Guidelines for Effective
PowerPoint Presentations
Introduction
One concern about visual presentations is that the technology
used to create them can be used in such a way that it actually
detracts from the message rather than enhances it. To help
you consider carefully how your message is presented so that
it reflects care, quality, and professionalism, consider the
information provided in the remaining slides.
NOTE: This presentation serves as an example in itself, by
utilizing all of the guidelines mentioned.
Outline
The following topics will be covered:
▪ Writing
▪ Bullets
▪ Organization
▪ Tables
▪ Audience
▪ Font
▪ Design
▪ Speaker Notes
▪ Images
Writing
▪ Present ideas succinctly with lean prose.
▪ Use short sentences.
▪ Use active, rather than passive voice.
▪ Avoid negative statements, if possible.
▪ Avoid double negative entirely.
▪ Check spelling and grammar.
▪ Use consistent capitalization rules.
Organization
▪ Develop a clear, strategic introduction to provide context
for the presentation.
▪ Develop an agenda or outline slide to provide a roadmap
for the presentation.
▪ Group relevant pieces of information together.
▪ Integrate legends and keys with charts and tables.
▪ Organize slides in logical order.
▪ Present one concept or idea per slide.
▪ Use only one conclusion slide to recap main ideas.
Audience
▪ Present information at language level of intended audience.
▪ Do not use jargon or field-specific language.
▪ Follow the 70% rule—If it does not apply to 70% of your
audience, present it to individuals at a different time.
Design
▪ Use a consistent design throughout the presentation.
▪ Keep layout and other features consistent.
▪ Use the master slide design feature to ensure consistency.
▪ Use consistent horizontal and vertical alignment of slide
elements throughout the presentation.
▪ Leave ample space around images and text.
Images
▪ When applicable, enhance text-only slide content by
developing relevant images for your presentation.
▪ Do not use gratuitous graphics on each slide.
▪ Use animations only when needed to enhance meaning. If
selected, use them sparingly and consistently.
Bullets
▪ Use bullets unless showing rank or sequence of items.
▪ If possible, use no more than five bullet points and eight
lines of text total per slide.
Tables
▪ Use simple tables to show numbers, with no more than 4
rows x 4 columns.
▪ Reserve more detailed tables for a written summary.
Font
▪ Keep font size at 24 point or above for slide titles.
▪ Keep font size at 18 or above for headings and explanatory
text.
▪ Use sans serif fonts such as Arial or Verdana.
▪ Use ample contrast between backgrounds and text.
Speaker Notes
▪ Summarize key information.
▪ Provide explanation.
▪ Discuss application and implication to the field, discipline or
work setting.
▪ Document the narration you would use with each slide.
Education for Primary Care (2015) 26: 279-81
© 2015 Radcliffe Publishing Limited
How to…
Use the PDSA model for effective
change management
Peter Donnelly
Deputy Postgraduate Dean, Wales Deanery and NHS Consultant in Adult Psychiatry, Swansea
Paul Kirk
Manager, Business Systems Support Unit, Wales Deanery
Leadership in the NHS leads to improved services
for patients. Furthermore, it has been shown that
the more engaged doctors are in leadership within
the NHS, the more improvement there is to services
for patients.
The terms ‘leadership’ and ‘management’ are
often used inter-changeably and Kotter argues that
these are two separate functions.1 In reality though,
within a busy complex organisation such as the
NHS, leadership and management go hand-in-hand.
It could be argued that the focus for what these
functions do naturally organically materialises when
there is a requirement for change within complex
systems and therefore a requirement for change
management.
One effective change management model is
Edward Deming’s PDSA cycle.2 This is an often used
process to help teams improve the quality of care.
Improving quality is about making healthcare safer,
more efficient, patient-centred, timely, effective and
Plan – Set your
objectives
based on
service and
patient needs
equitable. The PDSA cycle, shown in Figure 1, is a
model for learning and change management.
The key components of the model are:
•
•
•
•
Plan
Do
Study
Act.
The first step is Plan. There are a number of key
questions to ask at this stage.
• What is it that you are trying to achieve? This is
called the aimed statement.
• Underpinning this is the question … What is the
problem? You then have to formulate an answer
to the question …
• How do you know it is a problem? To answer this,
baseline measurements must be acquired. These
inform the understanding of the problem and it’s
‘ Do – Implement
the plan
D
A
>Act – To ensure the
improvements are
implemented
Figure 1
The PDSA cycle
i Study – Analyse
the results
obtained
280 How to …
scale. It is also important to acquire data which
informs the likely or actual cause of the problem.
The points above naturally lead toward producing a
description of the solution. One has to then decide
and describe short-, medium- and long-term aspects
of this solution. It is important to describe and
write down the plan for successful implementation,
naming individuals and what they will do, why they
will do it and when they will do it.
These roles and responsibilities, accountabilities
and targets are important further along the process
for reviewing progress. You have to then decide how
you will measure progress. It is important to consider
predictions, i.e. what do you expect to see and why?
What likely consequences and impacts will there be
within the system?
The second step is Do. This is where you carry
out the change, test or intervention and record
what has happened. It is important to do this from
a particular point in time and to take measurements
over a period of time to record the pattern of data.
It is important to document problems, changes and
unexpected observations. One very important aspect
is to use a run chart, a graphical display of your data
plotted in some type of order. The horizontal axis
is usually a time scale (e.g. days, weeks, months)
but could also include sequential patients, visits or
procedures. The vertical axis is the quality indicator
being studied (e.g. infection rate, number of patient
falls, readmission rate).
The third step is Study. In essence this is about
studying or analysing your data and the process
itself. Some key questions in this step are:
• Was the outcome close to what you predicted?
• Did it work out as planned?
• What were the lessons learned?
The next step is Act. Act is an important element
in that you have to consider what measures and
procedures are in place to ensure that whatever
solution or solutions you have realised remain
effective, so questions such as: What modifications
are needed to process? Is it is a clear pathway?
Also asking questions about the state of readiness to
make another change, which leads on to generating
a plan for the next PDSA cycle.
This last point is key to PDSA use, in that the
evidence tells us that small incremental changes
within a complex system are more likely to be
effective in producing overall effective outcomes.
It is possible to enter an almost constant cycle of
small changes. It is, however, important to assess
readiness for further change facilitated by PDSA
cycles.
The key message is that repeated use of small
PDSA cycles to facilitate change, results in the best
likelihood of sustained improvements (Figure 2).
TOP TIPS
1 Think about your objective: What is it that you
want to accomplish, be clear in your aim, test
it by checking with colleagues. Being clear at
this stage gives your project the best chance
of success and avoids ‘drift’. Use the ‘SMART’
model for your objectives.
2 Start small and keep it simple.
3 Be organised – plan your time.
4 Be very careful in regard to the group that you
pull together. Engagement and commitment is
important, don’t assume that you have it. Ask
direct questions of proposed participants.
5 Consider from the beginning what resources you
might need and revisit this question as you work
through the project.
6 Constantly ask is there anyone else who should
be in the project communications, i.e. have you
told everybody who needs to know?
What are we trying to accomplish?
How will we know a change is an improvement?
What change can be made that will result in improvement?
P” D

The initial
concept, idea
or hypothesis
P
D
P
D
A _ S
l
|
A _ S
A _ S
Small
Scale
Follow
up
Larger
Scale
|
P”
D
|
/
)
S
Implementation
of change
Knowledge and data acquisition under
controlled conditions
Figure 2
Repeated use of the PDSA cycle
X
A _ S
Changes that
result in tangible
sustained
improvements
How to …
7 Make sure you know what to measure, to ensure
that whatever changes you have introduced have
made a difference.
8 The measurement should be straightforward,
simple and verifiable, in order to minimise the risk
of challenge to the proposition that improvement
has been made.
9 If it works build on the improvement. That building
can include scaling up to include more doctors,
more nurses, more multi-disciplinary.
10 Document your project. Be clear about what was
learnt, be clear about what worked.
11 Be clear about what did not work; learn from that.
12 Record your results on a run chart so that you
can see the changes taking place over time.
The PDSA cycle can appear somewhat cumbersome
and complex; in essence, however, it is identifying,
describing, and providing structure for a natural
process whereby groups/teams initiate change within
their system, whether within healthcare or elsewhere.
Using this explicit framework for managing a
change programme ensures that you do not drift
from the initial objectives, that you have actual
achievable measurements that are valid, and will
show improvement if improvement is realised. It
also provides the evidence that an approach worked.
Formalising your change management in this way
enables you to ‘sell’ your ‘intervention’ to others.
281
References
1 Kotter JP (1995) Leading change: why transformation
efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, March/April: 5967.
2 Deming WE (1983) Out o f the Crisis. Massachusetts
Institute of Technology Centre for Advanced Engineering
Study xiii: Cambridge, MA, 1999, 507.
Further reading
Kotter JP (1990) What leaders really do. Harvard Business
Review, May/June, 103-11.
RCP London, Dr Emma Vaux. www.rcplondon.ac.uk/sites/
default/files/documents/pdsa-cycles.pdf
NHS Institute for Innovation, www.institute.nhs.uk/quality_
and_service_improvement_tools/quality_and_service_
improvement_tools/plan_do_study_act.html
BMJ Systematic review of PDSA. http://qualitysafety.bmj.
com/content/early/2013/09/11/bmjqs-2013-001862.full
Paul Kirk is Manager of the Business Systems
Support Unit in the Wales Deanery. Peter Donnelly
is the Deputy Postgraduate Dean in the Wales
Deanery and has worked as an NHS Consultant in
Adult Psychiatry for 20 years in the Swansea area.
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