The articles for today seem to be a "KISS" examples (keep it simple stupid). Keep everything simple and easy to read. Use Sans-serif fonts so words are more visible and not blurry. Also, stick to 1 style of font, so your presentation is consistent. Don't use a font size smaller than 24 so everyone in the room will be able to see the words at the front of the room. The same principle goes for pictures. Make sure you only use the originals. They need to be undamaged, even the best photo shop program will not be able to fix everything. The biggest thing on pictures and graphics, is too make sure they tie to your presentation. Don't just add pictures to add pictures.
I agree that you need to consider your audience and use graphics that fit that audience. Addressing adults is totally different than addressing teenagers. Teenagers find it more interesting to have clip art and cutsie pictures. All of the other steps again seem like common sense. Make sure someone else goes over your presentations and that you practice your presentation will only make the end result better.
5 comments:
I so agree about the KISS. and yes we do need to consider our audience. but I think we also need to remember as teachers we set the example and we need to rise above some of the junk we see on the web.
Don't you want to make a big chart with your favorite fonts on it at point 18 and 24? I think if I do that for my students they will understand the legibility issue. Or is that just my 50+ year old eyes speaking????
I like your KISS statement. I was trying to think of something along those lines and could not properly articulate the idea. We do need to keep it simple. Too many presenters are showing off too many of the bells in whistles of their computer program and their ability to insert each and every one of them in a most obnoxious way. There are some points made these articles that took it beyond simple though. You need to make it polished and professional. Though it accomplishes the goals of a good presentation through simple to read fonts and pleasant and simple color schemes it takes more time to create. The point the author was trying to make is that we need to put more work into our presentations so that they effectively communicate ideas to the audience at hand. He mentions using programs like Photoshop™, and tools like scanners. To make a simple and effective presentation requires a lot of work.
Keeping it simple can be difficult for my students. They get too excited about all the tools and formats available, they want to show off what they learned how to do. We do need to model for them and teach them how to keep it simple.
Continuing off Lydia's thought...students will want to use all the tools, especially the first time around (and second and third). However, if we keep working with students and talking about what they are doing I think we can start to get them thinking about what makes a good presentations, not just a cutesy one.
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