API University understands the difficulties of creating a presentation that will not only communicate the message effectively, but also engage your audience with exciting, innovative - and practical - media and images.

That is why API University offers the Instructor's Digital Assistant™. The IDA offers instructors the opportunity to search and download affordable images and animations.

API University also provides some general "best practices" for effective PowerPoint presentations:

General Guidelines for PowerPoint Presentations

Number of slides. As a general rule, allow 3 minutes per slide. (This assumes using a standard amount of content per slide.) Some slides, for transitions, maps, or pictures, may take less time, but use a 3-minutes-per-slide rule when figuring out how much or how little time to allow. For a session with a host and three speakers, 6-9 slides per speaker will usually be more than enough. An audience doesn’t respond well to a speaker burning through lots of slides.

Fonts. Standard PowerPoint fonts should be used. Use at least a 44-size font for titles or headers and at least a 32- to 36-size font for bulleted text whenever possible and space permits. For readability, avoid exotic fonts and stick with the stock Times New Roman, Helvetica, or Arial.

Slide background. While many PowerPoint templates use dark background and light text colors, attendees of previous sessions have commented that the reverse is more effective: light background and dark text. Experiment with either choice, but lean towards a light background.

Resolution. The resolution between your laptop and the screen should be compatible, but it may not be. Don’t wait until your session is live before you realize your slide show is half off the screen. If the screen is set for 800 x 600 pixels, you should be okay.