Western Rockies Emmaus PowerPoint Guidelines

 Approved  9-8-07

 OverviewEmmaus Community Team Members, thank you for answering God’s call to be a team member and providing one of the fifteen (15) weekend talks.  Thank you for sharing a part of yourself with the Pilgrims.  The Upper Room provides the official speaker instructions.  This guide is intended to supplement the Upper Room instructions in using electronic media specifically Power Point ^TM.  Should you ever be in doubt or have a conflict concerning these instructions, please defer to the Holy Spirit and the Upper Room speaker instructions.  Questions about your presentation or suggestions to improve your presentation after team review should be referred to your Lay Director and/or Board Representative as appropriate. PurposeThe intention to use PowerPoint as a presentation tool is based on two sets of facts.   1)     Many of the pilgrims and the inside team come from a corporate world and/or churches with significant audio/visual capabilities.  Use of A/V’s for some pilgrims and team members enhances the learning environment and fit their learning style.  Power Point is a tool used in ever-widening learning and religious settings.   2)     Within the same context, many of the speakers like presenting material using PowerPoint.  Some Emmaus communities do not use visual aids of any kind, other than perhaps props.  Others choose to use posters or overhead slides to help focus core ideas.  And while most of today’s speakers use posters regularly, electronic tools like PowerPoint are relatively mainstream.  If using Power Point eases your presentation style, so that you can be more focused on listening to the Holy Spirit for content, or if you believe PP will benefit the Pilgrims over some other visual aid, then the A/V option may be used.  NO ONE should feel pressured to create Power Point slides or use the electronic media option to give a talk.  Any level of “handmade” poster that falls within the current guidelines for creating posters is acceptable for any talk that is given. Always remember that every talk is to be grounded in scripture and focused on the outline provided from the Upper Room.  Presentation tools should never be used to dazzle the Pilgrims or lift one speaker’s message over another, no differently than one set of posters in brilliant colors compared with another’s black handwriting on white sheets.  Because of this, the remainder of this guide is intended to help those choosing PowerPoint to provide a consistent and non-distracting learning tool. Format 1)      Recognizing that the Walk to Emmaus may be conducted at a variety of locations, with different lighting. The default is to use the dark lettering on the white background (best for bright rooms). 2)      There are currently multiple versions of Microsoft PowerPoint, as well as other presentation tools, available in the marketplace. Teams should work out the version of Power Point available on the “team” laptop.   It is recommended that all presentations be made using the public‑domain “PowerPoint Viewer” presentation tool.  Please check your presentation against that viewer, which supports all versions since PPT97 (including 2000, XP, and 2003).  If your presentation is developed in a different version of PowerPoint, you will want to “Save As” to the supported style and deliberately check your presentation prior to the weekend of the Walk. The PowerPoint Viewer is available from the Microsoft download site at http://download.microsoft.com  Content 3)      Stay focused on the message, as provided by the Holy Spirit and outlined by the Upper Room.  Slides / builds and animations should be limited to “Appear” or some other non-distracting introduction. 4)      Audio Speakers will not be connected to the speakers’ laptop, so please do not include any audio components. As a word of caution, in the event that the laptop or projector has a technical issue, speakers need to have transparencies, often called overheads, of their Power Point slides as a backup. Presenting without visual aids can also be a viable backup.  The conference room ALD or Western Rockies tech angel should be ready to change overhead viewgraphs for the speaker.  Speakers should plan to deliver their talk from a paper copy – using PowerPoint or overheads as a visual aid. PowerPoint is an excellent presentation tool.  It can help you in your preview, because you can use your “posters / slides”, but still edit as requested by the team.  Your primary focus is the talk, based on your experience and centered on the content provided by the Holy Spirit and Upper Room.  The Power Point media, just as the handmade posters, are secondary to the message. Other 

• Be mindful that many pilgrims that hear your talk will one day be asked to speak as well.  Those who are not technically proficient may be hesitant to answer God’s call to serve, if they believe that technical aptitude is a prerequisite for team service.  For this reason alone, although there are other reasons, a team should never attempt to standardize on PowerPoint, as an exclusive speakers tool.  Speakers must maintain the ability to use diverse tools, including PowerPoint, overhead projector, posters, whiteboard, props or nothing at all.

• Do not instruct the pilgrims that notes are unnecessary because they will get copies of the PowerPoint.  It may be best if none of the team’s members provide the Power Point slides as handouts.  Part of the Emmaus experience is for Pilgrims to take their own notes that they will refer to later during table discussions and after the weekend.  If you wish to supplement the Pilgrim’s notes or reduce the need to repeat long quotes, you can include the quote(s) in the handout.  Handouts of the Scripture references used in the talk are always acceptable.

 When writing your talk.  Focus first on listening to the Holy Spirit.  Look for how the Spirit is leading you in the content you are being asked to present this weekend.  Then and only then, consider whether and which visual aid(s) will best help you deliver the message.  If you choose to use PowerPoint, you must preview your talk with PowerPoint at the training sessions. After you have it complete please make sure you have a backup copy and please make sure you bring it to the conference room ALD or tech angel before the walk begins so they can get it into the computer and have it ready to go for your talk. 

Thanks again for answering this call to serve.