1.1 INTRODUCTION TO POWERPOINT

Power Point is a graphical presentation program that you can use to organize and present information. PowerPoint provides a variety of output capabilities for presentations.

·  A presentation prepared in Power Point can be run directly on the computer.

· The presentation can be printed to Black and White or Color transparencies depending on your printer.

· Slides can be created in Power Point and then sent to a film processing company to be converted to 35mm slides.

· Printouts of slides can be made for use as speaker’s notes, audience handouts and even outline pages.

BASIC GUIDELINES TO CREATING PRESENTATIONS

Once you have a general idea of the points you wish to convey to your audience, you will need to organize your thoughts into a logical sequence. To have a well-constructed talk, your ideas should be presented in an order, which the audience can easily follow. It may help to prepare an outline of the presentation first and build around it as you develop your talk.

1. RECOGNIZE THE CONSTRAINTS OF YOUR PRESENTATION.

·  Who will be in your audience? How much background will you have to cover?

· What topics do you want to discuss? Can they be narrowed down?

·  How much time will you have? Will there be time for questions?

·  Will you need to bring your own computer and/or projector?

· Will you want handouts? Will they include details not in the presentation?

2. PLANNING THE PRESENTATION

· Write out your presentation as a mini lecture; expand your outline into a narrative.

· Decide how the slides will be presented. (Computer Screen, Overhead Projector, as Transparencies, etc.)?

·  Keep it short and simple, the presentation is for your audience, while creating your presentation; be aware of their attention span and comprehension level.

·  Keep a focus on the main purpose of your presentation. Limit the number of the significant ideas you want your audience to comprehend.

·  Minimize details when highlighting the main ideas; information such as complex tables can appear in handouts and be referenced in your talk.

·  Provide background information, your audience may consist of people from different disciplines who might not be familiar with the basic concepts of your presentation. Thus, if needed, briefly give a foundation to any areas that may cause confusion.

·   Repeat important ideas to enhance comprehension.

·   Anticipate problems or questions that the audience may have.

3. BUILDING THE PRESENTATION

a) Use visual aids (photos, charts, and other graphics) whenever possible.

- Make sure the information is relevant and can be seen by everyone.

- These are meant to supplement your presentation. Your talk should be the primary focus.

- Visuals should support your talk and add emphasis to your important points.

b) Use simple, direct sentences, and avoid using lingo and wordy constructs. This will make the concept clearer and easier to understand.

c) Suggested guidelines for using text:

- Titles should be 5 words or less.

- Slides should have less than 7 lines and no more than 8 words per line.

- Do not single space.

- Do not use all capital letters.

d) Utilize all the space, leaving sufficient white space for a border, but keep slides easy to read and uncluttered.

e) Try to use only one main idea per slide; too many thoughts or ideas on a slide may confuse the audience.

f) Maintain a consistent layout and color scheme to create continuity and cohesiveness.

g)   Try to limit yourself to a maximum of one minute per slide.

h)    Use large type and an easy-to-read font.

i) Use contrasting colors. (Use a light background color for overhead transparencies).

j)  Avoid vertical slides.

k) Be sure to cite all literature where appropriate and be aware of Copyright laws.

4. REVIEWING THE PRESENTATION

·  Go through the presentation and re-think the sequence, making sure the main concepts are emphasized and that you are providing smooth transitions which link one topic to the next.

· Remove any elements, including visual aids, which may be unnecessary.

·  Practice delivering it aloud to learn it well and to make its length fit in the time allocated.

·  Get feedback from a recorded replay of your delivery and from critical colleagues.

· As the presentation day approaches, Practice, Practice, Practice!!!

·   It is important to run through your presentation several times to ensure that you pace yourself appropriately.

·  Proofread your visual aids and make sure they are all relevant. Make sure you do this early on in case you need to redo any of them.

5. PRESENTING THE PRESENTATION

·  It’s the presenter's responsibility to ensure slides run okay, so you may want to do a test run before the actual presentation. Things can go wrong; make sure you have your presentation on a backup on disk.

· Do not read. Speak your ideas directly to your audience, referring--if necessary, only--to an outline of key points and transitions.

· Only use a pointer if you must emphasize something on the screen. Avoid swinging laser light pointers, particularly in the direction of the audience.

·  Be prepared for distractions, people may enter and leave at any time causing distractions and a less than-ideal listening/learning situation.

· Try to speak loud enough, clear enough, and with sufficient enthusiasm to hold the attention of your audience despite distractions (internal and external).

·  State your final conclusions and end on time.