Bill has discovered all the cool new effects that came with PowerPoint 97. Over the drone of the jet engines I can hear the laser sound that comes with PowerPoint as Bill punctuates each of the 10 bullet points. At one time or another, all of us have pushed the limits of good taste with regard to using the fun new features that come with our presentation-graphics software. So I'd like to provide you a few simple sanity checks to guide your use of these nifty features. Movement became a novelty, so we experimented with the many available slide transitions.
Most presenters overuse slide transitions.
Stick with one or two non-distracting transitions. Sometimes fading to black between major sections of the presentation helps signal your audience that a new topic is being addressed. Consider your target audience. In general, subtlety and consistency are best. As soon as the audience's attention is drawn to the effect, you've lost that part of the battle.