Online PowerPoint Presentation.com

1. Do not overcrowd you slides. Keep your audience focused on the content of your online PowerPoint presentation. Overuse of images or effects will only distract them from the point you’re trying to make.
2. Use slides to help clarify your online presentation, but don’t use it as a replacement for handouts. If you have lots of technical data to support your idea, email handouts to your participants at the end of the online presentation.
3. Use animations and video sparingly. Many webcasting and web conferencing services won’t easily support multi-media content and if your online presentation relies too heavily upon it, you might find yourself in a difficult position if you have nothing else to present with.
4. Create a concluding slide that includes 3–5 key messages that summarize your content.
5. You can never emphasize your main point too many times. Repetition is the easiest way to have your audience remember your message.
6. Keep your design elements consistent throughout the entire online presentation. This includes layout, color scheme, font type (use no more than two throughout the entire presentation), font size and bulleting style.
7. Be as brief as possible. Instead of writing out complete sentences, use bulleted phrases as speaking points. Limit your bullets to around 6-8 per slide.
8. Keep lots of space in between your text for easier reading. Many people viewing an online PowerPoint presentation will not be watching it on the same sized monitor that your created it on. Test your online presentation on a variety of monitors before presenting.
9. Avoid using all CAPS, even when you are looking to emphasize an issue. Online, all CAPS have an appearance you’re yelling, not just emphasizing. Use color, or bold/italics for emphasis.
10. Avoid busy backgrounds, if you decide to have a background at all. Make sure that all of your text and images are contrasted against the background if you choose one. People have a variety of preferences for light/dark and contrast on their monitor, so text that is a similar color as your background may not show up at all on some monitors.

Steven Kosslyn outlines 3 goals you should strive to attain in any successful online PowerPoint presentation:

1. Connect with your audience
2. Direct and hold their attention
3. Promote understanding & memory

Goal 1: Connect with your audience. Do not include too much or too little information and select information and use language appropriate for your particular audience.

Goal 2: Direct and hold attention. Attention is drawn to areas that are perceptibly different, so leverage design principles in your online PowerPoint presentation by using contrasting colors and images where appropriate. Make differences big and obvious. People will naturally tend to group similar elements into a single unit, keep them focused on the topic at hand.

Goal 3: Promote understanding and memory. Messages are easier to remember when they are clearly understood. For example, the word Red presented in green text violates this principle as would a graph about the homeless population in Los Angeles, decorated with a background image of people playing with their healthy dogs. Remember that people expect any change in your online presentations, such as a sudden interjection of a joke or a story, or a visual change in slide color or an animation, etc. to have meaning, and when they don’t have meaning this becomes noise and distracts them from being able to remember the message. Audiences can only retain a limited amount of information in an online presentation, so limit the amount of messages within a presentation.

Fonts and Colors are often overlooked aspects of a well designed and effective online PowerPoint presentation. Easy-to-read fonts and solid, well-contrasted colors allow your audience to quickly read your presentation, and focus on your message, rather than your online PowerPoint presentation’s design.

Online PowerPoint Presentation Colors

• Limit the number of colors on a single screen to a minimum.
• Bright colors make small objects and thin lines stand out.  However, some vibrant colors are difficult to read when projected, particularly when contrasted against a similarly colored background.
• Use no more than four colors on any single chart.
• Check the colors of your online PowerPoint presentation on variety of screens. Your online presentation may look drastically different on various monitors, so you need to make sure your design works for the majority of them.

Online PowerPoint Presentation Fonts

• Use sans-serif fonts such as Arial or Helvetica.  Avoid serif fonts such as Times New Roman or Palatino as they are sometimes more difficult to read.
• Use no font size smaller than 24 point. Your online PowerPoint presentation will be viewed on monitors of different sizes. You need to make sure that your text is legible for the majority of them.
• Use clear headlines.  Use a larger font (35-45 points) or different color for the headline.
• Use a single sans-serif font throughout the online presentation.  Use different colors, sizes and styles (bold, underline) only for impact.
• Try to avoid italics as they may be difficult to read.
• Do not use all caps except for titles.