How To Do Better: Presentation Edition
- Francesca Rantswell
- Mar 2
- 6 min read
Guys, I’ve seen some things—things that make me question your presentation design skills.
And your classmates deserve better.
We’re not asking for much. We’re not asking for designer slides. Just a simple and decent presentation will do. So, in the spirit of all that is good in slide presentations, here are 9 mistakes you’re definitely making—and how to fix them.
1. The Font Size is Fun Sized?
If the front row can't read your slide, it's a problem (you’re cooked). If you don’t size up, you might as well hand out reading glasses at the door because nobody can see what you wrote in XXS.
A presentation is one of those cases where bigger is actually better. If nobody can read your slide, it’s going to be harder to follow, and people will start getting bored earlier than usual. So please, go big or go home—at least 36pt for body text and 48pt for titles. Usually, I just add 10pt or so to whatever size the body text is. This depends on the font because some fonts are small, so you’ll need to add more points (pt).
2. The Wall of Text
Listen closely: PowerPoints are not textbooks. If your slide has text from margin to margin, we're out.
Audience has left the chat.
Slides are for highlights, not essays. Use bullet points that summarize the idea you’re trying to get across. After five bullet points, start checking if you need to knock some bricks off. Also, do NOT try to fit the entire universe on one slide just because you have bullet points. Does putting a sticker on a wall that says “this is not a wall” make it any less of a wall?
No? I thought so.
3. Buy the Product That You Sell
Second-hand embarrassment is real.
We’re not judging the last-minute circumstances under which your PowerPoint was created. We’ve all been there. But at least know something about your slide, friend. If you’re skipping around and unable to find the slide your lecturer asked you to return to—a slide they described so well that even the audience knows which one they’re talking about—it’s not a good look.
We get it; it might just be nerves, and if that’s the case, we empathize. However, if it’s otherwise, please make every effort to familiarize yourself with your slides next time.
Sincerely,
Your supporters.
4. Colors That Blind
This one gets no sympathy because some of these color choices are wild! Dark green text on a blue background? Light blue on yellow? That’s crazy work.
Some colors do not go well together on a slide presentation (despite what the color wheel says). Always pick good contrasting colors that make your text stand out from the background. Sommerville (2017) suggests using light text on a dark background and avoiding patterned backgrounds that affect readability. If you’re not good at choosing colors, play around with combinations until you find a good one, ask a friend, or consult Preston Media’s Chief Design Officer. Of course, you can always just Google.
You can find some good colour palettes here:
5. Animations for Days
As much as it hurts me to say this, I have to: fancy animations are not always the best choice for academic or professional settings.
We get that it’s for “aesthetics,” but it’s hard to take your slides seriously when they transform into a bird and fly off into the corner of the screen. Stick to elegant transitions like “fade” or simple text animations such as “fly in”—or use none at all. And please, avoid animating all 5 bullet points…that’s Windows 7 behavior.
If you’re using gifs or videos, try not to use more than one per slide. Too many can distract the audience from your presentation.
6. Two Few Images
Images are a powerpoint presentation’s best friend. It is the seasoning for every unappealing presentation topic. They are good attention grabbers, can elicit emotional response and are excellent for communicating complex ideas and making information easier to understand. Images break up the monotony and add some razzle so that the presenter (you) may dazzle.
The question is: why aren’t you using them?
Use images that illustrate your bullet points, even if your bullet points are already easy to understand and leave your text only presentation in the past. Visual learners will thank you. Just make sure your images are relevant— a random cat meme doesn’t belong in an Economics presentation (or does it?).
7. Labels. Use Them.
We can see that the blue column is taller than the red one on the chart. But what does that even mean?
When presenting data, always include labels: titles for charts, keys/legends, numbers, and percentages. The audience should be able to glance at your data and immediately understand what it’s saying. Presenting nameless data is like giving directions with no landmarks — everybody’s lost and they haven't even started walking.
If your questionnaire doesn’t have a lot of participants before thinking of becoming a chef, let us help you: How To Do Better: Presentation Edition
8. No Sense of Stick-To-It-tivity
Too often somebody joins the group slide presentation in Canva and doesn’t get the style memo. Everybody else is using the same font style and size as well as the same slide layout and there’s ALWAYS this one person adding this random slide that does not look like the rest of the presentation at all.
If that’s you, hi! We need to have a conversation.
Cohesiveness is important. Your presentation should look like one polished product, not a pitchy patchy Frankenstein. Keep fonts, sizes, and layouts consistent across all slides. Variations are fine, but massive differences? Hard pass.
9. What is a Reference? Hint: It’s Not “www.Woogle.com”
In the era of artificial intelligence, there is no reason for your references to just be the URL of where you found the information. Pack that up. Wheel and come again.
Yes, it is highly unlikely that anyone is going to cross check your references now. However, you need to train yourself for when you actually need to submit academic work for grading (and it’s not just research papers people!). Please understand that to poorly cite a source, is to have never cited the source at all and that, my friend, is PLAGIARISM! So please, take the time to learn how to do inline citation and find a good citation generator to use. Here are some listed below:
10. Extra Tip Because We Can
Presentations are opportunities disguised as inconveniences. If you’re trying to get better at public speaking, presentations are a great stage to practice.
For a good public speaking moment:
Remember that your delivery depends on: the enthusiasm in your voice, your purposeful movement and hand gestures, making eye contact ever so often and not having a flat tone (Vogel & Viale, 2018).
Do not just read from your slides. Give more information that is not on the slides. Engage the audience with questions and appropriate jokes.
Look at your audience, not just your slides.
Have an offline copy of your presentation just in case.
Remember, you are as much a part of the presentation as your slides are.
Conclusion
Follow these nine (okay, ten) tips, and your slide presentations will go from “meh” to “memorable.” A great presentation doesn’t just communicate your ideas—it leaves a lasting impression. With great visuals, clear organization, and confident delivery, you’ll captivate your audience and elevate your presentation. Now go fix your slides.
Meet Francesca Rantswell
Francesca Rantswell is a sensational blogger with a sharp wit and an even sharper pen. A passionate writer and professional critic of all things university chaos, Francesca specializes in uncovering those nuanced habits that hold students back.
Her goal? To help future professionals polish their work, one laughably honest critique at a time. She believes in blending humor, wit, and sound advice to push readers toward self-improvement.
References
Sommerville, J. (2017, August 8). Tips for Making Effective PowerPoint Presentations. Www.ncsl.org.https://www.ncsl.org/legislative-staff/lscc/tips-for-making-effective-powerpoint-presentations
Vogel, W. H., & Viale, P. H. (2018). Presenting With Confidence. Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology, 9(5), 545. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6505544/
