Tips for Creating Your PowerPoint for a Videoconferenced Lecture

Below are a few tips for your presentations to ensure they will be easily legible on the lecture screens and compatible with the videoconference environment.

  • Use a 24-28 point for text. Anything smaller may become hard to read for students sitting farther away from the screen and on the recording
  • Use basic fonts like Arial, Tahoma or Verdana
  • Avoid cursive fonts as they may be hard to read
  • Avoid animations and page transitions beyond straight cuts
  • Don’t reduce font size to fit information in; start a new slide instead
  • Make sure your text doesn't run to the edge of the slide as it may get cut off during projection.

We recommend creating or adapting an existing 4 X 3 Powerpoint presentation to 16 X 9.  For more information on the rationale and the mechanics of this, please see the "Creating 16:9 Presentations" section.

Leaving Space on the Powerpoint for the Recording Inset

Most videoconferenced lectures are recorded and posted on the (password protected) portal for student review.  The recording that is posted is comprised mostly of the Powerpoint, but also has a small image of you, the teacher, at the bottom right slide, overlapping the Powerpoint image a bit.  You can see this illustrated in the following screenshot:

16 by 9 with lecturer inset
As you create or adapt your Powerpoints, leave an empty space in the area where the inset will be; that is, don't put text or images in that area.

16 x 9 with space holder for lecturer inset