The common practice of using PowerPoint to provide the presenter with speaking points is bad practice.
It creates text heavy slides that unconsciously focus the presentation on the needs of the speaker rather than the needs of the audience.
This approach results in slides that are a mongrel hybrid of speaker prompts, presentation slides and lecture notes. The worst possible outcome for all concerned.
PowerPoint is for re-enforceing (not delivering) the message to your audience.
I strongly recommended you use the Presenter view option in PowerPoint
First, create slides that support your point and put all the text in the Notes section. You can put your speaker prompts here, and any activity reminders or instructions. If you want you can load this section with detailed notes and background information about the point you are making in the slide.
The other advantage in using Notes is you can create a pdf version of the presentation for students that includes your detailed lecture notes and explanations.
When you hook up to the projector the students will see the slides and you will see the Presenter view below. Everyone’s a winner.
