Are you Murdering Powerpoint?

Yes, I think you are murdering PowerPoint. You may have been innocently using Microsoft Powerpoint for years. You have made presentations & murders without even realizing. Maybe you have been giving slow & gradual deaths to your audience and Powerpoint too. Let’s do a quick check whether you are a PowerPoint Murderer or not. 

                 

YOU STILL USE CLIPART 

I can never forgive you for this. Clipart is long gone, and is now ancient property. If you still like the screen beans, the 2D cartoons which have been used and overused till extinction, you need to STOP RIGHT NOW.

YOU LIKE THE COMIC SANS FONT 

This is yet another unforgivable terrible mistake you are committing. Comic Sans is not formal, nor does it fit into informal presentations. Comic Sans is ridiculous & pleasantly irritating.

YOU USE THEMES

 You either use the default themes in MS PowerPoint or even go to the extent of downloading them. This is a crime to design. Themes are quick and handy, but ultimately you are murdering your presentation. Themes make your slides MONOTONOUS & repetitive, and help your audience to sleep better.  

YOU USE BULLET POINTS

 Yes, this is another killer mistake. Bullets and more bullets are sufficient to kill any good presentation.

YOU WRITE ESSAYS IN SLIDES 

A very common flaw, is to add a big bunch of text on a single slide. Good practice is to have less than 30-40 words per slide. Large chucks of text can split into multiple slides of better readability.

YOU OVERDO ANIMATION 

Animating each step of slide transition, every little action can get very showy and is very outdated. Animation can be easily avoided in slide shows. If required, little animation maybe used to supplement the story board.

YOUR TEXT IS NOT LEGIBLE 

Choosing a wrong background or font color can be devastating. A good contrast is required in the color schemes used.

USE OF LOW RESOLUTION IMAGES 

Pictures which break into pixels when viewed in full-screen is a poor thing to happen. Choose the right images with good resolution.
If you are doing any of the above, you better stop murdering PowerPoint now!