A lesson in communication from B-school.

Re: Some general tips on PowerPoint presentations.

That was the subject line of the email I got today from a professor in my MBA program.

I thought it was incredibly simple and practical advice and I’d hate to see it only live in an email to just a few folks.

I’m reprinting the advice here as a reminder to myself of what to do in the future.

Many of these things, I’d like to think I’ve learned and picked up along the way. But I haven’t codified them as has my 68-year old professor.

So, this email came in the context of a group presentation that is coming up next week:

Re: Some general tips on PowerPoint presentations.

15 minutes time--keep it pretty close to that. 

Use a sans serif font such as Arial or Tahoma--those are easier to read on slides. 

Keep color contrast strong--dark background with white or light colored print--if colors too similar, can be hard to read. Some templates have colored swirls in them that can distract from text. 

Pictures and graphs are good as they add interest to the slides. 

Font should be relatively large--usually 28 to 36 point. Small stuff is too hard to read. 

Don't crowd too much on a slide (like I did last night).

It’s pretty amazing advice for anyone in business to remember, and I hope it is useful for you in the future as I’m sure it has been for my professor’s students over the years.