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Reading Presentation templates

From learning how to read, to spending time with a good book and a cup of tea, reading can be an incredibly rewarding hobby. with the love for learning that reading provides, one can engage in activities like solving puzzles and crosswords, joining book clubs and creativity classes with friends, or learning new skills through instructional texts. these templates focus on this amazing skill, how to acquire it and how to enjoy it. discover them and prepare educative lessons that encourage students to love books.

Reading Workshop

Are you preparing a workshop and your goal is to stimulate reading habits in little kids? Then this template will make them interested in joining your classes. The illustrations depict situations where books take us to a different world. Space is a theme we love at Slidesgo, so the details...

Reading Comprehension Worksheets

Resources for education, that's one of the things we like to create at Slidesgo! Whenever you think literature class is boring, try this template and see if we can change your mind. The theme of this presentation is reading comprehension, which means you can use it to check whether your...

Reading Comprehension Worksheets Infographics

Reading comprehension is a fiddly subject for many students and teachers alike. What exactly are you supposed to comprehend? And at a sentence level or at a global level, and what is the difference? Now you can use this beautiful, simple set of infographics to explain all the nooks and...

Reading Fluency and Expression - Language Arts - 3rd Grade

Introduce your 3rd grade students to the exciting world of reading fluency and expression with this creative and colorful template! This simple yet captivating design will engage even the youngest minds in the classroom, while providing them with the skills they need to become strong readers. With icons, graphs, and...

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How to Encourage Reading in High School: 3 Activities

Download the "How to Encourage Reading in High School: 3 Activities" presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides. High school students are approaching adulthood, and therefore, this template’s design reflects the mature nature of their education. Customize the well-defined sections, integrate multimedia and interactive elements and allow space for research or...

Reading Comprehension Strategies - Language Arts - 6th Grade

Ignite a love for reading and understanding with this vibrant presentation template. Featuring Google Slides and PowerPoint compatibility, the package is fully adjustable to suit your teaching requirements. It's filled with delightful illustrations that are sure to captivate young learners! From summarizing tips to key details identification, every essential strategy...

Reading Workshop Infographics

Download the "Reading Workshop Infographics" template for PowerPoint or Google Slides and discover the power of infographics. An infographic resource gives you the ability to showcase your content in a more visual way, which will make it easier for your audience to understand your topic. Slidesgo infographics like this set...

Word Dominoes: Beginning Reading and Reading Comprehension

Download the "Word Dominoes: Beginning Reading and Reading Comprehension" presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides and teach with confidence. Sometimes, teachers need a little bit of help, and there's nothing wrong with that. We're glad to lend you a hand! Since Slidesgo is committed to making education better for everyone,...

Reading Comprehension Strategies Lesson - Language Arts - 6th Grade

Transform dull reading comprehension lessons into engaging and challenging experiences! When it comes to fostering superior reading skills, this fully editable Google Slides and PowerPoint template is a game changer. Showcased in creamy yellow hues and adorned with fun book illustrations, this teaching aid is both effective and engaging. Packed...

Reading Fluency and Comprehension Lesson - Language Arts - 7th Grade

"This template has been created by graphic design experts. It features aquamarine green backgrounds with adorable watercolor painted illustrations of children interacting with books." Now for some reading comprehension questions! Who designed the template? What color are the backgrounds? Ah! Are you the teacher? Then we can only recommend the...

Strategies for Studying Texts

Studying texts is an essential aspect of academic life, and it's a skill that can be challenging to master. Strategies for studying texts are crucial to understanding and retaining information, which is critical for success in exams and coursework. You've mastered them and now you're ready to share them with...

Steps for Studying a Text

Reading a book is good practice. Books are a source of knowledge! However, the complexity of the text you're reading affects the time you'll spend understanding it and memorizing it. That can be a problem when studying, so here's a template with some tips on how to face difficult texts...

Reading Skills Task Cards

We've designed this template for teachers who want to try some reading activities with their students. The slides look like pages of a notebook and they come with some examples of task cards that you can use in class. Its quite colorful and the titles appear as if they were...

Quick Reading & Comprehension Skills

When teaching little kids, focusing on reading and comprehension skills will be so beneficial for them and, who knows, maybe they develop an interest in books over time! Use this cute template at the classroom and make your lesson more entertaining. The funny animals and the simple layouts will be...

National Read a Book Day

Here at Slidesgo we think it's clear how important reading and books are for society, education and self-growth. Do you agree with us? Well, if you would like to encourage people to read more, how about you create a presentation for Read a Book Day? This funny template has all...

World Book Day

Download the "World Book Day" presentation for PowerPoint or Google Slides. The education sector constantly demands dynamic and effective ways to present information. This template is created with that very purpose in mind. Offering the best resources, it allows educators or students to efficiently manage their presentations and engage audiences....

I Love Reading

If the message that you want to convey is "I love reading", then we must simply agree and say "great!" Reading is a fun activity, and books are a source of knowledge and entertainment. How about you get a template like this one and create a presentation where you talk...

International Book and Copyright Day

For some, the peaceful moment when they finally have time to sit down and lose themselves in a book is the best part of the day. It’s only natural, everyone loves immersing in a good book, and if someone tells you otherwise, it’s because they haven’t found the perfect book...

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Tips for Presentations: Home

• Tips for speaking in public
• How to reduce anxiety
• Resources (books and video courses)
• How to reference your presentation

Introduction

• A reader chooses when and where to focus attention; a speaker must focus a listener’s attention on what he or she is saying at this moment.
• A reader controls how fast he or she will move through a text; a speaker controls how fast listeners will move through an oral presentation.
• Readers have the option of going back and re-reading; listeners must grasp material as the speaker presents it.
• Readers have many graphic cues about order and importance of points and about the relationship among ideas; listeners rely on the speaker to be their guide and interpreter.

Image: Business vector created by rawpixel.com - www.freepik.com

Appeal to emotion

• Tell a story. Audiences respond better and be more convinced with stories that data.
• Use examples and anecdotes.
• Use surprises. This could be using a video when the audience thinks they are only getting slides.

What do you need to say?

The information for your presentation usually comes from a paper, case study, analysis, essay, or report. Choose only the key points from your paper. Go back to the question you were asked when you originally wrote your paper.

Design is key

Your presentation needs an introduction, body, and conclusion. Plan what your presentation will look like before you begin. Use only the important points from your paper to plan for sections of your presentation. These points then become the focus.

For each major section of your presentation, follow the 4 S Structure :

• Signpost the point (“First I’m going to point out the problem with...” “My second argument is that...” “It can be concluded that...”)
• State the point clearly and succinctly.
• Support the point with data, cases, description, relevant studies, etc.
• Summarize the point.

It is from these that you then design your slides and choose corresponding images and text.

10/20/30 rule

This rule states that a Power Point presentation should have no more than 10 slides, be 20 minutes long, and use no less than 30-point font.

This rule will keep the presentation on track so that you keep to time, as well as having a presentation that moves at a good pace and that is readable.

Do you need it?

• Use PowerPoint only if it will enhance audience attention, understanding, or retention.
• Be selective about what you put on slides. Don’t put the entire presentation on slides.
• Use visual and audio effects only if they serve your purpose and do not call attention to themselves. Make the technology serve the presentation. Don’t let it dominate.
• These are tools to help you tell your story. Don’t let the tools become the story.

Never read your presentation word for word. A good presentation is one where the presenter makes eye contact with his or her audience over the entire presentation. This means not reading your paper - your eyes are down, you lose your audience.

To help with this, make good notes, use cue cards, or put all notes on one sheet of paper. You can then glance at your notes for prompts. Better yet, learn and understand the material for your presentation, practice, and then use the images and text in your visual presentation as cues.

Tone and pacing

Avoid becoming monotone. Use variations in speed, inflections, and force to enhance your meaning and hold audience attention. Practice pronouncing words with which you are unfamiliar.

Some further points

Often times, a presenter does not notice their voice and body habits, which can be distracting when presenting. Remember, presenting is visual and oral story telling. With this in mind, understanding how a presentation looks and sounds is important. Keep these elements in mind:

Voice - “um,” “uh,” “okay”; everything sounding like a question (raising voice at the end of sentences); nervous laugh at the end of sentences; clearing the throat a lot, reading too quickly.

Body language - flipping hair back, playing with pen/pointer etc., rolling and unrolling notes, pushing sleeves up and down, playing with keys or coins in pockets, stepping back and forth/tapping foot, rocking body, touching face/adjusting glasses, turning rings on hand, waving hands around, tugging at shirt.

Visual aids - flipping overheads/slides too fast, talking to the screen.

Before you start!

Before you start working on your presentation:

• Check emails from your lecturer and the assignment question for how it should be presented,
• Check your learning materials and recommended reading on the course page,
• Read all instructions carefully - make sure you understand them and follow them exactly.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when creating an effective PowerPoint presentation:

• Remember to avoid too much text. You should keep your text brief and include talking points only. Detailed notes can be inserted into the notes section of PowerPoint, but only you should see those notes, unless a professor asks to see your notes to evaluate your PowerPoint as an assignment.
• Be consistent and clear with your font choices. Helvetica is a nice font for presentations. Make sure your font is large enough that an audience in a room would be able to see your text, even if audience members are sitting in the back of the room.
• Be careful with your color choices for text and background. You want to make sure your audience can read your text easily. Black on white text is easiest to read but is also boring for a presentation. Still, when you add color, just be sure you are adding color that works and doesn’t distract.
• Add images. Text on slides for every slide is boring. Add appropriate images to your slides. Relevant charts and graphs are excellent, as are pictures that will connect to your content.
• Make sure your main points are clear. Remember to connect your ideas well and provide background information and transitions when necessary.
• Keep your audience in mind. Your audience will affect the overall tone and appearance of your presentation. Sometimes, humor can be appropriate. Other times, a more serious tone may be necessary. Just as you evaluate your situation any time you write a paper, you should evaluate your situation for creating a PowerPoint presentation.

( Source: PowerPoints - Excelsior Online Writing Lab, licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-4.0 International License .)

5 Things Every Presenter Needs To Know About People from Weinschenk on Vimeo .

Wienot films. (2011, May 9). How to give an awesome (PowerPoint) presentation. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i68a6M5FFBc

• Present Your Data Like a Pro Harvard Business Review article by Joel Schwartzberg

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Content included in this guide is adapted from:

• Handout from  St Mary's University
• Tips for Presentations from COM Library Libguides
• Presentation Tips ( The DO-IT Center ) 
• Next: Tips for speaking in public >>
• Last Updated: Apr 11, 2024 10:12 AM
• URL: https://lit.libguides.com/presentations

The Library, Technological University of the Shannon: Midwest

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infoDiagram visual slide examples, PowerPoint diagrams & icons , PPT tricks & guides

How to Make Presentation Slide Reading Flow Easy-to-follow [PPT Design Tips]

Last Updated on December 15, 2022 by Peter Z

Want to take your presentation skills up a notch? We’ve pulled together some easy tricks our designer team uses for making slides look clean.

One of the often design mistakes is unclear and chaotic reading flow, which results in lost focus. Especially if you have a slide with lots of information on it, with a bunch of charts, presenting several key data, maybe product pictures, and additional text commentary.

In this blog, we’re sharing how to ensure the flow is natural and intuitive, so you display the slide content in a way that is fast to grasp.

This blog is a part of our Design Tips for Professional Presentation series, see more here . The six most important things you need to remember about while designing a presentation are also covered in this e-book:

Presentation Design Cheat Sheet

Inside you’ll find more actionable steps for a professional slide look, including:

• Margins and white space – how to avoid stuffed slides
• Alignment of texts, charts & tables
• Consistency – how to keep one style through the presentation
• How to make 1 main idea stand out
• Spellcheck for a professional reading experience

We also added practical PowerPoint shortcuts that will speed up your work.

So let’s see how you can improve slide reading flow in order to keep the attention of your listeners.

Importance of reading flow for your presentation

Good slide design should naturally lead the reader’s eye movement. Your reader should know at once – where to look at first and where to follow. If a reader has a hard time understanding the order of elements on a slide, that means something needs to be improved.

When finishing your presentation preparation, go over your slides and check their flow structure. Review the position and order of the slide elements:

• What text should be read first? Usually, it’s the one most important point you want to make.
• Is the reading order intuitive enough?
• What is the next element to look at? Is it close enough or will the reader hesitate about where to jump next? The location of elements should make this clear without a doubt.

How to focus attention on a content element

Each slide should be built around presenting one main message. It can be a key number, trend line, or some important statement. You may want people not to overlook that message, but see it as a first one.

To ensure that, in slide design, we use the contrast technique. Make that element the most visible, the biggest, and use the most contrasting color, e.g. use a big white text on a shape with a dark background. You can read more about using contrast along with some slide examples in this blog (once published, till then) in our ebook .

Design for natural flow on a slide

The top-left area of the slide is where we tend to look at first. Then we naturally follow to the right.

If you want to arrange a reading flow in another way than the usual “Z” shape, use graphics with a clear path and direction of reading, for example, a roadmap or arrows.

How to design for atypical slide flow

If you have a presentation content that does follow the Z shape, you should add graphical elements that will clearly show how the content should be read. It can be an arrow shape, work with space or eventually, you can literally add numbers to the content to show their order.

Here are a couple of slide examples with the clear reading flow, despite these are not typical from top to bottom, left to right always. Notice how a strong graphical element such as a roadmap line leads the eye:

In this slide, we used a photograph with a curvy road to suggest a perspective reading flow from closer elements at the bottom to elements further up, farther away in distance and time.

Using white space is also a good design way to create a gap in the reading flow. People tend to read objects that are close together.

So next time you are designing a slide, check with someone how it is seen, and what’s the person’s natural way of reading it. If it is different than you intended, adjust it by using space and strong graphical elements. This will ensure your presentation is quick to grasp and your audience will not get lost in your slides.

More presentation resources to get you going

The slides can make or break it, so check these resources if want to improve further:

• 6 design tips conveniently gathered in an ebook (including this one)
• Storytelling : the Secret of Powerful Presentations
• How to Copy and Adapt Diagrams to Your Content
• 5 Creative Ways to Embed Icons in Your Slide Design

Get our sample deck and let’s stay in touch for more tips and resources!

Published by

Chief Diagram Designer, infoDiagram co-founder View all posts by Peter Z

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How to Give a Killer Presentation

• Chris Anderson

For more than 30 years, the TED conference series has presented enlightening talks that people enjoy watching. In this article, Anderson, TED’s curator, shares five keys to great presentations:

• Frame your story (figure out where to start and where to end).
• Plan your delivery (decide whether to memorize your speech word for word or develop bullet points and then rehearse it—over and over).
• Work on stage presence (but remember that your story matters more than how you stand or whether you’re visibly nervous).
• Plan the multimedia (whatever you do, don’t read from PowerPoint slides).
• Put it together (play to your strengths and be authentic).

According to Anderson, presentations rise or fall on the quality of the idea, the narrative, and the passion of the speaker. It’s about substance—not style. In fact, it’s fairly easy to “coach out” the problems in a talk, but there’s no way to “coach in” the basic story—the presenter has to have the raw material. So if your thinking is not there yet, he advises, decline that invitation to speak. Instead, keep working until you have an idea that’s worth sharing.

Lessons from TED

A little more than a year ago, on a trip to Nairobi, Kenya, some colleagues and I met a 12-year-old Masai boy named Richard Turere, who told us a fascinating story. His family raises livestock on the edge of a vast national park, and one of the biggest challenges is protecting the animals from lions—especially at night. Richard had noticed that placing lamps in a field didn’t deter lion attacks, but when he walked the field with a torch, the lions stayed away. From a young age, he’d been interested in electronics, teaching himself by, for example, taking apart his parents’ radio. He used that experience to devise a system of lights that would turn on and off in sequence—using solar panels, a car battery, and a motorcycle indicator box—and thereby create a sense of movement that he hoped would scare off the lions. He installed the lights, and the lions stopped attacking. Soon villages elsewhere in Kenya began installing Richard’s “lion lights.”

• CA Chris Anderson is the curator of TED.

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The Many, Many Benefits of Reading

• By: Amy Boone

We are living in strange times. With the current state of affairs, some of us have had our workload increase drastically. Others aren’t able to work any longer. Some of us are enjoying extra time with family, and others are ready to pull their hair out. We are all seeking ways to stay healthy–physically, mentally, and emotionally.

But that’s tough given our current circumstances. As we seek to acclimate to uncertain times, most of will experience an increase in stress in some form or other. However, we’ve found a relatively simple and scientifically proven practice that can reduce stress: reading. So let’s the explore some of the reasons this low-tech pastime might be the answer.

Reduce Your Stress

Research from the University of Sussex has proven that people who read just 6 minutes a day tend to be 68% less stressed. Yes, you read that right, 68% less stressed . Reading tends to help us escape the world, shut out distractions, and focus intently on something other than everything going on around us. The study even found that reading works better than listening to music. And you only need 6 minutes a day of uninterrupted reading time to reap these incredible benefits.

Boost Your Content

When you read, you aren’t just reducing your stress, you are also thinking and feeling and learning. You are increasing your vocabulary. This gives you a greater variety of words to choose from when you are writing and delivering your presentations. Business Insider addresses how important a good vocabulary is saying, “Your goal here isn’t to inject big words into your sentences, but rather to arrange your sentences to ensure your meaning comes across precisely. In the process, you’ll come across as a better communicator, which will make you seem more intelligent and thoughtful, and therefore more trustworthy.”

In addition, when you are a well-read person, you have more examples and stories to draw from. Much of communication is connecting ideas. When you read, you increase the wealth of knowledge you can pull from when trying to communicate and connect with your audience. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been preparing a speech, or lecture, or blog when I think, “I’ve read something that fits perfectly here!” The more we read, the more we boost our content.

Increase Your Relational Capacity

Reading, particularly fiction, also allows you to take the perspectives of other people. As a speaker, you need to have the ability to view things from others’ perspectives. That way, you can relate with your diverse audience members. Fiction allows you to see from inside someone else’s life. The New York Times writer Annie Murphy Paul explores the benefits of reading from a neuroscientific perspective in her article, “Your Brain on Fiction.”  She says, “Narratives offer a unique opportunity to . . . identify with characters’ longings and frustrations, guess at their hidden motives and track their encounters with friends and enemies, neighbors and lovers . . . It is an exercise that hones our real-life social skills.” She cites multiple studies which have found that individuals who frequently read fiction “seem to be better able to understand other people.”

Think you can manage a 6-minute daily habit that will reduce your anxiety levels by nearly 70% while also making you a better speaker and all-around human being? Sounds worth it to me.

While your local library might be closed, you can still order books online. Check out Amazon’s Best Sellers List for 2019 here . Or check out The New York Times best sellers here . And if you prefer to buy used books and save a little money, we love Thriftbooks for great deals! Happy reading!

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Public Speaking 101: Should You Read from a Script or Not?

April 5, 2018 / Articles presentation tips, public speaking, public speaking tips, scripts

There are four ways to deliver a speech: reciting it from memory , learning it by heart, using notes for reference, and reading it from a script word for word. The method you should use will depend on the type of speaking engagement and the personal circumstances you find yourself in.

Memorizing your speech is rarely a good idea because the artificiality of it makes your delivery sound stilted. You may risk sounding monotonous when the natural inflection of your voice disappears. Also, it’s not a guarantee that you’ll deliver a seamless presentation because your focus is shifted from getting the message across to getting the words right.

Learning your speech by heart and trying to wing it without notes can work. However, it can be risky because when you lose your train of thought, you’ll have nothing to rely on to get you back on track. The best method is to use notes because at least you have something to fall back on when you lose your footing. It can also help you transition from one idea to the next.

While learning all this is good, we’re not really here to talk about the three ways of delivering a presentation. Instead, we’re here to understand the fourth: reading directly from a script . Script reading is a practice that is highly discouraged, unless you’re a person of politics who needs to deliver a speech exactly as it’s written. If you’re a student delivering a report or a business executive making a pitch, there’s no excuse for you to read from your notes at all. This is a basic public speaking convention that you should know by default.

Why Reading from a Script Is Discouraged

You may be tempted to bring a script to your next public speaking gig and read it word for word. It’s luring because you don’t have to memorize or learn your speech by heart anymore. Everything you have to say is literally in your hands. It makes you feel secure because, in theory, you can’t lose your train of thought. It’s effortless preparation-wise. So, if it’s so reassuring, why do professionals advise against it? There are plenty of reasons, and we’ll explain three of them:

• A written speech rarely translates to an oral discussion. We don’t speak the same way as we write. Words that are written for the eye (i.e. grammatical, syntactic, generally well-structured) don’t always sound well to the ears. If you want to sound conversational , you need to write the same way as you talk.
• A script shifts attention from the audience. Reading from a script requires you to look at your notes, and this shifts your gaze away from the audience and limits your interaction with them. As a result, your delivery loses the personal touch it needs. You’re basically just standing there aloof, with your audience feeling left out. They feel like they’re listening to a monologue rather than taking part in a dialogue in which their opinions matter.
• Your words and actions are measured and limited. A script limits both your words and actions. You’re not free to use whatever manner of delivery you like because you’re corralled into the four edges of your cheat sheet. Aside from this, reading from a script can add a physical barrier between you and the audience: a lectern. This barrier will only fortify the walls you’ve built, ultimately resulting to a disconnect.

Planning for the Inevitable: Tips When Reading Your Speech

Without a doubt, no matter how many times you’re warned, you’ll always find an excuse to deviate from what’s recommended. So, to help you minimize the repercussions of reading from a script during a public speaking engagement, here are four tips for you to apply:

1. Employ the scoop-and-speak technique

For this to work, you need to print your notes in large font and have them written on the top portion of a document so that your eyes don’t have to stray down too far. Every time you pause, look at your notes, and before reciting what you’ve scooped, look at the audience again. Eye contact is crucial in public speaking. When reading from your notes, you don’t have to keep it a secret and act surreptitiously. Just chill out and act natural.

2. Draft a dialogue, not a declaration

Even if you’re reading from a script, you should try to not look like it. When drafting your speech, make sure to use common conversational words that sound natural when spoken. Use informal language; otherwise, you’ll just sound foreign and distant. Be mindful of the natural cadences and rhythms of spontaneous speech, and make sure to apply them throughout your presentation. To improve your vocal variety, you can adjust your facial gestures to match your words.

3. Don’t use your slide deck as a script

Your PowerPoint presentation is not a script, so don’t treat it as such. Instead, make separate notes that you can use as guide. You can also use the Notes feature in PowerPoint. It has a Presenter’s View that can let you see your notes for a selected slide without the audience seeing them. Just make sure to practice using your script beforehand so that you won’t get lost in the middle of the presentation.

4. Mind the structuring of your text

Break long blocks of text by using headings, subheadings, line breaks, and pauses. Use signals to help you break down the text and cue you as to where to begin and end, or what to stress and blend. You can even add instructional annotations along the margins to make everything crystal clear.

When you’re in a pickle and you have no choice but to read from a script, follow the tips above. However, in any other situation, try to explore other ways of delivering your presentation. Don’t limit yourself to the four edges of a page. Instead, allow your mind to roam free without straying too far from your core message. This is, after all, what being an effective public speaker means.

Dlugan, Andrew. “How to Make Reading a Speech Not Like Reading a Speech.” Six Minutes. December 7, 2011. sixminutes.dlugan.com/reading-your-speech

Marshall, Lisa B. “Read, Memorize, or Use Notes.” Quick and Dirty Tips. September 23, 2010. www.quickanddirtytips.com/business-career/public-speaking/read-memorize-or-use-notes

Matthews, Alan. “Pros and Cons of Using a Script When Speaking.” Alan Matthews Training. May 13, 2015. alanmatthewstraining.com/2015/05/pros-and-cons-of-using-a-script-when-speaking

Wyeth, Sims. “Do You Read from a Script? Should You” Presentation Guru. April 20, 2017. www.presentation-guru.com/do-you-read-from-a-script-should-you

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Make slides easier to read by using the Reading Order pane

Some people with visual impairments use a screen reader to read the information on the slide. When you create slides, putting the objects in a logical reading order is crucial for screen-reader users to understand the slide. 

Check the reading order of slides

With your presentation open, select Review > Check Accessibility .

Select the Check reading order category in the Warnings section to open the list. When the reading order of the objects on a slide doesn't match one of the common ways objects are spatially ordered, Accessibility Checker lists the slide here.

Point at a slide number in the list, then select the adjoining drop-down arrow. Select the Verify object order command.

This opens the Reading Order pane:

Change the order of objects

Objects are listed in the order that the screen reader will read them in.  The number next to each object indicates the position in the sequence. Objects without a number will be skipped because they are marked decorative .

If the order of the objects isn't logical, people using screen readers will have a difficult time understanding the slide.

To change the order that the objects are read in:

Select one or more items in the list. (Use Ctrl+Click to multi-select).

Drag the selection upward or downward, or click the up arrow ( Move Up ) or down arrow ( Move Down ).

Note:  Changing the order of objects can affect how the slide looks when there are overlapping objects. If the slide does not look the way you want after changing the order, press Ctrl+Z to undo the change. You may still be able to improve how the slide is read by grouping objects in logical units and removing objects from the reading order by marking them decorative.

Group objects into logical units

If you have complex diagrams or illustrations made of many objects, group the objects into logical units. That way, the screen-reader user can read the grouped units rather than all of the individual objects in them. And you'll only need to order the units and not all of the objects in them.

In cases where grouping may be beneficial, a tip appears at the bottom of the Reading Order pane on slides:

To group objects:

In the pane, use Ctrl+Click to select the items you want to group.

On the … Format tab at the right end of the ribbon, select Group > Group (or Arrange > Group > Group ).

After you group the objects, only the group appears in the Reading Order pane, rather than all the objects in it. Click the item and then enter a description for the group.

Caution:  If the objects have animation effects, the animations won't be preserved after you group them.

Add alt text to objects

Alternative text ( alt text ) is descriptive text which conveys the meaning and context of a visual item on the slide. Screen readers will read the alt text aloud, allowing people to better understand what is on the screen.

You don't need to add alt text to text boxes and shapes that have text in them, but all other objects need alt text. In the Reading Order Pane, a warning sign appears next to any item that needs alt text.

To add alt text for the object:

In the Reading Order Pane, click the item to select it.

Click it again to open a text edit box and type a description for the object.  Then press Enter.

The warning sign disappears after you've added the alt text.

Review automatically generated alt text

Pictures inserted in Microsoft 365 may have alt text that was automatically generated. A warning sign appears next to these items to remind you to review and edit the alt text.

Click the item in the Reading Order pane to select it.

Click it again to open a text edit box, then review and edit the description. Remove any comments added there such as Description automatically generated . Then press Enter.

The warning sign should disappear after you remove the comments.

Remove objects from the reading order

Decorative objects add visual interest but aren’t informative (for example, stylistic borders). Screen readers skip over the decorative objects when reading in Slide Show mode.

To mark an object decorative and remove it from the reading order, clear the check box next to the item.

You don't need to change the position of the item in the list. The number next to the item goes away, indicating that it's no longer part of the reading order.

Keyboard shortcuts for the Reading Order pane

You can use these keyboard shortcuts in the Reading Order pane:

Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities  

Everything you need to know to write effective alt text  

Rules for the Accessibility Checker  

Group or ungroup shapes, pictures, or other objects

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