Do your slides advance and enhance your message?

Me: Introduces the Van Gogh of slides.
Audience: So, about those quarterly reports.

When you're using slides, you have to balance visual engagement and relevant information. ⚖️

A slide that's beautiful but doesn't advance your message is just as pointless as a slide with 12 bullets and a title that says, "Why Bother? No Choice Soon = Science (testing) Advances, Media 'Instant Messaging' Globally, Risk Management, Sustainability No Longer Altruistic." (Yes, a real slide from a conference I attended.) 😕

I'm a huge fan of slides, and I use them in most of my presentations.

However, I don't use bullets or more than two lines of text. Rather, I focus on one simple idea per slide, illustrated with a relevant image (sometimes humorous, and always something that enhances the point I'm making).

There is no opportunity for the participants to:

🔸read ahead and plan their arguments or disagreements

🔸read ahead and start Googling the point

🔸get distracted by something at the bottom of the slide they don't understand

🔸not follow what I'm saying because they're so busy reading

🔸strain their eyes trying to read miniscule text

I love slides, and at the same time, I only love them when they're relevant, practical and useful to the participants - and enhance and advance the message I'm trying to convey.

Do your slides advance and enhance your message? Or are they actually a hindrance to your message?

P.S. How do you like my meme? 😆