How to build your slides?

Hi and welcome to Lesson ”How to build your slides”

Generally, when preparing a presentation, please take into account the following general rules:

1. Cut the number of your slides - Sometimes it is very difficult to do so. Because we think that all we know and all we want to transmit is important and maybe it is, but… not all the information must be put in the slides. So, don’t overwhelm your students with too many slides or they will lose focus.
2. Use metaphors - Students will love a story, a photo, something they can guess…
3. Simplify your slides - One idea, one quote, one number, or one image per slide is ideal. This will make the information more digestible and draw attention to what you’re saying instead of forcing your students to read.
4. Use the rule of three - You know, number 3 is magical! A good structure helps students follow your story and understand your presented content better. Gibson Biddle recommends following the rule of three because:

• • 3 items are easy to remember;

• • They help you minimize your text;

• • 3 chapters provide guideposts for the content of your presentation;

5. Have a wrap-up slide to summarize your points - By the end of your presentation, conclude your talk by summing up all the important messages and key lessons on a separate slide. You’ll draw the full circle, and your students will get a nice overview of what they learned (or should remember). Or, end your presentation with a call to action or a tangible next step for your students to do. Encourage your participants to try practices that you shared, provide actionable steps they should follow, and share ways for them to keep in touch with you.

And, more specifically, when talking about a single slide, take into account the following:

- Use a light background with dark colour letters, or the other way around, but make sure students can read what you wrote - have you ever seen a slide with yellow words on white background? We did.

- Don’t use many colours… and avoid using too much red and orange (they are difficult to focus on if you use any of them in all your presentation). Use a different colour to distinguish main elements.

- Use single phrases and choose easy to see fonts (not very small and not very… calligraphic).

- Limit your written rows to maximum 7. If you use bullets to show main ideas, or a list, 4-6 one row bullets are enough.

- Use simple design elements.

- Have titles for each slide.

Thank you for your attention!