Tips for Online Presentations

Special Note: Since many online presentations here may not have any extra context to it (as far as you speaking while giving it), you will need to make sure that you provide even more clarity and information in your slides. While a typical audience may be familiar with some of the terms, they would certainly need more background info on what some of the terms are. You may want to consider narrating your presentation while making a screencast so you can set the pacing for it and talk about your slides as you click through them. Then you can submit the video as your presentation.

If you choose to just upload a presentation, keep in mind that you also need to provide the additional context that you would have done while presenting to an audience. This means going beyond bullet/talking points.

Most of these are for accessibility purposes, but keep in mind that those features are generally good for all audiences.

  • Use slide numbers (use insert menu);
  • Use good color contrast between text and background. This affects readability and supports those with visual impairment issues like color blindness;
  • Use a decent sized font (14 or larger);
  • Align images and text. If you just tack images at the end that does not foster good visual appeal. Alter the size of your text box to shorten the width and then align images on the right. For proper formatting to make images accessible, right click on it and include alt text. This description will help support screenreaders. Do not add alt text if the image is only decorative; Work to properly format your works cited page;
  • Above all, if you only have text on slides, do not bother with a slideshow, you are better off just writing an essay in that case.

Do not forget a Works Cited page/slide/clip (if you are not sure how that should look, check out the OWL page for MLA citations; both have menus to click on for whichever type of resource you are using). No matter what type of presentation you are working on, you will be using outside sources, so make sure you give proper attribution. Assignment submissions without a works cited page will not be accepted.