16 Slide Decks and Visual Aids
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Presentation Slide Decks
Your slide deck is a crucial element of an effective presentation. It’s important to distinguish between a takeaway deck and a presentation deck. A takeaway deck is designed for those who aren’t present during your presentation and needs to include more text to fill in the gaps that the speaker would normally cover. In contrast, a presentation deck is meant to complement your spoken works using visuals and concise text to enhance your message. This chapter focuses on creating compelling presentation decks that engage your audience and support your delivery.
Here are 10 principles to keep in mind as you plan your slide deck:
1. Create a Strong First Impression.
Your title slide is the first thing your audience will see, so make sure it captures the mood and overall theme of your presentation. Following the title slide, include a “meet the team” slide introducing the team with headshots, names, and roles The final component of your introductory slides should be a preview slide that outlines topics you will cover in the presentation. This helps set the expectations of what your audience can expect to hear. Aim to keep the preview slide to 3-5 topic chunks.
2. Keep it Consistent.
To help:
- Consider your audience’s brand and align your design with their brand standards.
- Consider mood you want to create and choose colors that reinforce this.
- Choose no more than 2 fonts
- As a whole your slide deck should feel like a cohesive unit
3. Take Advantage of Company Logo and Branding.
4. Create Meaningful Headlines.
- Avoid creating headlines to your slide that are simply descriptive. Instead, strong headlines are ones that:
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- Present a Gentle Command
- Ask a Question
- State a Claim
- In general, keep headlines to a maximum of two lines of text.
5. You Slide deck Should Tell a Coherent Story
- You should storyboard or outline BEFORE building your slides. If one were to read only the headlines of your slides they should be able to clearly understand the story of your presentation. If not, keep editing.
6. Avoid Overwhelming the Audience with Visual Noise
- You want your audience to focus primarily on what you are verbally sharing with slides reinforcing your message. To minimize distraction and keep focus:
- Limit the use of bullet points
- Audiences will read instead of listening to you if you include too much text
- Make sure text and images are readable from a distance
- A good starting place is 28-point font for non-reference text.
- Limit yourself to one idea per slide.
- Opt to create a different slide if you have another idea to share.
- Minimize animations.
- Only use animations when they add value to your presentation.
- Limit the use of bullet points
7. Everything on your Slide should have a Purpose.
- Everything in the body of the slide should support and reinforce the headline.
- Make sure charts and graphs are directly labeled and easy to read
- Only use high quality images.
- Limit elements that are merely decorative.
8. Tailor the Number of Slides to the Length of the Presentation
- A general rule of thumb is to use one slide per minute of a presentation.
9. Finish with Impact and Prepare for the Q&A
- Provide a succinct recap slide that refreshes the audience’s memory of what was covered and reinforces your message. If the presentation is persuasive in nature, provide a clear call to action. If you are presenting to an external client, include your contact information. If you are holding a Q&A after the presentation, be sure to prepare several slides and create quick links to slides within your presentation.
10. Ensure your Slides Meet the Needs of your Audience.
Citations
Fundamentals of Slide Design | Harvard Catalyst.” Harvard Catalyst. Web. 9 Feb 2025. <http://writingcenter.catalyst.harvard.edu/fundamentals-slide-design>
Storytelling with Data.
Strategies for Effective Business Presentations.
