Plan
Make an outline. Who is your audience? How many slides?

Less is more
Use very little text. Avoid full sentences; instead, try short phrases or lists. As always, proofread and run spellcheck.

Be consistent
Use the same legible size, color, and style font throughout.

Use images
Add photos, graphs, or charts to illustrate your points.

Cite
Use in-text citations to credit all sources. Include “References” list on your last slide.

Do not “wing it”
Creating slides without a plan leads to extra work revising.

More is not better
Covering your slides in text overwhelms your audience. Full sentences belong in “Speaker Notes.”

Avoid distractions
Including too many backgrounds, colors, fonts, sizes, and placements distracts from your content.

Don’t over-animate
At most, use a simple “appear” animation for images.

Avoid reading from your slides
Use “Speaker Notes” for everything you would say out loud.