Academic Media Studio
Effective Powerpoints
What should you do, what should you avoid when
asked to make a slide show presentation.
What makes a good PowerPoint?
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Presentation is prepared and practiced in advance.
Presentation is designed for a particular audience.
Presentation is logical and in well structured: it ‘flows’ smoothly from beginning to end.
Presentation has a clearly defined purpose (thesis).
Everyone can read the slides: choices are made about fonts, special effects, colors, etc. to keep it
readable and persuasive. Neither offend or bore your audience.
• Balance: content is complemented and enhanced by layout choices
• Graphics are relevant to and enhance the content (note that PowerPoint is best used for visual
content: graphs, charts and images that enhance, or explain, the arguments / ideas in your
presentation)
• Normally, it is a good idea to create a consistent “look” for your slides. Consistency usually adds
coherence to your presentation.
What makes a bad PowerPoint?
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Excess: clashing colors, cheesy special effects, busy backgrounds
Errors: poor spelling, bad grammar
Unreadable: because of poor color choices (low contrast), too much text, thoughtless layout
Presentation problems: Do not read from slides! Do not include images that are unrelated to
content.
Lots of text on slides;
Failure to check out your equipment beforehand
Using graphics, media or text without attribution (citation)
Annoying special effects, especially sound effects. (And some people think any sound effect,
moving type, etc. is unprofessional and annoying. Always, ask yourself, what would it add to my
presentation? )
September 2008
Academic Media Studio
Resources
• Midge Frazel’s Resource Page: http://midgefrazel.net/powerpoint.html This site includes tutorials.
• R. L. Erion “Materials for Teaching about PowerPoint” http://learn.sdstate.edu/erionr/ppt Here you’ll find a
very amusing and informative PowerPoint about things to avoid in your own PowerPoint lest you alienate
your audience (such as sound effects, bad background / text colors, etc.) Note the PowerPoint Rubric
included: http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/pptrubric.html
• Steven Bell’s “PowerPoint and Presentation Skills Resource Page” http://staff.philau.edu/BellS/ppt.html
• “10 Tips For Using Visual Aids” http://www.wittcom.com/tips_for_using_visual_aids.htm
• Images for your presentation: Wikimedia Commons: a database of 2,065,194 freely usable media files to
which anyone can contribute: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
• How to cite Internet sources: (There is a lot of help available for this: books, websites, etc. If you are
uncertain, ask a librarian for their recommendation.) Here’s one possibility which includes multiple styles
(MLA, Chicago, APA etc.): http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/citex.html
• PowerPoint 2000 Basics Tutorial (Indiana University) http://www.iupui.edu/~webtrain/tutorials/power
point2000_basics.html#about
• Getting Started with Microsoft PowerPoint (Univ. of Texas, Austin) http://www.utexas.edu/its/training/
handouts/UTOPIA_PowerpointGS
• Gettysburg Address In Powerpoint http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg
• PowerPoint Is Evil: Power Corrupts, PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely by Edward Tufte http://www.wired.
com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html
• Absolute PowerPoint: Can a software package edit our thoughts by Ian Parker http://www.physics.
ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/group/powerpt.html
• PowerPoint FAQ http://www.bitbetter.com/powerfaq.htm
• Ellen Finkelstein.comPowerpointtips (tutorials) http://wwwellenfinkelsteincom/powerpoint tip.html
Questions?
Contact the Holly Martin Huffman (hmartinhuffman@cornellcollege.edu) or the Academic Media Studio, 127
Cole Library. We try to maintain the following studio hours. Due to staffing variability, it may be best to set up
an appointment via e-mail. [Although, you are always welcome to just stop by.]
Block Hours:
M/T/W 11 a.m.—11 p.m.
TH 3—11 p.m.
F 8:30 a.m. —5:30 p.m.
Block Break Week
M/T 11 a.m. — 11 p.m.
W/Th/F e-mail for an appointment
September 2008