What are some common power point mistakes? How can they be avoided?

A few of the mistakes and how to avoid them presented by Don MacMillan (2008) are:

Text Crowded Slides- Go to the point

Spelling Mistakes- Re-check your spelling always

Excessive Bullet points- only use them for main ideas

Bad color combinations and blinding colors- use discrete colors

Too much hard to understand data- use only an efficient amount of understandable data

Pointless Animation- just use a little for making the presentation more dynamic

Hard to read fonts- use a font that is not too big or little, and that adds personality to your presentation.

What can you do to be sure that your Power Point presentation is well received?

A power point first of all is an aid to your presentation. You have to know that people are there to hear you and not to watch the power point presentation. You should always remember that the power point presentation is there to give more clarity.

What tips can you share with the class to ensure a successful presentation?

Always show the most important information. You can add a few animations and colors to your presentation to make it more vivid but don't do it exaggerated.

Also, McMillan describes Times News Roman as a boring font. But for a university course whose paper is written in APA style, Times New Roman is not that bad in my opinion.

References

McMillan, D. [donmcmillan96]. (2008, Sep 15) Don McMillan: Life after Death by PowerPoint. [Video file] Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpvgfmEU2Ck