How to create Great PowerPoints

On the bus to the Microsoft UK Innovative Teachers Forum last week Stuart Ball and I were chatting about getting teachers to use the basic classroom ICT tools better and in a more creative way. Presentation software, particularly PowerPoint was one of the tools that we were talking about.

I like presentation software including PowerPoint, Keynote and Google Doc’s – and I use all of them from time to time. I also like some of the other emerging web based presentation tools such as Sliderocket. I would like to think that I use all of these tools well? I normally use presentation software to provide a canvas and a thread for a lesson or presentation. I also rarely use other peoples work – instead preferring to create my own content so that I know it well and can in turn present it well.

Presentation tools can be great for linking together a variety of media. For example in PowerPoint and Keynote you can embed pictures, movies, flash and even live webpages so you don’t have to switch between applications.

I came across this great video called How to Create a Great PowerPoint without Breaking the Law Take: 2.0. The video is being presented by Alvin Trusty from the University of Findley. Alvin presents well and gives some great presentation tips for people wanting to improve their PowerPoint’s or other software presentations. You might want to fast forward past the bit of US Copyright Law (unless you live in the US) – although it’s quite interesting as well.

Video embedded below:

How to Create a Great PowerPoint - Take 2.0 from Alvin Trusty on Vimeo.