Slides that help
Make slides that show what you say instead of repeating it: one idea each, big and simple, with you as the main event.
One idea per slide, stated as a sentence
Label headline
"Status" at the top, then six bullets underneath. The audience has to work out what the slide is telling them, while you're talking.
Sentence headline
"Two people built the same report" at the top, then one picture or one number underneath. The point is on the screen before you say a word, and one slide carries one idea.
Check yourself
Which headline should Sara put on her slide about the duplicated report?
- Status
- Report update
- Two people built the same report
- Slide 3
Show the answer
Two people built the same report
Yes. A sentence headline states the point, so someone glancing up gets it at once.
Redundancy principle
From Richard Mayer's research on multimedia learning: people generally learn less when the same words are on screen and spoken aloud at the same time than when they see a picture and hear the words. Reading and listening to identical text compete for attention instead of helping each other. So a paragraph on screen, read out loud, is usually the worst of both.
Better: a simple chart of hours lost, while Sara explains it. Worse: a paragraph describing the hours lost, which Sara reads word for word.
Check yourself
- Sara's slide has a 60-word paragraph about duplicated work. She reads it aloud, word for word.
- Sara's slide has one bar chart: 16 hours on one report, the duplicate bar in red. She explains it in her own words.
Which version is the audience likely to understand and remember better, and why?
- The first, because the audience gets the message twice
- The second, because picture plus spoken words works better than the same words on screen and spoken at once
- The first, because written words are more precise than charts
- Both the same, since the information is identical
Show the answer
The second, because picture plus spoken words works better than the same words on screen and spoken at once
Right. That's the redundancy principle. With the paragraph, people read ahead and stop listening; with the chart, eyes and ears work together.
Make it readable from the back row
- Big text. A common guideline is roughly 24 pt or more for body text, and larger for headings.
- High contrast. Dark text on a light background or the reverse; never grey on grey, never text over a busy photo.
- Few fonts. One, maybe two. Consistency lets people read the content instead of the design.
- One number, highlighted. In a chart, colour the bar that matters and grey out or remove the rest.
- Test it. Stand at the back of the room, or look at the slide on a phone. If you squint, they will too.
BEFORE: "Planning status"
• Current process relies on ad-hoc email threads
• Some tasks may be duplicated across members
• Visibility into workload is limited
• Deadlines are sometimes missed as a result
• A shared meeting could potentially help
• Proposal: pilot a weekly planning session
AFTER: "Two people built the same report"
[bar chart: Sara 8 h | Omid 8 h <- highlighted]Before: 6 bullets, about 40 words, no point in the headline.
After: 1 sentence, 1 chart, 1 highlighted number.
The other five bullets move into what Sara says.Nothing is lost. The bullets become her spoken words; the slide keeps only what the eye does better than the ear.
Check yourself
Does it help the slide or hurt it?
- Big text with strong contrast
- Eight bullets of twenty words each
- One highlighted number in a simple chart
- Turning your back to read the screen aloud
- A headline that states the point as a sentence
- Spinning animations to make it look lively
Show the answer
Helps: Big text with strong contrast, One highlighted number in a simple chart, A headline that states the point as a sentence
Hurts: Eight bullets of twenty words each, Turning your back to read the screen aloud, Spinning animations to make it look lively
YOU ARE THE PRESENTATION
Talk to the room, not the screen
Stand so you face the audience and can glance at your laptop, not over your shoulder at the screen. Look at the slide for a second, then turn back and speak to people. When you want every eye on you, for a story or your call to action, black out the screen: in slideshow mode in many programs, including PowerPoint, pressing B does it, and pressing it again brings the slide back.
Sara blacks out the screen for her 45-second story, then brings it back for the chart.
Check yourself
A 5-minute talk needs exactly five slides, one per minute.
Show the answer
False
False. About one slide a minute is only a rough rule of thumb. What matters is time per idea: Sara's talk might use three slides and a blank screen, and that's fine.
Check yourself
Two minutes into Sara's talk, the projector dies and won't come back. What's her best move?
- Stop and wait until someone fixes it
- Apologise and reschedule the talk
- Carry on without slides, describing the one chart in a sentence
- Pass her laptop around so people can read the slides
Show the answer
Carry on without slides, describing the one chart in a sentence
Yes. The message never lived in the slides. She can say "two of us, about eight hours each" and keep going.
Lesson recap
- Slides are a visual aid, not your script or a handout. Write the talk first, then add pictures where they help.
- One idea per slide, with a headline that states the point: "Two people built the same report", not "Status".
- Redundancy principle: picture plus your spoken words tends to beat the same text on screen read aloud.
- Big text (roughly 24 pt or more as a common guideline), high contrast, few fonts, one highlighted number.
- Face the room, black out the screen when you want attention, keep a backup, and be ready to talk without slides.