Creating good PowerPoint presentations

Creating good PowerPoint presentations

Creating Good Presentations

Using the South University Online Library or the Internet, research on good and bad habits while
creating Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. Based on your research and understanding, complete

the following tasks:

� Identify and explain at least five bad habits that are often seen in Microsoft PowerPoint

presentations.

� Recommend how to overcome each of the bad habits mentioned in the point above.

� Describe five recommendations to create a compelling Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.

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Creating good PowerPoint presentations
Five bad habits that are often seen in MS PowerPoint presentations

1. The first bad habit seen is that the PowerPoint presentation lacks consistency. For
   example, the author uses different font faces and sizes on different slides and author
   also employs a poor choice of colors which shatter the presentation.
2. Poor use of contrast for instance the author uses white text on yellow background
   making it difficult for the audience to read properly.
3. Lack of images in the presentation or poor use images for decoration.
4. Spelling errors.
5. Rambling and including irrelevant information that is not needed.
   How to overcome each of the aforementioned bad habits
   To overcome the first bad habit of using different colors in each slide and lack of
   consistency, the author should use consistency. The author should ensure that he or she
   matches colors for every slide. If the author is not sure about which colors match best, he or
   she should utilize ColorBlender to obtain a set up of several matching colors just by moving
   back and forth a set of RGB sliders (Sieber, 2011). The author should also consistently utilize
   the same font sizes and face on every slide. To overcome the second bad habit, if the author
   wants to play with colors, he or she needs to keep it easy on the eyes of audience members
   and employ good contrast so that the readers do not actually need to strain to guess what the
   author has written in the slides (Cartwright, 2015).
   To overcome the third bad habit, the author should add images in the presentation but
   should not utilize images to decorate the presentation. Images should be used to explain and

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visualize, considering that images could complement or reinforce the message. Images copied
from the internet should be cited and referenced (Cartwright, 2015). To overcome the fourth
bad habit, the author should always spell check and ensure that everything he or she has
written in the presentation is spelt correctly. To overcome the fifth bad habit, the author needs
to get to the point and avoid rambling or including unnecessary information in the
presentation.
Five recommendations for creating a compelling PowerPoint presentation
 Simplify the presentation and limit the number of words on every PowerPoint slide.
 Utilize high quality images which complement and reinforce the message.
 Utilize contrasting colors for background and text. It is best to use light text on dark
background.
 Stay on point and control the audience members and do not add irrelevant
information.
 Spell check and correct any spelling and grammar mistakes before making the
presentation to an audience (Sieber, 2011).

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References

Cartwright, J. (2015). PowerPoint presentation tips to make your PPT designs more effective.
Albany, NY: CRC Press.
Sieber, T. (2011). Preparing a professional presentation. Columbus, OH: Penguin
Publishers.