Kate Ippolito
Oral Communication Learning Ar
Brunel University
Presentation description - Kate Ippolito, the LearnHigher Oral Communication Learning Area Coordinator, makes some suggestions for how to design and deliver effective PowerPoint presentations.
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There are number of software packages that enable presenters to produce their visual aids. One of the most popular is PowerPoint. The reason for PowerPoint's popularity is down to three main benefits. The first is its ease of use; it's fairly straightforward to design basis slides using PowerPoint. The second is that it's re-useable and it saves presenters a lot of time preparing visual aids on other tools, including overhead projection transparencies, white boards and flipcharts. And the third reason is, because of its ease of use, it gives less experienced presenters the confidence to present. The information that they want to present is clearly visible to themselves and to the audience.
However, we've all seen PowerPoint presentations that have given rise to the expression 'death by PowerPoint'. And so what I'd like to do today is just to talk to you about some suggestions for doing effective PowerPoint presentations. I'm sure you'll have ideas of your own, based on your own experience and of watching other people giving PowerPoint presentations.
I'd like to start by talking about the structure; how you use PowerPoint to reflect the overall structure of your presentation. Edward Tufte, an expert in the representation of information, criticises PowerPoint because he says that it encourages presenters to over-simplify their ideas, to represent ideas in a bulleted format, which is what PowerPoint defaults to, when actually ideas aren't so straightforward, they don't, they can't be organised into such a straightforward hierarchy. So, as Vikki said in the video, it's useful to use a more creative approach to first of all structure your presentation. Brainstorm to get all the ideas you want. Use a mindmap to organise your ideas into a framework. Then you need to be selective. Throw out all the ideas that aren't entirely relevant to your topic and to your audience. And also make sure that there is a coherent structure before you go to PowerPoint. So don't start designing your presentation by opening PowerPoint and typing onto the first slide. That will lead to the issues that Edward Tufte talks about.
The next thing that I'd like to talk about is how we put text onto the slides. So, another criticism of Edward Tufte's was that presenters often fall into the bad habit of using PowerPoint slides as a script, a guide for where they're going. When we design visual aids we need to think of our audience's needs. We don't want to use PowerPoint as a script, as I've done here, because this often results in the slide being overloaded with text; the text is too small. It needs to be at least font point 24. It also means that because the audience can read faster than you can speak they will be ahead of you and wondering why you didn't just e-mail the slides to them and they could have saved their time, rather than coming to see you speak! So as you are preparing your slides you need to think about what you're saying and how you intend the audience to use your slides; what you want them to learn from each slide. As you're presenting, draw their attention to relevant information so that they can follow your speaking and the visual aids.
The next point to make is about proof reading. I'm sure we've all seen slides with really glaring errors, so make sure that you proof-read your slides to avoid spelling mistakes, to avoid grammar mistakes, to avoid omissions.
Now I'd like to talk a little bit about font and transition. So firstly, as I've already mentioned, text size is very important. If you use a font size that is too small your audience won't be able to read it. It's also not a good idea to capitalise. Capitalise only when necessary because it is difficult to read. Some people also think it looks like you're shouting at them. Also don't use a complicated or distracting transition. Did you see how I had to wait for that to arrive? The basic rule when you're using the slide transitions that PowerPoint offers is to think about what the purpose of the slide is. If, for example, it's important that you don't reveal a lower bullet because, for example you're asking the audience a question and you don't want to reveal the answer until they've responded, then that is a good use of a transition. Global learners, however, will feel much more comfortable if they can see all your points at one time, so you might vary the way you design your slides. Sometimes you might use transitions to make lines enter one by one and sometimes you'll bring all the information up at once. The next point relates to the type of font. Don''t use a complicated font. It's difficult to read from a distance. Stick to the sans serif fonts, by that I mean arial, verdana, Tahoma; those that don't have twiddly bits on.
While we're talking about font, let's talk a little bit about the use of colour. Using a font that doesn't contrast with the background, like this yellow on white, makes it really difficult to read. It's also not a good idea to use colour for decoration. It's distracting, it's annoying. There's really no purpose for me to use the pink and the green in this line. Using a different colour for each point is also unnecessary and using a different colour for secondary points, equally. Also remember that trying to be creative, although it can stimulate the audience, it also can be a bad idea in the case of this multicolored example.
I'd now like to talk to briefly about using images in your presentation. Images are an excellent way of evoking the audience's emotions, of helping the audience to make links between their previous experiences, their perceptions, and what you're saying, and a good way of promoting discussion. However, you need to think very carefully about which images you use. For example, if you use a random image that has no relationship with what you are saying the audience will find it distracting. What's this wizard all about? You also need to think clearly about whether it's important to have sound effects, like the one on this example. Again they might come across as distracting or unnecessary.
The next thing that I'd like to talk very briefly about is the background. Think very carefully about the background. Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult to read from. This one isn't ideal for obvious reasons. And always be consistent with the background that you use. You might have an organisational background with the logo of the establishment that you work at or study at and that gives a nice consistent picture.
We have probably all seen PowerPoint slides that are used to display diagrams that are way too small. This diagram, for example, is very small and intricate. PowerPoint is not the best way to display this kind of image. It would probably be better given as a handout. And the variety of visual aids, the use of handouts, the use of PowerPoint, the use of flipcharts, helps to engage the audience and keep their attention. It changes the dynamic of your session, so use a mixture of visual aids, if you can.
PowerPoint is an ideal way of presenting complex images in stages. For example, we have a here a diagram of the human brain. I can break down the information on that diagram for the audience by introducing the labels one by one. I can also use the PowerPoint slides to highlight particularly important areas. You can see this flashing red part now. And also areas that you want the audience to focus on, for example, the dotted line in the shape of a triangle is the part that I'd like the audience to focus on, in particular.
You need to reference in a presentation, and in this case in a PowerPoint presentation, in the same way as you would in a written assignment. So, for example, if you are using the Harvard system, then, as the slide shows where you're giving a citation, you're using someone else's ideas, then you need to give the family names and the date of the publication. Where you're giving a direct quote you need to give again the family name, or names, and the date of the publication, and also the page number, just like you would in a written assignment. You also need to reference diagrams and images that you use in your presentation, so graphs, photos, etc. If you don't reference in this way then you might be accused of plagiarism.
In order to reference correctly, what you also need to do is on the last slide, or as a handout, give the references. This not only shows that you researched properly and referenced correctly, it also means that if the audience is particularly interested in an aspect of your presentation, they can take the full references and they can go off and find them successfully. You can see here again that this is referenced in the Harvard style. If you are unsure about how to reference because you use a different referencing style then please do ask your lecturer.
You might like to use the functionality in PowerPoint to help you to prepare and practise your presentation. For example, if you open up PowerPoint, below the slide, at the bottom of the screen, there's a section that allows you to add your own notes, whether by typing them in or by copying and pasting. And so what you can do is you can put in text that relates to your slide; details of what you would like to say when the slide is showing. If you then open up the print dialogue box and choose the option Print what and then select Notes pages it allows you to print out an A4 piece of paper that has the picture of your slide at the top and whatever text you've typed in this box below. So everything you want to say about that slide is on one piece of paper. This is ideal for practising. You probably don't want to, however, be holding on to a piece of paper during your presentation.
You'll have seen some people who present with beautifully designed PowerPoint slides but they either don't have the experience or the confidence to use them properly. What I'd like to talk about now is making effective use of your carefully designed PowerPoint slides. So the first point is be careful where you position yourself. Don't stand directly in front of your visual aid, which will obscure the view of your audience. You may also have audience members down each side so check whether they can see your visual aid. The second point is to avoid reading directly from the slide. Not only does this mean that your audience can't make eye contact with you any more, it also means that your voice doesn't project as well, because it's forced towards the screen. If you want to check the text on your screen why not use the PC or laptop? The third point I'd like to make is about how you'll remember what you want to say. I find it useful to use index cards to make very brief notes to remind me of what to say. For example, statistics, dates, names that I might easily forget and that will really affect the credibility of what I'm saying. An audience won't expect you to speak without an aide memoir so use the index cards, use the screen to prompt yourself. The other thing is that it's really important to interact with the information on your slides. This will help the audience to make the links between what you're saying and what the visual aid is illustrating. If you're going to use handouts then think about what they're going to be used for. If the audience needs them while you're presenting, to refer to, then give them out at the appropriate time. If they're only a reference tool for the audience then keep them until the end because handing them out during your presentation may mean that the audience is reading them, rather than listening to you.
What I'd like to go on to talk about now is contingency plans. Whenever we use technology we risk there being a technical issue. But you can overcome a lot of the anxiety that using technology provokes if you just take a few simple steps. So first of all make sure that you have your presentation in a number of formats. I tend to use a memory stick and also put it on a CD and sometimes I e-mail it to myself at an easily accessible e-mail account, so that if I need to I can download it. What you might also do, in case there is a technical failure, is to make sure that your presentation is on overhead transparencies, that you can use on an overhead projector, or make sure you have handouts that the audience can use.
It's also a good idea not to rely on using the internet, so if you want to show the audience a website, then why not use screen captures, like this one here. You do that by pressing the print screen button on the top right hand corner of your keyboard and then pasting it into PowerPoint. Make sure that you know how to use the equipment and that all the software and hardware that you might need to use is available to you. I would arrive in the room ahead of time, just so that you can check you know how everything works and that it is all fully functioning.
The final point I want to make is for those of you who use Apple Mac to design your PowerPoint presentations. Be aware that it isn't always compatible with the Microsoft operating system. So that funky font that you designed in Apple Mac, might not be legible in Microsoft, so make sure that you've got time to make adjustments to the slide, if necessary.
I hope these suggestions of how to design and use PowerPoint effectively have been useful to you. I'm sure that you've got lots of your own ideas from using visual aids yourself and from watching other people using visual aids. Try to learn from the mistakes they make and be inspired by the creative things they do with visual aids. I'd like to finish just by wishing you good luck with your presentations and thanking you for your attention.
