PowerPoint Guidelines

1. Open PowerPoint.

2. Click on the New icon.

3. From the dialog box, select the blank slide. Then OK.

4. Set the PowerPoint page size to match the size of your final poster. Set the size by using Page Setup under the File menu. Choose Custom page size, and enter the dimensions of your poster in inches. PowerPoint has a maximum width of 56 inches. If you need your poster width to be more than that, then enter the dimensions of one-half your final poster size, and have us print it at 200% scaling.

5. Click on the text box. Insert the Title of your Presentation across the top of the slide. Add the author's names and affiliations. Your title should be quite large, at least 72 point. You want people to be able to see your presentation title from a distance. When saving the PowerPoint file in Windows, be sure to Save As and embed TrueType fonts. This will help to ensure that there is no font substitution.

6. Now add some color in the text boxes or fonts. Remember, that some color combinations will not work together; e.g., dark color on dark color. Be sure there is good contrast between the background and the text color.

7. Lay out the sections of your paper (e.g., Introduction, Methodology, Results, Conclusions). Use the Text Box in combination with the Line Style to create boxes. Once you have your boxes laid out you can start adding the real information to the text boxes. When you are all done, you can delete the line around the text boxes, add color to the headings and/or change the font size and type.

8. To add an image, go to the Insert menu. Insert Picture | From File, find the file, then click OK. Lines, boxes and arrows can be inserted using the Drawing Toolbar. We recommend using formats such as JPEG’s, BMP, or TIF files. If you have scanned an image and are unsure of the printing quality of your image, zoom in on it until it fills your entire screen. If it looks pixilated and jaggy you may need to rescan it. Optimal image resolution is 180ppi at the final placed dimensions of the image.

We don’t recommend using graphics that have been saved from the Web. Web files usually do not have sufficient resolution for enlarged printing unless they are used with very little enlargement.

9. To insert a table or graph from Excel, create the table or graph and highlight or select it in Excel. You can then click on Insert | Chart, or Insert | Object. Insert | Chart enables you to create a chart right in front of your eyes. Insert | Object enables you to add a finished chart and be able to link to it so that you can continue to update Excel and then when you open PowerPoint to update your Excel file, you'll see that it is already updated. If you have inserted charts and graphs in this manner be sure to include these Excel files when sending us the PowerPoint file.

10. To print the final version on a single piece of 8.5" x 11" paper to check it over before doing the final large size, go to File, Print, Slides, and click Scale to fit paper. Click OK.

Page last modified on December 9, 2004