Narrative
When preparing your narrative, strive to tell a good story: We remember a compelling thematic whole, not individual bullet points. When possible include authentic — and personal — anecdotes in your presentation.
Begin with your anticipated audience.
- What do you want them to do as a result of your slide/PowerPoint® presentation?
- What is their likely level of knowledge about your subject?
- To what extent will you need to establish your credibility?
Logic Flow
Organize your thoughts on paper ("storyboarding" before working with PowerPoint. Sketch out your key messages — what you want your audience to remember, and structure your presentation around those messages.
- Include an obvious, preferably attention-grabbing starting point, provocative and engaging content in the middle, and a clear conclusion
- If you are having trouble with your logic flow, write out every major and minor point you think you want to make on blank sheets of paper — one point per sheet. You can then lay out the sheets on a table or floor, and rearrange the ideas until you are satisfied with the flow. Add and subtract sheets to help you tell a stronger story.
Design Tips
For longer and more complex presentations, use running titles or a repeating graphic with respective elements of your presentation highlighted to help your audience track your logic flow.
- Use opening and closing slides so that the audience won’t see Microsoft PowerPoint screens before and after the presentation
- Be consistent with title font and size, backgrounds, colors and slide transitions. Repeat certain elements throughout your presentation, such as colors, style, illustrations, format, layout, or typography to help tie the presentation together and give it visual coherence. Repeating a color throughout a presentation is a good way to tie it together
- Look at the screen and note what catches your eye in what order. Shift design elements around to reinforce your key points
- Incorporate blank (or content-free) slides to give your audience a visual break and to focus attention on more verbally-focused give and take, such as a group discussion or question and answer session
Technical Tips
Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it — ask around your office or institution for a staff member who's experienced in using PowerPoint and foster a good working relationship with someone who knows more about than you do.
- Save (Ctrl+S) your work frequently — don't rely on PowerPoint’s Autosave feature
- Store each presentation and its associated files in its proper folder
- Back-up your work frequently (every day, if possible).
- Store a final version on a flash drive that you take to the event site as a backup, even if you have submitted your file in advance to the conference coordinator
- Use the Outline View for preparing the text part of your presentation
- Use the UNDO command (CTRL+Z) to experiment and learn to use the software
- Don't experiment with your presentation at the last minute
- If you ARE going to experiment with your presentation, make sure you save a separate copy of your original file. An easy way to experiment with layout options is to create a duplicate slide and experiment on the second slide so you can compare the effects side by side, and delete the one you don’t want
