Powerpoint (minus the headache)

PowerPoint isn't my forte because technology is like Arabic to me. Because that doesn't make sense I'll explain: before starting college I was largely ignorant of both and I'm taking courses in each. PPT has becoming more difficult to circumvent as I ascended through grade and high school and into college. For me its a lot to digest, but I've discovered I'm not alone. Investigations undertaken in the name of CS 1300 have revealed that there are nations of people utilizing PPT at a level so base as my own. With so many in need there are useful articles that promise to return some measure of dignity to my PPTs, these are their stories:
Tips:
1) Make yourself the star of the show. Slides should be a sidekick.
2) Text on PowerPoint's should only contain the skeleton of what you have to say. Flesh out the details through savvy speaking.
3) Avoid complexity. Distracting animations and transitions turn the audiences' attention away from what is pertinent (hopefully this is the information you are trying to convey).
4) Be innovative. Give the audience themes and graphics that are sophisticated and not worn to death.
5) Consider the flow of your presentation. Look at all slides in the slide sorter and consider the logical progression of your information. Keep in mind that the less topics there are per slide the easier your presentation will be to follow.

Now that the clean business of considering ways to improve our PPTs is out of the way, I'll lament on all the dismal habits we shall have to give up: writing entire paragraphs onto one slide (let the audience figure it out for themselves!), inserting cutesy clip art (in a perfect world bunnies would always be considered appropriate), reading off the slide (why should I have to memorize stuff, I know too much silly information already), and presenting without enthusiasm (this is my default mode when it comes to school projects). Lousy presentations are awful to watch but they are wonderful to prepare for- because you don't! I'll miss rehearsing for lectures by watching Sportscenter and Spongebob but without sacrifice can we truly appreciate the good times?