Audio and Visual Presentation and Tips

Media are images, soundtracks, video clips and other formats other than text. Various media can be be found on the Internet to add to your presentations. Don't forget to acknowledge media that you have sourced from elsewhere. 

You can create your own media to include in your multimedia presentations using:

• Digital video and still cameras
• MP3 recorders and players
• Laptops
• DVD readers
• Data projectors

Presentation software uses images, charts, images, sound and even videos to enable you to create a dynamic multimedia presentation. 

You can use other people's media in a presentation, or you can create your own. Don't forget to provide citations for media that you do not create yourself.

There are many brands of presentation software

Prezi - works like one giant virtual whiteboard containing your entire presentation, where you can zoom in and out of sections. 

SlideRocket - a collaborative, web-based application that integrates with third parties like Google Docs and Flickr, which is great for pulling live data and content.

Google Slides - are easy to store and share online, and can be downloaded as an app for phones or tablets.

Zoho Show 2.0 - includes live audio chat with presenters.

but the most popular is Microsoft PowerPoint.

See the software guide on Microsoft PowerPoint.

For Microsoft Office 365 training, including PowerPoint, click here.

Here are some tips to make your slideshow presentation more effective.

• Blues and greens - relaxed, feel-good colours
• Reds and yellows - exciting, happy colours
• Use high contrast colours - dark colours with light fonts or vice versa
• Use “white space” to make content stand out, and to balance elements; don't crowd your slides
• Do not have too many effects
• Do not use large amounts of text
• No more than 6 dot points per slide. No dot points is better
• Font - 28pt to 32pt is a good size
• Use bold or different colours to highlight important words

Watch Nancy Duarte's video on Five Rules for Presentations. (4.28 mins)

For more design and text hints, see Steal this Presentation.

There are an increasing number of audio, video and graphic design assignments you may encounter in any given class. Beal Library is here to provide students with the resources, tutorials and user-support that they need to accomplish their assignments. There are many ways to create presentations and share them online. This guide is intended to give you a few tips and recommendations on how you can create your next project.