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Whatever tool you use, slides can take many forms and include many different kinds of content.
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Whatever tool you use, try not to get
overwhelmed with all
0:00
the different features, and, you know,
everything that these things have.
0:04
I mean, they're very cool, right?
0:08
But they could also be a little too much
to begin with.
0:09
So, you know, you can still give a
fantastic presentation, even if you
0:14
stick with the basics, and, that's because
it's not so much about the tool.
0:18
That you use.
0:23
It's what you say, and how you deliver the
content.
0:24
And in fact, slides and tools can often
get in the way.
0:26
I mean, many speakers will use them as a
crutch.
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I mean, sort of like, like this, right?
0:33
So, here's my slide.
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This is how some speakers use slides.
0:36
And it goes something exactly like this,
right?
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Like, you know, preparations is very
important.
0:40
When you're preparing your presentation,
right?
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And with this kind of distracting
animation, the stuff comes in and,
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speakers will write down every single word
they wanna say in advance.
0:49
And speakers will basically turn their
script into a set of bullets.
0:53
Large blocks of text on the screen.
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Slides become unbearable for the audience.
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They start reading.
1:01
These slides when they should be
listening.
1:02
Alright [INAUDIBLE] did you, did you get
the picture?
1:06
I mean, this is, this is not how you give
a presentation.
1:07
I mean everything is there, and all you're
doing
1:10
is reading, and, there's no real style to
it.
1:13
And you can almost like, you know, if the,
if the text
1:17
is there, I've seen people, I've done this
myself at, at events where.
1:19
The person's just reading.
1:23
Just kind of, going through the motions,
reading all
1:25
the text and I can almost, I know what
they're
1:28
going to say, and it becomes kind of a
game,
1:30
and it's just, it really takes me out of
it.
1:32
But, you know, the, the audience loses
focus, and there
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are much better ways to, to use
presentations to communicate.
1:40
Now, as a response to this.
1:44
Lots of presenters out there have adopted
a kind of Zen presentation style.
1:47
Right?
1:52
So, instead of using text and bullets,
they wanna use, you know, they
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wanna remove all of that, completely, and
use some sort of metaphorical image.
1:57
And maybe they put a, a word on there as
well.
2:03
But the idea being that.
2:05
You know, this all represents a theme,
and, and the speaker wants
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the audience not to read, while they're
talking, but to, to concentrate.
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Right so, maybe there's a slide like this.
2:15
Right, you know, this big, you know,
there's a big image and then there's text.
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Be original, be original, right?
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Real vague and.
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You're not sure exactly what it means.
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And maybe, as your, you know?
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What happens a lot of times, is when
audiences look at these pictures.
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And, they don't have to be someone's weird
pants, right?
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They could be a, a beautiful landscape.
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They could be children playing.
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They could be some kind of stock
photography you've seen 50 times before.
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But when people are looking at these
images.
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And looking at your, your very brief
message on there.
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It's very vague.
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They're trying to, you know, they stop
listening.
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And they start trying to figure out what
it means.
3:01
And what might be happening is the speaker
is speaking.
3:04
And the speaker might actually be giving
great information.
3:07
They might be listing like, five great
tips on how you can be original, right?
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And all the while you're looking at this
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guys pants, like, yeah those are pretty
original.
3:16
And, wait.
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What happened?
3:21
What was that you said?
3:21
Right?
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So, here's the deal right?
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Every speaker is different.
3:26
They all have their own style, and it fits
their personality and presentation style.
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The more that you the more that you create
these slide decks the better more refined.
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Your present state, presentation style
will become but, I always go back to
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this book, just like Steve [UNKNOWN] says,
in his book about web design.
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Don't make me think, alright?
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Presentations have a visual aspect, and
they have a text aspect.
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All right?
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They must work together.
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You must have them work together to have
the most effective presentation.
4:01
Don't make your audience think too hard.
4:05
About what you're trying to say.
4:08
I mean, make your visuals obvious, and
relevant.
4:09
And use them to help tell a story.
4:13
Right?
4:15
Don't rely on stock photos or, or
something really vague.
4:15
And, you know, use these images to tell
stories not as decoration.
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Don't just throw something up there,
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without the intention of it meaning
something.
4:25
In fact, one thing about images too.
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Sometimes a lot of great visuals can come
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from your own camera, or your own phone,
right?
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Not only are they more personal, but
there's already a, a story that you
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can attach to it where you took it, who's
in the picture, what's happening here?
4:40
And you can share that during your
presentation.
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And another great plus too, is that
pictures like that
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are usually I mean, they're royalty free,
for you to use.
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So there's no.
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royalties, or rights that you have to
worry about.
4:54
So, combining your visuals, with concise
written content, on
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the slide, that drives home your points,
is a more effective way to do things.
5:04
Only put up there what needs to be shown.
5:09
Not necessarily what you want to say.
5:12
Now in order to influence certain types of
audiences
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some presenters like to use data, to make
their points.
5:20
Now a slide like this.
5:23
Helps visualize how men and women in the
United
5:25
States, are waiting longer than ever,
before they get married.
5:28
Right?
5:31
This is something that the census bureau
put up, but
5:31
for designers and devs, perhaps your data
will show, you know?
5:33
This is how much money you can save by
hiring us.
5:37
Or, this is how we've positively affected
user growth.
5:40
For other clients or, we've reduced weight
time for users by X%.
5:44
Here's the data.
5:48
When people who are driven by numeric
data,
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see something compelling, they will act,
all right?
5:53
And, of course, when you reference data.
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Be sure to put the source in there, you
know,
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legitimize this data so that they know
it's not imaginary.
6:04
Now, some audiences rely on anecdotal
data.
6:07
You know, they wanna hear what real people
have
6:10
said about you, and your work, and so on.
6:13
Now, on the Treehouse website, we have a
full section devoted to
6:15
some great success stories from our
6:19
students, because, they are really
compelling.
6:21
They're, there's, they're just amazing
stories.
6:24
And if you're pitching a client you know,
some clients might
6:27
wanna know what have your past clients
said about your work.
6:30
If you're proposing a new project at work
for
6:34
a, a certain department or a group of
users.
6:36
What have those users told you about what
they need?
6:40
And if you are proposing fixes to a
website.
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What did the test users actually say and
do during the user tests?
6:46
So, sometimes a great way to drive home a
point, is
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to back it up with something that someone
else has said.
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And then it makes a lot more sense.
6:58
Another point about slide design.
7:00
Your slides can take.
7:03
Whatever look and format that you want
them to take.
7:04
But, whatever you do.
7:08
You know, if you're, please be creative.
7:11
But also be consistent.
7:13
Don't suddenly change themes, fonts, or
colors.
7:15
You know, during your presentation.
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Unless there's a good reason for it.
7:19
You know, some kind of effect.
7:21
And, you know, you can use as many slides
as you want.
7:23
Don't think that, you know, every slide
needs to be 30 seconds long,
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or, or, you know, you're under some kind
of you know, restriction there.
7:31
You know, you should know how much time
you have to deliver your entire talk.
7:37
But not every slide needs to take the same
amount of time.
7:41
Use them however you need to, to say what
needs to
7:44
be said, and to drive home your points,
with maximum effect.
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So, consider how time may be a factor and
as you're developing your presentation.
7:53
Make sure that you practice.
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What I like to do is on, usually on most
smartphones now you
8:03
have some kind of a stopwatch or timer,
something that you can use.
8:07
And I was a prepping this, I would read
through my, my notes, and I would
8:11
time myself, and I would try to figure out
how long exactly the talk would take.
8:16
And if I wanted to.
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Add some in, information in certain parts.
8:23
Or you know?
8:25
Take some stuff away to kinda speed things
up.
8:27
Now, if you'd like some inspiration.
8:30
One website that I suggest is going out to
Slide Share, slideshare.com.
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Lots of speakers put up their slide decks.
8:38
Up there to share with attendees at their
respective events.
8:41
And you can see, how different speakers
use.
8:44
Visuals, texts, and different slides, to
tell their whole story.
8:47
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