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Polish the delivery · Lesson 10 of 11

Slides That Help: Simple Rules for Clear Presentations

Learn simple rules for slides that support your talk: one point per slide, sentence headlines, key words, short lists, one highlight colour and readable text.

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THE WRITTEN LESSONFollow along at your pace

A slide should help people follow your talk, not compete with you for their attention. This lesson gives you a few simple rules you can apply to any slide, with no design skills needed.

Attention is small

People can only hold a little in mind at once. While they listen to you, everything on a slide competes for that space. In one check of 140 slideshows, every single one broke at least one basic rule. The fault people found most annoying was a main point buried under detail.

A crowded slide with a long headline, six bullets, a small chart and four icons, marked Main point buried. Beside it a worried face with a thought bubble full of text lines and the words Room for only a little. A bar reads 140 slideshows, every one broke a rule.(opens the full-size picture)
A crowded slide hides its point.

One point, one sentence

Give each slide one point, and make the headline say it in a full sentence. Instead of “Q3 results”, write “Sales grew in every region except the north”. Now people get the message even with a quick glance, and your talk adds the detail.

A slide where the headline Q3 results is crossed out and replaced by Sales grew in every region except the north. Under it a bar chart shows West, East and South in green and North in red. Side notes read One point per slide, Headline is a sentence and Clear at a quick glance.(opens the full-size picture)
The sentence headline tells people what to see in the chart.

Key words, not script

Show key words, not your script. If the slide repeats everything you say, people read ahead instead of listening. A few words, like “travel down”, “hiring up” and “net flat”, are enough. With a good chart, talk about it instead of adding text.

Left, a paragraph of small text crossed out in red, marked Slide repeats your script. Right, three short lines, Travel down in red, Hiring up in green and Net flat in purple, marked A few key words. A bar reads Good chart? Talk about it.(opens the full-size picture)
Three key words beat a paragraph.

Short lists and labels

Keep lists short. A useful rule of thumb is no more than four bullets, and no more than two lines each. It is a rule of thumb, not a law, so treat it as a starting point. Show each bullet as you reach it, not the whole list at once. And put labels right on the chart, not in a legend far away.

A slide titled Our plan with four ticked bullets: Cut costs, Hire two people, Launch in May, Train the team. Beside it a line chart with Sales and Costs labelled right on the lines, and a crossed-out far-away legend. Notes read Max 4 bullets, Max 2 lines each and Labels right on the chart.(opens the full-size picture)
Four short bullets, and labels placed on the lines.

Point the eye

Point the eye to what matters. Use one highlight colour, and keep the rest grey. Cut pictures that are only decoration, like a handshake photo or a logo on every slide. Interesting but unrelated pictures pull attention away from your point.

A bar chart titled Sales by team with four grey bars and one gold bar, marked One highlight colour. Two crossed-out cards, Handshake photo, Only decoration, and Repeated logo, Same square again. A note reads Unrelated pictures pull attention.(opens the full-size picture)
One gold bar in a grey chart shows where to look.

Readable from the back

Make it readable from the back of the room. As a rough rule, keep text at 20 points or larger, with strong contrast. Here is a quick test: shrink your slides on a laptop screen, and see what you can still read. If it disappears, it is too small for the back row.

A room of audience heads facing a screen, with one person in the back row highlighted and an eye looking at the slide. Notes read 20 pt or larger and Strong contrast. A laptop with a magnifier is labelled Shrink test, See what you can still read.(opens the full-size picture)
Shrink your slides on a laptop and see what survives.

YOUR TURN

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Read the full lesson script

In this lesson, you'll learn a few simple rules for slides that help your talk, instead of competing with it.

People can only hold a little in mind at once. While they listen to you, everything on a slide competes for that space. In one check of a hundred and forty slideshows, every single one broke at least one basic rule. The fault people found most annoying was a main point buried under detail.

So give each slide one point, and make the headline say it in a full sentence. Instead of, third quarter results, write, sales grew in every region except the north. Now people get the message, even with a quick glance.

Show key words, not your script. If the slide repeats everything you say, people read ahead instead of listening. A few words, like travel down, hiring up, net flat, are enough. With a good chart, talk about it instead of adding text.

Keep lists short. A useful rule of thumb is no more than four bullets, and no more than two lines each. Show each bullet as you reach it, not the whole list at once. And put labels right on the chart, not in a legend far away.

Point the eye to what matters. Use one highlight colour, and keep the rest grey. Cut pictures that are only decoration, like a handshake photo or a logo on every slide. Interesting but unrelated pictures pull attention away from your point.

Make it readable from the back of the room. As a rough rule, keep text at twenty points or larger, with strong contrast. Here's a quick test. Shrink your slides on a laptop screen, and see what you can still read.

So remember: one point per slide, with the headline as a sentence. Show key words, not your script. And use one highlight colour. Before the next lesson, rewrite the headline of one slide as a full sentence. Next, in the last lesson, you'll learn when fear needs more than practice, and you'll make your speaking plan.