Tips for Creating Electronic
Presentations
Outline
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Overview / Basics
Content
Visual Effects
Presentation Organization and Coherence
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Overview / Basics
Some general recommendations
Overview / Basics
• Know your alternatives; examples include
– PowerPoint
– Prezi
• Be organized
– Title goes first
– Agenda or outline comes next
• Always begin with an outline/agenda and stick to it
• Use only main points in your outline/agenda
– Number your slides
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Overview / Basics
• Tell a story
• Keep it relevant
• Proof your slides for:
– spelling misteaks
– the use use of repeated words
– grammatical errors you might have make
• If English is not your first language, please have
someone else check your presentation!
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Content
Elements that make up any
presentation
Content: Slide Structure
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Write in bullets
Avoid wordiness
Include 4-5 bullets per slide
Use parallel structure
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Content: Slide Structure to
Avoid
• This page contains too many words for a
presentation slide. It is not written in point
form, making it difficult both for your
audience to read and for you to present
each point. Although there are exactly the
same number of points on this slide as the
previous slide, it looks much more
complicated. In short, your audience will
spend too much time trying to read this
paragraph instead of listening to you.
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Content: Credit
• Take credit for the presentation
– Your name and affiliation goes with the title
– Introduce yourself to the audience before
moving on from the title
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Content: Credit
• Give credit to sources
– “If you use a direct quote, put it in quotation
marks” (Dunning, 2006)
– You also need to give credit when you
paraphrase (Dunning, 2006)
– Include the reference at the bottom of the
page or on a final “bibliography” page
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Content: Timing
• Allow an average of 2 minutes per slide
– 30 seconds if you have a few quick bullets
– 5 minutes if you have a graphic to explain
• Include transitions from one slide to the
next
• Speak slowly
• Allow for audience questions
• Remember to leave time to breathe
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Content: Special Effects
• Use sound and animation sparingly
– They can be very distracting
– Use sound only if it supports your main point
– Be consistent with the animation you use
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Visual Effects
What should your presentation
look like?
Visual Effects: Color
• Use sharply contrasting colors
– Dark on light is better than light on dark
– Using a font color that does not contrast with the
background color is hard to read
• Using color for decoration is distracting and
annoying.
• Using a different color for each point is
unnecessary
– Using a different color for secondary points is also
unnecessary
• Trying to be creative can also be bad
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Visual Effects: Font
• Use large fonts
• Use different size fonts for main points and
secondary points
– This font is 24-point, the main point font is 32-point,
and the title font is 44-point
– Do not go smaller than 18 point
• Use a standard font like Times New
Roman or Arial
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Visual Effects: Font
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If you use a small font, your audience won’t be able to read what you have written
(this is 16 point)
• CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY.
IT IS DIFFICULT TO READ
• Don’t use a complicated font
• Sans-serif is better than font with serif
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Visual Effects: Font
• Use a color of font that contrasts sharply
with the background
– E.g., dark blue font on white background
• Use color to reinforce the logic of your
structure
– Ex: Dark blue main topic and orange
secondary topic
• Use color to emphasize a point
– But only use this occasionally
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Visual Effects: Background
• Use backgrounds such as this one that are
attractive but simple
• Use backgrounds which are light
• Use the same background consistently
throughout your presentation
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Visual Effects: Background – Bad
• Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult
to read from
• Always be consistent with the background that
you use
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Visual Effects: Graphs
• Use graphs rather than charts and words
– Data in graphs is easier to comprehend &
retain than is raw data
– Trends are easier to visualize in graph form
January February
Blue Balls
20.4
27.4
Red Balls
30.6
38.6
March
90
34.6
• Always title your graphs
April
20.4
31.6
Bad:
Chart
Good:
Graph
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Visual Effects: Graphs – good
Items Sold in First Quarter of 2002
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90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Blue Balls
Red Balls
January
February
March
April
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Visual Effects: Graphs – bad
90
90
80
70
60
Blue Balls
50
Red Balls
38.6
40
34.6
31.6
30.6
27.4
30
20.4
20.4
20
10
0
January
February
March
April
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Visual Effects: Graphs – bad
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Minor gridlines are unnecessary
Font is too small
Colors are illogical
Title is missing
Shading and 3D effects are distracting
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Presentation Organization and
Coherence
What follows is typical content and
organization of a slide presentation.
The BSB encourages students to use
the BSB template.
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This is your first slide: Put
Your Title and Name Here
Introduction
– Note that this is not usually a separate slide;
this should be done while the title is up
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Who you are
What this presentation is about
Your credentials for talking about this
Recognize experts in the audience
• Know your audience!!!
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Agenda
• Presentation agenda
– What you are going to tell them
• List outline of presentation
– How long you expect it to take to cover the
material
– When to ask questions (during the
presentation or at the end) and how much time
is allotted for them
• Sample agenda and presentation follows 
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[Note that this is a sample agenda for a sample presentation; you may need other topics]
Agenda
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Executive Summary
Background
Details
Conclusion/Recap
Questions
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Executive Summary
• Briefly do the following:
– Tell the audience what the main point or bottom
line is
– List facts, assumptions and caveats
– Reference prior work done and conclusions
reached
– Explain why conclusions reached from prior efforts
are different (where applicable)
• Try to keep this to one slide
• This will all be more fully developed later
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Background
• Review the issue
• Explain prior research
• Give credit
• Explain why we are talking about this
issue
• Identify what the significance of this issue
is with respect to current events
• This may take many slides
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Details
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Give a short overview of the approach used
Explain why this approach was used
Where appropriate show model used
Where appropriate, give a short overview on
data used
– List sources for all data
– Include dates for when data was pulled
• This might be better labeled “Analysis”
“Model” “Methodology” or something else
• This may take many slides
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Details
• Show results (again, may require multiple slides)
– When using graphs ensure axes are properly
labeled
– Avoid placing too much information on one
slide
– Arrange information in so that it transitions
smoothly
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Conclusion
• Use an effective and strong closing
– Your audience is likely to remember your last
words
• Use a conclusion slide to:
– Summarize the main points of your
presentation
– Note limitations
– Suggest future avenues of research
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Questions
• Leave time for the audience to ask
questions
• Be precise in answering questions
• Where necessary seek clarification
• Be honest if you do not know that answer
• Give the audience information on what
happens next
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Thank You!
Contact information for further
information:
References
• Dunning, A. E. (2006). The Art of
Professional Presentation. Downloaded
from
http://www.clemson.edu/transportation/gui
delines/Professional%20Presentation.doc
• Much of this slide presentation has been
adapted from International Association of
Science and Technology for Development
(IASTED)
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