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My first major tip for avoiding “death by PowerPoint”, would be to access your audience. Before you even create your first slide, think about who you are going to be presenting to.

When accessing your audience, think about how you want your information to be received, how you want to be perceived as a presenter, as well as the occasion for which you are presenting.

By doing this, you will be able to pinpoint your goal and therefore correct your language and design accordingly.

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My second suggestion for a creating an appropriate and effective presentation would be to not be too self centered. No matter the type of presentation, you can always bring in key references whether it’s articles, quotes, or well known people. This will create a more presentation feel and take away the potential to slip into too casual of a tone.

Throughout your presentation, reference an article that aligns with your topic or reflect on a quote you once heard that relays back to your topic. This will create a well rounded feel for your presentation and give yourself more credibility in your audience’s eyes.

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Third and certainly not last, this is going to seem a little dumbed down however this singular tip has carried me through some of the biggest presentations of both my academic and professional career.

Create a presentation you would want to sit through.

Read through your presentation with as many viewpoints as possible, when you’re eating, when you’re tired, when you’re bored. Does it still pull you in? Do you still get a giddy sense of pride with your creation? If the answer is no, think about how you can make a shift. You can maintain professionalism while still pulling in and entertaining your audience.

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One important way to avoid “death by PowerPoint” is to keep slides simple and not overcrowded with text. When too much information is placed on one slide, it can be overwhelming and difficult for the audience to follow. Focusing on one main idea per slide and using brief bullet points helps keep the presentation clear and organized. It is also important to choose a font size that is easy to read from a distance. In general, slides should act as a guide for your presentation rather than a script.

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Using visuals effectively can make a presentation more interesting and easier to follow. Adding images, charts, or graphs can help explain ideas better than just using text and can also keep the audience engaged. However, too many animations or effects can be distracting, so it is best to keep them simple and purposeful. Keeping a consistent design, such as using the same colors, fonts, and layout, also makes the presentation look more professional and organized. It is also helpful to make sure visuals are clear, high quality, and directly related to the topic being discussed. Good visuals should support what you are saying and help your audience better understand the message, not confuse or overwhelm them.

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Practicing your presentation ahead of time can make a big difference in how effectively it is delivered. Being familiar with your material allows you to speak more naturally instead of reading directly from the slides. Making eye contact and speaking clearly can help keep the audience engaged. It is also helpful to stay aware of your timing so you do not rush or run out of time. Practicing multiple times can help you feel more confident and reduce nervousness during the actual presentation. I learned most of these skills from taking an oral communications class last semester, which really helped me improve my presentation abilities. A confident and prepared delivery can make the presentation more engaging, easier to understand, and more impactful for your audience.

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To avoid "Death by PowerPoint" I would recommend you use design and animations. A lot of times PowerPoint presentations can be really boring, I've had to listen to a lot of presentations in school and most of the time I could not wait until it was over. However, I enjoyed the presentations that had color, cool (but readable fonts). When you have color and fonts it makes the presentation more enjoyable to look at. Your attention is first grabbed by your eyes, so always make sure your presentation looks presentable and fun, BUT not to busy.

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Another way to avoid "Death by PowerPoint" is to use animations or pictures. When there is something to look at and to keep your attention you tend to enjoy presentations better. One thing you need to be aware of though is to make sure your pictures line up with what you are talking about, not just some random picture just to get something on the power-point. Just like with color and fonts, be aware of how many picture you put out, to many is not good and can be overly distracting.

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To keep your audience engaged, only have one message per slide. Making a slide too complicated with trying to cover too many key points at once can derail your audience, and most importantly, make them forget the real point of your slide. Have one key message per slide. In doing so, the biggest thing on your slide should be what you want them to focus on the most. Not the title of the slide!

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Lastly, making interactions with presentations can help you avoid "death by PowerPoint". Giving your audience something like polls or mini quizzes could help keep their attention. Even having mini breaks in your presentation, like something to do with your presentation. I've been apart of presentation that give you a mini break with something to do with the presentation and it helps greatly. Even a min video could help out and keep your audience awake and involved/adding music in the background.

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To avoid “death by PowerPoint,” it’s key to keep your slides simple and neat. Each slide should highlight one main idea with minimal text and clear visuals. Use short bullet points or keywords instead of long paragraphs. This way, your audience can focus on you, the speaker, instead of reading too much from the screen. Keeping things simple makes your presentation easier to follow and more engaging overall.

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A good tip is to use visuals to help people understand and remember ideas better. Adding images, charts, and diagrams can make complicated topics easier to grasp than just using words. It’s important that the visuals you choose are relevant and not just for decoration, as extra graphics can confuse your message. Ensure that all visuals are clear and easy to see from a distance. When used wisely, visuals can make your presentation more engaging and memorable.

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A good PowerPoint presentation can still fail if it's not delivered well, so practicing is key. Go over your timing, tone, and pacing to come across as confident and natural instead of just reading from the slides. Make sure to look at your audience and use your voice and movements to highlight important points. Encourage questions or short interactions to keep everyone engaged. Good delivery can make your presentation more memorable and impactful.

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To avoid "Death by PowerPoint" I would limit the amount of text you put on a slide. PowerPoints are often shown while discussing further detail on the subject. The audience's attention will either be overwhelmed with a full slide of text, or be too busy speed reading to listen to you speak about your subject. Have short, direct, clean sentences or bullet points to make your slide professional, retainable, and tolerable.

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To help avoid "Death by PowerPoint" a very useful tool for you can be contrast. Playing with the contrast of your slide can make it easier to read but can also help you in directing their attention to your subject or supportive information or images. Having too bright of a slide background (even just plain white) can be eye straining especially on a large screen. Consider having a darker background. In addition to background elements, use contrast to highlight what you are speaking about at the current moment on the slide. Contrast in combination with transitions can be very useful for your audience to keep up with what you are addressing on a chart, or list.

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My first piece of advice for avoiding "Death by PowerPoint" would be to keep the information presented on each slide minimal. This can be achieved by using short phrases instead of full paragraphs. Aim for around 5-7 words per line, if possible, and keep it to one main idea per slide to reduce the amount of information needed on each slide. This can help keep viewers' attention by always giving them something new to look at on each slide. When a large amount of information is presented at a time, it can sometimes be hard for others to focus on the importance of each topic or idea.

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A second piece of advice I'd offer to avoid "Death by PowerPoint" would be to prioritize using visuals rather than text. Using images, charts, and/or icons can work better to help the audience visualize the information you are presenting. Along with the use of visuals in PowerPoints, they should be directly related to support your ideas, not just randomly placed on your slides.

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My last piece of advice I'd offer to avoid "Death by PowerPoint" would be to ensure you are engaging with your audience. While sitting through a PowerPoint, it is very possible that many could get bored if it is something they are not interested in. Asking your audience questions and directly relating examples to them can help keep them engaged and interested in your PowerPoint. Additionally, slides should not contain all of the material and topics you are covering. The slides are specifically meant to introduce each topic that is being discussed and provide short information on those topics as a reminder to you as you are speaking to your audience.

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One way to avoid death by PowerPoint is to not put too much information on the slides so people don’t get overwhelmed by the amount of content on them. It is important to keep it brief while still interesting so the audience can stay focused. Less is better because it can leave people wanting more instead of zoning out from too much information. When slides are too full, people tend to read ahead or stop listening to the speaker. Keeping slides simple allows the presenter to explain things more clearly in their own words.

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Another way to avoid death by PowerPoint is to make your presentation more personalized. It is important to add personality into the slides and content because it makes people more engaged and interested. When something feels different and not like what everyone else would expect, it keeps the audience paying attention. This can be done through examples, tone, or even small design choices that reflect the speaker. Adding personality makes the presentation feel more natural and less robotic, which helps people stay connected to what is being said.

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An additional tip to avoid death by PowerPoint is to use visual elements like pictures and graphs instead of relying too much on text. Visuals help support the information being presented and make it easier for the audience to understand key ideas. They also make the slides more engaging and keep people interested throughout the presentation. Using visuals can help break up information and prevent slides from looking overwhelming. However, it is important to use them in a balanced way so they support the presentation without becoming distracting.

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To avoid "death by PowerPoint," creators should aim for the 10/20/30 rule of thumb. This guideline suggests that a presentation should have no more than ten slides, last no longer than twenty minutes, and use a font size of at least thirty points. By limiting the number of slides, you force yourself to focus only on the most essential information rather than overwhelming the audience with data. High-contrast, large-point fonts ensure that everyone in the room can read your text without squinting. This disciplined approach keeps the presentation moving at a brisk pace and maintains audience engagement from start to finish.

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One of the most effective ways to maintain audience attention is to prioritize high-quality visuals over dense blocks of text. Instead of reading directly from the slides, use a single impactful image or a short phrase to anchor your speaking point. This prevents the audience from reading ahead while you are speaking, which often leads to a loss of focus on the verbal message. Utilizing PowerPoint’s "Design Ideas" tool can help you professionally arrange these elements for a clean, modern look. A minimalist design ensures that the slides support your narrative rather than acting as a script for you to read.

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Mastering the technical "Presenter View" in Microsoft PowerPoint is a game-changer for a professional delivery. This feature allows you to see your private notes and upcoming slides on your laptop while the audience only sees the current slide on the projector. Using this tool effectively helps you maintain eye contact with your audience instead of constantly turning around to look at the screen. You should also practice "the pause" between slide transitions to allow the audience to digest new visual information before you continue speaking. These delivery habits transform a standard slideshow into a dynamic and persuasive communication experience.

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One tip I would recommend is keeping the ideas simple and refrain from writing paragraphs. This helps the audience understand the material without overloading them with information. This also makes sure the audience is receiving the most important information and not the unnecessary details. While making sure that the audience does receive the proper information, you want to make sure that the information makes sense, is concise and clear so the audience does not ignore the important information.

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Secondly, making sure we are adding visuals to the powerpoint. Visuals can include, pictures, charts, of even GIFs. This helps the audience understand the material better or it can be something they can make a connection to, which can help make an impact on the audience. Images can help the audience process the images easier and keep the audience engaged.

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Thirdly, making sure that I am not directly reading off of the powerpoint. The audience most likely already knows how to read and can process the information. Reading right off of the slides will definitely make it boring. You are not reading to the audience you want to make an impact on them. Use the slides as a guide and not as something to read off of.

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Thank you for all of your postings. You provide informative and helpful tips for improving presentations. The images and GIF made my day. It also illustrates how an image can make impact on a presentation including a Padlet post. Thank you! Professor Starkey

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My first tip for avoiding "Death by Powerpoint" is to ensure you are well-rested before creating a powerpoint. You may think that rest has nothing to do with making a powerpoint but it has everything to do with it. When you are well-rested, you are more likely to ensure you are following the directions of whatever assignment/task you are doing.

When you are sleep-deprived, you are more likely to make mistakes, put in 50% effort, and overall damage the powerpoint rather than help it.

So for the love of your grade, rest before working to ensure a strong and detail-oriented powerpoint.

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My second tip is if you are creating a powerpoint for an assignment, use the rubric. Ensure you are completing what the powerpoint is for but ensure you hit everything on the rubric and ensure your powerpoint follows the rubric because that is ultimately what you are being graded on.

By doing this, you ensure you cover every detail needed for your powerpoint and furthermore, boost your grade. That rubric is there for you to use as a checklist, utilize it to the utmost of your ability.

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My last tip for avoiding death by powerpoint is to ensure your powerpoint addresses 5 things outside of your rubric. Your powerpoint should address the following 5 key points; Who,what,when,where, and why. You may be wondering why this is relevant but in the military this is the layout of all powerpoints and briefings because you need to do 5 things. Find out who you are addressing. You need to find what you need to address. When is it being addressed and is the information relevant to the time period. Where may not be relevant to all powerpoints. Finally, why are you addressing this through a powerpoint and why should anyone care? Ensure you hit each of the 5 W's for a successful powerpoint/briefing.

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I believe that one of the best ways to avoid “death by PowerPoint” is to make slides manageable by keeping them simple and easy to read. Presentations may become a little overwhelming when slides are filled with too much text, large paragraphs, or distracting graphics taking away from the main points. Instead, I believe that slides should use short bullet points style information which highlight the most important ideas while the speaker explains the details verbally. Utilizing consistency such as fonts, colors, and layouts may also help the audience stay focused and engaged. I believe that a clean and organized presentation will more likely appear professional and is easier for the audience to follow.

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Second, I think a good PowerPoint presentation should not feel boring or redundant to the audience. One thing I believe in is compartmentalizing information with visuals instead of putting everything into words. Utilizing graphics such as charts, pictures, or SmartArt can make a slide look cleaner and help people understand the point quickly. I also believe that it is important not to overload slides with effects or random imagery because it may become distracting. A presentation looks much more professional when the visuals truly support the information being discussed.

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Third and finally, one recommendation I would give people for PowerPoint presentations is to focus on how the presentation flows from slide to slide. Even if the information is well put together and informative, a presentation may feel awkward if the slides are cluttered or inconsistent. I think using the same themes, font styles, and colors throughout the presentation could make it easier for the audience to follow along. Finally I believe that it also helps to keep transitions and animations simple because way too many effects may take attention away from the actual topic and bring it to the awkward delivery. Overall, I believe a presentation should feel organized, smooth, and easy to understand from beginning to end to use the presentation to its fullest value and greatest capacity.

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One important tip for creating an effective PowerPoint presentation is to avoid putting too much text on each slide. Slides should include short bullet points, keywords, or visuals instead of large paragraphs. Too much text can overwhelm the audience and make the presentation boring. Using simple layouts, readable fonts, and clear information helps the audience stay focused and engaged. Presenters should explain the details verbally instead of reading directly from the slides.

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Another good practice for PowerPoint presentations is using visuals like pictures, charts, and graphs to support information. Visuals help make presentations more interesting and easier to understand. Using transitions and animations carefully can also improve a presentation, but too many effects can become distracting. It is important to keep a consistent design theme and color scheme throughout the presentation. This helps make the slides look professional and organized.

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One of the best ways to avoid “death by PowerPoint” is to practice presentation delivery before presenting. A presenter should speak clearly, maintain eye contact, and avoid reading word-for-word from the slides. Practicing helps improve confidence and timing during the presentation. It is also helpful to engage the audience by asking questions or explaining examples related to the topic. Good delivery skills can make even a simple PowerPoint presentation more effective and memorable.