a. Although there are those who will totally disagree with us, we believe that red (especially bright red) should never be used in a presentation. As a font or as a background, red is usually not very easy on the eyes.
b. The right colors can add impact to your presentation. Red is considered a “hot” color and is not considered by some experts to be a color that should be part of a professional presentation.

a. You have seen those presentations where the presenter pulls out all the “bells and whistles” he/she can think of to spice up the presentation. This can be very annoying to the audience, and depending on the subject matter, can divert from the true meaning of the message.
b. A “build” is what we use to move from point to another on a slide. A “transition” occurs between slides. There are several types of builds and transitions to choose from, and unfortunately, many presenters make the mistake of choosing the wrong ones which can be distracting.
c. We prefer to use the “fade smoothly” or “fade through black” for our builds and transitions. This makes the presentation look very professional.

a. Try to choose pictures with high resolutions (e.g. 1024 x 768 pixels- minimum should be around 504 x 684 pixels).
b. If you are not sure if a picture has a good resolution, test out the picture on a screen (prior to your presentation). We recommend that you have backup pictures in case the ones in your presentation don’t work.
c. The positioning of the picture is also of importance. If you want to use a picture for the entire slide, pictures in the “landscape” mode tend to work best. If you want to have words and a picture (two columns), pictures in the “portrait” mode may be better.

a. This is a common problem in professional presentations, in which researchers want to discuss their findings or the findings of other researchers, and display graph after graph, chart after chart. Some aud ience members may be impressed with all of this scientific data, but others might find it tiresome.
b. Another problem with the use of too many graphs or charts deals with formatting errors. If they are incorporated in the presentation and appear to blend in with the rest of the color scheme, this is preferable. However, a lot of presenters use the “cut” and “paste” method, and will paste a chart into a presentation with a different color scheme which can be distracting to the audience.

a. Be careful with not having enough information on a slide. This can be as bad as having too much material. Your audience does not like to look at a lot of blank space on the screen.
b. Consider placing photos or other graphical elements to balance out a slide when there is a lot of blank space.

a. We see too many presentations in which light blue text is used on a blue background, or oth er odd color schemes such as black text on a gray background, etc.
b. You really need to know which colors look well on the screen. In future updates, we will discuss more about the impact that color has on the feel and meaning of your presentation.

a. What can we say? We believe that the only font you should ever use for your presentations is “Arial”. It is known as a “sans serif” font (a font without the smal l lines at the end of characters that you see in such fonts as “Times New Roman” and “Courier”. Arial is simply a clean, esthetically-pleasing and easy-to-read font for PowerPoint® presentations. We use it for both the title and text on a slide.
b. Helvetica, Univers, Franklin Gothic, and Avant Garde are other examples of sans serif fonts. We recommend that you be careful with experimenting with a lot of different fonts. You might have to give your presentation on a computer which does not have your favorite font installed. This may cause your presentation to appear differently than was originally intended. You can always install your favorite font on the computer you will use for your presentati on; however, we recommend sticking with Arial and you should have no problems on any computer
c. Be careful with whichever font you choose. Using the Comic Sans MS font for a very serious presentation, for example, might change the whole feel of your presentation.

a. The rule of thumb is approximately 1-2 slides per minute. Of course, this number would be based on the topic presented. If there is very little scientific information , or no need for long explanations of complex topics, you might be able to able to present more than 2 slides per minute.
b. The number of slides will be dictated by the impact you want and the subject matter.
c. You may also want to determine which slides can be “hidden” during your presentation, if your presentation or the presenter before yours runs long, and you need to save some time by deleting some information.

Here are some useful links to help you with information concerning presentation design and delivery:

www.presentations.com
Lots of great information and a very comprehensive presenter's resource with timely information concerning presentation software technology and techniques. Lots of articles on industry trends, and new presentation products. We particularly like their free “Presentations Magazine”.

www.presentersuniversity.com
Effectively organized website with lots of information concerning presentation design and delivery. You can sign up for free PowerPoint® templates or Corel® masters. We like their very informative articles from presentation experts and the section on “Ask the Professor” is most helpful.


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www.presentationpro.com
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