Transcript PowerPoint Tips - College of Education

Prepared by
Carmen Winter, Allison Terry, and Karen Bybee
for
CAT520 – Dr. Vivian Wright - Computer Graphics Education, Fall 2009
The University of Alabama
Creating a great PowerPoint presentation requires much more than text, bullet
points, and random clip-art. To capture and maintain the attention of your
audience, you also need a good design. Our goal with this short presentation is to
teach you how to improve your next PowerPoint Presentation by using the proper
balance of Concept, Components, and Composition.
Let’s get started with the first “C”… Concept!
Theme, connotation,
message and style
make up the Concept.
When developing your presentation you first need to define the overall concept.
Define the purpose and message of the presentation – completely. Write it out
and refer to it often during the development process to make sure you stay on
focus.
Stay focused,
don’t ramble.
What do I really want to say?
Why?
Careful not to get too
detailed.
Now that you have defined the purpose, consider the overall style of the
presentation. How will you keep the audience interested? The style should
be appropriate for the subject and the audience.
What will your style be?
Serious and Formal
OR
Fun and Whimsical
With the style determined, it’s time to choose a theme. This might include a catchphrase or tag-line to help set the mood for your audience.
Click for
tag-line examples
Yes We CAN!
Master the Opportunities in Change
Keep the language of the presentation appropriate for your audience. Don’t use
jargon or abbreviations unless the audience will understand them.
• Proper use of the thing-a-ma-jig saves lives
of the FPS crew.
• The JJP team will enforce CC rules to the
general employee group by fiscal year end.
Consider ways to interact with and engage your audience during the presentation.
These might be added through a question or quiz. Pre-discussion quizzes are a
great way to get people thinking about the topic before it’s been discussed.
The length of your presentation is an important factor. Your audience may find it
interesting up to the first few slides and then begin to tune it out wondering if
you’ll ever get to the “Summary” or “Questions?” slide.
Awww… don’t
leave. I only have
20 more slides!
Components are the visual
elements used within a design.
Photos, illustrations, icons,
typography, line-work, decoration,
borders and backgrounds are all
components.
As you build your components, the first thing to remember is keep it simple! Too
many graphics or colors can become confusing to your audience. They get lost in
the design and miss the message.
What is going on in this illustration?
Where is the focus?
This illustration is clean,
organized and easy to follow.
Next, think about the overall color scheme. It should harmonize and support the
concept and message. Colors carry physiological, cultural, personal, emotional, and
expressive implications.
 Use appropriate images for your presentation. If using multiple images, make
sure they are all the same theme and have the same general look. There is
nothing worse than seeing a presentation made up of 20 different clip art pieces
with unmatched colors and style.
 Photos can be altered within PowerPoint by cropping the picture/image,
adjusting the contrast, or changing the tint.
 Clip art can be ungrouped and drastically edited to become totally new pieces.
This clip art flows with the rest
of the art in the presentation.
Here’s the same character,
but with poor color choices!
Charts are considered to be images, as well. Remember, simple is better. Save the
details for a printed report. Choose the colors and contrast schemes carefully.
Make sure the data can be interpreted clearly from the back of the room.
This graph is unclear and has
no apparent meaning.
This graph is clear and easily
interpreted.
Number of Students Per Class
 The font of your presentation should match the style of the presentation. Your
style may be formal, informal, or somewhere in-between.
 Stay with one or two font colors. Choose strong contrasting colors between the
font and the background (dark font/light background OR light font/dark
background).
 The best test of your presentation is to display it on the projector, and stand at
the back of the room. Can you see it clearly?
Good scheme for projected text
Good scheme for printed text
Composition is the way in which a
design is visually combined and
arranged. Composition addresses
grouping, spacing, placement,
visual hierarchy, alignment, and
visual flow within a layout.
Composition
Grouping can be used to visually guide viewers through the message that is being
portrayed. A group of objects can usually be seen as one item. Valuable grouping
guides the viewer to find the most important information.
Circles ungrouped and
in random order.
Circles grouped to form
paw prints in a path.
Spacing is an area between the graphic elements and text on a page. Sometimes
placing empty space between different parts of information allows a more
noticeable transition between ideas. Careful use of space can give a presentation a
classic, elegant, or rich appearance.
Placement allows the viewer to determine the most important parts of the layout
through the spatial relationships of elements. Human eyes typically look from the
top left to the bottom right. Similarly, the visual hierarchy of the layout is most
effective when importance is determined from top to bottom.
Alignment is the location of elements in a layout. Items can be aligned to the left,
center, right, or justified (aligns both left and right).
Left justified
Groups that are
aligned top/left
typically seem more
important than if the
same information
was right/bottom
aligned.
Justified
Justified alignment is
used when there is a
lot of text. This is most
evident in newspapers
and magazines with a
lot of information but
not a lot of space.
Right justified
Most people assume
that alignment is used
for text only, but this
can be done with
images, too.
Visual flow determines how a viewer’s mind follows the design. Typically, we read
designs from left to right, as we would if reading a book. Effective forms that help
a presentation flow are arrows, sequential images and texts, and size changes that
can help your audience follow a particular path.
Concept
Composition
Components
 PowerPoint offers several ways to animate your presentation. This includes
transitions for slides, words, paragraphs, and many other elements. While
animation is wonderful for capturing the attention of your audience, use it
cautiously. Too much animation can make them dizzy or confused.
 If you are using the auto-timing features, practice the presentation multiple
times to make sure you have it timed correctly.
 Sound and video can easily be incorporated to presentations. Be cautious of file
sizes, though. They can slow down your computer.
 Hyperlinks can take you directly out of your presentation to a website. While
this is a great asset, use them sparingly! It’s best to add a list of resources at the
end of your presentation.
All animations, sounds, videos and hyperlinks should be tested carefully
to make sure they work BEFORE the presentation.
Here are a few great resources to help you build a great PowerPoint!
Click on the pictures to go directly to the websites.
Create graphics in PowerPoint.
A free screen capture tool.
How to embed video
into PowerPoint 2007
A webcast tool for creating
multimedia from anything on
your computer.
Make your own characters!
A lesson and guide
in color theory.
Concept, Components, and Composition…
We hope by now you’ve learned that the three should work together in harmony
and support the message for the intended audience.
Continue to review your work as you develop your presentation, making changes
and improvements when needed. Study the designs of people you admire and
respect in your field. It’s okay to borrow ideas from them. Just remember to follow
copyright and fair use procedures.