Pare Presentation Slides
A coaching client recently brought her slide deck for review as we hammered out her message for a major presentation to the executive team—annual update and strategy meeting for her business unit. There peppered between the big themes, accomplishments, goals, and challenges popped up meaningless slides that I call “placeholders.”
Placeholders include slides that say nothing more than “Costs” or “Next Steps” or “Now What?” or “Follow-up Actions” or “Questions?” In other words, they’re the speaker’s notes at transition points for what comes next in the presentation. If you add them to your slideshow to remind yourself what to do next during your practice, fine. Just make sure to hide those slides so that the audience never sees them during the real event.
But placeholders aren’t the only meaningless slides that clutter presentations. In our presentation skills training programs, it’s common to see presenters on the first go-around with enough slides to kill any presentation.
You may want to use the following checklist to cull the unnecessary:
- Is the slide an actual visual representation of your concept—or just text?
- Does the chart, bulleted text, or image emphasize the trivial or irrelevant?
- Can you include this tidbit of information in another graphic without cluttering it?
- Does the graphic convey the idea better than your words alone?
- Does the slide make the concept quicker, clearer, or easier to understand?
- Does the graphic add impact—or just duplicate what you’ve said?
Make the slides you use memorable. Then consider all that time saved in building meaningless charts that you can now use to improve your delivery.
 Looking to upgrade your presentation slides? We’re often asked who we recommend to create or polish presentation slides.
Our answer? ProPoint Graphics. Let ProPoint Graphics help you create the perfect presentation. Get their free template pack and presenter’s guide when you request a no-obligation estimate.
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