Keep the Design Simple

Presentation aids that contain too much information or appear overly complex will quickly overwhelm the audience. On average, audience members have thirty seconds or less to view an aid, so focus on designing the aids simply and using text sparingly.

Assign Each Point a Separate Slide

Present one major idea per slide, and use a sequential layout of separate slides to cover a series of points or ideas. Follow the six-by-six rule to minimize the number of words you use in each presentation aid—use no more than six words in a line and six lines on one slide. This way the audience will spend less time reading the aid and more time listening to you.

Word Slides in the Active Voice

Word your text in active verb form and parallel grammatical structure (see Chapter 16 on language). For example, an informative speech on the process of registering to vote could include a slide labeled “Gather Necessary Documents.” Note in Figure 21.1 the differences between a first draft and a final slide. The first slide shows a lack of parallel structure, with dissimilar grammatical and stylistic construction, the wordy use of full sentences, and the passive construction in point 3 (“It is recommended that . . . ”). In the final slide, the speaker poses each point in the active rather than passive form (“Shop around” instead of “It is recommended that . . . ”). All points are short, crisp phrases containing no more than six lines on a slide.

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FIGURE 21.1 Cluttered versus Easy-to-Read Presentation Aid

Avoid Clutter

Use graphics and text sparingly. Certain kinds of information—especially statistical data and sequences of action—are best understood through visual reasoning. However, try to avoid what design expert Edward Tufte coined “chartjunk”—slides jammed with too many graphs, charts, and other meaningless design elements that obscure rather than illuminate information. Tufte advises using as few slides as possible and only those design elements that truly enhance meaning.2