Make a pass in a text plus#

Here’s an “after” slide to illustrate:Īnother way to help people process your visuals more quickly: Think like a designer when you arrange slide elements. You’ll reinforce your message and make it easier for people to get what you’re saying. Instead, streamline the text and incorporate simple visual elements (and save teleprompter text for the “notes” field, which the audience can’t see). It’s functioning like a teleprompter - which may help you remember what to cover but won’t make it easier for the audience to digest it. It fails the glance test because it’s packed with text. Illustrations should be done in the same style.Ĭonsider the “before” slide below. Photos should be taken by the same photographer or look as if they are.

Make a pass in a text plus#

Use the same color palette throughout (limit yourself to three complementary colors, plus a couple of neutral shades, like gray and pale blue). It’s also important to stick to a consistent visual style in your slide deck. Scale the type as large as possible so the people in the back of the room can see it. So when adding elements to your slides, have a good reason: Does the audience need to see your logo on each slide to remember who you work for? Does that blue swoosh add meaning? If not, leave it off.

They overtax the audience’s cognitive resources. Lots of extras actually take away meaning because they become a distraction. Research shows that people learn more effectively from multimedia messages when they’re stripped of extraneous words, graphics, animation, and sounds.