Chapter 1: Tweaking presentations

           The author’s objective is to make PowerPoint presentations more lively, powerful, and unforgettable and rid the presenter and the viewer of the boredom that permeates so many million of presentations that occur everyday. In Chapter One, the author focuses on three categories: templates, color, and type.

            First, template like and artist’s canvas should not distract from the message. The template should help support the content not compete against it.  As a result, one should eliminate all distractions in their template that take away from the content presented.

            Next, color. Per the author’s research color helps increase understanding and retention of information presented over black and white on several levels. First, color increases viewer willingness to read by 80%. Second, color helps to boost participation and motivate the audience in the presentation by 80%. Third, color increases learning and retention by 75%. Finally, color outsells black and white in advertising by 88%.

            In addition, presenters should be aware of the audience and its color preferences and, in turn, color should be consistent with the message you are trying to convey.

            Finally, type.  When composing a slide, the less words, the better to communicate effectively. In addition, it also important to consider the typeface used and the presentation of information to insure that the viewer is able to read and retain the information quickly.

            In this chapter, the author made several sound points about how I may enhance my PowerPoint presentations that will help my students and colleagues to be better able to read and retain the information that I would present.