TIPS & TRICKS TO ACE POWERPOINT!

Top 10 Best Practices for PowerPoint

FONTS ANIMATIONS
Use a sans serif font of 28 font size or larger Animations should be used for emphasis and
for content. to support your story, not distract from it.

BULLETS TRANSITIONS
Break up bullets to multiple slides (extra slides Use consistent transitions that don’t draw
don’t cost $$). attention to themselves. Think fade and push.

IMAGERY LESS IS MORE

Incorporate high quality imagery (amount may Ensure that all content, animations, and
vary with audience). transitions have a purpose. Eliminate the extras.

CONTENT TELL A STORY

Slide content should be informative (not Guide your audience through content; provide
vague) but not overloaded (T.M.I.). context and highlight what’s most important.

COLORS PREP
Choose background and font colors carefully. Give yourself time to outline, design, edit, and
Use high contrast. practice on test audience.

Top 10 Best Practices for Data Visualizations

AXES TABLE ALIGNMENT
Y-axis should start at 0 and should have a Right align numbers, left align text. This is how
maximum that allows comparison. audiences expect to see numbers and text.

DATA LABELS TOOLS

Data labels can often be more effective than Use other tools (text boxes, tables, etc.) to
gridlines. produce custom chart elements.

BAR SPACING SPOTLIGHT

Bar spacing should be significantly wider or Spotlight talking points or important
narrower than the bar itself. information to direct your audience’s eyes.

EMPHASIS ELIMINATE JUNK

Use color to add context or emphasis, or even Keep it simple. Eliminate elements (chart junk!)
another variable (ex. public vs private colleges). that don’t add to your data story.

AVOID 3D GRAPHS AUDIENCE

Presenting a graph in 3D will skew and distort Orient your audience to your chart - don’t
your data. Don’t use them. assume they know the data as well as you do!

BE A RULE-BREAKER! These practices don’t apply for every situation!

PowerPoint Tools And Shortcuts
TOOLS SHORTCUTS
ARRANGE SLIDE MASTER NEW SLIDE NUDGE
Order · Align · Group · Rotate View Tab Ctrl + M Ctrl + ARROW
Home Tab
DEFAULT COLORS & DUPLICATE RESIZE
SELECTION PANE FONTS Ctrl + D hold Shift while resizing to
Arrange View Tab > Slide Master maintain exact proportions.
GROUP
MERGE SHAPES GRAYSCALE Ctrl + G STRAIGHT LINES
Drawing Tools Tab (when View Tab hold Shift while drawing lines
UNGROUP
objects selected) to ensure perfect horizontal,
PICTURE RECOLOR Shift + Ctrl + G
vertical, or 45° angle lines.
FORMAT PAINTER Picture Tools (when pic
ZOOM IN/OUT
Home Tab selected) > Color
Ctrl + mouse wheel

Design Resources Design Inspiration

HIGH-RESOLUTION PHOTO SOURCES
• morgueFile: http://www.morguefile.com/
• Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/
• Gratisography: http://gratisography.com/
ICON AND FONT SOURCES
• Fonts available on Microsoft Office:
• Webdings
• Wingdings
• Wingdings 2
• Fonts available for download:
REAL LIFE EXAMPLES FROM UMD!
• UMD Campus Counts:
http://go.umd.edu/CampusCounts
• AAUDE 2015 Data Visualization Presentation:
http://go.umd.edu/AAUDEDataViz2015
• Campus Assessment Working Group:
http://go.umd.edu/CAWGReports
MORE GUIDELINES SOURCES
PowerPoint/Presentation Guidelines:
• Boring to Bold: Presentation Designs for Non-Designers
http://www.slideshare.net/mgowin/boring-to-bold-presentation-
design-ideas-for-nondesigners-9847542

• Stateface (from Font Squirrel) • Quick & Dirty Tips: Better PowerPoint Presentations Faster
http://www.slideshare.net/itseugene/quick-dirty-tips-for-better-
• Heydings (from Font Squirrel) powerpoint-presentations-faster

• Sosa (from tenbytwenty) • You Suck at PowerPoint!

• Noun Project: https://thenounproject.com/
• Font Squirrel: http://www.fontsquirrel.com/
• iconmnstr: http://iconmonstr.com/
• dafont: http://www.dafont.com/
INFOGRAPHIC TEMPLATES
http://www.slideshare.net/jessedee/you-suck-at-powerpoint
• How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint: David JP Phillips at
TEDxStockholmSalon
https://youtu.be/Iwpi1Lm6dFo
Data Visualization Guidelines:
• Data Visualization 101 – How to Design Charts and Graphs
http://www.slideshare.net/Visage/data-visualization-101-how-to-
design-chartsandgraphs

• Easelly: www.easel.ly • Data Visualization Best Practices 2013

http://www.slideshare.net/idigdata/data-visualization-best-practices-
• Infogram: www.infogr.am 2013

• Piktochart: www.piktochart.com • Data Visualization for Non-Programmers | Harvard i-Lab

https://youtu.be/-xS7QJhVbcM

Thomas Dobrosielski Emily Foley

Information Specialist Research & Assessment Analyst
Email: tdobrosi@umd.edu Email: efoley@umd.edu

Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment – www.irpa.umd.edu

NEAIR 2015 Conference– October 31, 2015