Powerpoint "tips"

[Mark M]

Im pretty good with the basics of powerpoint but does anyone know of any sites that has any advanced tips etc that I can incorporate into my presentation.

Im doing one for the whole company and really want to make an impact

Thanks for any help

Mark

 

[aaazza]

Haven't got any links but just thought I'd say don't over-do special effects and stuff.

I have sat through a couple of presentations where people are just trying to 'show-off' their powerpoint skills and you've got sounds going off and text flying in from all over the screen on every slide. It does get quite irritating after a while!

Best tip I found with powerpoint is something my old IT teacher used to do. The last thing that appeared on any slide was a green dot in the bottom right corner. That way he knew that the next click would take him onto his next slide and he could make any points relevant to the current slide before moving on to the next one. I always use it in mine now too

aaazza

 

[Mark M]

Good tip thanks. I'll definately use it.

Is there a way that you can make it so that you only progress to the next slide by clicking on the dot?

 

[WillyNelson]

Haven't got any links but just thought I'd say don't over-do special effects and stuff.

I have sat through a couple of presentations where people are just trying to 'show-off' their powerpoint skills and you've got sounds going off and text flying in from all over the screen on every slide. It does get quite irritating after a while!

Agreed. Find/make a scheme you like and stick with it through the whole presentation. Looks much slicker.

 

[aaazza]

Good tip thanks. I'll definately use it.

Is there a way that you can make it so that you only progress to the next slide by clicking on the dot?

Quite possibly. But do you want to be fiddling around with a pointing device clicking on the dot everytime you finish a slide?

aaazza

 

[Syph]

Something we teach all year 7 - 'audience and purpose'. This should underpin your entire presentation; from font choice and size/colour, slide colour design/layout, use of images etc.

Don't put too many points on one slide - it needs to be easy to read from the back of a room.

Avoid custom animations/transitions (although some smooth slide transitions do no harm). Also be careful with how you advance your slide - use the slide timer to see how long it takes to move through each point, to move most automatically. However, you should manually move the slide itself. It looks very professional if you can leave the points to come on automatically but still keep control of the slide themselves.

Practice and practice your slides, add some points of interests (graphs etc - make them clear!) if you can. It should support your presentation, not overbear it.

 

[Syph]

Quite possibly. But do you want to be fiddling around with a pointing device clicking on the dot everytime you finish a slide?

aaazza

You would just make a hyperlink; but it's no easier than pressing ->, n, space or left click it is?

If you've got a presentation remote (which basically has back/forward/pause on), even better.

 

[fini]

Really obvious stuff:
Keep it simple
Don't just read what's on the slide
Don't just use a default template - change it around a bit
Keep it uncluttered
Look at the people you're giving the presentation to not your notes

Other stuff:
Depending on how the presentation's going to be given I sometimes have a few things click able so if anyone asks me a question about a particular slide I can click to go to a page with a more detailed analysis of something.
I find using a wireless mouse helps because then I can stand where I want and just click to move to the next slide - rather than being tethered to the computer.
Know your audience - what do they actually care about.


I always keep mine looking nice, but simple - I never use flying in transitions or anything like that. Occasionally I might have a video half way through to wake people up or a looped video in the background (eg if I'm talking about a power station I might have a helicopter shot of the power station looping around it (nothing too distracting)).

fini