Say that five times.
Last week we covered five worship PowerPoint pet peeves I have when churches and organizations don’t use PowerPoint well. As believers we should set the example for excellence in all that we do, particularly something as visible as our media presentations during our worship services. Having said that, here are my final five worship PowerPoint pet peeves.
1. Cramming too many words on the screen. People won’t read half of what you show on the screen, and they will certainly get frustrated if it’s loaded with copy. Plus, with so many words on the screen, people get busy reading ahead instead of listening to your presentation. Use “white space” to help draw attention to what you want your audience to read on the screen. (If you don’t understand “white space,” Google it). The best practice is to have no more than 6 lines on the screen at once.
2. Orphans and widows. Yeah, we’re supposed to support and care for them if they are PEOPLE, but in this case it’s the words that are left to themselves at the end of a
sentence. << See, like this one. Poor thing, it’s all alone… not good.
Don’t leave ‘em hangin’, it looks bad, and generally, it’s not good design. Use good publishing practices, yep, even in PowerPoint! Colorado State University has some really good publishing tips on their web site. They are designed for print, but can be used for Worship PowerPoint slides as well.
3. Misspelled words and improper punctuation. Ok, I’m not the world’s leading authority on spelling, and certainly not punctuation for that matter. But there’s really no excuse for misspelled words. ALWAYS use SPELL CHECK! Better yet, make it a rule that there’s ALWAYS a second set of eyes looking at your PowerPoint presentation BEFORE Sunday morning. I don’t know how many times I’ve had someone else catch something I misspelled after I had been looking at it for days. As for punctuation, I’ll admit, I’m not the best at knowing whether the sentence needs a comma or a semi-colon, and you may not be either, but there are people in your church who know about these things. Find them, and let them shine by being your proof-readers. Who knows, they may also turn out to be your best writers.
4. Everything is center justified.
Oh wow, where can I begin… okay, there are times when centering is appropriate, but the general rule is: if you don’t need to, DON’T.
People are used to reading left to right – unless you’re in China – with left justified margins. If you want them to read the words on the screen easily, make them left justified. Simple as that. This includes your worship songs as well. LEFT justify them – unless you’re trying to be artsy and it looks good.
5. Drum roll, please.…Reading off the screen. Ok, this one is more for the person who is making the presentation: pastor, teacher, etc. A good presenter will not need to read off the screen. If nothing else, make a copy of the slides, and read off your printed page if you need to. I’ve seen people read their entire presentation off the PowerPoint screen. It was as if they had no clue what they wanted to say, so they just read it. Sometimes this means you have to “lead up.” Your pastor may be the one who’s guilty of this, and you’ll have to gently train him/her to not rely on the screens – even the one on the back wall that only he can see. (Note to self, “write blog post about video screens on the back wall”)
PowerPoint presentations can be a powerful tool in your worship ministry tool belt. Learn to use it wisely and with excellence. Because excellence honors God and inspires people!
Conrad
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