1. PowerPoint Presentation Tips & Tricks USD 261 Leadership Academy 2006-07 Lisa Cundiff

2. Getting Started • Start with the end in mind • Use the ‘slide master’ feature for consistency (View>Master>Slide Master)

3. Font size:Before you start to prepare your presentation, determine (guess) how far your audience will be from your screen, then choose the best font size. Use the “sign painter's” rule of thumb: 1" letter is readable from 10 ft.2" letter from 20 ft. 3" letter from 30 ft. Assume 72 point fonts are 1" high

4. Color Selection DON'T use dark fonts on dark backgrounds or light fonts on light backgrounds. DON'T use dark backgrounds in a poorly-lit room or light backgrounds in a well-lit room. It's hard to read off such backgrounds. Be careful about using reds and greens because they can be difficult to see--especially if you are colorblind!

5. Text Use text sparingly • Use a maximum of six points per slide and six words per point. Remember, if your audience is concentrating on written text, they are most likely not giving you their complete attention. Don’t forget to read the small print. There might be some important information. Never mind what the speaker is saying. Maybe the text is redundant, but you won’t know unless you read it. Forget this; when is lunch? On the other hand, if I type everything, I won’t have to memorize anything, so I can just glance up here and read it blah, blah, blah, etc, etc, etc…and so on and so forth……….

6. Too Much! Minimize or avoid animated texts, sounds, and fancy transitions. These can be effective in certain situations, but often distract your audience from the main points you are making.

7. FOCUS – PLAN – PRACTICE • FOCUSon the main point(s) you want to make. • PLANthe layout of your presentation. Does everything fit together? • PRACTICEyour entire presentation at least once before you present it to your audience.

8. Give Credit Where Credit is Due! http://www.anandnatrajan.com/FAQs/powerpoint.html http://www.microsoft.com/office/previous/xp/columns/column08.asp http://people.csp.edu/saylor/effective_powerpoint.htm http://www.roadtools.com/tips.html http://landmark-project.com/permission1.php

9. The Total Communicator 10 of the Most Common Mistakes Presenters Make http://totalcommunicator.com/

10. PowerPoint Presenter Tools

11. Other Presentation Resources • Presentation Tips: • http://www.garrreynolds.com/Presentation/index.html

12. Other Presentation Resources • Hundreds of K-12 PowerPoint presentations and interactive games organized… • by grade level: • http://jc-schools.net/PPTs-la.html • and by subject area: • http://jc-schools.net/ppt.html

13. Other Presentation Resources • PowerPoint Templates: • http://www.soniacoleman.com/templates.htm

14. Thank You… ….for your time and attention! Please call or e-mail me with any questions you may have! lcundiff@usd261.com 316-554-2205