How to unsuck your PowerPoint slides!
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In too many presentations I've attended over the decades, the PowerPoint slides have sucked! However, by following some simple rules, you can unsuck them.
How to unsuck your PowerPoint slides!
- 1. Dennis Meredith E-mail: dennis@glyphus.com www.ExplainingResearch.com Twitter: @ExplainResearch How to unsuck your PowerPoint slides!
- 2. Ive attended countless scientific presentations over the decades.
- 3. In too many of them, the PowerPoint slides sucked!
- 4. They can easily be unsucked.
- 5. In this brief presentation, Ill show you how.
- 6. First of all, most presenters make their text too small. This is 18-point text.
- 7. You can read it perfectly well sitting at your computer. But its far too small to be seen on a webinar screen or from the back of an auditorium.
- 8. The minimum size of your text should be 24 point, like this.
- 9. And headlines can be about 40 points, like this.
- 10. Serif fonts like Times New Roman are harder to read on a screen than
- 11. sans serif fonts like this: This is Calibri This is Verdana This is Arial
- 12. Also harder to read are slides that are black text on a white background. The glare makes it hard to see the text and causes eye strain.
- 13. At least give the background some tint like this to reduce eye strain. But that reduces the contrast between the text and the background.
- 14. A better solution is to reverse the type out of a dark background like this. It makes the text stand out. It also makes images pop, as you can see in the next two slides. First a light background, then a dark one.
- 15. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) come from. . . Coal-Fired Plants
- 16. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) come from. . . Coal-Fired Plants
- 17. Presenters often put too much text on a slide. People cannot listen and read at the same time.
- 18. If you keep your slide simple you will find that it is more digestible by audiences and much more memorable than if you clutter it with extraneous text that overwhelms the language- processing part of their brain. Remember
- 19. If you keep your slide simple you will find that it is more digestible by audiences and much more memorable than if you clutter it with extraneous text that overwhelms the language- processing part of their brain. Remember
- 20. If you keep your slide simple you will find that it is more digestible by audiences and much more memorable than if you clutter it with extraneous text and images that do not contribute to your point.
- 21. Use short bullets: Make points easier to jot down Reduces reading load More memorable Create suspense: Whats he going to say about this point?
- 22. Dont use labels on your slides. Use headlines that tell the point of your slide. This is a label:
- 23. Florida West Indian manatee
- 24. And this is a headline:
- 25. Manatee extinction likely without additional protection
- 26. Presenters put too much data on their slides. Like this:
- 28. Do you think this presenter talked about every number on this chart?
- 29. Only show numbers to be discussed. Crop out the teensy type in the caption. Dont put text on the screen thats not meant to be read.
- 30. Design your graphs and charts to tell people where to look. This one doesnt:
- 31. 10% 35% 65% Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 This is a headline that makes the point Washington, G. and Jefferson, T. Very important research paper, Top Sci Jrnl, Vol. 400, No. 4, November 8, 2016
- 32. Use color to draw the eye to the important data. Like this:
- 33. 10% 35% 65% Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 This is a headline that makes the point Washington, G. and Jefferson, T. Very important research paper, Top Sci Jrnl, Vol. 400, No. 4, November 8, 2016
- 34. Use arrows to point out important aspects. Like this:
- 35. 10% 35% 65% Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 This is a headline that makes the point Washington, G. and Jefferson, T. Very important research paper, Top Sci Jrnl, Vol. 400, No. 4, November 8, 2016
- 36. 10% 35% 65% Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 This is a headline that makes the point Washington, G. and Jefferson, T. Very important research paper, Top Sci Jrnl, Vol. 400, No. 4, November 8, 2016
- 37. 10% 35% 65% Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 This is a headline that makes the point Washington, G. and Jefferson, T. Very important research paper, Top Sci Jrnl, Vol. 400, No. 4, November 8, 2016
- 38. DUAAWETF!
- 39. Dont Use Arcane Abbreviations Without Explaining Them First!
- 40. Use visuals to grab your audiences attention and make your point.
- 41. For example, which slide is more interesting and memorable?
- 42. The mammalian eye has 70 different cell types. This one?
- 43. Or this one?
- 44. The mammalian eye has 70 different cell types. Bryan William Jones and Robert E. Marc, University of Utah
- 45. You can find many image sources at www.ExplainingResearch.com
- 46. To see an extensive list, on the Explaining Research menu, click on Refs and Resources, Ch. 3
- 47. Dennis Meredith E-mail: dennis@glyphus.com www.ExplainingResearch.com Twitter: @ExplainResearch Now your PowerPoint slides wont suck!
- 48. To learn more about research communication, see the new Explaining Research, 2nd Edition