PowerPoint Dos and Don'ts

I'm sure everyone has had to sit through a terrible PowerPoint presentation, but our previous class really highlighted the do's and don'ts! My favorite article out of the ones we had to read was the Top Ten Slide Tips. Every tip gave excellent advice on how to improve one's PowerPoint presentation. To not be afraid of empty space was the best advice I think. A lot of people do not feel comfortable having large empty spaces when in fact it makes one's presentation more organized.

Some guidlines I would reccomend are:
1) It is OK to have empty space
2) Do not have too much information on one page (leave something to talk about that the audience cannot read!)
3) Be consistent on slide design so as to not distract the audience from your overall message
4) Color scheme is crucial! (make sure not to choose contrasting colors)
5) Limit animation to only aspects that you want to accent otherwise the audience will be watching the animation and not listening to you!

Hopefully this helps when making your next PowerPoint! :)

Google Scholar

WOW, so I had no idea about Google Scholar. It looks amazing! I feel really comfortable using Google since I've been using it for roughly 7 years and to use it towards scholarly projects sounds amazing! Also the advanced search tab will really help too and refine my search. I never knew about it! Also the directories will narrow my search even more to sites with the facts I need. Today's presentation was AWESOME!

Copyright

I've never really had a problem with copyright music. I don't download music illegally, but I do get cds from friends. I never thought of that as copyright infringement, but I guess it is. Since my friend has already bought the music and makes a cd and I copy, I don't think RIAA can track it. I guess technically I am still breaking the law though. I never really thought about it before! It seems kind of ridiculous when you think of it, but I guess the artists are missing out on revenue they would have earned if I had bought it. Do they really need it though? Most I would say don't, but then there are the newer artists that are just starting out. And without a clear definition of popularity from sales, they might be wary of making more music. Now that I know more about copyright laws, I can be more aware of my actions!

Excel

Even though I already knew a lot about Excel, I learned even more! I had no idea about absolute cell reference! After learning about all the functions of Excel, I can definitely use spreadsheets in my other classes like Statistics! I am double majoring in Communications and Marketing, so I know that a lot of my work will deal with presentations and analyzing data. Excel will definitely be able to help me with that!