How to create an effective presentation

During our first class, you will be creating a PowerPoint presentation about yourself. These are some basic guidelines for creating effective PowerPoint presentations:

• Define
  
  • Who is your audience?
    Are they doctors, mechanics, or teachers? Do you need to define certain profession-specific terms?
  
  
  • What are their needs?
    What do they need to know? Why are they here?
  
  
  • What are their expectations?
    What does your audience expect to learn? What questions do they want you to answer?
  
  
  • How much do they already know?
    Does your audience have a basic understanding of the topic or must you provide additional background information?
  
  
  • How can you help your audience to understand your message?
    Can you use illustrations, videos, sound bytes to help get your point across?


• Develop
  
  • Identify the purpose of the presentation
    Why are you giving the presentation in the first place? What is your goal?
  
  
  • Research your topic
    What do you already know about the topic? What more can you learn?
  
  
  • Brainstorm
    Let those creative juices flow!
  
  
  • Create a story board
    Sketch an outline of your main idea, key points, and the final message you want your audience to take home with them.
    
    
    • Title Slide
    
    
    • Introduction
    
    
    • Key Points
    
    
    • Conclusion


• Edit
  
  • Make your text concise
    After you have an idea what you want to say, trim it down to bullet point format.
  
  
  • Use consistent verb tense
    Always use past tense or always use present tense but do not mix them up!
  
  
  • Utilize strong action verbs
    Avoid passive voice. Say "The blogger is posting the assignment" rather than "The assignment is being posted."
  
  
  • Eliminate excessive adjectives and adverbs
    Save those for the oral commentary. Write, "He bought a sports car" and then say, "He bought a cherry red, Porsche 911."


• Simplify
  
  • One key concept per slide
    If you find yourself with two (or more!) key ideas on a slide, break it up into two (or more) slides.
  
  
  • Use the 7x7 rule
    Try to limit yourself to seven words per line and seven lines per slide. Be careful, though: this is a guideline, not a law. If you have a line that needs eight words to be clear, use eight words - they're free.


• Spellcheck!