Balancing Clarity and Depth

5x5 training wheels often produce slides too sparse to convey full ideas, particularly when audiences—like desk-bound employees or busy executives—only see the deck, not the presentation. For example, desk-bound employees, busy executives, and customers viewing the presentation online or at a kiosk.

Ask yourself: Do my slides communicate complete thoughts without overwhelming with text? Short bullets may work as headings but need expansion for clarity.

Following are tips for building slides that can support your presentation while standing alone for those who won't be at your presentation:

• Clarity of Ideas: Ensure each slide conveys an entire, independent message.
• Visual Balance: Pair text with purposeful visuals, avoiding clutter.
  • Use appropriate business graphics. Examples of "purposeful" visuals include charts, graphics, process diagrams, tables, and other business graphics. 
  • Avoid clip art and distracting pictures: Examples of "clutter" are clip art and happy-shiny-people-holding hands pictures copied from the Internet.
    • These clutter, distract, overwhelm the substance, and result in unprofessional presentations.
    • The audience is professionals, not children. Be appropriately professional.
• Slide Autonomy: Design slides to stand alone, with evident key points.
• Narrative Support: Complement spoken words, not replace them, with visual aids.
• Selectively and intentionally use narration. When a slide needs a lot of content, consider subtle animations to build the content so you can focus your audience on concepts as you present them.
  • The audience will read ahead and be ready to move on while you're just starting.
  • Building complex slides can focus on the audience and guide your presentation.