1. Approaching the design of a slide can seem daunting. Effective slide design hinges on mastery of three things: arrangement (contrast, hierarchy, unity, space and proximity), visual elements (background color, text and images), and movement (timing, pace, distance, direction and eye flow).
2. When your presentation is over, you want the audience to walk away understanding their mission. If you don’t intentionally provide that message, the audience will create meaning based on their own interpretation of the information. Make sure that you’ve presented the graphical hierarchy of your message accurately.
3. Design is not solely about making things aesthetically pleasing, although that is part of it. Design, at its core, is about solving problems. And whatever that problem is—from squeezing oranges to running faster to communicating effectively—designers strive to help users solve their dilemma in the most convenient, simple, and elegant way. Essentially, designers focus on the experience, making it as beautiful and memorable as possible. Every decision a designer makes is intentional. Reason and logic underpin the placement of visual elements. Meaning underscores the order and hierarchy of ideas.
4. Quite possibly, how slides are arranged has the most impact on whether a slide’s message is visually clear. Arrangement tells a story. Based on the arrangement decisions a designer makes, a slide can prompt feelings of tension, confusion, and agitation.
5. Audiences need contrast. Viewers immediately perceive the difference between the attributes of two or more things, and this focuses their attention. There are many ways to create contrast on a slide.
6. Slides begin and end with ideas. It’s your job to take these invisible, abstract ideas and determine how they can be best represented in a tangible, visual form. It’s the presenter’s responsibility to ensure that the audience is guided through this invisible world by making ideas easy to decode. Many presenters don’t understand arrangement as a principle. They will put everything on one slide and assign them equal value. It is critical to determine which visual elements should have prominence so they attract attention first.
7. When your cause depends on empathy to move people to act, using the most compelling images is important. Using photos that are raw and real will motivate an audience to become involved. Dig through as many images as necessary to find the ones that elicit an emotional response.
8. Bullet points aren’t mandatory in a presentation; they’re only one option for displaying text. Statistics have more impact because they’re expressed separately and large statements, rather than competing with other content on the slide.
9. A common theme is the idea of simplicity, so it should come as no surprise that simplicity is important when displaying data for projection. In fact, simplicity is more important when displaying data, since the data itself can often confuse the viewer. It’s equally critical to keep your data slides free of unnecessary clutter.
10. Sometimes though, the best chart is no chart at all. If you only have one key message for your slide or the big message is just a number, why bother putting it in a chart? You could possibly increase the impact of your slide by eliminating the chart altogether.
11. To communicate your data effectively, you first must articulate the conclusions you want your audience to adopt. Begin by asking yourself, “What would I like them to remember about this data?”
12. Telling the Truth: As a presenter, nothing commands like credibility. This is especially true when it comes to presenting data. Though it’s unlikely that all the data can be clearly depicted on a single slide, successful presenters treat the data they do show with absolute integrity. Additionally, be prepared to provide access to the complete data set, if requested, and be ready to answer questions about your conclusions.
13. Adobe’s presentations rely on an underlying 5x5 grid to determine the placement of text, imagery, and objects. Though the shapes and sizes of elements vary, the regularity of layouts produces a sense of structure and solidity. Additionally, leaving the top and bottom channels empty creates a more cinematic feeling while providing space for titles and similar information.
14. When your presentation is over, you want the audience to walk away understanding their mission. If you don’t intentionally provide that message, the audience will create meaning based on their own interpretation of the information. Make sure that you’ve presented the graphical hierarchy of your message accurately.
15. To create maximum impact, designers considered the type of information being conveyed, and applied one of three techniques to it:
a. Illustrate Statistics: People’s retention of data increases when they can “see the numbers.” Various icons bring the information to life.
b. Isolate Text: Slides crowded with lengthy bullet points seldom communicate effectively. Pace the information by spreading it across multiple slides to increase its impact.
c. Employ Actual Photos: Stock imagery often fails because it lacks content. Real photos may not always be easy to look at, but they possess credibility and import that staged images do not.
16. There’s one specific theme you need to keep at the forefront of your mind—consistency. Choose element styles and then stick with them. These elements actually become visual triggers of your brand. Whether your brand is just you or a major corporation, pick elements that you feel will resonate with your audience, and then stay consistent.
17. Color is crucial to your presentation. It sets a tone and helps establish what the audience will expect. It helps communicate what type of journey you will be taking them on. Is it an exciting journey or a serious or dangerous one? Pick colors that properly represent you, your organization, and your stance.
18. If you choose to use animation, it should look natural and alive. If you choose to use animation, it should look natural and alive.
19. Slow moving animation (the Ken Burns type) can help create a feeling of nostalgia or even the passage of time. Fast-moving animation (quick cuts) can help create a sense of excitement, energy, or surprise.
20. Think through your presentation as a movie that moves from scene to scene instead as individual snapshots that progress one at a time.
21. Collaborating with others almost always yields a stronger result.
22. Just because an animation feature is in an application doesn’t mean you have to use it.
23. Use a template that is timeless so that you won’t tire of it easily. If built well, it can remain in circulation for years.
24. When using a template, start with the branded walk-in and transition screens first. A branded walk-in screen is the visual that’s displayed while the audience enters the room and will be the first impression they have of you. So don’t just go with the first and most obvious design decisions. Explore a bit to make sure it’s just right.
25. Possibly the biggest issue facing presenters is that they don’t take the time to rehearse. Think about what a performance would be like if the actors skimmed through the play the night before: it would bomb. Actors spend hours memorizing their scripts and hours more practicing their delivery. That’s why they’re effective.
26. Practice presenting with your slides a few times. Then, highlight only one keyword per bullet point. Practice delivering those slides again, but focus only on the highlighted word. The other words will still be there, so you can refer to them if needed. Once you can deliver the slides from the keywords, remove all the words on the slides except for the keywords and present from that. Ideally, replace that word with an image when possible.
27. Great presenters connect with their audience, speak naturally, and allow the slides to enhance their story.
28. As you know, if you pause during your presentation, it creates more drama and meaning, and reinforces what you have to say.
29. When in slide show mode, press the B key to turn your screen to black so that focus is on the speaker. Alternatively, press the W key for an all white slide.
30. Use fewer slides. You don’t need a ton of slides to create a memorable presentation.
31. Presentations are a wonderful medium to express your passion. You get to be human and connect with an audience emotionally and analytically.
32.
Source: Silde:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations, by Nancy Durarte.
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