An Introduction to Presentation Graphics 

Making presentation using slides prepared in presentation graphics software is fast becoming one of the modern ways of exchanging ideas between the speaker and his audience.  Such presentations can help the principal of a school in delivering a speech on the school annual day; a marketing person in reporting sales figures in a business meeting, or a company chairman to present company results in a shareholder’s meeting.  Once can identify hundreds of such instances where the presentation graphics are playing a major role in the way people communicate. Examples of presentation graphics software include PowerPoint, Harvard Graphics, Corel Draw and 3D studio, among others.

Irrespective of the software being used, the following must be kept in mind to make a successful and effective presentation.

•  It is important to know who your audience is. A presentation for school children, for  example, will be very different  from a presentation on the same topic made  to teachers
•  The content  of the presentation should be  simple enough for most  people  in the audience to understand
• The presentation should begin with something that is familiar to the audience, so that they get involved in the presentation from the very beginning.
•  It will be better if the contents of each slide in the presentation are independent of each other.
•  The available space in the slide should be used effectively; the slide space should not be too cluttered. The graphics should be meaningful and not just decorative.
•  Text and color in the slide should be used judiciously. There should be very little text to read on each slide. Too much text on a slide makes it difficult to read, and people begin to lose interest.

The display of information in each slide is a very important aspect of your presentation. Apart from your slide show, it is recommended that whatever possible, a handout or a set of notes that outline the presentation should be distributed.

Questionnaire:

• Explain more about the presentation graphics.