How to Prepare Slides for a Business Presentation

How to Prepare Slides for a Business Presentation • Advanced Business Writing Assignment: The Progress Report

Start with a title slide Identify yourself and the aim of your presentation.

Plan for uniformity • Use the same background for all the slides: – Same Color – Same Design

Plan (cont’d) • Consider using one of the software templates to help you organize your information. TIP The project status template in Power. Point is helpful for this assignment.

Prepare Your Slides • Choose words carefully. • Aim for: – No more than seven words per line. – No more than seven total lines. – No more than 7 x 7=49 words per slide.

Use Visual Elements When Appropriate – Charts – Graphs – Pictures – Clip art – Lists

Visual Elements (cont’d) • Use only one dominant visual per slide. • Keep it simple. TIP Go to Insert--Picture to find the Microsoft clip art choices. .

Visuals (cont’d) • Be sure to document borrowed images. – Use footnotes if appropriate. – Get written permission for public presentations.

Proofread Carefully • Use a spell checker. • Double-check proper name spellings. • Use punctuation correctly. • Make sure lists are parallel.

Use Animation for Online Presentations • Use the “effect” feature for movement of text lines onto screen. • Use the “transition” feature for movement between slides. • Note: You can find these features in View--Slide Sorter in Office 2000. • In XP, find them under Slide Show.