Five Presentation Slide Basics

While there are plenty of articles, tools, and guides about creating presentation slides, I still observe presenters on a regular basis who could use a reminder of some basic rules. Here are 5 items for you to keep in mind when creating slides for your next presentation. Pay attention to these basics in order to better connect with your audience:

1.      Use more than words

A presentation slide that’s just bullet points and words makes us bored before we even know the content. In effect, the slide is just notes for the speaker. And, it also says to the audience that you, the presenter, didn’t try that hard to make your presentation interesting. It takes only a few minutes to insert some graphics or even to arrange the words within shapes in such a way that it will be easier for the audience to follow. Take a few minutes to make your slides look better. Ultimately, your audience will be more engaged.

2.      Don’t put up an eyechart

When you have data to present, I understand the easiest thing to do is to copy and paste the whole spreadsheet section over to the slide, but often this results in the “eyechart” effect. If you feel like you have to apologize to your audience for the size of the numbers, they are too small. People may strain to look but won’t really be able to see anything. Instead, they’ll wait for you to explain – making the data on the screen not helpful at all. Take the time to edit and format your data for your audience. And, if at all possible, put it in a chart or a graphic that is easier for your audience to read. Your audience will appreciate the effort and better understand the point you are trying to make.

3.      Avoid the blinding white background

I know that your corporate template may come with a white background, but when you are in very long meetings consider taking the time to customize it. A white background may be okay for shorter presentations, but you should change it up when meetings are marathon length. Staring at a white background can cause eye fatigue and headaches. Include colors and graphics, and if possible use white letters on a black background – which will be easier on everyone’s eyes.

4.      Check your spelling

For some reason, even in today’s world of automated spell check, spelling mistakes are still an issue. I’ve noticed the same slides used for multiple presentations that continue to have the same words misspelled. Please…take a minute and check your spelling.

5.      Could you see it in grayscale?

According to colourblindnessaware.org, 8% of men, and 4.5% of the population are colorblind. This means that if you have highlights, words, or graphics in colors that would look like similar shades in grayscale, you are abandoning part of your audience. The people affected will probably never say anything to you about it, but you should still make sure they can see your slides as well as those in your audience who can see color.