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12
Mistakes Made when Creating PowerPoint® Slides and How
to Correct Them
by
Jim Prost — Fripp & Associates
How
would you answer this multiple-choice question?
Which of the following statements best describes your view
regarding PowerPoint® slides?
(a) My PowerPoint® slides demonstrate what a great
graphic artist I am!
(b) My PowerPoint® slides are great because I use
everything the software has to offer!
(c) My PowerPoint® slides enhance my presentation,
reinforce my points, support me and my message, and most importantly
they do not overwhelm my audience!
From the audience's perspective, answer (c) the better choice.
Let's take a look at some common mistakes made when creating
PowerPoint® slides and how to correct them.
Mistake #1 - What You See Is What You Get! (Remember WYSIWYG?)
Solution: What shades of colors you see on your computer screen
will not be the same shades of colors that are projected.
(If you don't project your presentations go to Mistake #2).
Even some of Microsoft's templates are difficult to see when
projected. Hint: Try to project your presentation for preview
before you present to your audience.
Mistake #2 - Creating Slides That Are Hard On the Eyes
or Even Impossible To Read
Solution: Think in contrasts! Use dark background colors and
light colored type or light colored backgrounds and dark colored
type.
Mistake #3 - Selecting Inappropriate Colors for Your Slides
Solution: Color can incite emotions! Unusual shades of red,
brown, yellow and green can put your audience on edge throughout
your presentation (this is not a good idea unless that is
your intention!). Red is considered a "hot" color and should
only be used as an accent color.
Mistake #4 - Choosing Difficult To Read Fonts
Solution: Helvetica and Arial are good fonts to use. Microsoft
frequently uses Times New Roman but that font projects like
"dot matrix" text. Sans-serif fonts (like Arial and Helvetica)
look much better when projected.
Mistake #5 - Putting Shadows On Text
Solution: Putting a shadow on text makes the text difficult,
if not impossible, for an audience to read. Putting a shadow
on a textbox will automatically put a shadow on the text included
in the textbox. Keep it simple and plain but attractive!
Mistake #6 - Not Letting Your Audience Know Where You Are
Solution: Put slide numbers on slides so that your audience
members can refer to them.
Mistake #7 - Starting Your Presentation Before You Are
Introduced
Solution: What do I mean by this? I recommend putting a blank
slide as your first slide in your Power Point presentation.
This way your title slide will not appear before you do!
(Value-added hint: if you must wait a long period of time
before you start presenting, you may consider adding two blank
slides. Click to the second blank slide a minute or so before
you are introduced so that your computer will wake up - even
if you turned the sleep or hibernate function off - just like
people, they can fall asleep during a presentation!).
Mistake #8 - Selecting More Than Two or Three Fonts
Solution: In any one presentation, two or three fonts are
all that you need. Keep it simple and plain but attractive!
Sound familiar?
Mistake #9 - Using All the Bells And Whistles to Show How
Good You Are With Power Point
Solution: Be consistent! Whatever you do on one slide, do
on all slides. For example, use the same fonts, coloring,
animation, transitions, etc. across all slides. And do not
use every element available in any one presentation!
Mistake #10 - Not Being Able To Read Your Print Out
Solution: I recommend going to the View pull down menu and
selecting grayscale. Look at your slides in this view because
this is how they will print on a black & white printer. If
you see a solid black box or element, text, etc. right-click
on that element and select the grayscale view and change it
to black and white.
Mistake #11 - Animations That Don't Work
Solution: When you create a slide, the order in which you
add each element is the order in which those elements will
animate when you show the slide show. Go to the Slide Show
pull down menu then click on Custom Animation. You can click
on each element and add the wanted effect and select the order
in which the object will animate in the custom animation sidebar.
Again, keep it simple.
Mistake #12 - Each Slide in a Presentation Appears To Be
Different
Solution: When creating a new presentation, go to the Master
Slide and format the text both for color and font, what animations
should occur, add the slide number and any other element you
want to appear on each slide.
With a little talent, a dash of creativity, and a hint of
restraint, your next Power Point presentation will be a work
of art instead of a solution to insomnia. Good Luck! Be sure
to check out my other articles: "8
Mistakes Made when Presenting with PowerPoint® and How
to Correct Them" and "Resources
for Powerful Presentations."
If you have questions about this article, please email Jim
at JProst@Fripp.com
(862
Words)
 I
am serious about talking to Jim Prost about how he can help
me create a better PowerPoint® presentation. (Click here
to contact Jim Prost.)
Click
here for more information on Fripp Associate, Jim Prost.
We
offer this article on a nonexclusive basis. You may reprint
or repost this material as long as "Jim Prost - Fripp
& Associates" and contact information is included.
JProst@Fripp.com, 1-800-634-3035,
http://www.frippandassociates.com
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here for more articles and more great tips on public speaking!
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