What are the rules of a good Powerpoint presentation?

Answer 1

Rules for better PowerPoint presentations

1. Don't read your presentation straight from the slides

If your audience can both read and hear, it’s a waste of time for you to simply read your slides aloud. Your audience will zone out and stop listening to what you’re saying, which means they won’t hear any extra information you include. Instead of typing out your entire presentation, include only main ideas, keywords, and talking points in your slide show text. Engage your audience by sharing the details out loud.

1. Follow the 5/5/5 rule

To keep your audience from feeling overwhelmed, you should keep the text on each slide short and to the point. Some experts suggest using the 5/5/5 rule: no more than five words per line of text, five lines of text per slide, or five text-heavy slides in a row.

1. Don't forget your audience

Who will be watching your presentation? The same goofy effects and funny clip art that would entertain a classroom full of middle-school students might make you look unprofessional in front of business colleagues and clients. Humor can lighten up a presentation, but if you use it inappropriately your audience might think you don’t know what you’re doing. Know your audience, and tailor your presentation to their tastes and expectations.

1. Choose readable colors and fonts

Your text should be easy to read and pleasant to look at. Large, simple fonts and theme colors are always your best bet. The best fonts and colors can vary depending on your presentation setting. Presenting in a large room? Make your text larger than usual so people in the back can read it. Presenting with the lights on? Dark text on a light background is your best bet for visibility.

1. Don't overload your presentation with animations

As anyone who’s sat through a presentation while every letter of every paragraph zoomed across the screen can tell you, being inundated with complicated animations and exciting slide transitions can become irritating. Before including effects like this in your presentation, ask yourself: Would this moment in the presentation be equally strong without an added effect? Does it unnecessarily delay information? If the answer to either question is yes—or even maybe—leave out the effect.

1. Use animations sparingly to enhance your presentation

Don’t take the last tip to mean you should avoid animations and other effects entirely. When used sparingly, subtle effects and animations can add to your presentation. For example, having bullet points appear as you address them rather than before can help keep your audience’s attention.

Keep your presentation as short as possible. Large companies like IBM and entrepreneurs listening to product pitches say “10 minutes and 10 slides” is all you get. If you can’t get your point across within those limitations, then you don’t have a valid point. Just sayin’.

https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/powerpoint-tips/three-tips-for-beautiful-powerpoint-presentations/1/

Answer 2

I included this information as a reply to How can I make my PowerPoint presentation stand out but I think it applies here as well. I've done literally hundreds of presentations over the course of 20 years and from feedback received have found that the following tips really help.

1. I would be careful not to overload the slides. I've seen too many slideshows with too much info, too many animations, too many design elements. Leave lots of white space (doesn't necessarily have to be white--just lots of breathing room) on each slide so that your audience can see the main points. If you need to, use more slides with less information on each slide.
2. A good rule of thumb is to keep to 4 bullet points per slide. One professor told me that I should also stick to 4 words per bullet point. Sometimes you can't, but the point is, don't include a whole paragraph of information unless it's on a slide all by itself.
3. One good graphic per slide is better than several. And your graphic should always have something to do with the information on that slide. Don't just use a graphic because you like it. Your audience shouldn't waste time trying to figure out why you used it.
4. The font color should stand out on the background color you've chosen.
5. You can use animation carefully to make main points stand out and direct the eye. But be careful with some of the animation styles - they can make people dizzy.
6. Try not to go too fast so that people can keep up, especially if they're taking notes.
7. Don't forget some humor. It will keep people engaged, but again, don't go overboard.
8. Be tasteful, use consistent formatting. If you use slides with headings on each slide, try to keep them in the same location as you go from slide to slide. I like to check the positioning to see if headings are all at the same vertical location.
9. People in our country read more easily from left to right. Always left-align your bullet points. Don't include too many lines of text with centered formatting. Also, too much italic text is difficult to read. The same goes for upper case. Use in small batches or use Small Caps instead. Make it easy on their eyes.
10. Try not to jump from one theme to another in the same presentation. Consistency will make your audience feel comfortable. It's more about getting the point across than it is about showing your own design skills, but work on those skills and your presentation will show it.