Presentation Zen for Teachers

Sitting through a bad PowerPoint presentation can be more painful than having needles shoved under your fingernails. A few days ago I posted a couple of humorous videos to illustrate effective and ineffective presentations. Today I’ve got a few more resources to share with you. If you teach your students PowerPoint or other presentation software, the following links will be invaluable to you:

First, take a look at this model presentation by Merlin Mann of 43 Folders (It’s about an hour long, but you don’t have to watch the whole thing to get the idea, although I think you’ll like it enough to want to.)

Then, read Mann’s simple, straightforward article about how he designed the presentation. In the article he references two websites that are extremely helpful in learning effective presentation principles:

• Presentation Zen – Garr Reynolds’ blog “on issues related to professional presentation design.”
  
• Beyond Bullets – A terrific blog by Cliff Atkinson, author of Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire.

You’ll find some great presentation tips at both sites, including the two mentioned by Mann, Guy Kawasaki’s 10-20-30 rule and the Takahashi method.

Hat tip to Gina at Lifehacker.