by Hayley Solich

Created on: July 15, 2007

BECOME A MULTI-MEDIA GURU BY ADOPTING SEVEN SIMPLE PRACTICES

The problem with PowerPoint is that you need to become a multi-media guru to use it effectively! From flashing text to animated images, it's great if you have hours to indulge your creative passion, but on the most part, if you don't' know what you are doing, it can turn into a dot point disaster. To take the stress out of your learning process, let me illustrate seven key ideas to ensure your PowerPoint presentation is not an invitation to switch off!

1. TRY NOT TO USE ALL THE BELLS AND WHISTLES IN THE ONE PRESENTATION.
Use the KISS principle - Keep it Simple Sweetheart. A master of anything knows that less is always best. You need action BUT you also need inaction.

2. TRY TO BE CONSISTENT IN YOUR STYLING AND CHOICE OF IMAGES.
A sloppy presentation will give the impression that you don't really know what you are doing. Different background colours on each page, different sized headers, different size text and inconsistency in the colour of texts and style of images all point to a lack of skill. A PowerPoint presentation is like creating a book or a magazine. People are conditioned to expect that each page will have the relevant information located in the same places. They also want to be visually stimulated by interesting imagery. You can get some great free images online at places like http://www.sxc.hu, so don't just rely on Microsoft for your images.

3. TRY TO AVOID USING THE PRESET SOUNDS
Its lovely that PowerPoint has some preset sounds like applause, bells and typewriter but for most these are just plain annoying noise. If you want to add some sounds, find professional sound library and select sounds that add rather than take away from your presentation. Also, avoid the trap of sending people off to sleep with the beautiful piano or peace themed background music.

4. BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR CHOICE OF COLORS.
Remember that some colors are hard to read on different colored backgrounds, especially if you are presenting to older people who find text on the dark shades difficult to interpret.

5. PRACTICE THE PRESENTATION USING THE TIMING FEATURE
If you practice first, you will know that you are going to be able to get through the presentation in the set time frame. Don't forget to allow time for interruptions and questions. Real people use up time. Unlike using notes and winging it, you can't easily jump ahead a slide or two if you are running out of time, so bear this in mind when creating your presentation.

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