A professional presentation can enhance your meeting greatly. The following are tips for designing a professional slide presentation:

Background: Choose a plain or solid background color to reduce each slide's color palette, resulting in a smaller file size.

• Avoid marbled backgrounds or heavy gradients within your presentation because they tend to reduce the quality of the images.

Text: Use solid color text on solid backgrounds to increase legibility.

• Ensure text and headings are at least 16 point; 18 point and higher is recommended for distinct output and legibility.
• Use bold, simple fonts (i.e., Helvetica, Arial, Tahoma, Futura or Folio).
• Limit text bullets to three to six per slide. Spread the content of a crowded slide onto another slide.

Charts: Increase the legend size and data-point labels for better legibility on graphs and/or charts.

Viewing Settings: When creating your files, view the slides at 70% zoom in PowerPoint to see how they will appear when uploaded. Use drawn lines that are 1.5 point or thicker to ensure they can be viewed after downloading.

File Size: The maximum file size for presentations varies among web conferencing products and will affect the amount of time it takes to upload. Below are the recommended and maximum file upload sizes.

• Adobe Connect- maximum size is 100MB
• Cisco WebEx- recommended file size 5MB, maximum size is 100MB
• GlobalMeet- maximum size is 100MB
• IBM LotusLive Meetings- recommended size is 10MB, over 100MB is not advised
• Microsoft Office Live Meeting- single handout cannot exceed 25MB, no more than 100MB total in files can be uploaded to the Handouts, content cannot exceed 150MB

Consider these helpful tips for taking screenshots:

• Scale up each screen shot image with the highest resolution and size possible, preferably using the entire slide area.
• Crop excess portions of the screen shot, removing anything that is not critical. This will allow you to “scale up” the images, increasing clarity and legibility.
• When possible, divide screenshots into two to four individual images spread out over multiple slides in a "zoom-in" style. This will allow you to “scale up” images even more and emphasize the portion of the screen being discussed.

Consider these helpful tips for designing effective visuals:

• Keep visuals simple and uncluttered. Spread out your elements and use large font sizes for quick and easy viewing.
• Diligently edit and proofread.
• Be consistent with style and tense. Do not combine horizontal and vertical formats.  Horizontal format is preferred since it appears larger and conforms to TV and movie images.
• Verify the accuracy of individuals and organizations cited within the presentation.
• Use titles that read like headlines to capture the attention of the audience.
• Highlight keywords and graphics.
• Diversify: Use different colors, sizes and effects (italics, arrows, asterisks and geometric shapes).
• Use colors sparingly: no more than three colors per slide. Consider using the same three colors throughout the entire presentation. In general, light-colored text on a dark background is easier to read from a distance. Don't "over design." Elegant and simple is more effective than jarring and flashy.

A special thanks to Shonna W. for her contributions to this article.