Guidelines for Creating Board Presentations

This page last reviewed December 16, 2013


These guidelines and templates were created to aid ARB staff in producing slides for display in the Board Hearing Room. If you have questions regarding the guidelines or templates, please contact ARB's Clerk of the Board at (916) 322-5594.



  1. Number of Slides per Presentation:
    • One slide per minute. Allot two minutes for slides with graphs, charts, tables or graphics that need more explanation.  Rule of thumb: # minutes - 10% then round conservatively. i.e. 30 min -  (10%) = 30 - 3 = 27. Round to 25 slides. 40 minutes = 35 slides.
  2. Visuals:
    • Don't use an "I know you probably can't see this but ..." slide. Your audience will get frustrated and some may get angry. Find another way to package and present the information. Maybe a handout??
    • Also, use only good graphics. Select graphics that do not use too many colors. The colors used should be consistent with the colors chosen for the Board Presentation layout. Make sure the images are clear and that they will project well, with sufficient detail, in the Board hearing room. Please use "good" judgement in selecting image sizes and be sure to stay within the Board Presentation Layout margins.
    • "Less is more" i.e., the KISS principle. That is, keep things simple.
    • Limit the number of scanned images used. These take up memory and cause the hardware to slow down.
  3. Master Slide:
    • Include a footer, slide #, date and divison.
  4. Title Slide:
    • Presentation Title (No more than two lines long), Presenter's name, ARB and Cal/EPA credits, date and location of the presentation.
  5. Font Types:
    • Use simple fonts, i.e. Arial, Times New Roman or Univers (W1). No script fonts please. Don't use more Font Types: than two different fonts in any one presentation. One is preferred.
  6. Font Sizes:
    • Don't use any font size smaller than 18 points.
  7. Bullets:
    • These don't need to be full sentences but they should make sense on their own. Consider the "5 x 5" rule. (No more than five lines per slide / five words per line.)
  8. Default Lay-Out:
    • Don't go outside the default title and text blocks set by your presentation software. These were designed by experts to maximize readability.
  9. Summary Slide:
    • Always use at least one but no more than two summary / conclusion slides.
  10. Finish Slides:
    • Include a "Thank You for your Attention" slide or some other appropriate "finish slide" at the end of the presentation. Include 2 or 3 copies of this slide to avoid inadvertent mouse "clicks" that take you back to the windows screen which looks unprofessional. This way any inadvertent click will simply take you to another finish slide. This looks good and shows that we know how to run the equipment as well as use the software.
  11. Handouts:
    • Use handouts whenever you want to share more detail than you in your best judgement know will project well on a slide. See Appendix C for suggestions on developing and using handouts.

Templates for Producing PowerPoint Slides

You may download this file, then view the information. You may choose to use one or more of the slides as a template for your presentation by editing the contents.

Appendices


About Making a Board Presentation