Producing Slides for Conference Presentations

Presentation

• Keep slides simple. Not more than 7 words per line; not more than 7 lines per slide. Text should take up less than half of the total slide area.

Text

• Use a large size, sans serif font (eg Ariel, 18pt minimum, 24pt+ better) for most of your text. If changing the typeface for emphasis, don't use more than two different effects per slide.

• Underlined or bold text is hard to read on screen, while coloured text may not show up well if printed in black and white. Using indenting or italic for emphasis is safer all round.

Colour

• Keep good contrast between text and background.

• If slides are to be printed as well as projected, a light coloured background and dark text are preferable.

• Use colour sparingly especially if slides are likely to be printed in black and white as well as projected.

• If text and background are coloured, ensure there is sufficient contrast between the tones and avoid combinations that cannot be distinguished by those who are colour-blind.

Builds

• Remember that build effects will not be apparent in a printed version.

Size

• To keep the file size down, use the master slide to hold items (particularly graphics) that appear on each slide of the presentation. You can also define styles on the master slide to help maintain consistency throughout the presentation.