PowerPoint Presentation Best Practices: Home

Creating a top-notch presentation that's both informative and visually appealing can be difficult. We've all been there. You don’t want your presentation to be stale and dull, but you don’t want it to be over the top, full of bad clip art. This LibGuide will give you guidelines on the best practices for quality PowerPoint (or Keynote) presentations that are appropriate for a college and professional setting.

Everyone—including your professor—has personal preferences for what they like in a presentation. And that's totally fine. These are some helpful tips collected from several different professional sources, which are listed in the Tips & Resources tab. If you really, really want to do funky slide transitions and insert a retro dancing Clippy the Paperclip, and your professor thinks they're cool, go for it.

If you need help putting some of these tips into play, try going to the links in the Resources or googling it. There are plenty of websites that show you exactly how to do some of the things listed here. Or you can email me. Good luck!

P.S. If you're reading this on a tablet, you might want to try turning your tablet sideways to landscape view. That way the images in the right columns will line up with their appropriate sections.