PowerPoint: clear slides, speaker notes and accessibility
For anyone who builds or presents PowerPoint decks at work: team updates, training, client briefings and proposals. No prerequisites beyond basic PowerPoint editing; 'Accessibility basics in practice: correcting everyday documents and emails' covers the Accessibility Checker across Word, Excel and Outlook, and this course applies it to slides. You'll write clear slides, give every slide a unique title and a logical reading order, add alt text, link text and captions, use speaker notes and Presenter view to deliver without reading the screen, and check the deck with the Accessibility Checker and Document Inspector before sharing it. Grounded in Microsoft Support documentation for PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 on Windows; menus differ slightly on Mac and the web. Your organisation's templates and brand rules come first. Ends with a supervisor-graded deck correction.
- Level
- Beginner
- Length
- About 80 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Write clear slides with one message per slide, readable fonts and minimal text
- Give every slide a unique title and set a logical reading order
- Add alt text, link text and captions that convey what visuals and media mean
- Use speaker notes and Presenter view to deliver a presentation without reading the slides
- Check a presentation with the Accessibility Checker and Document Inspector before sharing it
Course outline
- 1.Write clear slides with one message per slideLesson · 15 min
- 2.Give every slide a unique title and set a logical reading orderLesson · 16 min
- 3.Add alt text, link text and captions that convey meaningLesson · 15 min
- 4.Use speaker notes and Presenter view to deliver without reading the slidesLesson · 12 min
- 5.Check a presentation with the Accessibility Checker and Document Inspector before sharingLesson · 10 min
- 6.PowerPoint: clear slides, speaker notes and accessibility: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 14 questions
- 7.PowerPoint: clear slides, speaker notes and accessibility: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- Microsoft Support: Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities
- Microsoft Support: Tips for creating and delivering an effective presentation
- Microsoft Support: Make slides easier to read by using the Reading Order pane
- Microsoft Support: Title a slide
- Microsoft Support: Add speaker notes to your slides
- Microsoft Support: Start the presentation and see your notes in Presenter view
- Microsoft Support: Remove hidden data and personal information by inspecting documents, presentations, or workbooks
See it with your own jobs and topics
Tell us about your team and we'll walk you through setup, from choosing jobs to your first skills check.