Getting Started
There are two ways to start the process of choosing the layout of your presentation. You can either go for a custom layout that you can create, or use a layout that you can download via internet. Lets start off from and create our own layout instead of just downloading one. The first thing you need to do is choose the style of your slides. You do this easily by hitting design on the ribbon tab and choosing the slide to your preference.
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| Attached: Choosing the Layout of you Microsoft Power Point slide. |
After choosing a style now you can edit it to your liking. You can change everything about it from the color to the texture. What you want to do is click on background style. You can choose new colors in the background style windows. If you cannot find a color that you want to use try using kuler.com, they will give you the numerical value for each color. Once you have picked a color you like, simply copy the number and place it into power point. If you want to do further modifications to your template click on format background and edit to your preference.
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| Attached: Formatting backgrounds in Microsoft Power Point. |
Maybe creating a template really is not your thing. There are plenty of sources to download Power Point layouts. You can find them by just entering "Power Point Templates" in any search engine. But here are a few links:
Powered Templates
Power Point Styles
Once you have found a layout that you want to use simply download it, uncompressed the file and open it with Microsoft power point. The power point template that you have downloaded might come with its own text, just simply delete it and add you own. This is completely legal if you download from the proper sites. Here is a picture just in case there is any confusion.
That is it. Pretty simple, I thought so too. As my business computing professor once stated, "design is more than how something looks" and "presentation design is about finding solutions for sharing ideas." You always want to make sure you do this in an interesting manner to capture and maintain the audience's attention. You need your design to be completely error free. When I say error free I am referring to graphics and of course your facts. Choose a design to your preference and that is easy on the eyes. I personally prefer a dark background with light lettering. Make your presentation easy to read by using big letters and clear font. No one wants to squint their eyes. Also, be clear and obsess about your ideas, not the tools used in performing the ideas, but about the message you are trying to send to your audience. Do not stress empty space, empty space is ten times better than clutter. A professor at MIT once said "Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful."
Here are a few common mistakes when using images in you presentation. Always try to avoid the following
- Small images
- Random images
- Image use that looks accidental
- Pix-elated images
- Watermarked or copyrighted images
- Disorted Images
- Clip Art
- Cliche images
- More than 1 image per slide.
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| Attached: Is a power point slide of my two dogs Chico (right) and Nina (left). Can you see whats wrong with it? The text to the right is to SMALL!!! This is something that you should try to avoid. |
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| Attached: Is another power point slide of my two dogs and roommate Jeff. Can you see whats wrong with this? The clutter makes it look disorganized, you dont know were to begin. This is something else you should avoid. |
Always remember that the first 30-60 seconds of your presentation should be directed to catching your audience's attention and one of the easiest ways to catch your audience attention is by using visual aid. What could be better visual aid then a well thought out power point slide? Take everything I talked about to consideration when choosing your design and you are guaranteed to do well.
