infocus just posted the results from their “worst powerpoint slide” competition (these slides were actually used and not false creations). the slides are awesome.
i am constantly amazed at some of the presentations i see. sometimes these are in churches and other times they are in lectures (community and classroom). some of the presentations are horrendous. why should i listen to you when i can read your information off the screen faster than you can talk about it? why use presentation slides that actually distract from the message you are trying to convey.
TED talks and death by powerpoint changed the way i use presentation software. they both use presentation software amazingly well by keeping it very simple. if you watch a TED talk video you will normally find that their presentations slides are VERY SIMPLE. the speaker’s slides are usually just images or small phrases.
here are the simple design rules from “death by powerpoint” that i try to follow
- one point per slide
- few matching colors
- very few fonts
- photos (not clip art)
i generally use my slides for the small segments of scripture, single words, and LOTS of imagery. i believe most of the threads would tell you that they remember the points of the message better by the images i use than they do anything else.
the irony is that i have actually seen someone do an absolutely terrible presentation on how to use powerpoint effectively in sermons. it was an awful presentation that demonstrated the exact opposite of what the presenter was trying to convey.
Yes!