Rethinking the Design of Presentation Slides

Recently, much criticism has arisen about the design of slides created with Microsoft PowerPoint. This web page challenges PowerPoint's default design of a single word or short phrase headline supported by a bullet list. Rather than subscribing to Microsoft's topic-subtopic design for slides, this web page advocates an assertion-evidence design, which serves presentations that have the purpose of informing and persuading audiences about technical content.

Alley, Michael. Virginia Tech (2004). Articles>Presentations>Information Design>Microsoft PowerPoint

Rethinking the Design of Presentation Slides

Summary, models, and templates of a new design of slides for technical presentations. This design is fully documented in Chapter 4 of The Craft of Scientific Presentations (Springer, 2003).

Alley, Michael. Penn State University (2004). Articles>Presentations>Information Design>Visual Rhetoric

Rethinking the Design of Presentation Slides: A Case for Sentence Headlines and Visual Evidence    

The traditional design of presentation slides calls for a phrase headline supported by a bulleted list. Recently, many critics have challenged the effectiveness of this design. This article argues for a significantly different design that offers numerous advantages in most communication contexts but that is particularly well suited to technical presentations. Originating at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and refined in more than 400 critique sessions at Virginia Tech, this alternative design is characterized by a succinct sentence headline supported by visual evidence. What distinguishes this design from other visual -evidence designs are its specific layout and typography guidelines, which were chosen to make the communication efficient, memorable, and persuasive. Although more difficult to construct than the traditional design, the alternative design shows much promise as a more effective means of conveying technical information to various audiences. This article outlines the key advantages and challenges of using this design, and concludes by assessing attempts to disseminate this design through lectures, workshops, and the Web.

Alley, Michael and Kathryn A. Neeley. Technical Communication Online (2005). Articles>Presentations>Information Design>Persuasive Design

Slides to Teach Scientific Presentations

Given here are free PowerPoint slides from The Craft of Scientific Presentations (Springer, 2003). These slides have been requested by more than 200 instructors around the world.

Alley, Michael. Virginia Tech (2003). Academic>Course Materials>Presentations>Scientific Communication

Slides to Teach Technical Writing

Given on this site are free PowerPoint slides to teach technical writing. These slides come from The Craft of Scientific Writing (3rd ed., Springer, 1996). More than 400 instructors around the world have requested these slides.

Alley, Michael. Virginia Tech (2002). Academic>Course Materials>Writing>Technical Writing

Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students

These guidelines are designed to help you, the engineering or science student, perform technical writing assignments in your laboratory, design, and technical communication classes. In these guidelines, you will find discussions of several common documents in engineering writing and scientific writing. For these types of documents, you will find models written by other students.

Alley, Michael. Virginia Tech. Resources>Writing>Engineering

Common Use of PowerPoint versus the Assertion-Evidence Structure     

Since 2001, harsh criticism of PowerPoint’s presentation slide structure has surfaced in several popular publications. Because Microsoft PowerPoint controls 95% of the market for presentation slideware (Parker 2001), its default structure certainly deserves scrutiny. However, what is more important than analyzing the default structure of PowerPoint is to analyze the slide structures that people actually use. For that reason, in technical communication, the key question is the following: what slide structures are commonly used for presenting science and technology?

Garner, Joanna K., Michael Alley, Allen F. Gaudelli and Sarah E. Zappe. Technical Communication Online (2009). Articles>Presentations>Scientific Communication>Microsoft PowerPoint

Challenging the Common Practice of PowerPoint at an Institution     

Explores how to have a technical community adopt a new communication strategy that challenges the common practice of PowerPoint. Reveals the sources of resistance to that communication strategy. Finds that resistance is diminished when learners see the strategy being used effectively by someone with credibility in that learner's community.

Neeley, Kathryn A., Michael Alley, Christine G. Nicometo and Leslie C. Srajek. Technical Communication Online (2009). Articles>Education>Presentations>Microsoft PowerPoint