3 Ways To Create Modern Slides Your Audience Wants To See
The Old School Approaches You Need To Throw Out and What To Do Instead
Here’s a fun fact: the thought of creating slides shouldn’t make you cringe a little on the inside. And just because you haven’t had many experiences to the contrary doesn’t mean it’s impossible. It just means that you haven’t learned the ways to create them correctly. Well, my friend, that’s about to change!
Here are 3 old school approaches to slide design that don’t work (yet somehow people are still doing) and what to do instead! Applying these modern twists will help your audience connect with you, your message, and your brand. The dream, right? Let’s dive in!
#1 | HOW MANY SLIDES SHOULD I USE?
OLD SCHOOL APPROACH
Slide count equals unit of time. Historically, we’ve been trained to fill the slide to a certain “fullness” and that should represent a certain amount of time. We are all guilty of it. Someone says, “how long is your presentation?” and we respond with “oh, it’s 15 slides” as if that should indicate how long we’ll be up there talking to the room.
MODERN TWIST
The modern way to approach slide count is per idea. 1 idea per slide. That’s it. That’s all your audience should have to visually absorb – any more than that and they won’t be paying attention to what you’re saying. Think of your slide like a billboard.
#2 | WHAT GOES ON THE SLIDES?
OLD SCHOOL APPROACH
Say yes to all the slide “extras”. The page numbers, the logos, the footers, the extra design features that take away your usable design space, etc. Having these on every slide can be confusing and irritating for your audience – after seeing the same thing on slide after slide, it will just become visual white noise that they will likely tune out.
MODERN TWIST
Less is more. Visual clarity rules in the world of slide design. Along with the “1 idea per slide” idea, removing all these extras from each and every slide helps create that billboard to enhance your message. No one will miss it – I promise.
#3 | HOW DO I CONVEY IDEAS?
OLD SCHOOL APPROACH
Information should be communicated via sentence-length bullet points that serve to provide your talking points. Your audience will read this in their heads much faster than you can read it out loud to them. After they’re done reading and you’re still talking, the eyes will go down and the phones will come out. It’ll be game over.
MODERN TWIST
Use more visuals. Diagrams, simple charts, bold text, quality images, memes, GIFs, whatever you want to use are better than several long sentences strung together with bullet points. Visuals will keep things clean and focused so your audience is understanding along with you instead of reading ahead of you. Be creative in how you represent your ideas - think beyond the bullet point!
Looking at your slide design with this new approach in mind will help you share your ideas clearly and in a way that inspires! It can be tough to leave old habits behind but I believe you’re up for the challenge.
Try something new and tell us how it goes! Tag @eandmcreative with a snap of your before and after!