Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Further notes on PowerPoint

I used LinkedIn to seek out further information about PowerPoint above and beyond what is in the Rhetoric for Engineers lecture notes.

Christopher Huntley

I use PowerPoint all the time for documenting items like administrative tasks which require screen shots and some bullet points for step by step performance. I like it because it flows easily through many processes. When using it for a presentation, however, the rule of 6 applies:
  • No more than 6 slides without a picture
  • No more than 6 bullet points per slide
  • No more than 6 words per bullet point
Bullet points are there to keep it simple. If everything the presenter can tell me can be [and maybe has been] put on a PowerPoint slide then why do I need the presenter?

When I give a presentation I expect to provide information that is not on the slides thus requiring thought and the audience paying attention.

Daniel Jatovsky

What a presenter should do is write and practice a speech without the use of PowerPoint at all. Such a speech should be interesting and compelling on its own. Then you add PowerPoint to illustrate key points and highlight important concepts.

Kevin Maloney

Your presentation and PowerPoint slides should be above all things persuasive. To be successful one should use PowerPoint as a visual aid: more graphs, pictures, visuals, etc.; fewer words and bullet points.

Christopher Lininger

Atkinson, C. Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire

Tim Shea

I like the 10-20-30 rule: A power point presentation should have no more than 10 slides, not last longer than 20 minutes, and have no font size smaller than 30.

Robert de Loght

As for all presentations, the basis of it all should be a good plan, an overall structure that clearly points out which message has to be conveyed and how. This assumes planning and preparation - often a weak element.

Links supplied by various contributors:I will throw in just one further comment myself here: one quick way to judge the readability of a slide is to place it on the floor and try to read it yourself standing up. If you can read your slide from that position, chances are your audience can see it from some distance from the projector.

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posted by Ron @ 11:13 PM

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