WI PowerPoint Slides

Assignment Overview

Improving one’s presentation skills includes learning how to design good visual aids. Chapter 12 is a great resource for you to use in preparing your slides as well as planning the presentation they will be used with later on this semester. It’s important for you to take this WI assignment seriously. Being able to prepare “good” slides is more difficult than many realize. Google “Death by PowerPoint” for a good laugh and to see what not to do.

Guidelines

Prepare PowerPoint slides to accompany your eight-minute video presentation; you can safely assume your audience will be a friendly audience (Figure 12.2). Choose one of he topics from the list on page 390 (12.14). Read Chapter 12 paying careful attention to pages 371 – 379, page 364, and Figures 12.2, 12.4, 12.9, 12.10, 12.11, and 12.12. Apply content learned from Chapter 12 by following these guidelines:

Incorporate visual appeal and make sure everything is readable at a glance. Your slides should have visual appeal, but you don’t have to incorporate something on every slide. Fonts used on images you include should be readable at a glance, and there should be appropriate contrast between your content and the background.

Prepare a minimum of eight slides:

• Title slide. Capitalize all major words and make sure to include your name.
• Overview slide. This slide should show your audience the main points your presentation will cover in concise bullet form.
  
• Written content slide (minimum of 4). Content slide titles should be titled similar to the corresponding main point on the overview slide and should follow the order shown on your overview slide.
  
• Conclusion slide followed with citation slide. The conclusion slide may repeat main points from the overview or show a take away point.

Follow the 6×6 rule. This is a big one! These slides are going to accompany a live presentation; therefore, there should be *no more than six words per bulleted point and no more than six bullets per slide. ONLY one slide may be an exception IF you want to incorporate a quote or definition on a separate slide, but even then you should still strive to keep it short. When counting the words per bullet point, I consider several words that refer to one thing (The New York Times) as one word.

Use parallelism. This is a big one; review page 74 first! Bullet points should have a common ring to them (aka balance) on your content slides.

Proofread and be consistent. Use proper punctuation, grammar, capitalization, and spelling. Check for typos and odd spaces. Follow the same style throughout. Be consistent with capitalization of slide titles and with content in bullet points. Be consistent with use of end punctuation or no end punctuation of bullet points.

Technical Support

Provide technical support for students here. Please see the sample below.