Section 06 / 08

Presentations

Most presentation advice is taste. The advice below mostly isn't: it comes from decades of controlled studies on how people actually learn from words and pictures together.

1. 01

   Never read your slides aloud

   When the same words are on screen and in your mouth, the audience reads and listens at once, and comprehension drops. Research calls this the redundancy effect. Slides should carry what speech can't: images, charts, single key phrases. You carry the sentences.

   Richard Mayer · multimedia-learning research

2. 02

   Cut everything that decorates

   Irrelevant stock photos, background flourishes, and “fun” clip-art don't just fail to help. Controlled studies show extraneous material actively hurts learning by competing for limited attention. If an element doesn't carry the point, it's working against it. Empty space is not a problem to fix.

   Richard Mayer · multimedia-learning research

3. 03

   One idea per slide

   People process complex material better in small segments than in one dense wall. A slide with four points is four slides, compressed to the point of uselessness. More slides with less on each is almost always the right trade. Slide count is free; attention isn't.

   Richard Mayer · multimedia-learning research

4. 04

   Design for the back row

   If text is too small to read from the worst seat, it shouldn't be on the slide. Big type also enforces discipline: you physically can't fit a paragraph at 30-point. If a slide needs a paragraph, it's really a document. Send it afterwards.

5. 05

   Black the screen when you talk

   In most presentation software, pressing B during a slideshow blacks the screen. Use it whenever you tell a story or make a point that needs the room's full attention; eyes come back to you instantly. The strongest moment in many slide decks is the moment the slides disappear.

6. 06

   Rehearse with the gear you'll use

   Every unfamiliar element is a place for the talk to wobble: the clicker, the screen, the room, your laptop on the venue's projector. Arrive early, run the first two minutes in the actual room if you can, and have a fallback (a PDF on a USB stick) for when the tech fails. It eventually will.