Building a Super Powerpoint
 

I am in a bit of a bind here. I have a presentation to prepare for a student showcase next Tuesday, and the muses of powerpoints are apparently not well pleased in me. I really need some help figuring out just what I should do for my presentation, as it can be no longer than 10 min, keeping in mind that i have to not only talk about our team but explain what FIRST is as well, I'm in a bit over my first-year super nerd head. Oh, and did i mention? I have to leave enough time to demo our robot as well. Please, all you FIRST wizards and sages out there, throw me some tips if you can.

Re: Building a Super Powerpoint
 

If you are getting bored with standard powerpoint, you could try http://prezi.com/ A well created Prezi presentation looks amazing and professional.

Re: Building a Super Powerpoint
 

Just my opinion really, I haven't had any formal instruction in best practices for powerpoint:

Just like on a robot, let form follow function. If it's a brief explanatory SHOWcase of FIRST and your team, you might find it efficient to let the powerpoint be mostly pictures or SmartArt/graphic organizers. If you're confident in your ability to narrate, then let written explanations be only the most sparingly used bullet points.

Want to mention the ever-growing scope of FIRST? Get a picture from Championship of the enormity of the crowds.
Want to mention that FIRST teams need to build a team identity/brand in addition to robots? Find a pic of a team showing insane team spirit/imagery, I'm sure you have a local competitor that comes to mind, if not your very own team.
Want to show the structure of your team subdivisions? A graphic organizer showing only titles and maybe # of people assigned will do.

When my team is doing a presentation to appeal for sponsorship, we'd usually make sure that our wants/needs/begging are listed in print, in addition to voicing them. But for a brief showcase leading up to a live demo, you could try "taking a picture walk."

Re: Building a Super Powerpoint
 

Rule 1 with powerpoints is to use more pictures than text; that is what distinguishes them from a normal presentation. I can't tell you how many times me and my classmates have been bored to death by a prof showing us slides full of text.

Use contrast, and lots of big pictures!

Re: Building a Super Powerpoint
 

Thx for the tip. I used Prezi for my presentation, and it was a hit!