Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Marius Delphus" data-source="post: 3085081" data-attributes="member: 447">1. The Heading styles trick maransreth posted is the way to go.2. Ditto XCorvis. You can, but please don't. Your audience wants to be wowed by what you say, not distracted by what they see. If you absolutely must use a "build" slide (for example, points you're about to make are a surprise to your audience and you don't want them reading ahead), don't animate the text but simply have it appear bullet by bullet.3. The way you do it depends on which version of PowerPoint you have. In the most recent version (Office 2003), you're looking for the "Custom Animation" sidebar.Now, I've been playing around with presentations (as a part of my job responsibilities) and watching presenters (ditto) for over 10 years, so I can't pass up this opportunity to post my personal Top 10 PowerPoint Peeves. Please accept these tips not as a guide to what I may think you personally are obviously about to do wrong (as for all I know you may be an accomplished and deft speaker), but rather a (hopefully helpful) reminder of pitfalls I think it's best to avoid.10. "In this presentation." Referring to your slides in a "meta" way, as in "I'm going to go over this presentation now." Your slides are not your presentation; what you are saying is your presentation. However, slides are ideal for (1) providing the audience an outline or framework for what you're saying and (2) illustrating something you're already saying in a meaningful way. (Bonus points if you refer to your slides in a derogatory way and then use them anyway: "Well, it's time for death by PowerPoint." (True story.))9. Misused clipart. Use (decent, relevant) photos, use (simple, easy to understand) icons, or use nothing at all. Especially not the silly cartoon clipart that's way too easy to find and abuse. Really. Your audience will thank you for it. (Bonus points here if you actually describe the picture: "As you can see in this picture...." (True story.))8. Meaningless charts. If your audience can't figure out for themselves what the chart means within 5 seconds, reconsider using it or be prepared to talk about it for a long time (but see Peeve #6). (Bonus points if it's literally illegible from midway back in the very small conference room. (True story.))7. Circus colors. Keep your design down to two or three colors if at all possible; use tints and shades if you need more variety. Don't use bold, garish colors that are going to tire your audience's eyes. (Bonus points if every single bullet point on every single slide has vari-colored text in bold blue, red, and yellow. (True story.))7a. Multiple emphasis. Yeah, I'm cheating to sneak in more than 10, but this does kind of go with the colors thing. If you find yourself with some text that's boldface, italic, underlined, highlighted, and colored, you really should consider simplifying. You should also check to see if different bits of text are emphasized in different ways. Subtlety and consistency is best (which is why this point dovetails with #7). (Bonus points if every single bullet on every single slide has some of this multiply-emphasized text in it. (True story.))7b. Over emphasis. If you find that everything on the slide is boldface, italic, underlined, highlighted, and/or colored, you need to tone it down. Emphasizing everything equals emphasizing nothing. (Bonus points if the whole presentation's this way. (True story.))6. Lingering over a slide. Show the slide, make the points that are on the slide, and move on. (Bonus points if you tell a story about how you made the slide. (True story.))5. Meaningless diagrams. Diagrams differ from charts and clipart in that they actually (are meant to) present narrative content: processes, workflows, stuff like that. If your audience can't figure out a diagram within about 5 seconds, reconsider using it or be prepared to talk about it for a while (but see Peeve #6). (Bonus points if you explain it and your audience still doesn't get it. (True story.))4. Giving the printouts at the wrong time. This one's a fairly big snafu, but it's a little more nebulous. Sometimes you want the audience to have a printout of your slides as a "takeaway," other times you want the audience to have a printout so they can follow along and/or make notes. The second situation is harder to justify than the first, but I've seen it done. The problem you end up with is that unless your audience is fully invested in what you're saying, they're going to be tempted to flip through the printouts if they have them. (Bonus points if your printouts are photocopies of execrable quality and you become frustrated and flustered while apologizing for the fact. (True story.))3. Slides packed completely full. "White" space is a design element too. "Continued" slides are just fine. (Bonus points for, you guessed it, slides packed so full they're literally illegible from midway back in the small conference room. (True story.))2. Failing to rehearse the slides. Your audience can tell if you whipped up your slides and then thought no more about them while preparing your presentation. Ideally, be so familiar with your slides that you know which one is up (and which stage in your build you're at) by how many times you've clicked or keypressed or whatever. Realistically, it's okay to glance at your slides every so often to make sure everything's running smooth, but you can catch the unrehearsed presenter when he or she looks at the screen in surprise because that slide "wasn't supposed to be there." (Bonus points for staring at the screen your slides are on the entire time you're presenting. (True story.))1. Reading the slides to the audience. Don't. Just don't. You have much more interesting things to say than what you typed. If you don't, start cutting huge swaths of text from your slides so you can speak to your audience instead. Remember, your slides are only there to apprise the audience of where you are in your presentation and illustrate your points. Your slides are not your presentation. (Bonus points if you fail to read the slide properly and make amusing or even shocking slips of the tongue while trying. (Yep: true story.))As an exercise, I imagined the slides I'd make from this list: I imagined a dozen slides, each titled with one of the boldfaced and numbered points and each showing one photo or screenshot of the offending behavior. Probably fourteen slides: add a title page to the front and a "discussion" slide (entitled "Discussion" or "Questions?" with a big question mark on it or something) to the back. The rest would be talking.HTH. HAND.</blockquote>

Verification