Creating PowerPoint® Slides for WisLine Web

Visuals can be one of the key factors in determining the success of a webconferencing meeting. Good visuals can help hold the interest of participants and deliver information. Bad visuals can distract participants and deliver information in a manner that is confusing. This tutorial is designed to provide some helpful tips for developing visuals for use in a WisLine Web meeting.

Microsoft® PowerPoint® is used to develop visuals for WisLine Web. To make slides that will be useable in WisLine Web, you must use Microsoft® PowerPoint® 2000, 2002 or 2003. Oder versions of Microsoft® PowerPoint® will not work for making slides for WisLine Web.

First, open PowerPoint®. Then, start a new, blank presentation. Avoid using the Design Templates provided in PowerPoint®. Many of them do not look the same after being converted and uploaded to WisLine Web. If you wish to have a template, it is probably best to make your own, and it is easy to do. Simplicity in your slide design is best. For more information on how to make your own template, refer to the tutorial “Creating Your Own PowerPoint® Slide Template for WisLine Web.”
Once you have a new presentation open, go to the Master Slide. Do this by choosing View from the menu bar. Under View, choose Master and then Slide Master. Doing your formatting on the Slide Master will ensure that all your slides will have a uniform look.
Decide on colors for your background and text. You can use either light text on a dark background or dark text on a light background.
To set the background color for your slides, make sure that you are in the Master slide. Choose Format from the menu bar and under that, choose Background. When the Background window opens, you can choose a new color by clicking on the color bar. When you click on the color bar, you will see a set of standard colors. If none of these is a color you want to use for your background, choose More Colors.
When you choose More Colors, the Colors window will open. In this area, you can choose from many different color selections by simply clicking on them. When you find a color you like, click on the OK button. After you click on the OK button, you will return to the Background window. In this window, click on the Apply button. Since you are working on the Master slide, all of your slides will now have the same background color. Depending on your needs, you may change the color of certain individual slides as you work on your presentation. Bright reds can have a stroboscopic effect. Be careful with them.
To change the font color in the master slide, first highlight the text that you want to change. This could be the title, the body or all of the text on the Master slide. When you have highlighted the text you want to change, choose Format from the Menu bar and choose Font.
After you choose Font, the Font window will open. In this window, you can change the font face, style, size, and color of the font. Click on the Color bar. Choose More Colors if none of the standard colors appeal to you. When you choose More Colors, you will be able to pick a new color the same way you did for the background. You can also use this method to change the font size, color, and style for other text on your slides.
• In Webconferencing, sans-serif fonts, like Helvetica, Arial, and Comic Sans are easiest to read. • You should avoid serif fonts like Times, Palatino, and Courier. • Titles should be at least 40-point sized. 44-point size is recommended. • Subheadings should be at least 28-point sized. 32-point size or larger is recommended. • You should not use more than 2 different font typefaces on your slides. • As with the background, be careful with reds. • Scripts and other specialized typefaces can be especially hard to read. Avoid them! • Double-check your Master slide after you have formatted your background and text. Make sure that everything is the way you want it.
Once you have the Master slide formatted, you can change back to the Normal view. In the Normal view, you will be able to add text and graphics to individual slides and insert new slides into your presentation.
To avoid a cluttered look, try to limit slides to the title line and six lines per slide and a maximum of six words per line. If your main idea or theme requires more than this, add an additional slide (or two or three) rather than trying to fit all the necessary text onto one slide. Keep your text from running all the way to the edges, top or bottom to keep a clean look. A good rule of thumb is to leave about 10% around all edges of the slide free of text and graphics.
Use key words or phrases when making titles and sub-headings on your slides. This way, your attendees will have a good idea of what’s in store, but will still rely on you for information on each topic. If you fill the slides with all the information you plan to cover, your attendees may not pay attention to what you have to say. If you have a large amount of information that needs to be typed out for some reason, this should be put into a document and distributed to your attendees. • “When people read, they don’t listen.”
When adding graphics to slides, make sure that they are appropriate, clear, and convey the information in the way you intended them to. Use graphics that are in the horizontal format. Vertical format graphics will not work as well because they will have to be shrunk to fit on the slides or may have important details clipped off if they are left full size.
In some cases. you may need to simplify graphics by removing elements that are not essential to your presentation. Simplifying graphics by removing non-essential elements will help your attendees focus on the important part of the graphics and not get distracted by other elements.
When using graphs and charts, use bar graphs and pie charts to convey information. For the shading of sections, use fill-in shading.
Fills with lined patterns or dots can have a stroboscopic effect when seen on a monitor. They should be avoided whenever possible.
Make a welcome slide with the title of your meeting, along with the date, time and presenter’s name. Display this slide prior to and during the start of your meetings so your attendees will know they have logged into the correct meeting.
It’s also a good idea to make an agenda slide to let your audience know what’s in store for the meeting. You could also make a review slide to be used at the end of the meeting to recap the important points in your presentation and take any questions that have not yet been asked.
Include a thank-you slide at the end of your slide set that includes contact information if attendees have questions after the meeting has ended.
Finally, test your slides after importing them into your WisLine Web meeting space. Testing is one of the most important parts of making a successful presentation. You'll be assured that everything is just the way you want it.