8 ms·

Presentation Rules

121 points by ojilles 6y ago

pstuart 6y ago
Nice! Bookmarking. 2 typos: Rule 10 ("it's" s/b "its") and 14 ("marke" s/b "mark"). Brings back memories of this: https://guykawasaki.com/the-only-10-slides-you-need-in-your-pitch/ https://guykawasaki.com/the-only-10-slides-you-need-in-your-...
- ojilles 6y ago
  Thanks for the feedback -- I really should've edited before publishing at 1am!
  - pstuart 6y ago
    No worries here.
jfim 6y ago
> One way that works well in most situations is to divide the story arc up in Situation, Complication and Solution. [...] I believe the structure was first created, or popularized by McKinsey, who depending on your views, have a core business of turning slides into billion dollar revenue streams. It's actually the Hegelian dialectic triad (thesis-antithesis-synthesis) from the late 1700s [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesis,_antithesis,_synthesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesis,_antithesis,_synthesis
- Havoc 6y ago
  Much better. Thought that "Complication" part was out of place
- ojilles 6y ago
  TIL! Awesome, going to read up on that. I’ve found the “situation” part to be really powerful in my experience. Starting off with an important/relevant ground truth is highly effective.
- toyg 6y ago
  Which, among other things, is the basis of Marx’s approach to history. So much of modernity is Hegelian in nature.
jletts 6y ago
Great post!
nojito 6y ago
If you find yourself making presentations, buy this book and you will wow everyone. https://www.amazon.com/slide-ology-Science-Creating-Presentations/dp/0596522347 https://www.amazon.com/slide-ology-Science-Creating-Presenta...
colmmacc 6y ago
Don't use slide presentations for business meetings. Ever. Write a document or a memo instead. Every time. Slides are ok as a backdrop for a talk, as long as that talk works as its own cohesive narrative. Slides are also ok as a last resort if it is what the audience demands. A sales meeting with people who expect slides. Or a pitch with investors too ignorant or lazy to demand the precision of a document instead. But in general; a document will be much much better. This guide references Tufte's, whose own advice is to write docs.
- sokoloff 6y ago
  I'm strongly in agreement with this, presuming that you have the facts and thinking on "your" side. If you're trying to sell air or otherwise have unavoidably the skinny side of the facts, you are probably better off taking your chances with a flashy presentation than a long-form document (which is much more likely to expose the flaws in your thinking). As the old aphorism goes: If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither on your side, pound the table.
- F_J_H 6y ago
  I see this differently. If I go to a "business meeting" and someone has not taken the time to summarize their message in a succinct presentation, and instead hands me a document, I'd "nope" out of there. "...too ignorant or lazy to demand the precision of a document instead" Wow. What a statement. How about time constrained? "I didn't have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one instead" -Mark Twain
  - kqr 6y ago
    The problem is that presentations are not just short documents. I think GP would be fine with a short document. A presentation is a sequence of slides, along with which comes many issues that prevent critical thought, such as the lack of random access, the lowered bar of evidence, and so on. You can convince anyone of anything as long as you craft your slide deck deviously to hide the lack of evidence and internal inconsistencies. That is much harder with a document, even if it is short.
jzwinck 6y ago
The first image, of people having a meeting, is stolen. It has a link saying "Image Attribution" (which should really say the name of the attributee) which goes to the Flickr account of some random portrait photographer who doesn't seem to specialize in anodyne stock photos at all. Here's the BBC attributing the very same image in 2015: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-34666150 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-34666150 Here's what Getty charges for this image ($55 and up): https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/successful-business-meeting-royalty-free-image/78806323 https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/successful-business... There is even a comment from three years ago on the Flickr page saying the file has Corbis copyright embedded and asking if it's original. How do I know these things? TinEye: https://tineye.com/search/ce7668fe2986a90a93d5fda4d1c90c8ee6617585?page=1&sort=score&order=desc https://tineye.com/search/ce7668fe2986a90a93d5fda4d1c90c8ee6... It's very frustrating for hard working stock photographers who already only get 20% of the sale price to see Flickr enabling copyright violations by displaying images as Creative Commons when an algorithmic search of the two most popular stock photo sites shows it is not original.
- jt2190 6y ago
  Hire a lawyer who specializes in IP. Years ago I knew a pro photographer who loved getting ripped off, because he made more money than if he’d licensed his images. How? He just had his lawyer send a friendly letter to the offending party.
- glenngillen 6y ago
  The embedded Corbis watermark is an issue. That said the fact Getty is selling an image isn’t proof in itself that can not be freely used. They regularly “license” works that have made freely available by the creators.
- ekianjo 6y ago
  Your tineye link returns nothing.
  - jzwinck 6y ago
    Sorry, TinEye links expire very quickly! Rather than posting another link which will expire again, I'll just give you the direct link to the image from Flickr: https://live.staticflickr.com/5519/14565350736_09ac87154b_o_d.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/5519/14565350736_09ac87154b_o_... - put that into TinEye and you should see 600+ results, some dating to 2013, a year before it was uploaded to Flickr. Even better, put that URL into http://exif.regex.info/exif.cgi http://exif.regex.info/exif.cgi to view the metadata, and behold: Headline: Successful Business Meeting Caption: Successful Business Meeting --- Image by © Corbis By Line: Colorblind Credit: © Corbis Copyright: © Corbis. All Rights Reserved. Corbis was acquired by Getty in 2016, which explains why it's for sale on Getty now.
gav 6y ago
The only two rules that I think matter are: 1) make the presentation interesting to sit through 2) have something that you are convincing the audience to do, you should be telling them to "do X" not just tell them "about X". Whether you have page numbers (I don't) or builds (I do) or executive summaries (I don't) is not going to meaningfully add to the chances of your presentation landing. Structure is key. The "Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em; then tell ’em; then tell ’em what you told ’em"[1] method works well. The Duarte Method's[2] "Big Idea"[3] is a good approach: > A big idea is that one key message you want to communicate. It contains the impetus that compels the audience to set a new course with a new compass heading. Presentations without a key message are just somebody standing there and talking at you. [1] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/08/15/tell-em/ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/08/15/tell-em/ [2] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470632011 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470632011 [3] https://www.duarte.com/presentation-ideas/ https://www.duarte.com/presentation-ideas/
- moreati 6y ago
  What is a build? Another word for an animation? Web searches just throw up guides to making a presentation. Edit: Found it. A build is a type of animation that builds up a slide in multiple steps, e.g. revealing steps of a flow in sequence https://www.techrepublic.com/article/creating-animated-build-slides-in-powerpoint-2002/ https://www.techrepublic.com/article/creating-animated-build...
  - WWWWH 6y ago
    It’s jargon. I think of it as animations are a subset of builds.
  - gav 6y ago
    Builds are ways of trying to avoid the audience reading ahead and getting to the conclusion before you've told the story yourself. For example, if you were explaining your business plan that had three steps: Phase 1: Collect underpants Phase 2: ? Phase 3: Profit Your audience isn't going to be giving you their full attention while you walk them through Phase 1, because they've trying to understand the whole process think through it themselves. Instead a build would use animations or duplicated slides to present this flow: Phase 1: Collect underpants. (click) Phase 2: ? (click) Phase 3: Profit Now you are controlling the visibility of each step. It's very quick to author: create one slide, duplicate it twice, delete content off those two slides. The slides should be there to reinforce your point. You shouldn't be showing a slide and then reading over the content. It's one reason that some of my decks have a lot of slides, some may only be shown for 5-15 seconds.
grawprog 6y ago
That's all pretty solid advice. One thing that was always repeated to us over and over again was: 'Tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them' As in, make sure you give a clear summary at both the beginning and the end of the presentation. Most people have short attention spans and tend to best remember the beginning and end of things. Make sure you've repeated the main points of your presentation at both the beginning and end to ensure maximum retention.
- Bjartr 6y ago
  Nice work following your own advice.
  - grawprog 6y ago
    I always try to lead through example.
opdahl 6y ago
I find it ironic that a post teaching people how to present information properly is filled with typos, which is the number one sin in presentations.
- macintux 6y ago
  I was annoyed by this as well, but the author appears to not be a native English speaker, so I withdrew my objections. Much better job than I’d do in German, which is the only other language I know to any degree.
  - ojilles 6y ago
    Author here: late night writing, wanted to push it out. Was expecting it to be ignored completely on the internet. Editing today — real good feedback here. Thanks!
nzealand 6y ago
A few random thoughts - Always ask for a copy of a good presentation. You can reuse any visually compelling elements. - Start with a personal story or an interactive set of questions. - Think about who your audience is, and why they care. What is in this presentation for them? - If critical stakeholders are going to review your slides offline, as painful as it is, consider putting all your talking points in the slide and just reading from the deck. - Smile. Make eye contact. Be excited by what you have to say. Pause... for dramatic effect. Use your hands. Use your hands more.
- kqr 6y ago
  > Always ask for a copy of a good presentation. You can reuse any visually compelling elements. Highly unlikely. Unless you also ask for a licence to use them in the specific ways you desire.
loughnane 6y ago
One piece of advice I’ve got a lot of mileage out of is that the title of a graph should be the conclusion. So instead of “tire wear vs miles driven” it should say “tire wear increases with miles driven” It saves people, especially non-technical ones, from having to read axes, look at the lines, and come to a conclusion while listening to you talk.
- mcherm 6y ago
  Now, that's a NEW piece of advice I haven't heard before. Thanks!
- rubatuga 6y ago
  Also, this applies not only to graphs, but any “findings” slides or section of a research presentation.
- ojilles 6y ago
  Going to add that to the article; been struggling with this one. I have been seeing multiple different approaches for titles that seem to work.
  - loughnane 6y ago
    It really fels like a cheat code. Once you start to notice it you'll see it everywhere in newspapers, etc.
Havoc 6y ago
Very good. All of that makes sense to me. Well almost Can't make heads or tails out of point 12 though. Who's including homework (??) in slides and making some assumption about it? Very "failed to communicate" meta.
- ResearchAtPlay 6y ago
  I believe point 12 advises to avoid slides that try to impress by obscure complexity. An offending example might be a slide showing complicated equations that remain unexplained by the presenter. I've observed many presentations where such slides are introduced as "this is the equation used to derive value X from earlier, but I am just going to move on to the next slide..." edit: format
protomyth 6y ago
Don't use sayings, cute phrases, or non-industry jargon. Plain, simple business text works better and you don't run into a possible offensive phrase. Unless you know every phrase that might be offensive, then don't risk it. If you cannot be a compelling writer with just basic language then get help. That's how you learn. On that note, some organizations (e.g. The US Government) have cycles where words go from good, clued in meanings to bad, evil, outsider meanings. I realize this sounds like some high school clique stuff, but its so damn true. Its actually worse because there are many, many departments, and I'm sure many organizations have their own things. I had an aunt who was a grant writer and kept up with these things by volunteering to be a reader every so often. It kept her in touch with the trends. Now, you can follow other companies / governments social media accounts, request for proposals, and press releases for the phrasing you should use when presenting to them. These days, unless it is organization photos, I really try to not have any people in my slides. I just don't think its worth it because you will offend someone. It might seem paranoid, but I really believe social media makes a lot of people from all sides overanalyze everything.
- tekdude 6y ago
  > On that note, some organizations (e.g. The US Government) have cycles where words go from good, clued in meanings to bad, evil, outsider meanings. Quick anecdote: I remember the day when "Information Assurance" was out and "Cybersecurity" was in. Took a few years for it to fully propogate in policies and org names... but it did. They don't even really have the same meaning, but nevertheless... we all had to Find-and-Replace.
  - ojilles 6y ago
    I have seen this in the corporate environment just as much. It becomes somewhat clear after senior leadership changes: after a few months you will hear others use words that were previously only used by the new incoming leader. It's not necessarily linked to what is "hot" right now. For example, I have observed German colleagues copy Italian phrasing in english.
    - 6y ago
petejames 6y ago
Demos work best for most things software. Avoid business presentations where possible.
- swsieber 6y ago
  Pre-recorded demos are the best.
nemetroid 6y ago
> Minimum font size 14pt or 25px. Is this a typo? Most guides will suggest 24 pt as a baseline, and maybe 20 pt as minimum. 14 pt is really small for a presentation.
- ojilles 6y ago
  Fixed, thank you!
Mouse47 6y ago
First sentence: "Invariably my work requires to create and consume various presentations of differing nature." Does anyone else find this style of writing unbearably pompous?
- jedwards1211 6y ago
  It sounds like a non-native speaker to me, I wouldn't even be surprised if this is Google translate output
  - hliyan 6y ago
    I'm a non-native speak and I too find myself writing like this on occasion. Would love to know what about it rubs readers the wrong way.
    - rubatuga 6y ago
      “Invariably” is an uncommon word to be honest. Also “nature” in this context is uncommon as well. Kind of archaic. It’s pompous because it uses a whole bunch of words to say nothing. Use of the active voice instead of passive voice would have helped as well. Add in unnecessary words such as ”ergo”, a frilly web font, and people assume the author just wants to show off.
      - cfqycwz 6y ago
        Yeah--compare an alternate phrasing here, like "I watch and give a lot of presentations at work."
        ojilles 6y ago
        Thanks! https://github.com/ojilles/jilles.net/commit/fe6010fb208905eac1e0656e18bf8b8c7945566b https://github.com/ojilles/jilles.net/commit/fe6010fb208905e... (I do hope I can clear the Google Translate bar of quality. Should have edited before publishing! And taken more of my own advice.)
triggercut 6y ago
Working in consulting, I have a similar list of lessons learned from where I could feel I had lost control of the meeting, or the clients attention, or both. The biggest one I have fits around 9 and 10. No numbers until the end. As in don't show data, tables, (a group of) numbers, graphs etc. until you are ready to cede the floor. As soon as numbers appear, people's brains start analyzing and trying to make sense of what they are seeing, naturally this can/will lead to an inordinate amount of time discussing provenance, methodology and other associated aspects, or silent thinking i.e. not listening to your analysis. Of course this doesn't apply to every type of meeting, but I always ensure I get everything else in up front first. Leave the detail in the back, don't bury the lead.
- SomewhatLikely 6y ago
  I suppose for a meeting where you want to foster discussion this rule tells you to start with a bunch of numbers.
apricot 6y ago
I would add "do not use fancy ligatures or loud typography". I just read the web page and you know what stuck in my mind the most? The fancy R's and K's. Also I kept waiting for a Q.
- ojilles 6y ago
  Wanted to change the typography myself as well, but didn’t want that to be an excuse for not writing. Thanks, the next version of the blog will be simpler!
jkingsbery 6y ago
Most important communication at the company I work for is done through written documents instead of presentations. It's worth giving a try.
- ojilles 6y ago
  I wish this would happen more often, indeed.
hliyan 6y ago
I've another one, especially when dealing with managers who say "can you put this into no more than X slides?" when the subject matter is complex: If you're trying to diagrammatically convey something complex on your slide, make the order of reading obvious. When the information is 2-dimensional, readers will zig-zag across the slide trying to make sense and then give up until you walk them through it. If there is a linear order (numbering, arrows), they'll follow it.
ekianjo 6y ago
> Use fewer words. I'd go even more drastic here, don't use words or only use nothing more than a few words in very very big font. The rest should be just data, visuals helping you to get to your point. And don't make presentations to be hands-out. You can't serve both purposes at the same time.
gorgoiler 6y ago
Providing the deck as a memo is so refreshing. Lockdown meetings have taught me to compress presentation to 25 minutes total per week, across my group’s three regular meetings. It’s fantastic because it obviously helps focus the presentation, but also because it’s nudged me into providing the presentation as a PDF at the start of each netting, Amazon style, with a five minute period in which to read the document. (This in itself is a nice way of gathering attendees. “Here’s the PDF for the meeting” is much less aggressive than ”friendly reminder we have a meeting rn.”) My only wish would be that AsciiDoctor / PrawnPDF handled PNGs and Pygments faster. 5s is too slow to build a 3 page memo with graphics!
cromulent 6y ago
This is really practical advice. The classic Really Bad Powerpoint by Seth Godin has some conflicting points but is still worth a read if you've never come across it. http://www.wendelberger.com/downloads/ReallyBadPowerpoint.pdf http://www.wendelberger.com/downloads/ReallyBadPowerpoint.pd...
F_J_H 6y ago
Animations and transitions are very easy to abuse for sure, yet I've also seen them used very effectively in delivering a message. (Just was in a data presentation today where, without the animation, would have been very hard to grasp.) So, careful of extremes.
Spearchucker 6y ago
Advice I was given years ago is 7 plus or minus 2. The average person is purportedly able to grok 7 things simultaneously. Some only 5, others 9 hence the plus or minus 2. And so I build my deck with that rule in mind - Never more than 7 slides. Never more than 7 bullets per slide. Never more than 7 words per bullet. Also, if appropriate, I like putting only a single number onto a slide. No title, no explanatory text. An example might be an interest rate. That allows the audience to listen to what I have to say about that data point. Because we either read a slide, or we listen to the presenter - we cannot do both simultaneously.

121 points by ojilles 6y ago

Nice! Bookmarking. 2 typos: Rule 10 ("it's" s/b "its") and 14 ("marke" s/b "mark"). Brings back memories of this: https://guykawasaki.com/the-only-10-slides-you-need-in-your-pitch/ https://guykawasaki.com/the-only-10-slides-you-need-in-your-...

ojilles 6y ago
Thanks for the feedback -- I really should've edited before publishing at 1am!
- pstuart 6y ago
  No worries here.

jfim 6y ago

> One way that works well in most situations is to divide the story arc up in Situation, Complication and Solution. [...] I believe the structure was first created, or popularized by McKinsey, who depending on your views, have a core business of turning slides into billion dollar revenue streams. It's actually the Hegelian dialectic triad (thesis-antithesis-synthesis) from the late 1700s [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesis,_antithesis,_synthesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesis,_antithesis,_synthesis

Havoc 6y ago
Much better. Thought that "Complication" part was out of place
ojilles 6y ago
TIL! Awesome, going to read up on that. I’ve found the “situation” part to be really powerful in my experience. Starting off with an important/relevant ground truth is highly effective.
toyg 6y ago
Which, among other things, is the basis of Marx’s approach to history. So much of modernity is Hegelian in nature.

jletts 6y ago

Great post!

nojito 6y ago

If you find yourself making presentations, buy this book and you will wow everyone. https://www.amazon.com/slide-ology-Science-Creating-Presentations/dp/0596522347 https://www.amazon.com/slide-ology-Science-Creating-Presenta...

colmmacc 6y ago

Don't use slide presentations for business meetings. Ever. Write a document or a memo instead. Every time. Slides are ok as a backdrop for a talk, as long as that talk works as its own cohesive narrative. Slides are also ok as a last resort if it is what the audience demands. A sales meeting with people who expect slides. Or a pitch with investors too ignorant or lazy to demand the precision of a document instead. But in general; a document will be much much better. This guide references Tufte's, whose own advice is to write docs.

sokoloff 6y ago
I'm strongly in agreement with this, presuming that you have the facts and thinking on "your" side. If you're trying to sell air or otherwise have unavoidably the skinny side of the facts, you are probably better off taking your chances with a flashy presentation than a long-form document (which is much more likely to expose the flaws in your thinking). As the old aphorism goes: If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither on your side, pound the table.
F_J_H 6y ago
I see this differently. If I go to a "business meeting" and someone has not taken the time to summarize their message in a succinct presentation, and instead hands me a document, I'd "nope" out of there. "...too ignorant or lazy to demand the precision of a document instead" Wow. What a statement. How about time constrained? "I didn't have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one instead" -Mark Twain
- kqr 6y ago
  The problem is that presentations are not just short documents. I think GP would be fine with a short document. A presentation is a sequence of slides, along with which comes many issues that prevent critical thought, such as the lack of random access, the lowered bar of evidence, and so on. You can convince anyone of anything as long as you craft your slide deck deviously to hide the lack of evidence and internal inconsistencies. That is much harder with a document, even if it is short.

jzwinck 6y ago

The first image, of people having a meeting, is stolen. It has a link saying "Image Attribution" (which should really say the name of the attributee) which goes to the Flickr account of some random portrait photographer who doesn't seem to specialize in anodyne stock photos at all. Here's the BBC attributing the very same image in 2015: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-34666150 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-34666150 Here's what Getty charges for this image ($55 and up): https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/successful-business-meeting-royalty-free-image/78806323 https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/successful-business... There is even a comment from three years ago on the Flickr page saying the file has Corbis copyright embedded and asking if it's original. How do I know these things? TinEye: https://tineye.com/search/ce7668fe2986a90a93d5fda4d1c90c8ee6617585?page=1&sort=score&order=desc https://tineye.com/search/ce7668fe2986a90a93d5fda4d1c90c8ee6... It's very frustrating for hard working stock photographers who already only get 20% of the sale price to see Flickr enabling copyright violations by displaying images as Creative Commons when an algorithmic search of the two most popular stock photo sites shows it is not original.

jt2190 6y ago
Hire a lawyer who specializes in IP. Years ago I knew a pro photographer who loved getting ripped off, because he made more money than if he’d licensed his images. How? He just had his lawyer send a friendly letter to the offending party.
glenngillen 6y ago
The embedded Corbis watermark is an issue. That said the fact Getty is selling an image isn’t proof in itself that can not be freely used. They regularly “license” works that have made freely available by the creators.
ekianjo 6y ago
Your tineye link returns nothing.
- jzwinck 6y ago
  Sorry, TinEye links expire very quickly! Rather than posting another link which will expire again, I'll just give you the direct link to the image from Flickr: https://live.staticflickr.com/5519/14565350736_09ac87154b_o_d.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/5519/14565350736_09ac87154b_o_... - put that into TinEye and you should see 600+ results, some dating to 2013, a year before it was uploaded to Flickr. Even better, put that URL into http://exif.regex.info/exif.cgi http://exif.regex.info/exif.cgi to view the metadata, and behold: Headline: Successful Business Meeting Caption: Successful Business Meeting --- Image by © Corbis By Line: Colorblind Credit: © Corbis Copyright: © Corbis. All Rights Reserved. Corbis was acquired by Getty in 2016, which explains why it's for sale on Getty now.

gav 6y ago

The only two rules that I think matter are: 1) make the presentation interesting to sit through 2) have something that you are convincing the audience to do, you should be telling them to "do X" not just tell them "about X". Whether you have page numbers (I don't) or builds (I do) or executive summaries (I don't) is not going to meaningfully add to the chances of your presentation landing. Structure is key. The "Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em; then tell ’em; then tell ’em what you told ’em"[1] method works well. The Duarte Method's[2] "Big Idea"[3] is a good approach: > A big idea is that one key message you want to communicate. It contains the impetus that compels the audience to set a new course with a new compass heading. Presentations without a key message are just somebody standing there and talking at you. [1] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/08/15/tell-em/ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/08/15/tell-em/ [2] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470632011 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470632011 [3] https://www.duarte.com/presentation-ideas/ https://www.duarte.com/presentation-ideas/

moreati 6y ago
What is a build? Another word for an animation? Web searches just throw up guides to making a presentation. Edit: Found it. A build is a type of animation that builds up a slide in multiple steps, e.g. revealing steps of a flow in sequence https://www.techrepublic.com/article/creating-animated-build-slides-in-powerpoint-2002/ https://www.techrepublic.com/article/creating-animated-build...
- WWWWH 6y ago
  It’s jargon. I think of it as animations are a subset of builds.
- gav 6y ago
  Builds are ways of trying to avoid the audience reading ahead and getting to the conclusion before you've told the story yourself. For example, if you were explaining your business plan that had three steps: Phase 1: Collect underpants Phase 2: ? Phase 3: Profit Your audience isn't going to be giving you their full attention while you walk them through Phase 1, because they've trying to understand the whole process think through it themselves. Instead a build would use animations or duplicated slides to present this flow: Phase 1: Collect underpants. (click) Phase 2: ? (click) Phase 3: Profit Now you are controlling the visibility of each step. It's very quick to author: create one slide, duplicate it twice, delete content off those two slides. The slides should be there to reinforce your point. You shouldn't be showing a slide and then reading over the content. It's one reason that some of my decks have a lot of slides, some may only be shown for 5-15 seconds.

grawprog 6y ago

That's all pretty solid advice. One thing that was always repeated to us over and over again was: 'Tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them' As in, make sure you give a clear summary at both the beginning and the end of the presentation. Most people have short attention spans and tend to best remember the beginning and end of things. Make sure you've repeated the main points of your presentation at both the beginning and end to ensure maximum retention.

Bjartr 6y ago
Nice work following your own advice.
- grawprog 6y ago
  I always try to lead through example.

opdahl 6y ago

I find it ironic that a post teaching people how to present information properly is filled with typos, which is the number one sin in presentations.

macintux 6y ago
I was annoyed by this as well, but the author appears to not be a native English speaker, so I withdrew my objections. Much better job than I’d do in German, which is the only other language I know to any degree.
- ojilles 6y ago
  Author here: late night writing, wanted to push it out. Was expecting it to be ignored completely on the internet. Editing today — real good feedback here. Thanks!

nzealand 6y ago

A few random thoughts - Always ask for a copy of a good presentation. You can reuse any visually compelling elements. - Start with a personal story or an interactive set of questions. - Think about who your audience is, and why they care. What is in this presentation for them? - If critical stakeholders are going to review your slides offline, as painful as it is, consider putting all your talking points in the slide and just reading from the deck. - Smile. Make eye contact. Be excited by what you have to say. Pause... for dramatic effect. Use your hands. Use your hands more.

kqr 6y ago
> Always ask for a copy of a good presentation. You can reuse any visually compelling elements. Highly unlikely. Unless you also ask for a licence to use them in the specific ways you desire.

loughnane 6y ago

One piece of advice I’ve got a lot of mileage out of is that the title of a graph should be the conclusion. So instead of “tire wear vs miles driven” it should say “tire wear increases with miles driven” It saves people, especially non-technical ones, from having to read axes, look at the lines, and come to a conclusion while listening to you talk.

mcherm 6y ago
Now, that's a NEW piece of advice I haven't heard before. Thanks!
rubatuga 6y ago
Also, this applies not only to graphs, but any “findings” slides or section of a research presentation.
ojilles 6y ago
Going to add that to the article; been struggling with this one. I have been seeing multiple different approaches for titles that seem to work.
- loughnane 6y ago
  It really fels like a cheat code. Once you start to notice it you'll see it everywhere in newspapers, etc.

Havoc 6y ago

Very good. All of that makes sense to me. Well almost Can't make heads or tails out of point 12 though. Who's including homework (??) in slides and making some assumption about it? Very "failed to communicate" meta.

ResearchAtPlay 6y ago
I believe point 12 advises to avoid slides that try to impress by obscure complexity. An offending example might be a slide showing complicated equations that remain unexplained by the presenter. I've observed many presentations where such slides are introduced as "this is the equation used to derive value X from earlier, but I am just going to move on to the next slide..." edit: format

protomyth 6y ago

Don't use sayings, cute phrases, or non-industry jargon. Plain, simple business text works better and you don't run into a possible offensive phrase. Unless you know every phrase that might be offensive, then don't risk it. If you cannot be a compelling writer with just basic language then get help. That's how you learn. On that note, some organizations (e.g. The US Government) have cycles where words go from good, clued in meanings to bad, evil, outsider meanings. I realize this sounds like some high school clique stuff, but its so damn true. Its actually worse because there are many, many departments, and I'm sure many organizations have their own things. I had an aunt who was a grant writer and kept up with these things by volunteering to be a reader every so often. It kept her in touch with the trends. Now, you can follow other companies / governments social media accounts, request for proposals, and press releases for the phrasing you should use when presenting to them. These days, unless it is organization photos, I really try to not have any people in my slides. I just don't think its worth it because you will offend someone. It might seem paranoid, but I really believe social media makes a lot of people from all sides overanalyze everything.

tekdude 6y ago
> On that note, some organizations (e.g. The US Government) have cycles where words go from good, clued in meanings to bad, evil, outsider meanings. Quick anecdote: I remember the day when "Information Assurance" was out and "Cybersecurity" was in. Took a few years for it to fully propogate in policies and org names... but it did. They don't even really have the same meaning, but nevertheless... we all had to Find-and-Replace.
- ojilles 6y ago
  I have seen this in the corporate environment just as much. It becomes somewhat clear after senior leadership changes: after a few months you will hear others use words that were previously only used by the new incoming leader. It's not necessarily linked to what is "hot" right now. For example, I have observed German colleagues copy Italian phrasing in english.
  - 6y ago

petejames 6y ago

Demos work best for most things software. Avoid business presentations where possible.

swsieber 6y ago
Pre-recorded demos are the best.

nemetroid 6y ago

> Minimum font size 14pt or 25px. Is this a typo? Most guides will suggest 24 pt as a baseline, and maybe 20 pt as minimum. 14 pt is really small for a presentation.

ojilles 6y ago
Fixed, thank you!

Mouse47 6y ago

First sentence: "Invariably my work requires to create and consume various presentations of differing nature." Does anyone else find this style of writing unbearably pompous?

jedwards1211 6y ago
It sounds like a non-native speaker to me, I wouldn't even be surprised if this is Google translate output
- hliyan 6y ago
  I'm a non-native speak and I too find myself writing like this on occasion. Would love to know what about it rubs readers the wrong way.
  - rubatuga 6y ago
    “Invariably” is an uncommon word to be honest. Also “nature” in this context is uncommon as well. Kind of archaic. It’s pompous because it uses a whole bunch of words to say nothing. Use of the active voice instead of passive voice would have helped as well. Add in unnecessary words such as ”ergo”, a frilly web font, and people assume the author just wants to show off.
    - cfqycwz 6y ago
      Yeah--compare an alternate phrasing here, like "I watch and give a lot of presentations at work."
      - ojilles 6y ago
        Thanks! https://github.com/ojilles/jilles.net/commit/fe6010fb208905eac1e0656e18bf8b8c7945566b https://github.com/ojilles/jilles.net/commit/fe6010fb208905e... (I do hope I can clear the Google Translate bar of quality. Should have edited before publishing! And taken more of my own advice.)

triggercut 6y ago

Working in consulting, I have a similar list of lessons learned from where I could feel I had lost control of the meeting, or the clients attention, or both. The biggest one I have fits around 9 and 10. No numbers until the end. As in don't show data, tables, (a group of) numbers, graphs etc. until you are ready to cede the floor. As soon as numbers appear, people's brains start analyzing and trying to make sense of what they are seeing, naturally this can/will lead to an inordinate amount of time discussing provenance, methodology and other associated aspects, or silent thinking i.e. not listening to your analysis. Of course this doesn't apply to every type of meeting, but I always ensure I get everything else in up front first. Leave the detail in the back, don't bury the lead.

SomewhatLikely 6y ago
I suppose for a meeting where you want to foster discussion this rule tells you to start with a bunch of numbers.

apricot 6y ago

I would add "do not use fancy ligatures or loud typography". I just read the web page and you know what stuck in my mind the most? The fancy R's and K's. Also I kept waiting for a Q.

ojilles 6y ago
Wanted to change the typography myself as well, but didn’t want that to be an excuse for not writing. Thanks, the next version of the blog will be simpler!

jkingsbery 6y ago

Most important communication at the company I work for is done through written documents instead of presentations. It's worth giving a try.

ojilles 6y ago
I wish this would happen more often, indeed.

hliyan 6y ago

I've another one, especially when dealing with managers who say "can you put this into no more than X slides?" when the subject matter is complex: If you're trying to diagrammatically convey something complex on your slide, make the order of reading obvious. When the information is 2-dimensional, readers will zig-zag across the slide trying to make sense and then give up until you walk them through it. If there is a linear order (numbering, arrows), they'll follow it.

ekianjo 6y ago

> Use fewer words. I'd go even more drastic here, don't use words or only use nothing more than a few words in very very big font. The rest should be just data, visuals helping you to get to your point. And don't make presentations to be hands-out. You can't serve both purposes at the same time.

gorgoiler 6y ago

Providing the deck as a memo is so refreshing. Lockdown meetings have taught me to compress presentation to 25 minutes total per week, across my group’s three regular meetings. It’s fantastic because it obviously helps focus the presentation, but also because it’s nudged me into providing the presentation as a PDF at the start of each netting, Amazon style, with a five minute period in which to read the document. (This in itself is a nice way of gathering attendees. “Here’s the PDF for the meeting” is much less aggressive than ”friendly reminder we have a meeting rn.”) My only wish would be that AsciiDoctor / PrawnPDF handled PNGs and Pygments faster. 5s is too slow to build a 3 page memo with graphics!

cromulent 6y ago

This is really practical advice. The classic Really Bad Powerpoint by Seth Godin has some conflicting points but is still worth a read if you've never come across it. http://www.wendelberger.com/downloads/ReallyBadPowerpoint.pdf http://www.wendelberger.com/downloads/ReallyBadPowerpoint.pd...

F_J_H 6y ago

Animations and transitions are very easy to abuse for sure, yet I've also seen them used very effectively in delivering a message. (Just was in a data presentation today where, without the animation, would have been very hard to grasp.) So, careful of extremes.

Spearchucker 6y ago

Advice I was given years ago is 7 plus or minus 2. The average person is purportedly able to grok 7 things simultaneously. Some only 5, others 9 hence the plus or minus 2. And so I build my deck with that rule in mind - Never more than 7 slides. Never more than 7 bullets per slide. Never more than 7 words per bullet. Also, if appropriate, I like putting only a single number onto a slide. No title, no explanatory text. An example might be an interest rate. That allows the audience to listen to what I have to say about that data point. Because we either read a slide, or we listen to the presenter - we cannot do both simultaneously.