Creating slides and handouts
Challenge: How do I create engaging content?
Visual aids, like PowerPoint slides or printed handouts, offer structure for your presentation and help the audience follow the main points. Visual aids may be bulleted lists or outlines, charts or figures, or images that show important details that would take time to explain orally.
Use visual aids to complement, rather than compete, with your presentation. If they are not necessary or helpful, don’t use them. Never read the exact words from slides that you present.
When deciding which visual aids to use, keep in mind the following points:
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Not all presentations benefit from including slides, but many do. Decide if yours would.
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Take accessibility into account.
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Take an inclusive perspective; avoid tokenism, but try to use images and sources that display a diversity of perspectives and contexts for knowledge.
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Use visual images when “showing” is more efficient or evocative than “telling”.
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Don’t overload your slides with text or animations. Simple is usually best.
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Suggested text size: 32 pt for titles, 24 pt for text; use a sans serif font.
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Include one concept per slide, use point form, and be concise
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Don’t plan to read from the slides. Use the slides to emphasize key points that you plan to talk about in more detail.
You can find some resources to help you to create your slides or handouts on the tabs below:
Resources
Microsoft's PowerPoint is "a software package designed to create electronic presentations consisting of a series of separate pages or slides."
Designing an Effective PowerPoint Presentation
Purdue University's Writing Lab designed this PowerPoint presentation to highlight tips and tricks for creating an effective presentation.
How to Make Awesome PowerPoint Presentations
A short guide from Lifehack on making great PowerPoint presentations.
Microsoft PowerPoint Tutorials
Need help with the basics? Microsoft's PowerPoint tutorials are a good place to start.
Prezi is cloud-based presentation software and storytelling tool which allows users to create and store presentations either on the cloud or on your desktop.
Note: Prezi requires good WiFi connectivity to work well.
Prezi Tutorial: Get Started in Prezi
Video tutorial from Prezi on how to get started.
Using Prezi Without Losing Your Mind
North Shore Community College's Learning, Education, Technology and Support (LETS) blog post provides some tips on creating prezis.
Prezi's Support Knowledge Base has a wealth of resources on how to get started, build presentations, and use various apps and integrations.
A good tool for simple presentations, especially for team presentations. A free Google Drive account is required.
How To: Quick Tutorial for New Google Slides Presentation 2019
David Lee EdTech's YouTube video on how to use Google Slides
G Suite Learning Center: Slides Training and Help
Google's support centre provides a variety of tools and guides on using Google Slides.
Free, web-based visual presentation tool and app. It includes presentation themes and an image gallery. Haiku Deck slide decks can be exported to PowerPoint or KeyNote.
Haiku Deck's Youtube video playlist on how to create, copy, delete, and edit Haiku Decks.
Haiku Deck's suite of support guides.
References
Clipart Library. (n.d.). Cliparts school presentations #2507770 [Image]. http://clipart-library.com/powerpoint-presentation-cliparts.html
Queen's University. (n.d.). Presentation skills. https://sass.queensu.ca/presentation-skills/
Thompson-Rivers University Libraries. (2021). Academic presentation skills and tools. https://libguides.tru.ca/presentation/publicspeaking
Trent University. (n.d.). Preparing and delivering oral presentations. https://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/how-guides/how-write-university/how-approach-any-assignment/preparing-and-delivering-oral
