These five tweaks will move your slides from meh to great
Far too many amazing professionals (gifted in so many things) skipped the class (or never knew to take the class) on creating thoughtful, spacious slides. I know because I now help many with this very skill as an executive communications coach.
In this week’s post, part of a series, I’m sharing five quick tweaks to your slides which not only become a delight to view, they guide you better. They take a fraction of the normal time to build, too. I’m using as fodder the biggest mistakes I see in the slides of many to co-create with you a magical winning strategy towards building memorable, clear, and compelling slides.
Keep things short.
For a fifteen minute presentation, you need no more than five slides, including the title page. Radical? Permit me to persuade you on less being more. Fewer slides help you:
- Retain your audience because you train your mind to…
- Speak to vs. read the slides, which improves your vocal variety (meaning: you’re less monotone) and helps you riff on things you know well
- Stay concise and open things up more for conversation, which is what most people in the audience need and want, especially the C-suite (who, by the way, tell me they’re tired of ‘being presented to’)
- Signal: I know your time’s short; therefore, I keep these slides lean so we can chat on blockers, curious questions, and strategy on what’s next. In essence, short slides help you seem chic, sophisticated, and super respectful of everyone’s time. You also seem more ‘expert.’
Use bigger font and cram less in
Often we cram so much in to show what we know. Big mistake. Speak to what you know and show what you know through your well-preempted answers to Q&A. Some best practices? Each slide ought to:
- contain no more than 3–5 bullets
- use size 16 font for your slide content and size 18–24 for your titles
- bring the conversation forward. Often presenters duplicate similar or exact ideas over and over. Resist.
- edit ruthlessly. I share my method here.
Go for 50–50 visual with text
Knowing that the average human mind cannot absorb more than 8 consecutive letters, we must trust that our context-switching audience cannot stay anchored if we bombard them with too much text.
Create space and visual reminders that humanize your topic. One slide alone can be a photograph which either showcases the people behind your work topic or becomes a metaphor that helps you drive a point home.
Do graphs and tables count as visuals? Yes! But make sure you vary your visuals. A slide deck where tables are the only visual becomes dull.
Use your appendix strategically
Knowing that the ad hoc questions are what often throw us off the most, experts I’ve had the pleasure of coaching or partnering with remind us that the appendix can become the place to store the facts and data that counter any skepticism or doubt from your audience.
Sales experts, who must get super crisp with their pitches, can teach us tips which serve us in business. For instance, keep the intro and pitch presentation super short (five minutes) and use the remaining time to counter the stakeholder’s questions. The appendix becomes a storage space to store slides which answer any question we know the audience will hit us with.
Resist cramming too much into the appendix, which again signals nervousness and lack of confidence. Cherry pick the main topics which you think may elicit a no vs. a yes. Bring in one slide per counter vs. a series of redundant, repetitive, or duplicate slides.
Fix your titles
I’ve always taken a journalistic approach to slide titles, headings, and subheadings and leave that corporate mambo jambo language at the door. Why? Because the titles, headings, and subheadings become our guide posts. Just like a hiker on a hiking trail gets confused or lost with poor sign postings, so do we as the presenter.
Our audience, who’s likely feigning sleep or zoning out, also feels bearing-less if we don’t guide them well. My goal: If my audience zones out, when they zone back in, the slide title ought to help them re-situate. If they stay lost, then that’s on me for not making each slide clear on what we’re discussing and what’s at stake.
Here’s what I see going wrong in many slides through the lens of titles and headings:
- Too vague
- Too sparse
- Too jargon-y
- Too safe and boring
My counter? Go for specifics. Keep the grammar consistent (use active verbs if you can to drive action). Add in some words (but keep each title to 2–7 words if you can) Ensure each slide says something new. Some examples follow.
- “The problem” might become: “Our problem with our product launch” or, “our problematic product launch”
- “Solutions” might become: “Five counters to our flawed launch”
- “Stakeholder analysis” can sound more compelling with this kind of edit: “What our stakeholders say” or, “why our stakeholders love (or disregard) us”
- “Active Listening. A workshop” might become: “Listen in ways where your audience feels truly heard”
I’ve a lot more to say here including the need and want to replace most corporate language with relatable layperson speak. I’ve an entire theory on what can live in your title page. But hopefully with this first sharing, you’ve a few tools to play with as you design your slides. Like this piece but have ideas on moving my musings from good to great? Write to me at hangingrockmedia@gmail.com or chat me on LinkedIn. Good luck and go forth with your next compelling slide creation.
Debbi Gardiner McCullough coaches and trains foreign-born leaders to become more confident, concise, and mentally fit communicators. From Wisconsin, she owns and runs Hanging Rock Coaching and coaches worldwide with BetterUp.