We’ve heard the rules for using PowerPoint effectively:
- 7 lines per slide
- 7 words per line
- No flashing animation
Not bad guidelines, but they fail to affect the key problem behind PowerPoint presentations. Slides should not provide a kind of closed captions for your talk or a repository for reams of data.
As this presentation demonstrates, PowerPoint works best as a backdrop to a speech. Use it for images, simple figures, and emphasis. Then leave it in the background and talk to the audience.
Tags: presentations