Creating Presentation Visuals

Why Use Visual Aids

To structure a talk around main topics
To reiterate main ideas
To demonstrate complex topics
To provide visual examples
As a deliverable for ur audience to refer back to

Lessons from 30 Interviews w/ Presentation Pros

The negatives
Too long
Poor visuals
Too much text
Confusing
Too many fonts
Too many colors
The positives
Engaging
Concise
Easy to read
good visuals
logical flow
What NOT To Do
include several length bullet points on a single slide
write entire paragraphs
read sentences out loud directly fr ur powerpoint
Exception To This Rule
when ur powerpoint must stand alone as a point of reference
e.g., lecture slides
The Redundancy Effect
1+1=0
limit each slide to a single core idea
don't leave a slide onscreen once you've finished talking about it
add a new slide for ur new topic
use a relevant image as a placeholder slide
simple use a blank, black slide
use slides to tease info rather than revealing it
 contrast the complexity of ur topic w/ the complexity of ur visuals

use animations to demonstrate complex issues

Alternatives to Text:
Images
What colorblind individuals see
Visualizations

Graphs
humans have trouble grasping complex series of numbers
audience is likely to forget numbers
humans r visual learners
Bar Graphs
great 4 comparing large numbers across multiple groups

Pie Chart
best for comparing relationships among parts of a whole
include only 2-5 different groups
 Line Graphs
best for comparing changes in multiple groups across a span of time

Data Visualization
do not include more than one chart on a single slide
do not include data visualization, charts, or graphs in ur deck w/o acknowledging them
during the presentation
use visuals to infuse humor
Powerpoint design
create optimal contrast for text
light text/dark background or dark text/light background
 use color text for emphasis only
don't overlay text on images
maintain consistent font
no more than 3 font sizes per slide
use at least 24-point font size for text & at least 36-point font size for headings
animations:
use animations sparingly
avoid flashy animations
consider investing in a clicker
do use transitions to control the order that the audience views ur points
gives audience time to digest each point
ending ur presentation
always include a conclusion slide
reiterate main ideas
suggestion for future research or projects
welcome questions
thank audience for their time
delivering presentation online
consider how formatting will display over video platform
will videos play?
will audio be heard?
will u be able to see the chat box?
have a backup plan for everything
a presentation stands out excellent when…
the speaker
expands upon slides
encourages dialogue
varies content
engages the audience
the slide deck is:
concise
logically structured
consistently formatted
dynamic
a presentation stands out as excellent when the speaker…
expands upon slides
I think that harmony between the presenter & what's on the slide makes for a good
experience
 I like when there might be two paragraphs on the screen, but they can add a lot more.
They go off script.
You should never go up there and just read what's written. People can do that for
themselves. What you want to do is obviously take what's on the page, but go away
past that, right? Give some example, kind of drop in your own personal experience.
encourages dialogue
A good presentation is not a true presentation. It's a discussion, right? You want it to
be collaborative thing
I want to have dialogue. So I think for me to present for half an hour or 45 minutes and
show all the same slides they always see is not conductive to dialogue. So, for me, the
slide is just kind of a talking point.
80% of my job is to engage their brain. And I assume if they're raising their hand or
they're in the chat room, that means they are engaged.
various content
Some folks can just hold the room on the edge of their seats [by] breaking it up wi/
some other content, mixing it up a little.
If you're an audience, it can really difficult to be listening to stuff for an hour. So
sometimes having a good disruptive moment or break where I'm going to put in this
video that's a minute & a half long & automatically ingrained it directly within the
presentation, a click away. Show you somebody that can further take what I'm saying,
but almost bring it a little bit more to life-that can be really meaningful & powerful.
engages the audience
You almost have to compete with Netflix in your presentations.
You want to be the life of the party. You want to have that excitement in your voice. If
you're not excited about your presentation, who else is going to care?
Someone that engages the audience. I like when someone really kind of tells the story
about themselves, kind of infuses some of their personal experience or their
personal background.
a presentation stands out as excellent when the slide deck is…
concise
If I can create more concise bullets & speak better to those or have graphics to help
me communicate a message that would be [ideal].
What's the shortest amount of words that can be bulleted? What's the minimum that
you can put where people still get the full picture?
I would say the main thing that I see is people put too much information on the
slide… I'd rather it be 20 slides & you spread out the information on more than one
slide & pack it in.
logically structured
A good presentation to me has a good structure to it. They kind of know what they're
going to talk about, um, hit all the points & they kind of are concise with it.
It's about telling a story… transitioning from one slide to another, making sure the story
that I tell, I'm transitioning well from one slide to another.
 consistently formatted
Just consistency. When I notice a lot of inconsistency, to me that kind of looks like a
lack of professionalism.
When I see you typos or things that are just not formatted correctly, I usually won't
read through the rest very seriously.
dynamic
I really appreciate it when people are able to incorporate data in a dynamic way.
Animations are really important… [they] help to kind of tell a story & keep on task of
what you're talking about, & it keeps your eyes moving & keeps it a little more
exciting.
A constant problem is that the slide itself is a static, fixed snapshot of a thing. And
we're talking about something that's dynamic, that has velocity, that has a volume of
flow. And getting flow visualized on a slide is hard.

Tips From a Professional Pitch Deck Consultant

1. Start With A Storyboard
2. Write Your Script Before Creating Your Slides
3. Your Deck Is Not Your Teleprompter
4. Stick With Six: Bullet Points And/Or Objects
5. Keep It At Three
no more than three fonts or colors
6.
6. Respect the Image
7. dark backgrounds r better
8. break up ur preso w/ videos or discussions
9. hands outs r ur friend
10. release ur fear
Recap
DO NOT use powerpoint to type out lengthy sentences
never read ur slides verbatim
contrast the complexity of ur topic w/ complexity of ur visuals
use powerpoint to tease interesting ideas rather than give them away
use text to recap big ideas or focus audience's attention
rather than text, prioritize
images, data visualization, graphs, animations