Create a slideshow with a clear structure, add and order slides, and write concise slide text that supports the spoken message

What this dot point is asking

This outcome is about building a slideshow that supports a talk rather than replacing it. You should be able to create a presentation, add slides and choose layouts, reorder slides into a sensible flow, and write concise slide text (short bullet points, not paragraphs) with one main idea per slide. The guiding principle is that slides support the speaker; the detail is spoken, not crammed on screen. In the written paper you explain good practice and describe the steps; in the practical you build the slideshow.

The answer

A clear structure

A good presentation has a simple, logical structure:

• A title slide with the topic and the presenter's name.
• An introduction saying what the talk will cover.
• The main content, one idea per slide, in a logical order.
• A conclusion that sums up the key points.

This structure helps the audience follow along, because they always know where they are in the talk.

Adding and ordering slides

You add a slide with the New Slide option and pick a layout (such as title and content). Slides appear in the slide list, the panel of thumbnails at the side. To reorder them, you drag a slide up or down in that list. Reordering lets you improve the flow, for example moving the introduction to the front or grouping related points together.

Concise slide text

The most important habit is to keep slide text short. Slides should hold key words or brief bullet points, and the speaker explains the detail aloud. Cramming every word onto the slide is poor practice because:

• The audience reads the slide instead of listening to you.
• Small, dense text is hard to see from the back of the room.
• The slide simply repeats the speaker, which is dull.

A common guide is a few short bullet points per slide, each only a line or so, with one main idea per slide.

Readable and consistent

Use a large font so text is visible from the back, keep a clear title on each slide, and stay consistent in fonts and colours from slide to slide. Consistency makes the deck look planned and professional, and it is best achieved with a slide master, covered in the design dot point.

Examples in context

Example 1. A book review talk. A student presents a book with a title slide, an overview slide, one slide each for the plot, characters and theme, and a summary. Each slide carries only a few words, so the class listens to the spoken review instead of reading the screen.

Example 2. A project pitch. A team pitches a project using one idea per slide: the problem, their solution, and the benefits, in that order. They drag the slides in the slide list until the story flows, and keep the font large so everyone at the back can read the headings.

Try this

• Cue. State three problems caused by putting all your words on the slides. (The audience reads instead of listening, the text is too small to see from the back, and the slide just repeats the speaker.)

• Cue. Describe how to change the order of slides in a presentation. (Open the slide list of thumbnails and drag a slide up or down to its new position.)

• Cue. List the four parts of a clear presentation structure. (A title slide, an introduction or overview, the main content with one idea per slide, and a conclusion or summary.)