Acolorversionofthishandoutisavailableathttp://aaude.org/documents/public/air2010.pdf
Twelve Tips for Creating Effective Presentations
Mary Harrington, University of Mississippi
Rebecca Carr, AAU Data Exchange
Communication is at the core of what institutional research is all about, whether it be data in a fact book or a
presentation at professionaldevelopmentvenues,suchastheupcomingAIRForuminChicago.Creating
effective presentationsisanimportantskillforIRprofessionals.
PowerPointhasbecomethedefactopresentationtoolformostofus.However,whenusedimproperly,
PowerPointslidescanactuallyinterferewithcommunication,ratherthanpromoteit.Communications
researchershaveidentifiedconceptsthathavesubstantialimplicationsforhowwecancreatethemost
effectivepresentations:
1. Peoplelearnbetterfromvisualsandnarrativethanfromwordsalone.Thisisbecausethebrainhas
separatechannelsforprocessingvisualandverbalmaterials,resultinginahigherlevelof
understanding.(Mayer,2009)
2. Communicationis
actuallyinhibitedwhenthesamewordsarespokenanddisplayedonthescreen
becausepeoplecannotlistenandreadatthesametime.(Paivio,2007)
3. Peoplearecapableofholdingonlyafewpiecesofinformationintheirshort‐termmemoryatatime.
Ourjobaspresentersisto
makethemessageclear,memorable,andentertaining.
Thesethreeconceptsshouldinspireyou,asapresenter,toabandonslideafterslideofbulletpointsand
replacethemwithslidesthatusevisualsinanengagingandmeaningfulway.Theseresearchresultsshould
alsoencourageyoutoidentifyyourkeymessageandensurethatitisdeliveredeffectively.
Considerthefollowingthreeslides:
Thisslideisnoteffectivevisually;
theaudiencecanreadthetext
morequicklythanthespeakercan
discussit,resultinginconfusion
andboredom.
Thisslideisbetterbecauseituses
avisualdisplayandtheheading
outlinesthemainmessage.Butit
lacksanemotionalconnectionto
improvemessageretention.
Thisslideisthebestexample
becauseitclearlydisplaysthe
messageandgetstheaudience’s
attention.Theaccompanying
handoutshouldprovidedetails.
Thefollowingaresometipswithgoodandbadvisualexamplestohelppresentersidentifyandavoidbad
PowerPointhabits,andtopromoteawarenessofhowbesttousePowerPointtocreateeffective,meaningful
presentations.
Note:The iconinthecornerindicatestheslideisanexampleofbaddesignwithgoodcontent.
1. Design a template that is free from distracting items.
Striveforsimplicityandreadability.MostPowerPointtemplatescontaindistractingelementssuchas
bordersorshadingthatcandetractfromyourmessage.It’sbesttocreateatemplateofyourownthathasa
solidbackgroundandisfreefromnon‐essentialitems,suchasfootersandlogos.When creating your template,
keep in mind the advice of French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, “A designer knows he has achieved perfection
not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”


2. Ensure your template promotes readability.
Choose color combinations that make it easy for the audience to read your slides. If your audience is unable to read
your slides, then your message has been compromised. Consider the following advice from Reynolds (n.d.). If you
will be presenting in a darkened room, then light text on a dark background works well. But if you will be in a room
with the lights on or considerable ambient light, then dark text on a light background works better.
3. Select a sans serif font. Limit your fonts to two, at most.
Serif fonts, such as Garamond, Times New Roman or Century Schoolbook, have protruding “feet” (called serifs)
that extend beyond the main shape of the letters. The serifs are beneficial in printed documents with a lot of text,
but they will produce a blurred look on the screen. Sans serif fonts (translated as “without serifs”), such as Calibri,
Arial and Trebuchet, produce a cleaner, less cluttered, easier to read look.
By limiting your fonts to two (at most), your presentation will have a consistent look and feel. This limitation does
not include the use of bold, italic or bold italic; these alterations are considered the same as the base font.
Be sure to select standard fonts or embed the fonts in your presentation. If the fonts you use are not installed on the
presentation machine, it will use a substitute font and potentially change the entire look of your presentation.
Rules about Font Selection
Select a sans serif font such as
Calibri,Arial,or
Trebuchet.
Limit your fonts to two, at most.
4. Always use fonts that are 24 point or larger.
Displaying text that is too small to read compromises your message and frustrates your audience. If you have more
text than can reasonably fit on a screen using at least 24 point fonts, then either: (a) create another slide or (b)
shorten your text. As noted in tip #11, let your handout contain the detailed information and use your presentation
to highlight your most significant points.

5. Incorporate high quality photos, images or diagrams that reinforce your verbal message.
Researchhasshownthatcommunicationisenhancedwhenaverbalmessageiscombinedwithapowerful
imageonthescreen.Manyfreehighqualityphotosareavailableon‐line(butpayattentiontocopyrights)
andaplethoraofprofessionalphotosareavailableatveryreasonablecosts(suchasatiStockphoto.com).
Avoidclipart,sinceitcanmakeyourpresentationlookdatedandunprofessional.Incorporatingyourtext
intothephotopresentsamoreunifiedandvisuallypleasingmessagethanhavingthemcompletelyseparate.

6. Use phrases or abbreviated sentences, rather than full sentences.
Withthepossibleexceptionofshortdirectquotes,keepfullsentencesinyouroralpresentationandoffthe
screen.“Humansareincapableofreadingandcomprehendingtextonascreenandlisteningtoaspeakerat
thesametime.Therefore,lotsoftext(almostanytext!),andlong,completesentencesarebad,Bad,BAD”
(Reynolds,2010,p.57).


7. Use bullet points sparingly. If using bullet points, be sure they are less than six words long.
Themosteffectiveslidesareoftenthosewiththeleasttext.“Yourpresentationisforthebenefitofthe
audience.Butboringanaudiencewithbulletpointafterbulletpointisoflittlebenefittothem”(Reynolds,
n.d.).Ifyouwanttouseanoutlinetoorganizeyourtalk,keepitonpaperratherthanputtingitonscreenas
bullets.

8. Eliminate the use of headings or titles unless they communicate the main message.
Headings should not be used to introduce or identify the topic of the slide, though they may be useful to call
attention to the main finding in a chart or graph. Otherwise, headings tend to be redundant and should be
eliminated.

98%ofheadersareredundant
0
0.5
1
Redundantheaders Usefulheaders

9. Use animation, slide transitions, audio, and video sparingly.
..and if used, do so only to reinforce a key concept. No examples are provided because they would be difficult to
illustrate in this written format. Research has shown that when there is movement on the screen, the audience’s
attention is immediately drawn to the movement, thus breaking their concentration on the presentation content.
Audiences judge presentations ontheirinterestinthecontent,notonhowmanyfancyfeaturesareusedinthe
slides.
10. Highlight the most important information in tables and graphs. If needed, use builds to present data
in a series of bite-sizes pieces.
There are many resources about how to create effective tables and graphs (e.g., Few, 2004; Sanders & Filkins,
2009). The rules of good design will be the same as for printed documents, but you need to consider the pace when
presenting tables/graphs on screen. By highlighting the most important information and presenting only as much
data as can be readily understood (perhaps by presenting it incrementally), the audience will easily be able to discern
the main message.
If you have complicated data to present, this is one application for using of slide transitions, which can be used to
“build” your table/graph and focus your audience’s attention. The following slides show an example of both a better
graph choice and how to highlight data for your audience. See Paradi (2009) for an example of using builds to
present a chart in PowerPoint.

11. Create a handout to accompany your presentation.
Manypresenterstrytomaketheirslidesfunctionasbothahandoutandapresentationandendupfailingat
bothattempts.Slidesshouldbedesignedtovisuallyenhance(notsummarize)yourpresentation.Handouts
shouldbewell‐writtencomprehensivereports,containingdetailedinformationsuchas(dependingonyour
content)complexcharts,data,analyses,andreferences.Youraudiencewillbegratefultotakeawell‐written
documentwiththem,ratherthanjusttheirscribblednotesonyourprintedslides.Thisapproachtakesa
significantinvestmentoftime,butwillservebothyouandyouraudiencewell.

12. Be passionate about your topic.
Regardlessofhowwelldesignedyourslidesare,thesuccessorfailureofyourpresentationwillhingeonhow
effectivelyyouengageyouraudience.Iftheaudiencecan’ttellthatthetopicyou’representingisinteresting
toyou,itwon’tbeinterestingtothem.Theslidesshouldservetoenhanceyouroralpresentation,letthem
helpyou.Bulletpointsarenotpassionate,notevenwhenthey’rehighlydecorated.
 
References and Recommended Reading
Atkinson,C.(2008).BeyondBulletPoints.Redmond,WA:MicrosoftPress.
Few,S.(2004).ShowMetheNumbers:DesigningTablesandGraphstoEnlighten.Oakland,CA:AnalyticsPress.
Mayer,R.(2009).MultimediaLearning.NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversityPress.
Paivio,A.(2007).MindanditsEvolution:ADualCodingTheoreticalApproach.Mahwah,NJ:LawrenceErlbaum
Associates,Inc.
Paradi,D.(n.d.).ThinkOutsidetheSlide.Retrievedfromhttp://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com
.
Paradi,D.(2009).SlideMakeoverVideoPodcast,3/29/2009.Retrievedfrom
http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/podcasts/Issue003609‐29‐2009.mov
on3/3/2010.
Reynolds,G.(2008).PresentationZen:SimpleIdeasonPresentationDesignandDelivery.Berkeley,CA:NewRiders.
Reynolds,G.(2010).PresentationZenDesign:SimpleDesignPrinciplesandTechniquestoEnhanceyour
Presentations.Berkeley,CA:NewRiders.
Reynolds,G.(n.d.).TopTenSlideTips.Retrievedfromhttp://www.garrreynolds.com/Presentation/slides.html
on2/26/2010.
Sanders,L.andFilkins,J(2009).EffectiveReporting(2
nd
ed.).Tallahassee,FL:AssociationforInstitutional
Research.
Note:AllphotospurchasedfromiStockphoto.com
5/17/2010
1
8351443
Cast of Characters
ExpertPowerPointUser ……RebeccaCarr
NovicePowerPointUser ……MaryHarrington
Prologue
The results of our Regression Analysis on 2170 first-time
first-year students showed the following factors were
statistically significant predictors of first term GPA in
college. (
Incremental R-squared is in parenthesis
)
Hi
g
hschoolGPA
(
.288
),
ACT
/
SAT
(
.033
),
Male
(
‐.009
),
Thatfont ishard
toread.
Thecolor
combination
makesithardto
Thereare
toomanywords
Idon’tknowwhat
herpointis!
Why isshereading
thistome?!
g (),/ (), (
),
Parents’EducationLevel(.006),Pelleligible(‐.002)
The following factors were included in the analysis but
did not have a significant explanatory value:
Residency,Ethnicity,Citizenship,Application
Date,IntendedMajor
TheUniversityofMS
readtoo.
Exclude non‐
essentialitems
1
The results of our Regression Analysis on 2170 first-time
first-year students showed the following factors were
statistically significant predictors of first term GPA in
college. (
Incremental R-squared is in parenthesis
)
Hi
g
hschoolGPA
(
.288
),
ACT
/
SAT
(
.033
),
Male
(
‐.009
),
g (),/ (), (
),
Parents’EducationLevel(.006),Pelleligible(‐.002)
The following factors were included in the analysis but
did not have a significant explanatory value:
Residency,Ethnicity,Citizenship,Application
Date,IntendedMajor
This is an example of what NOT to do as a handout