rules of evidence powerpoint presentation

• Speech Writing
• Delivery Techniques
• PowerPoint & Visuals
• Speaker Habits
• Speaker Resources

Speech Critiques

• Book Reviews
• Browse Articles
• ALL Articles
• Learn About Us
• About Six Minutes
• Meet Our Authors
• Write for Us
• Advertise With Us

Slide Title Guidelines: Use Assertions, Not Topics

• What kind of titles were used on the slides?
• Do you remember any of them?
• Were there titles like “Background”, “Research Study”, “October Sales”, and “Conclusions”?

If you are nodding to that last question (and most people reading this will be), you already know that most slide titles are pretty mundane: they are quickly written and quickly forgotten.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Slide titles can help communicate your message , and set the context of the slide for your audience.

In this article, we discuss five simple guidelines you can use to quickly improve your slides, and see how these guidelines apply to slide examples .

• Slide Titles
• Slide Fonts
• Slide Charts
• Rule of Thirds (Layout)
• Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity
• Slide:ology
• Presentation Zen
• Clear and to the Point

Slide Title Guidelines

These guidelines are easy to follow. Once you are aware of them, you will find that they are almost second nature.

• Slide titles should convey your main point as an assertion . Avoid using topics or labels as titles such as “Background”, “Research Study”, “Sales”, and “Conclusions”. Titles like this are weak and do little to help your audience understand the slide. Titles written as clear assertions provide meaning for your audience which is elaborated upon with the visual in the body of the slide (chart, photograph, diagram, table, etc.) and also with your verbal delivery.
• Slide titles should be crisp, not wordy. Titles should fit on one line (or, at most two lines). Spend the time to distill the essential meaning into a short, clear statement.
• Slide titles should be larger than any other text on the slide . In every medium where text is present, size conveys importance. (Think of posters, newspapers, books, reports, and even web pages like this one.) Large text is perceived as more important than small text. Since your slide title conveys your main point, you should make it the largest text on the slide. (I typically use 44 point text for titles.)
• Slide titles should be consistently located. In English and other left-to-right languages, the best place for the title is in the upper-left of the slide. That’s where your audience will glance first, before exploring the rest of the slide. If you choose to go against this guideline, be sure the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. (Beware placing title text along the bottom of a slide. In many presentation venues, your audience will have difficulty seeing the bottom edge of your slides due to heads of people in front of them.)
• Slide titles should be easy to read. Don’t make your audience struggle. Use a clean font and a color with strong contrast so your title can be read and understood at a glance.

If you follow the guidelines above, your audience will understand the purpose of the slide. This will help them as they view and study the evidence you have provided to support the assertion in the body of the slide.

Exceptions to the Guidelines

“ Slide titles should convey your main point as an assertion. ”

Like nearly all speaking guidelines, there are exceptions. In this case, there are many situations where you can safely ignore one or more of the guidelines above:

• title slides, agenda slides, transition slides, housekeeping slides;
• quotation slides (the main idea is the quotation, and so a separate title is rarely helpful);
• setup slides which are employed as part of a sequence (e.g. the first slide might pose a problem or ask a rhetorical question, while the follow-up slide may have the solution as an assertion);
• artistic slides; and
• any other slide where a title is not warranted or perhaps even detrimental

Further, the guidelines above don’t apply if you are using an irregular presentation format, such as the Lessig Method .

These guidelines do, however, apply to the majority of normal “body” slides that are used in business, scientific, and classroom presentations. In most cases, if your slide has a title, it should follow the guidelines.

Proponents of Assertion Slide Titles

Michael Alley and Melissa Marshall offer comprehensive coverage  of the benefits of assertions for slide titles. They have conducted research studies which show that students perform better after receiving presentations designed using the assertion-evidence method (as compared to traditional “topic”-titled slides). Their site also includes resources for instructors who teach this approach to slide design.

Olivia Mitchell provides an accessible overview of the assertion-evidence style.

Cliff Atkinson, author of  Beyond Bullet Points :

Writing headlines in the form of complete sentences imposes a discipline on your ideas by forcing you to turn them into coherent thoughts and remove any ambiguity. […] The point of the headline is to help your audience understand your point as efficiently as possible.

Slide Examples

Below I’ve given seven pairs of slides (taken from my PowerPoint design course), where the only difference is the slide title.

• The left slide uses a “topic” or “label” title.
• The right slide uses an assertion for a title to convey the primary meaning to the audience.

Slide Example #1

• The title on the left (“Sensory Perceptions”) is the topic being discussed.
• However, the title on the right makes the two-step process much clearer (stimuli must be [1] perceived and then [2] processed)

Slide Example #2

• The title on the left adds no value. The slide is obviously about text sizes.
• The title on the right emphasizes the key takeaway — that text readability is a critical factor to consider.

Slide Example #3

• The title on the left is a weak topic, but leaves the audience wondering: is it good to decorate your text or not?
• The title on the right is a forceful assertion that is reinforced by the slide evidence.

Slide Example #4

• The title on the left describes what is being charted. That’s helpful, but is something that the presenter could explain.
• The title on the right emphasizes the key takeaway — the new safety policies are working!

Slide Example #5

• The title on the left establishes two chart options, but leaves the audience wondering which is better. While the “Do” label suggests line charts are better, it’s not clear why.
• The title on the right emphasizes the key takeaway — line charts do a better job illustrating data trends than bar charts.

Slide Example #6

• The title on the left gives the topic, but no meaning.
• The title on the right emphasizes the key takeaway — that diagram labels should be placed in close proximity to the objects they label.

Slide Example #7

• The title on the left is a form of rhetorical question. That’s not a bad idea, although it would be more effective if the presenter asked the rhetorical question before displaying the slide on the right…
• The title on the right emphasizes the key takeaway — that photographs should be chosen over clip art. This assertion doesn’t say why… that’s part of my verbal delivery.

Summary of Slide Title Guidelines

If you follow these guidelines, your slides will provide effective support for your presentation.

• Slide titles should convey your main point as an assertion.
• Slide titles should be crisp, not wordy.
• Slide titles should be larger than any other text on the slide.
• Slide titles should be consistently located.
• Slide titles should be easy to read.

Please share this...

This is one of many public speaking articles featured on Six Minutes . Subscribe to Six Minutes for free to receive future articles.

Add a Comment Cancel reply

E-Mail (hidden)

Subscribe - It's Free!

Similar Articles You May Like...

• The 10-20-30 Rule: Guy Kawasaki on PowerPoint
• Slide Charts: 20 Guidelines for Great Presentation Design
• Slide Fonts: 11 Guidelines for Great Design
• Book Review: Multimedia Learning by Richard E. Mayer
• How to Improve Your PowerPoint Slides with the Rule of Thirds
• PowerPoint Book Review – Clear and to The Point: 8 Psychological Principles for Compelling PowerPoint Presentations

Find More Articles Tagged:

13 comments.

Andrew, Excellent topic to address. Still I meet with much resistance from graduate students in my workshops when confronted with the assertion-evidence slide. Why? Because they’ve seen nothing else. And many of their supervisors say the “old way is the only way”. Thanks, John Kluempers (Germany)

True… “Old way is the only way” thinking often blocks progress.

Another great article Andrew…keep up the good work. It is always a pleasure to read your stimulating take on the art of presenting…

Andrew, loved reading this article. PowerPoint abuse is something we’ve all seen and dealt with. However, proper teaching, like this, can vastly improve the quality of our meetings.

Andrew, Thank you for your article. You have brought together compelling examples to support your argument. One hidden advantage to creating assertion headlines is the effect that creating such a headline has on the speaker. We have found that speakers creating such headlines are more focused in their speaking and will eliminate extraneous details from the body of the slide that do not contribute to the assertion (or message). Best wishes, Michael Alley (Penn State)

Since I began using assertions on slides years ago, I have experienced the positive effect you refer to, Michael. The assertions habit has helped me clarify [1] my overall message, [2] the visual on the slide, and [3] how I deliver it.

Thank you Andrew. I don’t know how you keep coming up with topics, but well done. This is a great idea. I hadn’t thought about it but it makes so much sense.

Great article Andrew. I especially like if somebody provides real examples (don’t/do). I personally do not like 2 lines titles, so I would not recommend those. Based on my experience nobody reads such a long titles. I also recommend using info graphics on the slides. It is a great way to explain your message using minimum amount of words.

Andrew, I’m interested in your thoughts on the timing of *when* to display the assertion as you talk, and to what degree it might “steal the thunder” from the speaker.

Below, I discuss a related topic (namely how to stick to just 1 idea per slide) and I use this example of a (spoken) sentence to illustrate a point: “Our solution has 3 benefits, which are that it’s usable, reliable, and scalable.” In the context of an assertive title, to me it seems “Our solution has 3 benefits” would be good, because it asserts the main point yet also intrigues listeners about what the benefits *are* – so people stay focused to find out. A more thorough title of “Our solution is usable, reliable, and scalable” would be a more memorable and meaningful takeaway, but I believe would also cause people to tune out to the speaker because he or she is relegated to backing up what the slide says, instead of vice versa. http://remotepossibilities.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/minimise-blur-firstframework-part-1m/#one_thought

I think the people at M62 are wary about titles, as #2 on their list of 10 “presentation myths” is: “Slide titles should summarise the content of the slide”: http://www.m62.net/presentation-theory/presentation-best-practice/10-presentation-tips-that-suck/

What’s your view on those examples?

Andrew, I couldn’t agree more – many of us have sat through terrible presentations with no content. For me, the worst ones are always presentations where the you’re left wondering what on earth the key message is. Using titles like this is a great idea.

Great suggestions, Andrew.

Coincidentally, I’m developing a PPT presentation right now. Your column has caused me to review some of my headlines. Plan to make them stronger!

– Tom

Thank you for sharing these clear, simple, and persuasive examples. While many engineering and science students and professors use this approach, I suspect that many other students (high school and university) could benefit by choosing this powerful technique.

I would additionally add that assertive slide titles are even MORE important when you aren’t actually presenting your slides, and instead are passing them around as a proposal or client deliverable.

Use the title to tell your audience EXACTLY what your point is, don’t make them guess or try and figure it out.

Thanks for the great post!

Recent Tweets

Slide Title Guidelines: Use Assertions, Not Topics http://t.co/rwQsTofy via @6minutes — Gavin McMahon Dec 12th, 2012

Slide Title Guidelines: Use Assertions, Not Topics http://t.co/rwQsTofy via @6minutes — fassforward Dec 12th, 2012

Slide Title Guidelines: Use Assertions, Not Topics http://t.co/u2lTf0i1 — Carlisle Rainey Dec 16th, 2012

RT @Stella_Yiu: Slide Title Guidelines: Use Assertions, Not Topics http://t.co/mJCEWkHI via @6minutes — Merrilee Fullerton Dec 20th, 2012

RT @Stella_Yiu: Slide Title Guidelines: Use Assertions, Not Topics http://t.co/mJCEWkHI via @6minutes — Charles de Mestral Dec 20th, 2012

Final preparations for my New York visit – finishing touches to my #presentation with useful hints and tips: http://t.co/nYfESCKl — Dee Clayton Jan 7th, 2013

Slide Title Guidelines: Use Assertions, Not Topics http://t.co/X06EU6dBZm via @6minutes Excellent primer for #presentations #talks #speech — @compellingtalks Apr 16th, 2014

Great advice on slide titles: Use Assertions, Not Topics! https://t.co/rzihwyJXdD by @6minutes #publicspeaking — Christine Clapp (@christineclapp) Jul 9th, 2018

Slide Title Guidelines: Use Assertions, Not Topics https://t.co/XES2kpH2cK #presentations #presentationdesign — @Visual_Hackers Jul 13th, 2018

Slide Title Guidelines: Use Assertions, Not Topics https://t.co/qc9jukkdde by @6minutes — @ericrodwell Jul 31st, 2018

Featured Articles

• Majora Carter (TED, 2006) Energy, Passion, Speaking Rate
• Hans Rosling (TED, 2006) 6 Techniques to Present Data
• J.A. Gamache (Toastmasters, 2007) Gestures, Prop, Writing
• Steve Jobs (Stanford, 2005) Figures of speech, rule of three
• Al Gore (TED, 2006) Humor, audience interaction
• Dick Hardt (OSCON, 2005) Lessig Method of Presentation

Books We Recommend

Six Minutes Copyright © 2007-2022 All Rights Reserved.

Read our permissions policy , privacy policy , or disclosure policy .

Comments? Questions? Contact us .

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• PLoS Comput Biol
• v.17(12); 2021 Dec

Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides

Kristen m. naegle.

Biomedical Engineering and the Center for Public Health Genomics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America

Introduction

The “presentation slide” is the building block of all academic presentations, whether they are journal clubs, thesis committee meetings, short conference talks, or hour-long seminars. A slide is a single page projected on a screen, usually built on the premise of a title, body, and figures or tables and includes both what is shown and what is spoken about that slide. Multiple slides are strung together to tell the larger story of the presentation. While there have been excellent 10 simple rules on giving entire presentations [ 1 , 2 ], there was an absence in the fine details of how to design a slide for optimal effect—such as the design elements that allow slides to convey meaningful information, to keep the audience engaged and informed, and to deliver the information intended and in the time frame allowed. As all research presentations seek to teach, effective slide design borrows from the same principles as effective teaching, including the consideration of cognitive processing your audience is relying on to organize, process, and retain information. This is written for anyone who needs to prepare slides from any length scale and for most purposes of conveying research to broad audiences. The rules are broken into 3 primary areas. Rules 1 to 5 are about optimizing the scope of each slide. Rules 6 to 8 are about principles around designing elements of the slide. Rules 9 to 10 are about preparing for your presentation, with the slides as the central focus of that preparation.

Rule 1: Include only one idea per slide

Each slide should have one central objective to deliver—the main idea or question [ 3 – 5 ]. Often, this means breaking complex ideas down into manageable pieces (see Fig 1 , where “background” information has been split into 2 key concepts). In another example, if you are presenting a complex computational approach in a large flow diagram, introduce it in smaller units, building it up until you finish with the entire diagram. The progressive buildup of complex information means that audiences are prepared to understand the whole picture, once you have dedicated time to each of the parts. You can accomplish the buildup of components in several ways—for example, using presentation software to cover/uncover information. Personally, I choose to create separate slides for each piece of information content I introduce—where the final slide has the entire diagram, and I use cropping or a cover on duplicated slides that come before to hide what I’m not yet ready to include. I use this method in order to ensure that each slide in my deck truly presents one specific idea (the new content) and the amount of the new information on that slide can be described in 1 minute (Rule 2), but it comes with the trade-off—a change to the format of one of the slides in the series often means changes to all slides.

Top left: A background slide that describes the background material on a project from my lab. The slide was created using a PowerPoint Design Template, which had to be modified to increase default text sizes for this figure (i.e., the default text sizes are even worse than shown here). Bottom row: The 2 new slides that break up the content into 2 explicit ideas about the background, using a central graphic. In the first slide, the graphic is an explicit example of the SH2 domain of PI3-kinase interacting with a phosphorylation site (Y754) on the PDGFR to describe the important details of what an SH2 domain and phosphotyrosine ligand are and how they interact. I use that same graphic in the second slide to generalize all binding events and include redundant text to drive home the central message (a lot of possible interactions might occur in the human proteome, more than we can currently measure). Top right highlights which rules were used to move from the original slide to the new slide. Specific changes as highlighted by Rule 7 include increasing contrast by changing the background color, increasing font size, changing to sans serif fonts, and removing all capital text and underlining (using bold to draw attention). PDGFR, platelet-derived growth factor receptor.

Rule 2: Spend only 1 minute per slide

When you present your slide in the talk, it should take 1 minute or less to discuss. This rule is really helpful for planning purposes—a 20-minute presentation should have somewhere around 20 slides. Also, frequently giving your audience new information to feast on helps keep them engaged. During practice, if you find yourself spending more than a minute on a slide, there’s too much for that one slide—it’s time to break up the content into multiple slides or even remove information that is not wholly central to the story you are trying to tell. Reduce, reduce, reduce, until you get to a single message, clearly described, which takes less than 1 minute to present.

Rule 3: Make use of your heading

When each slide conveys only one message, use the heading of that slide to write exactly the message you are trying to deliver. Instead of titling the slide “Results,” try “CTNND1 is central to metastasis” or “False-positive rates are highly sample specific.” Use this landmark signpost to ensure that all the content on that slide is related exactly to the heading and only the heading. Think of the slide heading as the introductory or concluding sentence of a paragraph and the slide content the rest of the paragraph that supports the main point of the paragraph. An audience member should be able to follow along with you in the “paragraph” and come to the same conclusion sentence as your header at the end of the slide.

Rule 4: Include only essential points

While you are speaking, audience members’ eyes and minds will be wandering over your slide. If you have a comment, detail, or figure on a slide, have a plan to explicitly identify and talk about it. If you don’t think it’s important enough to spend time on, then don’t have it on your slide. This is especially important when faculty are present. I often tell students that thesis committee members are like cats: If you put a shiny bauble in front of them, they’ll go after it. Be sure to only put the shiny baubles on slides that you want them to focus on. Putting together a thesis meeting for only faculty is really an exercise in herding cats (if you have cats, you know this is no easy feat). Clear and concise slide design will go a long way in helping you corral those easily distracted faculty members.

Rule 5: Give credit, where credit is due

An exception to Rule 4 is to include proper citations or references to work on your slide. When adding citations, names of other researchers, or other types of credit, use a consistent style and method for adding this information to your slides. Your audience will then be able to easily partition this information from the other content. A common mistake people make is to think “I’ll add that reference later,” but I highly recommend you put the proper reference on the slide at the time you make it, before you forget where it came from. Finally, in certain kinds of presentations, credits can make it clear who did the work. For the faculty members heading labs, it is an effective way to connect your audience with the personnel in the lab who did the work, which is a great career booster for that person. For graduate students, it is an effective way to delineate your contribution to the work, especially in meetings where the goal is to establish your credentials for meeting the rigors of a PhD checkpoint.

Rule 6: Use graphics effectively

As a rule, you should almost never have slides that only contain text. Build your slides around good visualizations. It is a visual presentation after all, and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. However, on the flip side, don’t muddy the point of the slide by putting too many complex graphics on a single slide. A multipanel figure that you might include in a manuscript should often be broken into 1 panel per slide (see Rule 1 ). One way to ensure that you use the graphics effectively is to make a point to introduce the figure and its elements to the audience verbally, especially for data figures. For example, you might say the following: “This graph here shows the measured false-positive rate for an experiment and each point is a replicate of the experiment, the graph demonstrates …” If you have put too much on one slide to present in 1 minute (see Rule 2 ), then the complexity or number of the visualizations is too much for just one slide.

Rule 7: Design to avoid cognitive overload

The type of slide elements, the number of them, and how you present them all impact the ability for the audience to intake, organize, and remember the content. For example, a frequent mistake in slide design is to include full sentences, but reading and verbal processing use the same cognitive channels—therefore, an audience member can either read the slide, listen to you, or do some part of both (each poorly), as a result of cognitive overload [ 4 ]. The visual channel is separate, allowing images/videos to be processed with auditory information without cognitive overload [ 6 ] (Rule 6). As presentations are an exercise in listening, and not reading, do what you can to optimize the ability of the audience to listen. Use words sparingly as “guide posts” to you and the audience about major points of the slide. In fact, you can add short text fragments, redundant with the verbal component of the presentation, which has been shown to improve retention [ 7 ] (see Fig 1 for an example of redundant text that avoids cognitive overload). Be careful in the selection of a slide template to minimize accidentally adding elements that the audience must process, but are unimportant. David JP Phillips argues (and effectively demonstrates in his TEDx talk [ 5 ]) that the human brain can easily interpret 6 elements and more than that requires a 500% increase in human cognition load—so keep the total number of elements on the slide to 6 or less. Finally, in addition to the use of short text, white space, and the effective use of graphics/images, you can improve ease of cognitive processing further by considering color choices and font type and size. Here are a few suggestions for improving the experience for your audience, highlighting the importance of these elements for some specific groups:

• Use high contrast colors and simple backgrounds with low to no color—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment.
• Use sans serif fonts and large font sizes (including figure legends), avoid italics, underlining (use bold font instead for emphasis), and all capital letters—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment [ 8 ].
• Use color combinations and palettes that can be understood by those with different forms of color blindness [ 9 ]. There are excellent tools available to identify colors to use and ways to simulate your presentation or figures as they might be seen by a person with color blindness (easily found by a web search).
• In this increasing world of virtual presentation tools, consider practicing your talk with a closed captioning system capture your words. Use this to identify how to improve your speaking pace, volume, and annunciation to improve understanding by all members of your audience, but especially those with a hearing impairment.

Rule 8: Design the slide so that a distracted person gets the main takeaway

It is very difficult to stay focused on a presentation, especially if it is long or if it is part of a longer series of talks at a conference. Audience members may get distracted by an important email, or they may start dreaming of lunch. So, it’s important to look at your slide and ask “If they heard nothing I said, will they understand the key concept of this slide?” The other rules are set up to help with this, including clarity of the single point of the slide (Rule 1), titling it with a major conclusion (Rule 3), and the use of figures (Rule 6) and short text redundant to your verbal description (Rule 7). However, with each slide, step back and ask whether its main conclusion is conveyed, even if someone didn’t hear your accompanying dialog. Importantly, ask if the information on the slide is at the right level of abstraction. For example, do you have too many details about the experiment, which hides the conclusion of the experiment (i.e., breaking Rule 1)? If you are worried about not having enough details, keep a slide at the end of your slide deck (after your conclusions and acknowledgments) with the more detailed information that you can refer to during a question and answer period.

Rule 9: Iteratively improve slide design through practice

Well-designed slides that follow the first 8 rules are intended to help you deliver the message you intend and in the amount of time you intend to deliver it in. The best way to ensure that you nailed slide design for your presentation is to practice, typically a lot. The most important aspects of practicing a new presentation, with an eye toward slide design, are the following 2 key points: (1) practice to ensure that you hit, each time through, the most important points (for example, the text guide posts you left yourself and the title of the slide); and (2) practice to ensure that as you conclude the end of one slide, it leads directly to the next slide. Slide transitions, what you say as you end one slide and begin the next, are important to keeping the flow of the “story.” Practice is when I discover that the order of my presentation is poor or that I left myself too few guideposts to remember what was coming next. Additionally, during practice, the most frequent things I have to improve relate to Rule 2 (the slide takes too long to present, usually because I broke Rule 1, and I’m delivering too much information for one slide), Rule 4 (I have a nonessential detail on the slide), and Rule 5 (I forgot to give a key reference). The very best type of practice is in front of an audience (for example, your lab or peers), where, with fresh perspectives, they can help you identify places for improving slide content, design, and connections across the entirety of your talk.

Rule 10: Design to mitigate the impact of technical disasters

The real presentation almost never goes as we planned in our heads or during our practice. Maybe the speaker before you went over time and now you need to adjust. Maybe the computer the organizer is having you use won’t show your video. Maybe your internet is poor on the day you are giving a virtual presentation at a conference. Technical problems are routinely part of the practice of sharing your work through presentations. Hence, you can design your slides to limit the impact certain kinds of technical disasters create and also prepare alternate approaches. Here are just a few examples of the preparation you can do that will take you a long way toward avoiding a complete fiasco:

• Save your presentation as a PDF—if the version of Keynote or PowerPoint on a host computer cause issues, you still have a functional copy that has a higher guarantee of compatibility.
• In using videos, create a backup slide with screen shots of key results. For example, if I have a video of cell migration, I’ll be sure to have a copy of the start and end of the video, in case the video doesn’t play. Even if the video worked, you can pause on this backup slide and take the time to highlight the key results in words if someone could not see or understand the video.
• Avoid animations, such as figures or text that flash/fly-in/etc. Surveys suggest that no one likes movement in presentations [ 3 , 4 ]. There is likely a cognitive underpinning to the almost universal distaste of pointless animations that relates to the idea proposed by Kosslyn and colleagues that animations are salient perceptual units that captures direct attention [ 4 ]. Although perceptual salience can be used to draw attention to and improve retention of specific points, if you use this approach for unnecessary/unimportant things (like animation of your bullet point text, fly-ins of figures, etc.), then you will distract your audience from the important content. Finally, animations cause additional processing burdens for people with visual impairments [ 10 ] and create opportunities for technical disasters if the software on the host system is not compatible with your planned animation.

Conclusions

These rules are just a start in creating more engaging presentations that increase audience retention of your material. However, there are wonderful resources on continuing on the journey of becoming an amazing public speaker, which includes understanding the psychology and neuroscience behind human perception and learning. For example, as highlighted in Rule 7, David JP Phillips has a wonderful TEDx talk on the subject [ 5 ], and “PowerPoint presentation flaws and failures: A psychological analysis,” by Kosslyn and colleagues is deeply detailed about a number of aspects of human cognition and presentation style [ 4 ]. There are many books on the topic, including the popular “Presentation Zen” by Garr Reynolds [ 11 ]. Finally, although briefly touched on here, the visualization of data is an entire topic of its own that is worth perfecting for both written and oral presentations of work, with fantastic resources like Edward Tufte’s “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” [ 12 ] or the article “Visualization of Biomedical Data” by O’Donoghue and colleagues [ 13 ].

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the countless presenters, colleagues, students, and mentors from which I have learned a great deal from on effective presentations. Also, a thank you to the wonderful resources published by organizations on how to increase inclusivity. A special thanks to Dr. Jason Papin and Dr. Michael Guertin on early feedback of this editorial.

Funding Statement

The author received no specific funding for this work.

• Preferences

Rules of Evidence - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Rules of Evidence

Exercise look at some of the evidence and decide: is the evidence physical, testimonial, documentary or analytical, and is it competent, relevant, and/or sufficient – powerpoint ppt presentation.

• Comprehensive Entry Level Training for Auditors
• October 19-21, 2004
• Seattle, Washington
• Identify and define the four types of evidence.
• Identify and define the three standards evidence must meet.
• Differentiate between fact and inference in data collected as evidence.
• Review evidence and identify the types of evidence used to support the recommendation in the rental car case.
• Internal auditors should
• Evaluate, and
• sufficient information to achieve audit objectives.
• Evidence is the sufficient, competent and relevant information used to form a reasonable basis for the evaluators judgment and conclusions regarding the organizational program, activity or function being reviewed.
• Evidence provides the documentation necessary to support findings, conclusions and recommendations presented in audit reports.
• Evidence provides a foundation of reality and objectivity for the work that auditors do.
• What are the different types of evidence?
• Testimonial
• Documentary
• What should the standard of evidence be?
• Internal auditors should identify
• Sufficient,
• Relevant, and
• information that achieves the audit objectives.
• Sufficient information is factual, adequate, and convincing so that a prudent, informed person would reach the same conclusions as the auditor.
• Conclusion is 40 dollars has been stolen based on a Z tape showing 355.49 received, while cash drawer has 315.49.
• Conclusion is the manager is setting an unethical tone based on the testimony of three employees who report that the manager shows up an hour or more late to work most days of the week.
• Conclusion is the manager is arbitrary and capricious based on all 30 employees reporting that the manger allows 12 of the employees to eat at their desk and 18 may not. They all work in the same large room.
• Competent information is reliable and the best attainable through the use of appropriate engagement techniques.
• Evident is competent if it is valid, reliable, and consistent with fact.
• In assessing competence, consider such factors as whether the evidence is accurate, authoritative, timely, and authentic.
• Evidence obtained in a strong vs. weak internal control environment.
• Evidence obtained through direct physical examination, observation, computation, and inspection vs. indirect methods.
• Testimonial evidence obtained under conditions where a person may speak freely vs. situations where the person may be intimidated.
• Data on the weather from a festival participant.
• Data on concert attendance from a ticket taker.
• Information on the misuse of company property from an estranged spouse.
• Information on the potential misuses of company sick leave by a supervisor.
• Obtain written representation from officials of the audited entity
• Relevant information supports engagement observations and recommendations, and is consistent with the engagements objectives.
• The head cashier recently purchased a new house and a new BMW.
• The athletic field scheduler is on the board of the soccer association.
• The quirky secretary likes to use fuchsia files.
• Useful information helps the organization meet its goals.
• What can impact the reliability of evidence?
• Fact vs. Inference
• Misinterpretation
• Conclusiveness
• Mr. And Mrs. Smith took their children for a drive.
• They ate ice cream cones on the way home.
• Jack Smith did not go with them.
• Look at some of the evidence and decide
• is the evidence physical, testimonial, documentary or analytical, and
• is it competent, relevant, and/or sufficient?

PowerShow.com is a leading presentation sharing website. It has millions of presentations already uploaded and available with 1,000s more being uploaded by its users every day. Whatever your area of interest, here you’ll be able to find and view presentations you’ll love and possibly download. And, best of all, it is completely free and easy to use.

You might even have a presentation you’d like to share with others. If so, just upload it to PowerShow.com. We’ll convert it to an HTML5 slideshow that includes all the media types you’ve already added: audio, video, music, pictures, animations and transition effects. Then you can share it with your target audience as well as PowerShow.com’s millions of monthly visitors. And, again, it’s all free.

About the Developers

PowerShow.com is brought to you by  CrystalGraphics , the award-winning developer and market-leading publisher of rich-media enhancement products for presentations. Our product offerings include millions of PowerPoint templates, diagrams, animated 3D characters and more.

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Introduction to Evidence-Based Practices (PowerPoint Slides)

Additional details, related topics, similar publications.

• Capitalizing on Patrol Intelligence: Practitioner Receptivity to Patrol-driven Intelligence-led Policing
• Programs That Support Jails
• Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for State Prisoners Program Frequently Asked Questions

Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Presentations > Implementing The 10-20-30 Rule of PowerPoint

Implementing The 10-20-30 Rule of PowerPoint

If you’re not used to making a PowerPoint presentation , it can be tough to know how long to make it and how to format the slides. On the other side of the coin: you might overthink your presentation and put too much information on too many slides.

With help from the 10-20-30 rule, you can make a PowerPoint presentation that’s engaging and efficient . The guidelines for this rule are as follows:

• No more than 10 slides.
• No longer than 20 minutes.
• No larger than 30-point font.

Let’s look deeper at the 10-20-30 PowerPoint rule, why it’s a good rule to follow and things to do to follow this guideline.

Tell your story with captivating presentations

Powerpoint empowers you to develop well-designed content across all your devices

Don’t use more than 10 slides. A good presenter shouldn’t have to (or want to) lean heavily on their PowerPoint slides. The slides should be a supplement for your presentation, not the headliner. Limiting to 10 slides will ensure that you’re not going over the top with the length of your presentation and keeps it moving. Your slide count should include both your title and conclusion. A presentation that goes on any longer than 10 slides will distract from what you’re saying and starts to feel like an information overload.

Keep your presentation 20 minutes MAX. During a presentation, people start tuning out after about 10 minutes.Limiting your presentation to this length will ensure that your audience will remember much of what you’re saying. If you’re covering a more complex topic and need more time, stick to the 20-minute MAX rule—it’s much easier to schedule your presentation by timing each slide down to about two minutes. That feels like a much more manageable timeframe, doesn’t it?

Don’t use fonts smaller than size 30. A 30-point font is a great minimum size because it ensures that your text is easy to read from a distance. The recommended guideline to make your presentation accessible to those who might be visually impaired is a 24-point font. Upping the size to 30 is a significant difference, and you can be confident that your audience can see what you’ve written. In addition, choose a font that’s easy to read. For years it was recommended that you stick solely to sans-serif fonts with digital media because serifs could blur together, making certain fonts hard to read. High-resolution screens have nearly eliminated this problem, so some serif fonts can be used and are easy to read in PowerPoint presentations.

Tips for sticking to these guidelines. It’s not always easy to cut down your presentation to fit the 30-20-10 rule if you’re presenting a lot of information. Follow these tips while putting together your presentation to make the entire process easier on yourself:

• Limit text to the 6×6 rule. It can feel like there are a lot of rules for making a PowerPoint presentation, but they’re all there to help you make a well-organized and engaging presentation. The 6×6 rule suggests that you don’t use more than six lines or bullet points on each slide and limit each line or bullet point to six words. Following the 6×6 rule helps to ensure that you’re limiting the amount of information on your slides so you can continue to present it rather than have your audience read it.
• Use visuals instead. Visuals like graphics, animated gifs, and videos can help to keep your audience engaged . Including visuals with your presentation will also help you limit the amount of time and content on each slide. A graph or illustration on the right side of your slide limits the amount of space you have on the left side. This can help to minimize the amount of text you have.
• Practice makes perfect. There’s a very cool, free tool called PowerPoint Speaker Coach , which leverages AI to help you nail your presentation. Speaker coach gives you feedback on your pace, pitch, use of filler words, poor grammar, lack of originality, use of sensitive phrases, and more as you rehearse your presentation. You’ll get a Summary Report at the end—with key pieces of feedback to help you become a confident presenter .

Use the 10-20-30 PowerPoint rule and these other tips to keep your presentation simple. Whether you’re a college student presenting a class project or a teen making the case for a new car, following these guidelines will help.

Get started with Microsoft 365

It’s the Office you know, plus the tools to help you work better together, so you can get more done—anytime, anywhere.

Topics in this article

More articles like this one.

How to introduce yourself in a presentation

Gain your audience’s attention at the onset of a presentation. Craft an impressionable introduction to establish tone, presentation topic, and more.

How to add citations to your presentation

Conduct research and appropriately credit work for your presentation. Understand the importance of citing sources and how to add them to your presentation.

How to work on a group presentation

Group presentations can go smoothly with these essential tips on how to deliver a compelling one.

How to create a sales presentation

Engage your audience and get them interested in your product with this guide to creating a sales presentation.

Everything you need to achieve more in less time

Get powerful productivity and security apps with Microsoft 365

Explore Other Categories

Laws of Logic and Rules of Evidence

Jul 20, 2014

160 likes | 450 Views

Laws of Logic and Rules of Evidence. Larry Knop Hamilton College. Transitivity of Order. For any real numbers a, b, c, if a < b and b < c then a < c. Transitivity is an implication. We must know a < b and b < c in order to conclude b < c.

Share Presentation

• much larger
• common variance assumption
• larry knop hamilton college
• statistically significant

Presentation Transcript

Laws of Logic andRules of Evidence Larry Knop Hamilton College

Transitivity of Order • For any real numbers a, b, c, if a < b and b < c then a < c. • Transitivity is an implication. We must know a < b and b < c in order to conclude b < c. • In mathematics: No problem.  We know numbers. • In life: There’s a problem. 

In life we don’t know anything for certain. • To find the value of a number a, we must take measurements and determine a as best we can from the evidence. • Transitivity in the real world: Suppose the evidence shows a < b and the evidence shows b < c. Can we conclude, based on the evidence, that a < c?

Background • Let mF be the mean height of HC females. Let mM be the mean height of HC males. Conjecture: mF < mM. • Evidence: Take a sample of HC females and measure each subject’s height. Data: f1, f2, …, fn. Then take a sample of HC males and measure each subject’s height. Data: m1, m2, …, mp.

To investigate our conjecture we will test Ho: mF = mM (or mM – mF = 0) versus Ha: mF < mM (or mM – mF > 0) • Test statistic: • Burning question: How likely is it to get a value of as extreme as what we observed, or more so, if mF = mM?

Goal: Calculate probabilities for . To do so, we need a probability distribution. • Starters: Assume each fi is normally distributed with mean mF and standard deviation sF. Assume each mj is normally distributed with mean mM and standard deviation sM. • Further, assume we were reasonably intelligent as to how we chose our subjects, so that the measurements are independent.

Under our assumptions the random variablehas a standard normal distribution. • Unfortunately there is a problem. We don’t know sFor sM. • Solution? We can replace the population standard deviations sF and sMby the sample standard deviations sF and sM.

Under our assumptions the random variablehas a #@!!&% distribution. • The distribution of the random variable can be approximated by a t-distribution, if you don’t mind fractional degrees of freedom. Or, it can be approximated by a standard t-distribution with integer degrees of freedom if you don’t mind a less than optimal approximation. 

Alternatively, we can assume a common variance, so sM= sF = sC. Then has a standard normal distribution. • The common s.d. can be approximated by a pooled average of the two sample s.d.

With the common variance assumption the random variable has a t-distribution with n + p – 2 df. • All is sweetness and light – except • The assumption of a common variance raises a conflict with transitivity.

Example The following are selected random samples generated by Minitab from a normal distribution with a common variance of 1. • 5.459152.529515.456591.99805 • n = 4 • = 3.86 • sa = 1.86 • 5.21471 ... 3.895174.92814 • n = 100 • = 4.887 • sb= 0.92 • 6.303827.982924.741094.81625 • n = 4 • = 5.96 • sc= 1.53

Test Ho: a = b T-Test of difference = 0 (vs <): T-Value = -2.10 P-Value = 0.019 DF = 102 Both use Pooled StDev = 0.9605Reject Ho. Evidence supports the claim a < b. • Test Ho: b= c T-Test of difference = 0 (vs <): T-Value = -2.23 P-Value = 0.014DF = 102 Both use Pooled StDev = 0.9433Reject Ho. Evidence supports the claim b< c. • Test Ho: a = c T-Test of difference = 0 (vs <): T-Value = -1.75 P-Value = 0.066DF = 6Both use Pooled StDev = 1.7004Do NOT reject Ho. Evidence is not strong enough to reject a= c.

The breaking of transitivity comes from the pooling of the standard deviations. • The standard deviation is a measure of how well we know the location of a quantity. If we know one quantity well (small s.d. and large n) then the common variance assumption carries that knowledge over to the difference – even though knowledge of the second part of the difference is much less precise. In the example we know b, the middle quantity, very well while our knowledge of a and of c is much less precise.

Comparing a and b: the estimated difference is = 1.026 with a pooled s.d. of 0.9605. For the given sample sizes, the difference is statistically significant. • The comparison for b and c is similar. • Comparing a and c: the estimated difference is = 2.10 with a pooled s.d. of 1.7004. Even though the estimated difference is larger, the pooled s.d. is also much larger and the sample sizes are both small. Consequently the difference is not significantly different from 0.

So much for real world transitivity. There is a logic to the rules of evidence, but the logic is not quite as simple as the logic of mathematics. • It should be noted that ANOVA, the ANalysis Of VAriance, applies to the comparison of n quantities – and is based on the assumption of a common variance, which leads to some interesting outcomes.

• More by User

Rules of Evidence

Rules of Evidence. The Institute of Internal Auditors – Puget Sound Chapter. Comprehensive Entry Level Training for Auditors October 19-21, 2004 Seattle, Washington. Rules of Evidence. Goals of this Learning Module:. Identify and define the four types of evidence.

1.31k views • 23 slides

Federal Rules of Evidence and Daubert Examinations

Federal Rules of Evidence and Daubert Examinations. Federal Rules of Evidence. ARTICLE I. GENERAL PROVISIONS Rules as to the general admissibility of evidence in federal proceedings ARTICLE II. JUDICIAL NOTICE

355 views • 14 slides

Smoking – Laws and Rules

Smoking – Laws and Rules. Yr 7 Lesson 2. Lesson Objectives: To know about the laws and rules regarding smoking and tobacco. To consider some of the associated penalties for smoking. To recognise that there may be a variety of views towards laws and rules. Intended Learning Outcomes:

367 views • 18 slides

Rules and Laws

Rules and Laws. By Beth Burks. Why should I follow rules?. They tell us how to act. They help us show respect for each other. Follow the Golden Rule. Be fair. Be honest. It is our responsibility to follow school rules. Schools rules keep us safe. School rules keep us organized.

495 views • 8 slides

Evidence, Inference and Enforcement of Competition Laws

Evidence, Inference and Enforcement of Competition Laws. Dr. Andrew Simpson Assistant Professor (Law) Faculty of Business Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Outline:. Necessity of Market Definition Guidance from agencies is necessarily general

285 views • 26 slides

Evidence Rules Outside of Trials

Evidence Rules Outside of Trials. Thomas M. Hruz. Overview. What are the applicable rules? Scope of the Rules of Evidence. Administrative P roceedings. Arbitration. Why disparate treatment of evidentiary rules in trial vs. non-trial contexts?

766 views • 56 slides

Laws of Logic

Laws of Logic. Outline. What are some of the laws of Logic? -Law of Non-Contradiction -Law of Identity -Law of Rational Inference -Law of the Excluded Middle. Intro to Laws of Logic. Do you understand the following verses…

2.91k views • 42 slides

Logic and Rules

Logic and Rules . Most material was taken from the following source: Grigoris Antoniou, Frank van Harmelen , A Semantic Web Primer, 2nd Edition, MIT Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-262-01242-3. Lecture Outline. Introduction Rules: Example Rules: Syntax &amp; Semantics

1.33k views • 104 slides

LAWS/RULES:

LAWS/RULES:. In Rochester, Michigan, if you are bathing in public you must have a bathing suit inspected by the police. In Eureka, Nevada it is illegal for a man with a mustache to kiss a women. The KS, the state game rule says that you can’t use a mule to hunt ducks.

198 views • 5 slides

Rules of Evidence and Objections

Rules of Evidence and Objections. Mock Trial Rules. Why have evidence rules?. Ensure a fair hearing Avoid wasting time/resources Keep out unreliable or prejudicial evidence . Leading Questions. Question suggests the answer that the attorney wants NOT allowed during direct examination

634 views • 20 slides

Chapter 7.2 – Rules of Evidence

Chapter 7.2 – Rules of Evidence. Key Knowledge – The Adversary System. Major Features of the adversary system of trial. Strict rules of evidence exist.

391 views • 11 slides

The Rules of Evidence

The Rules of Evidence. I OBJECT ! OVERRULED ! SUSTAINED !. Most Common Grounds for Objections. Leading Questions Hearsay Statements Opinion Statements Immaterial or Irrelevant Questions Non-Responsive Answers. Leading Questions. Suggests a particular answer to the witness. Example:

457 views • 14 slides

LAWS/RULES:. In Rochester, Michigan, if you are bathing in public you must have a bathing suit inspected by the police. In K.S. it is illegal to catch a fish with your bare hands. The KS, the state game rule says that you can’t use a mule to hunt ducks.

157 views • 5 slides

Rules, Laws, and Citizenship

Rules, Laws, and Citizenship. Vocabulary Poster. Create a vocab poster for your assigned word. Your poster must include: The vocabulary word The definition A picture representing the word. Division of Government Diagram. You must prove that you understand the three

247 views • 8 slides

Dumb rules and laws

By: Pepper Winfield and Derrick Paulus. Dumb rules and laws. The right to chew gum in school.

218 views • 4 slides

Using the Rules of Evidence

RACIAL PROFILING LITIGATION: USING THE RULES OF EVIDENCE Prepared by LEAP and Professor David M. Tanovich (Faculty of Law, University of Windsor) (23/11/09). Using the Rules of Evidence. 1. Adverse Inferences 2. Using Social Context Evidence in Fact-Finding 3. Judicial Notice

571 views • 42 slides

Federal Rules of Evidence

Federal Rules of Evidence. Laws that Affect Admissibility of Collection -1. Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE) FRE 801(c)

439 views • 5 slides

RACIAL PROFILING LITIGATION: USING THE RULES OF EVIDENCE Prepared by LEAP and Professor David M. Tanovich (Faculty of Law, University of Windsor). Using the Rules of Evidence. 1. Adverse Inferences 2. Using Social Context Evidence in Fact-Finding 3. Judicial Notice 4. Expert Evidence

551 views • 41 slides

Application of laws of evidence

Application of laws of evidence. Which court? Causes of action arising under Cth laws look at- legislation creating the cause of action eg the Family Law Act ; the Bankruptcy Act ; the Broadcasting Act ;

132 views • 4 slides

2-4 Rules of Logic

2-4 Rules of Logic. What is deductive reasoning? What is the Law of Detachment? What is Law of Syllogism?. You used inductive reasoning to analyze patterns and make conjectures. Use the Law of Detachment. Use the Law of Syllogism. Deductive Reasoning.

398 views • 21 slides

Laws of Logic. Law of Detachment If p  q is a true conditional statement AND p is true, then you can conclude q is true Example If you are a sophomore you take drivers ed. Steph is a sophomore. Therefore you can conclude she takes drivers ed. Law of Syllogism

220 views • 8 slides

Rules and Laws. What’s the difference?. Constitution Trivia. Let’s see what you know…. 4,440 That’s between 16 and 18 pages. Approximately how many words are in the U. S. Constitution?. There is one major typographical error in the Constitution. Which word is misspelled?.

787 views • 38 slides