Simplicity

3rd Lecture
Date: 25th July 2007
Time: 1200-1500
Venue: Computer Laboratory

Simplicity

"Simplicity, simplicity & simplicity! Your powerpoint must be simple and not cluttered!"

That day lecture was about the principles of designing an effective powerpoint presentation. We were so fortunate to have Miss Ng in our midst to share us her knowledge about this topic.
Well, I am not going to further elaborate on the input of the lecture now but sharing about my first impression on Miss Ng.

My narration begins......

Since I was not an early bird that particular day, I failed to get a front seat, hence, I was seated in the last row. Miss Ng came in and started her lecture. I paid 100% attention to her due to her extremely good voice projection. I could hear every single word that was uttered. She is vertically challenged but that did not simply prevent her from controlling and engaging the class with her clear voice projection and effective approach used to deliver her lecture. Small in size but great in power. Power to manage the class appropriately.
During the lecture, the newspapers beside me caught my attention about a terrible accident. The cover page displayed the dead bodies trapped in the car. It was horrifying! This made me focus on reading the article, trying to find out the details about the crash. As I was so indulged in reading, Miss Ng walked to me from right in front to the back of the lab and asked me to go in front to modify a picture in the powerpoint slide shown on the smart board. She did not neither scold nor give me warning in front of the whole class but I knew she had found out that I was not paying attention to her anymore. What I am trying to explain here is I really admire her sensitivity towards her learners. My reading session probably only took 20 seconds but amazingly she was able to notice that I was "out" of her lecture among the 75 learners. Her approach of dealing with "problematic" students was accurate as she did not hurt my feelings publicly but secretly informed me that I should be attentive. Very observant, considerate and smart in handling others' feelings- my impression towards Miss Ng.

Now, let me draw myself back to the main topic of the day.

The principles of designing good powerpoint presentation that I had received were:

1. Simplicity. (Slides displayed must be as simple as possible and not cluttered.)
2. Visibility. (Font size and wording used must be clear and easy to be read.)
3. Colour of slides preferably in black. (More attention captivating)
4. Choice of font colour. (Wordings must be able to stand out in the slides.)
5. 2D charts are more preferable than 3D charts. (2D charts are more able to show the different portions.)
6. Main title or topic should be shown in each slides. (To re-emphasize the purpose of the presentation.)
7. Real life pictures are preferred. (Picture pixels are put into consideration to ensure clarity.)
8. Relevance of pictures to the topic. (Pictures displayed should be as relevant as possible to the issue discussed.)
9. Sources should be stated. (Pictures or other information shown should have the sources stated in the slides.)

Towards the end of Miss Ng's lecture, she showed us a powerpoint presentation done by a foreigner which was considered simple, direct and effective. Each of his slides either consists of 1 logo, 1 picture, or 1 word. The pace of the appearance of each slides was very fast. Undoubtedly, it was impressing and effective.

However, there were some doubts stirring in my mind......

In my opinion, power points are objects and we- teachers are living things. Why do we need to be bound by the principles and follow them blindly? I think we should be wise enough to decide what kind of powerpoint is most suitable and able to attract our audience either adults or children, the professionals or the public, the elders and the youngsters and etc.

For example, if you are promoting a product, perhaps you could just design simple and less word powerpoint presentation to your customers as long as it is able to capture their favour.
On the other hand, if a lecturer is trying to explain teories, philosophies, procedures or concepts, it will be difficult to design a 1 word or a short phrase powerpoint presentation to explain the whole idea. Besides that, if we are dealing with young kids, I believe animated pictures can capture their minds rather than real life pictures.

As a matter of fact, I think what I had learnt were the general principles of powerpoint designing. To be a professional powerpoint designer, the utmost criteria is to be able to recognize your audience's needs and characteristics. Moreover, understand your purpose of the presentation. And finally, plan and develop your powerpoint presentation which has the power to convey your meaning effectively.

No strict rules in designing powerpoint presentation right?