The next time you’re putting together a set of slides for your presentation, ask yourself, “Do I really need this?” Then, an all likelihood, stop making slides.
Photo by Betsy Weber.
As business blog Inc. points out, more often than not, a set of slides doesn’t really add that much to your presentation. While it might feel more structured to have a script, those slides can become a hindrance if you rely on them too much. Most of the time, your listeners don’t need to see your script. They just need you to read from it:
Come on, you know you hate them. Slide decks almost never convey anything useful. If you have graphics that really, really illustrate what you’re saying, then maybe you can add a few slides. But you’re better off not bothering, because otherwise your audience will fall asleep.
The one key exception that Inc. notes is if the slides you’re including have information that is best conveyed visually. A graph, chart, or photograph is something that you can’t adequately explain in a few words, so it might be better to show, not tell. However, if your slides are just bulleted lists of your notes, leave them on the page and just say what you want to say.
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Comments
One response to “Skip The Slides For Your Next Presentation”
that’s good
That’s not good! What about those who are deaf and need some indication of what’s being talked about? Although there is one thing that is possibly worse for the deaf than no slides at all. And that’s image slides which are a metaphor for what’s being talked about. Seems to be a bit of a trend for that kind of slide in presentations.
Bh is right. As a hearing impaired person I much appreciate a talk with slides and the actual points of the talk not just teasers. The speaker should just amplify the slides. Most of us can read and we keep reading the points whilst the speaker talks around the points. So we are more likely to grasp the meaning.