As discussed on the previous page, when presenting to an academic audience in a scholarly conference situation, researchers often use text heavy slides. However, in situations where you are being asked to present to a non-specialist audience, you want to ensure your slides are visually interesting, not too text heavy, and designed in an aesthetically pleasing way. The following tips can help you take your presentations from boring to brilliant:
- Limit the amount of text on each slide by considering the rule of seven. No slide should contain more than 7 lines of text, each with no more than 7 words per line – good advice from Southern Illinois University (link)
- Avoid powerpoint templates. Everyone uses these, making them cliche. Instead, find appropriate images with ample whitespace (for example a landscape with a large amount of sky) on which you can put your text, or use plain colored background with a single balanced image
- Use no more than two fonts
- Make sure your images are free to use and do not contain watermarks – also resize your image proportionately. Don’t skew or warp your image when you change the size
- Avoid the use of animations on slides and in transitions between slides
- Keep one main idea per slide if possible, to help keep your presentation clear
- Keep it simple
- Finally, have fun!
Not interested in PowerPoint? Check out this list of alternative presentation software options from the Zapier blog (link).
You’ve designed a beautiful and relevant presentation, you’ve practiced and are ready to go, but sometimes you need a short, concise and snappy overview of your work to share with others quickly and informally. The next section will cover how to present your work in situations where you don’t have much time, using an “elevator pitch”.