Mr. Jonathan McNair: How to Use Powerpoint
Author: David Markopoulos | Living Education
These summaries are written to give our audience an idea of the special forum messages our students have access to as part of the Living Education-Charlotte program.
In a recent forum to the Living Education-Charlotte students, Mr. Jonathan McNair shared key principles of using Powerpoint for effective presentations. These steps can lead to an elevated, more professional presentation that reflects a higher quality of design.
Death by Powerpoint
It’s easy for a good presentation to be sidetracked by too many details. The colors, graphics, images, and transitions you apply to your presentation can either add to or detract from your presentation. It’s important to keep basic design principles in mind, avoiding overly complex or visually overstimulating elements that distract the audience.
The Basics
Mr. McNair offered a few basic points for the students in their presentations:
1. Create your content first and think about your slides last.
2. Create a consistent look and feel
3. With text, less is more
4. Use photos that enhance meaning
When it comes to the more technical elements of Powerpoint, Mr. McNair reminded the students that it’s important to:
- Use effects and transitions sparingly
- Direct the audience’s attention in images
- Don’t use autoplay when embedding videos
- Use handy QR codes to share your slides for the audience to follow along as you go
- Reproduce simple charts and graphs
Powerpoint presentations can be powerful tools that can aid in your presentation, and chances are that we all will need to use it at some point in school, our careers, or other areas. Having a firm grasp of basic design principles and knowing how to create smooth, professional presentations is a step to being a more skilled communicator.
David Markopoulos is a Living Education alumnus from the 2023-2025 school years. Originally hailing from Chicago, he currently works for the Living Education program.
