PowerPoint Presentations

I've used PowerPoint a lot in the past, but I will admit that I usually wasn't following the guidelines for a "good" presentation. I usually had everything I was going to say in the presentation typed onto the slide, which basically filled the slide with text. Also, there were a few presentations where I went a little crazy with the transitions and animations. No one ever really taught me the dos and don'ts of PowerPoint, so I learned a lot from these three articles. The points made in the first article that I really liked were that it's ok and even preferable to have "white space" on your slides because the less clutter on your slides, the more powerful your message will be, and to use high-quality graphics, especially of people, instead of clipart because it's more professional and will help your audience connect with the presentation. From the second article, I liked the tip that your slides should reinforce your words, not just repeat them. The third article had a lot of very helpful tips: people usually come to a conclusion about your presentation after the second slide, so dress appropriately, speak clearly, and start strong from the beginning; create a written document of all the important points that you say (that aren't on the slides) and hand it out after the presentation so it doesn't distract during the presentation; and instead of typing out a fact or statistic, use a picture that will trigger an emotional response that will help the audience remember.
My Five Guidelines to an Effective PowerPoint:
1. Limit the amount of text (it's annoying when people just say out loud what you can already just read for yourself)
2. Use high-quality pictures, but don't go overboard (pictures that trigger emotional responses are interesting, engaging, and help the audience remember the facts, but using too many defeats the purpose)
3. Use slide transitions because they help keep people's attention (just don't use the really distracting ones because then people will be thinking about the slide transition and not about the information you're about to present)
4. Use color (make sure the colors go well with each other and that the audience will be able to read it from the overhead because sometimes colors look different on the overhead than on the computer screen)
5. Keep the other part of the presentation in mind (it's always distracting when the presentor rocks back and forth or is always messing with their hair)