The following resources offer practical advice on developing and delivering effective slide presentations as well as delivery and technical tips.

Links

• University of Pennsylvania — this website includes both PowerPoint basics and a comprehensive list of image repositories on the web.
• Ellen Finkelstein — Finkelstein is a recognized expert, speaker, and best-selling author PowerPoint and presenting effectively. She is Associate Editor of Inside PowerPoint, published by Eli Journals. Her website offers hundreds of tips, techniques, tutorials, and articles.
• www.garrreynolds.com/Presentation/index.html — Garr Reynolds is currently Associate Professor of Management at Kansai Gaidai University teaching Marketing, Global Marketing and Multimedia Presentation Design. Reynolds hopes that his presentation tips "will be both useful and serve as the starting point as you begin your search for deeper information on these topics. The resource page contains links to books and other resources..."

Publications

• Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire. Cliff Atkinson. Microsoft Press, 2007. Written by a presentation skills consultant, this book includes information on graphic design, delivering presentations online and features a CD with sample PowerPoint files and graphics, plus bonus resources on a companion Web site.
• Clear and to the Point: 8 Psychological Principles for Compelling PowerPoint® Presentations. Stephen M. Kosslyn. Oxford University Press, 2007.
  Written by a cognitive neuroscientist, this book draws on scientific findings on perception, memory, and cognition. Kosslyn uses hundreds of images and sample slides and shows common mistakes and simple ways to fix them. Tips include why you should state your conclusion at the beginning of a presentation, when to use a line graph versus a bar graph, and how to use color correctly.
• The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Edward R. Tufte. A modern classic. Tufte teaches the fundamentals of graphics, charts, maps and tables. Includes 250 illustrations. Graphics Press, 2001.
• The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint available from Graphics Press (www.edwardtufte.com) Tufte, professor emeritus of political science, computer science and statistics, and graphic design at Yale, has also written this invaluable monograph, noting that PowerPoint templates generally weaken verbal and spatial reasoning, and almost always corrupt statistical analysis and offers suggestions for how to improve our presentations.
• Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative. Edward R. Tufte.Graphics Press, 1997. The latter section of the book discusses the design of computer interfaces and Web sites, whose limited screen resolution makes the presentation of text and graphics particularly challenging. This concise discussion shows how to expand the visual capacities of the screen and is extremely helpful.
• Information Graphics: A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference. Robert L. Harris. Oxford University Press, 1999. A useful compendium of statistical graphic styles and applications that describes the full range of charts, graphs, maps, diagrams, and tables used to manage, analyze, and communicate information. Over 3,000 illustrations and an easy to use index.
• Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery. Garr Reynolds. New Riders Press, 2007. Presentation Zen challenges the conventional wisdom of making "slide presentations" in today's world and encourages readers to think differently and more creatively about the preparation, design, and delivery of your presentations. Garr shares lessons and perspectives that draw on practical advice and solid design principles along with the tenets of Zen simplicity.

Sources for Images and Graphics

• Heart Rhythm Society's Grab and Go slides on a variety of EP topics.
• Argosy Medical — A commercial website for medical animation.
• iStockPhoto — A commercial website for royalty free images. Membership is free; cost of images varying according to size and type but are generally reasonable.
• National Library of Medicine — A list of medical stock image sources on the web compiled by the National Library of medicine.