The Importance of PowerPoint presentations and My Presentation Topic

It seems we have a lot to cover in this blog entry...

I think the articles really helped me in understanding how to make a great PowerPoint. I like how they used some bad examples to help balance out the good sides, some of which were common mistakes that I often used without knowing they were bad.

Five guidlines that I think are important when making an effective PowerPoint presentation for myself and for my classmates:
1) A clean and simple background with easy to read font is greatly appreciated (no wacky or extremely harsh colors for either the background or the font; otherwise, the audience will literally cringe and hesitate to look at the slides)
2) Make the topic simple to understand through use of images/graphs/a little animation if necessary to get the point across
3) A few website links to help furthur develop your discussion on the topic are great helpers, too
4) Don't just read the presentation; memorize it slightly, refer to it as needed to help you as the teacher/boss/employee/whatever get your point across effectively
And finally,
5) Using too many graphics clutters up the screen, something I learned the hard way when I was in middle school and my teacher gave me a bad grade on a computer assignment for having too many cliparts in it

I think for my Presentation Topic, since I am a history major, I want to give a presentation about Leonardo DaVinci or Raphael. They are some of history's most famous painters, and the fact that their works still exist today and are revered as masterpieces simply astounds me. I want to talk about their art and how they were considered "revolutionary" and "brilliant" during their times.