Evidence-Based Human Factors Guidelines for PowerPoint Presentations

For decades, the vehicle of choice for idea transfer has been Microsoft’s PowerPoint. PowerPoint gives the orator a plethora of options in the design of a presentation. Choosing configurations for the most effective presentation can prove daunting, and even professional presentations bear witness to the difficulty of choosing wisely. Guidelines based on a collection of basic human factors/ergonomics principles and a few empirical studies are presented for effective PowerPoint presentations.