What makes a good presentation? What are some design tips for presenters? Are there examples of good or bad presentations? If you have any resources on these topics, please share them here for the benefit of all of us.
This site has a great presentation that discusses good design by demonstrating what not to do. There seem to be 2 general sets of guidelines for designing effective presentations:
Following The Rule of Six - Many websites refer to this rule and there are several different versions. The general idea is:
No more than 6 bullets/lines on a slide and no more than 6 words or numbers in a bullet/line.
Avoiding The Fatal Five - As far as I can tell, the fatal five originated from the book “Why bad presentations happen to good people“. They were summed up at this site and I have listed them below.
- Reading the Slides
- Too long, Too much information
- Lack of interaction
- Lifeless Presenters
- Room/Technical Problems
Finally, here is another good resource. Seth Godin posted helpful lists of dos and don’ts on his blog as well as a more conservative version of the rule of six.
Do:
- Use cue cards but don’t put them on the screen
- Use the slide to reinforce your words, not repeat them
- Create a written document to hand out after the presentation
- Create a feedback cycle to improve your presentation
Don’t:
- No more than six words on a slide. EVER. There is no presentation so complex that this rule needs to be broken.
- No cheesy images. Use professional stock photo images.
- No dissolves, spins or other transitions.
- Sound effects can be used a few times per presentation, but never use the sound effects that are built in to the program. Instead, rip sounds and music from CDs and leverage the Proustian effect this can have. If people start bouncing up and down to the Grateful Dead, you’ve kept them from falling asleep, and you’ve reminded them that this isn’t a typical meeting you’re running.
- Don’t hand out print-outs of your slides. They don’t work without you there.
Tony said
October 18 2007 @ 5:02 pm
This will be so useful - I’ll be using it (simplifying it slightly first!) as a resource next week with my students as they are preparing for their Tiangge press conference…!
Thanks Mark!
Tricia said
October 19 2007 @ 6:56 am
I’ll be using it with my eighth graders too: I hope in their upcoming presentations they will use Powerpoint more effectively than last time.
Thanks again,
Tricia
DilworthM said
October 19 2007 @ 7:47 am
I think the next step in this conversation would be to create a powerpoint that follows or illustrates the main points of the lists. We could design one for ES level and one for MS/HS level students.
Any volunteers?
val said
October 21 2007 @ 3:42 pm
Many thanks for such a timely resource!
Understanding Presentations by Design « DILigence said
November 8 2007 @ 9:03 am
[…] on designing and delivering an effective presentation. As a follow up to an earlier post on the techthink blog, I have managed to find some good resources that can help students understand what makes a good […]