Designing PowerPointPresentations

Beginning a PowerPointPresentation (in Bison Library)

• Turn on the computer.

• Type username: teacher’s last name and teacher’s first initial. (For example: SmithJ

• Type password: bison, teacher’s initials.

(For example: bisonjs

• Hit Enter

Starting PowerPoint• Click the green start button in the lower left-hand corner of your screen.

• Select Microsoft Office, click.

• Select: Microsoft Office PowerPoint, click.

• Click, Add Title, then title your PPT presentation.

• Click Add Subtitle, then add your full name, next line add Mrs. Bohannon, next line add your class period, i.e. Period One. (See next slide.)

The Guillotine

Mike Scally

Mrs. Bohannon

Period 1

Before We Go Any Further…LET’S SAVE OUR FILE!

Click on, My Computer, My Network Places, Novell Connections, Gfhs_ibm_lab, Media2, Staff folder, Teacher’s Name folder, Class Period,Drag your Desktop file into this Class Period folder.Click Save. You may now work!

Start

Change Font, Size, and Color

In the upper left-hand part of your screen, place your cursor on the arrow next to the font type.

o Try a different type of font.

Next to the types of font, change the

size of the font.

Change Font,Size, and Color

(continued) Pull down the arrow next to the capital A along the top tool bar.

Choose a different color.

RULES OF THUMB

1. For PowerPoint Presentations, use Verdana or Trebuchet MS fonts.

- They look best in presentations.

Rules of Thumb(continued)

• Font size should be about 30. This is size 28.

• Select B (Bold) to highlight your font.

• Use a white background with black font, or use a light background with a dark font.

• For a professional look, use the same text layout for each slide.

Rules of Thumb(continued)

• Keep animations, sounds, and colors to a minimum in an “official” presentation.

• (Experiment with them, but save all the “bells and whistles” for other, less official presentations.)

• Minimize your use of graphs, pictures, and videos, as well.

Rules of Thumb(continued)

• Please MINIMIZE all these things BECAUSE

They can be very distracting to your audience!

They can hurt the eyes of your audience!

They can hurt the ears of your audience!

They can RUIN your presentation!

PowerPoint Basics

Copyright Michael Scally 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Table of Contents6 X 6 Rule

Background Colors

Color

Evolution of Literacy

Font Styles

New Literacy

PowerPoint is…

References

Text Colors

Text Size

Wait Time

A New LiteracyWe are experiencing a new literacy.

“According to Time Magazine, for

example, the vocabulary of the average

14 year-old dropped from 25,000 words in

1950 to only 10,000 words by 1999.”

(Burmark, 2002, p. 8)

Why?• Television was invented in the 1940’s.

• World War II created a technology

explosion.

• Computers were invented in the 1960’s.

• Television replaced the radio as the

main form of family entertainment.

Since Then ...• Technology was been increasing at a incredible rate over the past 7 decades.

• Today, new technology becomes obsolete

in as little as 18 months.

• So, the world is changing and the world

of education is changing with it.

The Evolution of Literacy

Society Type of LiteracyTribal ----------------- Oral Tradition

Scribal --------------- Phonetic Alphabet

Typographical ---- Mass-produced books (1490’s)

Cybernetic ---------- Telegraph (1860’s) & Computers (Today) Thornburg, 1999, p 30 – 44)

During My Lifetime•Pen/Pencil and Mimeographs

•Manual Typewriters

• Electric Typewriters

• Word Processors

• Computers

• The World Wide Web

PowerPoint is …• A presentation software to HELP speakers give presentations.

• The PROBLEM with PowerPoint is that

too often the media has become

the message.

Design Basics•The most important ingredient of PPT slide design is COLOR.Slide Background Colors

• The three best colors for backgrounds are

the cool colors Blue, Green, and Purple

Text Colors• The two best colors for text are the warm

colors Red and Yellow (depending on your

background color).

• As you can see, white works well

too.

• Text colors should contrast with

background colors.

FontThe two most important things to

remember about typography are:

1. Type is on the page to serve the text, and

2. There are no good and bad

typefaces: only appropriate

ones.

Font on the Web• Consider using fonts like Georgia

(with serifs) or Verdana (without serifs).

• Both fonts were designed specifically

for the web.

6 x 6 Rule• Each slide should have NO MORE

than six words across and six

words down (with size 28 font).

• The human eye becomes fatigued

with more words on a slide.

Background Colors• The best background colors for your

Presentations are:

Purple, Blue, & Green.

ReferencesBurmark, L. (2002). Visual literacy: Learn to see, see to

learn. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision

and Curriculum Development.

Thornburg, David D. (1998). Brainstorms and lightning

bolts: Thinking skills for the 21st

century. San Carlos, CA: Starsong publications.

Thornburg, David D. (1996). Campfires in cyberspace.

San Carlos, CA: Starsong publications.