Use and Misuse of Power Point
What to AVOID…..
1. Don’t project just facts in words only….use pictures. Big pictures are the best, with small words underneath.
2. Watch out for humor. Your style may not be funny to others.
3. Don’t use fancy fonts like Old English they are hard to read.
4. Don’t be too fancy in your background – students will look at it and be distracted
5. Don’t use red color for text…hard on the eyes, nor green text on blue background, or purple on blue, etc. You need contrast like bright yellow on blue.
6. Don’t put very much info on each slide. The point of your presentation is not to have students read everything, but to point out the main ideas.
7. Don’t use a tiny font
8. Don’t have arrows going in many directions
9. Don’t make background too dark.
10. Don’t have so much on each slide that they look like a junk store
11. Don’t splat everything on the screen, use fade ins
12. Don’t read it to your audience
13. Sometimes it is better to use a smart board and walk your students through a graph where you create it with them, rather than just putting a finished graph up on the board.
14. Avoid just black and white on a slide
15. Don’t stand in front of your power point
Some DO’s….
1. Use color a lot
2. Power points’ power is in pictures. Use lots of pictures with lots of color
3. Talk about one slide, then talk about another, then show them side-by-side on the third slide.
4. Arial is a great looking font
5. Contrast your font with the background color
6. Use a clicker to go from slide to slide and use the lazer
7. Walk to the side of your power point and then plant your feet…move and plant, move and plant.
8. Engage your audience and be interactive
9. Clear words convey clear messages
10. Less is more
11. Make things centered
12. Use graphics
13. Give a final slide that shows you are finished
14. Use the presenter mode. It gives the full screen to the audience, but leaves your computer with the custom sneaky view.
15. Make imbedded video clips immediately full size
16. Make copies of important slides before class, and the students can pay closer attention and have something to take notes on.
17. Teacher puts up bullet points and leaves some things to the imagination. Helps students process the information.
