should enhance and complement the text, not overwhelm 
    • No more than two graphics per slide
PowerPoint presentations can also saved in HTML format and inserted in a Web page. 

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© Virginia Montecino July 1999