It used to be that there were only two sure things in life, death, and taxes. Now there's a third:

PowerPoint-supported presentations.

Let's face it. PowerPoint is a way of life, considering that more than 90 percent of computer-based presentation visuals in this country are created using PowerPoint.

So as a result of PowerPoint's widespread popularity, you'd think that using this software program would guarantee that presentations have gotten better and are more effective than using "old" methods, such as chalkboards and overhead transparencies. But using software is not enough; you have to use it effectively. Let's take this scenario:

You enter a room where the lights are dimmed slightly to listen to an agricultural education expert. The speaker begins to address the audience and uses a projector to cast PowerPoint-created images from her computer. But try as you may, you can't decipher much of the text on the projection screen. The room is too bright, the words on the screen are too cramped, and the dark-color lettering blends in with the dark background. You spend most of the presentation trying to determine what the projected materials say, instead of listening to the speech.

Words, Words, Words
We've all done it, cramming two printed pages worth of material onto one PowerPoint slide. Don't. Instead, use pictures, clip art, or graphics. People remember pictures more easily. Using images also deters us from reading the material from our slides. But don't use images just to use images. If the clip art, photograph, or graphic doesn't further the audience's comprehension of your presentation, then don't use it.

• Include visuals that tell your story - However, if you have to use text, follow the next suggestions:
• Number of words/lines - A good rule is to limit words to six per line and six lines per screen. Information is best presented using "bullet" points or key words.
• Contrasting colors - The use of contrasting colors is an extremely important consideration. Use a dark background with light letters or a light background with dark letters. Avoid backgrounds with dark and light colors swirled together, such as PowerPoint's "Whirlpool" background template. Light-colored lettering is difficult to read when it crosses onto light backgrounds; similarly, dark-colored lettering is difficult to distinguish when it blends with a dark background.
• Letter colors to use - Use white or yellow letters on a dark background or black letters on a white or light-colored background.
• Letter colors to avoid - Red is the number one color to avoid, especially if you use a dark background. Red tends to bleed into other colors, making text difficult to read. Avoid colors that are similar to each other. For example, reds and dark greens are difficult to distinguish when projected.
• Text size - Use a minimum font size of 32 points. Bigger (up to 48-point) is better.
• Italics - On your office's computer screen, italicized words are easy to read. But when they are projected, audiences find it difficult to make out italicized words, so avoid italics.
• Upper/lowercase - It is difficult to read all upper-case letters. A combination of lower-case and upper-case letters should be used.

• Audio effects. Use sparingly! Audio special effects can make a serious presentation seem humorous when it's not supposed to be. PowerPoint has such audio effects as a racing car, breaking glass, lasers, and a typewriter. Ask yourself: "Why do I need one of these effects?" If you can't answer the question with a meaningful reason, then don't use the audio effect.
• Reveals and transitions. PowerPoint offers many choices of text reveals and transitions, ranging from text that dissolves onto the screen to text that "zooms" on from the right, left, bottom or top. Again, use sparingly. Your audience may get so enamored with the reveals and transitions that they lose sight of the main points in your presentation.
• Random effects. Avoid the use of "random effects" for reveals and transitions. You don't know how text will appear onto the screen in the "random effects"mode. For example, one of PowerPoint's effects is "crawl." If it is one of the chosen "random effects," you can expect to wait a long time for your bullet point of information to appear completely as it slowly crawls on the screen.

• Preparation. Run through the presentation in the room you're going to give it in before you are supposed to give it. Make adjustments to the slides accordingly.
• Lighted room. If a room's light level cannot be dimmed satisfactorily, try this: Use a white background with black or dark letters. Like traditional overhead projectors that have bright lights, a white (or extremely light) background projected through a high-end computer projector is more easily readable to your audience.

And don't underestimate your own creativity. You can make your own clip art images (arrows, icons, logos) with user-friendly software, such as CorelDraw or PhotoShop. Remember to keep the images easy to understand. Use bold, simple images.

Background templates also are a factor in your PowerPoint presentation, so don't get caught using only PowerPoint templates. You can create your own using PhotoShop, or you can purchase templates on CD-ROMs, such as Vicious Fishes from Digital ArtWare.

Multimedia
Multimedia elements are becoming more common in PowerPoint presentations. A study of corporate trainers, reported in Presentations magazine, showed that 90 percent of respondents "almost always" or "occasionally" used animated transitions in their presentations, 86 percent used animated objects, 70 percent used computer video, 66 percent used sound clips, and 55 percent used musical scores.

So do multimedia presentations increase students' comprehension? According to a study conducted by 3M Company and Presentations magazine, multimedia presentations enhances people's ability to understand and process procedural or fact-based information only slightly better than overhead transparency slides.

However, according to the same study, when it comes to persuading an audience, multimedia presentations win out, hands down. People perceive that information provided with multimedia presentations are more credible and persuasive than information provided by overhead slides.

PowerPoint in the Classroom
PowerPoint is undeniably a powerful tool when it comes to making a presentation, but there are some divided viewpoints and some considerations to keep in mind when considering the use of PowerPoint as a teaching tool. For example, Andrew Hoffman, writing in the October 2000 issue of T.H.E. Journal, a magazine focused on the use of technology in education, argues that, from the teacher's perspective, use of PowerPoint may be something of a trade-off.

Although PowerPoint-based presentations are more portable, and can be saved for repeated use, they typically take longer to assemble than writing the same material on a blackboard or an overhead. In addition, learning to use PowerPoint well takes time, and depending on a school's infrastructure and commitment to technology, training opportunities and reliable presentation gear may vary in availability.

On the other hand, many creative K-12 teachers from around the country have been able to take PowerPoint to the next level in the classroom. They've designed presentations that focus on involving students, as well as activities that instruct students how to use PowerPoint to express their own ideas as part of a project or group assignment. Such activities can capitalize on the strengths of this presentation software as an easy-to-use visual display medium that can be used to engage visual learners and capture students' attention and interest. PowerPoint's ability to incorporate photos, graphics, animation, even sound and video, meshes well with the more visually-oriented aspects of the agricultural curriculum, and this can be especially effective with younger children. Further, teaching older students how to use PowerPoint can be an effective method to enhance their presentation and organization skills.

Some ideas to get you started thinking about how you can use PowerPoint in the classroom include:

Diagrams and charts
Capturing "processes,"such as photosynthesis or plant propagation, visually
Instructions for class activities
Class notes
Test reviews
Question and answer or role-playing games
Class debate and discussion questions
Student book reports
Multimedia biographies, using pictures, and recorded audio of famous quotes
Student group projects and reports

The Web is a great resource for online tutorials and training on PowerPoint. One good site tutorial site that also works well with K-12 students is Act360 Media's "PowerPoint in the Classroom" tutorial, at
http://www.actden.com/pp/index.htm. Another source of information on conducting effective PowerPoint presentations is Presentations magazine, free to educators. You can subscribe at http://www.presentations.com.

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