Microsoft PowerPoint has dramatically changed the way in which academic and business presentations are made. This article outlines few tips on making more effective and attractive PowerPoint presentations.

The Text

• Wording: Keep it clear and simple. Use active, visual language. Cut unnecessary words; a good rule of thumb is to cut paragraphs down to sentences, sentences into phrases, and phrases into key words.
• Limit words and lines: Limit the number of words and lines per slide. Try the Rule of Five: five words per line, five lines per slide. If too much text appears on one slide, use the AutoFit feature to split it between two slides. Click within the placeholder to display the AutoFit Options button (its symbol is two horizontal lines with arrows above and below), then click on the button and choose Split Text Between Two Slides from the submenu.
• Font sizes: For titles this should be at least 36 to 40, while the text body should not be smaller than 24.
• Font styles: Use only two font styles per slide: one for the title and the other for the text. Choose two fonts that visually contrast with each other. Garamond Medium Condensed and Impact are good for titles, while Garamond or Tempus Sans can be used for the text body.
• Embed the fonts: If you are not sure whether the fonts used in the presentation are present in the computer that will be used for the presentation, then embed the fonts. To do this, (1.) on the File menu, click Save As. (2.) On the toolbar, click Tools, click Save Options, select the Embed TrueType Fonts check box, and then select Embed characters in use only.
• Colours: Use sparingly: two to three at most. You may use one colour for all the titles and another for the text body. Be consistent from slide to slide. Choose a font colour that contrasts well with the background.
• Capitalisation: Capitalising the first letter of each word is good for the title of slides and suggests a more formal situation than having just the first letter of the first word capitalised. In bullet point lines, capitalise the first word and no other words unless they normally appear capped. Upper and lower case lettering is more readable than all capital letters. Moreover, current styles indicate that using all capital letters means you are shouting. If you have text that is in the wrong case, select it and then press Shift+F3 until it changes to the case style that you want. Clicking Shift+F3 toggles the text case between ALL CAPS, lower case, and Initial Capital styles.
• Bold and italic: Use for emphasis. Avoid underlining – it clutters up the presentation.
• Alignment: Don't centre bulleted lists or text; it is confusing to read. Left align unless you have a good reason not to.
• Spell check: Run this on your show when finished.

The Background

• Consistency: Keep the background coherent.
• Simplicity: Simple, light textured backgrounds work well. Complicated textures make the content hard to read.
• Clips: If you are planning to use many clips in your slides, select a white background.
• Lightproofing: If the venue of your presentation is not adequately lightproof, select a dark-coloured background and use any light colour for text.
• Added extras: Minimise the use of "bells and whistles" such as sound effects, "flying words" and multiple transitions.
• Seeing red: Don’t use red in any fonts or backgrounds. It is an emotionally overwhelming colour that is difficult to read or see beyond.
• Templates: Many free templates are available for download at http://www.brainybetty.com/MENUPowerPoint.htm http://www.soniacoleman.com/templates.htm.

The Clips

• Animations: These are best used subtly; too much flash and motion can distract and annoy viewers.
• Google images: Do not rely too heavily on those images that were originally loaded on your computer with the rest of MS Office. You can easily find appropriate clips on any topic through Google Images. While searching for images, do not use long search phrases as is usually done while searching the web – use specific words.
• Picture size: When importing pictures, make sure that they are smaller than two megabytes and are in a .jpg format. Larger files can slow down your show.
• Simplicity: Keep graphs, charts and diagrams simple, if possible.
• No tables: Use bar graphs and pie charts instead of tables of data. The audience can then immediately pick up the relationships.

The Presentation

• Slide show opening: If you want your presentation to directly open in the slide show view, save it as a slide show file using the following steps:
  1. Open the presentation you want to save as a slide show.
  2. On the File menu, click Save As.
  3. In the Save as type list, click PowerPoint Show. Your slide show file will be saved with a .pps file extension. When you double-click on this file, it will automatically start your presentation in slide show view. When you're done, PowerPoint automatically closes and you return to the desktop. If you want to edit the slide show file, you can always open it from PowerPoint by clicking Open on the File menu.
• Audience: Look at the audience, not at the slides, whenever possible.
• Laser pointer: If using a laser pointer, don’t move it too fast. For example, if circling a number on the slide, do it slowly. Never point the laser at the audience.
• The focus: Black out the screen (use “B” on the keyboard) after the point has been made, to put the focus on you. Press the key again to continue your presentation.
• Pen tool: You can use the shortcut command [Ctrl]P to access the pen tool during a slide show. Click with your mouse and drag to use the pen tool to draw during your slide show. To erase everything you've drawn, press the E key. To turn off the pen tool, press [Esc] once.

Miscellaneous

• Master slide setup: The "master slide" will allow you to make changes that are reflected on every slide in your presentation. You can change fonts, colours, backgrounds, headers and footers at the "master slide" level.
  1. First, go to the "View" menu.
  2. Pull down the "Master" menu.
  3. Select the "Slide Master" menu. You may now make changes at this level that meet your presentation needs.
• Preparing the handout: In PowerPoint, choose File > Send To > Microsoft Word. In the Send To Microsoft Word dialog box, choose Outline Only to create a text-only document, and click on OK. Minor modifications on this document will give you a handout that can be distributed to the audience.
• Visual appeal: Create visually appealing slides by adhering to these tips, to ensure that the audience is not distracted from the points you have to make.

Dr Shahul Ameen, MD, is a psychiatrist based in Ranchi, India. He edits a portal with information on mental health and psychiatry, and a directory of Indian websites on mental health.