We’ve all sat through lots of PowerPoint presentations─some good and some not-so-good. Many "experts" are saying you shouldn’t use PowerPoint now. Well, they are wrong IMHO. There is a lot of research that concludes that people remember information better when they receive it through both their eyes and ears. However, if you use the standard templates bundled with PowerPoint, you run the risk that someone in the audience (or jury) will have seen the color scheme before and be less attentive or distracted by thoughts of the prior programs. Enter Brainy Betty with many unusual free fonts and PowerPoint templates for you to download and use. These are not just primary colors rearranged, but very professional designs. She also provides tutorials and lots of advanced information about preparing presentations. Great site.

Please do not misunderstand me. A bad PowerPoint is still bad. Speakers should look at the audience, not their own PowerPoint. And excessively clinging to a PowerPoint may suck all of the life and poetry out of a speech. See, e.g. The Gettysburg Address in PowerPoint.