HINTS FOR PREPARING A GOOD POWERPOINT

PowerPoint Presentations are meant to enhance a presentation and not to be a stand-alone in place of a presentation.  Please consider the following when doing a PowerPoint:

1. A PowerPoint should accompany an oral presentation; it should not be the oral presentation put into slide format.

2. The PowerPoint slides should be illustrations. The only text should be captions.  Do not use entire slides to give in writing what is being said in the script. The only exception to this is a chart or table which goes along with the presentation's topic.

3. A PowerPoint should have a script accompanying it.

4. The PowerPoint can be part of  a group effort and it should be incorporated into the group presentation; it should not be used as a part of the presentation by itself.

5. The PowerPoint slides should be relevant! Pretty slides just for the sake of being pretty is not usually enough in a presentation. The slides should have some direct connection to the oral presentation.

6. Timing is critical in a good PowerPoint.  The slides should go along with the script; in point of fact, the script should be numbered to correlate with the PowerPoint slides. Do not let the slides outrun the script or the script leave the slides behind.

7. The PowerPoint should be tested in a classroom to be certain that the entire project is visible from all parts of the room. Also, it is imperative to practice the script with the PowerPoint.