Before recording audio for your Presenter presentations, make sure you have a complete, formatted, and optimized PowerPoint file. Use this check list as a guide for each presentation.
Slide Design
- Choose a clean slide design with a solid background color. Avoid gradients.
Slide Transistions
- Use one kind for the entire presentation--do not switch around in the presentation.
Slide Layout
- Always use a UNIQUE slide title for each slide. Choose a layout that includes a slide title box. Presenter needs these titles to generate a slide index.
Fonts
- Use a sans serif font like Arial or Helvetica.
- Avoid serif (Times New Roman) or non-standard fonts (Lucinda Sans Unicode). These fonts are harder to read on a computer.
- Avoid multiple fonts in a presentation.
- Increase the default size of the fonts in the title and slide body to fill out the entire slide. 32 point +
Text
- In general, stick to the default text color for the slide design. You want high contrast between the background and the text.
- Text is not a transcript. Limit amount of text on a slide. Use short phrases. 3-4 bulleted points per slide.
- Vary presentation of text on slides. Bulleted points get old quickly!
Animations
- Use animations to build upon bulleted points. This is especially helpful when you have more than 3 points on the slide.
- Use animations (like circles or arrows) to emphasize something on the slide.
General Rules of Thumb
- 20-30 slides per presentation. Break up the presentation into parts if the number of slides exceeds 25-30.
- Limit number of images on a slide. 1-3 is best, especially if you are trying to show detail on the image.
- Aim for a PowerPoint file that is no more than 3 MB in size.