Powerpoint tips

Last week, in preparation for my digital project, which is due this week (Eeek!) I figured I had better start researching. Not only my topic, which actually appears to be the easier part, but also the software necessary to create the project.
It's been a long time since I worked in the office, so many of my office skills have gone by the wayside. My first step was to watch some instructional strategies on presentations and I found this great YouTube video. A TED talk (I have enjoyed watching many of these talks in this course) by David J Phillips called "How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint."


(Attribution: Source: YouTube also found at: www.TED.com, Creative Commons NonCommercial No Derivs 3.0)

The most important points that stuck out for me were:
1. Only one message per slide
2. People cannot read and listen at the same time. I completely agree with this and I have noticed this problem with digital presentations that I've tried to watch. If I am reading the speaker's slide, I can't also focus on what the speaker is saying. Therefore, no sentences.
3. We can draw attention to the key points by using contrast. Objects that we want to draw the eye to should be larger, as well as text.
4. Slides should be somewhat simple, no more than six objects per slide and no more than six words per slide.

I find these tips to be very helpful! Also, from my own experiences, I find them to be very good advice. Many presentations I have turned off half way through because I was bored or because it was too much energy to try and decipher the message on the slides while attempting to also listen to the speaker.

Also, a couple other key points that I have learned are:
- Never turn your back on your audience
- Your visual aid (when speaking in front of an audience) should HELP your presentation, not BE your presentation.