Here at Sharefaith.com, we get a lot of clients asking for help using text in PowerPoint. So here’s a few tips that are great for all to know and be mindful of when you’re making your next PowerPoint sermon!
1. Don’t overdo it on fonts: You might think you’re being creative when you throw a bunch of different fonts on your slide, but really you’re overwhelming the people who are trying to read it and giving them a headache. Stick to no more than 2 or 3 primary fonts. Anymore just makes it look cluttered and unprofessional.
2. What to put on backdrops that are both light and dark: If you are using slides with backgrounds that go between light and dark, it can be a real pain going through and changing the colors of individual words (or sometimes even letters) just so people can see it. The best style of font to do in those cases would be to use white lettering and a drop shadow effect. This text shows up on just about anything light or dark.
To do this in PowerPoint 2003, refer to this link: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint-help/add-or-remove-a-text-shadow-HP005192238.aspx
For PowerPoint 2007 or 2010, please refer to the video tutorial:
PowerPoint Text With Drop Shadow Tutorial
3. Don’t use Times New Roman and/or Arial on every sermon slideshow: sometimes having a really nice looking PowerPoint backdrop can be cheapened by using basic boring text. That’s not to say there aren’t appropriate uses for it (it’s actually great for worship slides or videos), but it can make the difference from a professional church sermon slideshow and a fourth grade typing project (granted fourth-graders these days could probably blow you away with some of the PowerPoint presentations they could knock out). Remember that we at Sharefaith include a Word document with our image zip packs that you can download for the PowerPoint presentations. They each come with a list of the fonts that we use on that particular slideshow and we suggest you use those ones, but of course you have the ultimate say in what you do.