PowerPoint presentations

When presenting academic information, there are many formats to choose from including PowerPoint or Sway presentations, posters and many more both in-person and stand-alone. Here are a few factors to consider.

These can be used to support a verbal presentation or as a stand-alone video with narration.

Comprehension

Keep text to a minimum, be concise;

• Use title slide to introduce topic/idea
• Limit each slide to between 3 and 5 bullet points
• Try and keep each bullet to a single line of text
• Use a combination of images and text
• Avoid using a large amount of long quotes
• Define your terms and acronyms
• Short in text citations are required. For example, Jones et al, 2015
• Add additional notes to the notes section in PowerPoint
• Include a reference list on final slide

Readability

• Font choice, quantity of text and size impact on readability;
• Use a sans-serif font without 'tails' such as Arial
• Make sure font is large enough. Generally, headings are around 36-45 points, main body of text and bullet point are around 22 points
• Try to keep a minimum of 20% space on a slide
• Keep number of colours to a minimum and avoid bright background colours to distract audience
• Use the same formatting throughout the presentation

Consistency

• Keep a professional design across your slide presentation;
• Use a design template to keep the same look
• Use the same background design on all slides