Technology for Teaching & Learning
38 Digital Presentation Tips (e.g., PowerPoint, Google Slides)
Michael Barber
Digital presentations can be a useful communication tool to enhance your lectures. Unfortunately, if they are poorly designed they can distract students and make it difficult to understand the content.
Dr. John Medina, researcher and author, describes twelve “brain rules” for learning. Rule #4 is: “We don’t pay attention to boring things.” He goes on to point out that “the brain is not capable of multi-tasking. We can talk and breathe, but when it comes to the higher level tasks, we just can’t do it.”
Here are ten general guidelines to make your presentations more effective:
1 Present One Idea per Slide
The key to creating effective slides is to concentrate on one idea per slide, breaking down complex concepts into smaller parts and gradually building them up using several slides. This approach, which involves revealing information progressively using presentation software, helps the audience understand the larger concept more easily.
2 Spend around 1 Minute on Each Slide when Presenting
For effective presentations, each slide should be discussed in a minute or less, keeping the audience engaged with new information. If a slide takes longer, it’s a sign to simplify the content, focusing on a single, clear message.
3 Use Effective Slide Headings
In presentations, the heading section on each slide should convey a single message in a short, simple title. The content of the slide should support this heading, allowing the audience to follow along and arrive at the same conclusion in the heading.
4 Include only Essential Points
During presentations, you audience members’ eyes will look around your slide which could be distracting if there are extraneous images or details. Clear and concise design is key; ensure every element on your slide is related, essential, and discussed.
5 Provide Citations
In presentations, consistently provide citations and credits, adding them immediately to avoid forgetting sources. Citations not only clarify who did the work but also connect the audience with the contributors. End slides can be used to provide a bibliography of all of the references cited in the presentation.
6 Provide Related Images
In presentations, build your slides around good, related visualizations as they are more impactful than just text. However, avoid cluttering the slide with unrelated images or complex graphics; for instance, you could break down multipaneled figures into simpler elements, dedicating one panel per slide for clarity.
7 Reduce Cognitive Overload
The design and presentation of slide elements significantly impact audience comprehension and retention. Avoid full sentences and limit elements to six or fewer to prevent cognitive overload, using short text fragments and visuals to enhance understanding. Additionally, consider simplifying color choices, font types, and sizes, and use white space effectively to further ease cogni