I always feel obligated to reword so it doesn’t seem like I’m reading off the slide. But then people are reading the slide and listening at the same time and I’m not sure it’s better.
If the slide has all the information, then it’s a poor slide deck.
The slides are supposed to be an outline. The rule of thumb is max seven lines and max seven words per line.
Here’s a couple examples.
Good slide:
Revenue: -10% vs Estimate
Industry trends
Low demand for new products
Strong demand for XYZ
Also good slide, depending on who you’re presenting to:
Revenue: -10% vs Estimate
Industry: -3%
New products: -30%
XYZ: +4%
Bad slide:
Revenue is 10% below estimate
Industry has seen a 3% drop in sales
New products ABC and MNO have had a 30% lower demand than we expected
Product XYZ has higher demand than anticipated with sales 4% higher than estimate
All the extra information on the bad slide can be delivered by the presenter. It’s not necessary on the slide. The slide is for people to glance at to assist them during and after the presentation and to help them anchor themselves in the discussion.
I like your examples, you really capture how the definition of a “good” slide is context and audience dependent, and yet despite this, a “bad” slide is something that can be understood fairly objectively.
I always feel obligated to reword so it doesn’t seem like I’m reading off the slide. But then people are reading the slide and listening at the same time and I’m not sure it’s better.
If the slide has all the information, then it’s a poor slide deck.
The slides are supposed to be an outline. The rule of thumb is max seven lines and max seven words per line.
Here’s a couple examples.
Good slide:
Also good slide, depending on who you’re presenting to:
Bad slide:
All the extra information on the bad slide can be delivered by the presenter. It’s not necessary on the slide. The slide is for people to glance at to assist them during and after the presentation and to help them anchor themselves in the discussion.
I like your examples, you really capture how the definition of a “good” slide is context and audience dependent, and yet despite this, a “bad” slide is something that can be understood fairly objectively.