The 11 Rules of Successful Slideshow Presentations

Most people won’t argue against the notion that slideshow presentations are the mainstay of modern business presentations. A slideshow presentation can make or break a pitch. It can close a sale or lose a customer. If slideshows are so important, why do most of them lead the audience want to tear their eyes out or find a nice comfy position in their chairs to curl up and fall asleep?

Here are a couple simple rules that will help you leave your audience wanting more.

Rule One: You First. Slideshow Last. 

Many speakers seem to think they can prepare a memorable talk by creating some slides. Never start with the slides. Start with nothing but yourself. Leave the slides for last. The slides in your presentation are about visual story-telling that complements your presence and speaking. If you can’t speak, you’ll be standing next to slides that dwarf you and the message you are trying to deliver. People are more easily engaged by looking into the eyes and hearing the measured voice of another human being, not by reading a couple bullet points on a slide.

Not a gifted speaker? Don’t worry. Practice your stories before you deliver them in front of an audience. Use a camera. Use a mirror. Use the eyes of another person… when you see a glimmer you know you’re getting through. Tell your story to your friends and family. Afterwards, ask them what they thought. Let your audience tell you where your storytelling is lacking. Then ask your audience how you might improve. Most people will jump at the chance to critique your speaking skills. Try it.

Rule Two: It’s Not A Script.

The majority of the presentations that I have witnessed have been half-hearted narrations of the contents of each slide. As soon as I realize that the human being in front of me is just reading the text on the screen, I begin to read ahead and tune them out. Most people will begin to read faster than the presenter can speak. The result is that the speaker has marginalized their own presence. They have become an annoyance, an echo of the audience’s thoughts. Don’t read from the slides. Instead, tell a story and let the slides complement your words.

Rule Three: Tell A Story

For rule three I’ll refer to the an article written by master storyteller and marketer, Seth Godin.

Great stories succeed because they are able to capture the imagination of large or important audiences.

A great story is true. Not necessarily because it’s factual, but because it’s consistent and authentic. Consumers are too good at sniffing out inconsistencies for a marketer to get away with a story that’s just slapped on.

Great stories make a promise. They promise fun, safety or a shortcut. The promise needs to be bold and audacious. It’s either exceptional or it’s not worth listening to.

Great stories are trusted. Trust is the scarcest resource we’ve got left. No one trusts anyone. People don’t trust the beautiful women ordering vodka at the corner bar (they’re getting paid by the liquor company). People don’t trust the spokespeople on commercials (who exactly is Rula Lenska?). And they certainly don’t trust the companies that make pharmaceuticals (Vioxx, apparently, can kill you). As a result, no marketer succeeds in telling a story unless he has earned the credibility to tell that story.

Great stories are subtle. Surprisingly, the fewer details a marketer spells out, the more powerful the story becomes. Talented marketers understand that allowing people to draw their own conclusions is far more effective than announcing the punch line.

Great stories happen fast. First impressions are far more powerful than we give them credit for.
Most of all, great stories agree with our world view. The best stories don’t teach people anything new. Instead, the best stories agree with what the audience already believes and makes the members of the audience feel smart and secure when reminded how right they were in the first place.

Rule Four: Start in the Midst of Uncertainty

Start in the middle of the action. Grab your audience’s attention. Then confuse them and hint at an explaination. In television, the TV show Lost begins with several characters crash-landing on an island. Over the course of several seasons of the show, we learn about the characters through both flashbacks and flashforwards.

Rule Five: Your Photos Bring Your Story to Life

A good speaker never directly looks at the screen while his visuals flash behind him. He holds a remote in his hand and carefully advances the slides as the storyline moves forward. Hold eye contact with your audience. Use your words (and your carefully practiced remote usage).

Quick notes on choosing photographs:

Use photos that convey meaning.
Use photos that connect with your audience on an emotional level.
Use photos that take up the whole screen and immerse your audience in a new world.

Rule Six: Explain Something Unexpected

From a word-of-mouth perspective, it’s virtually impossible to discuss an idea that is 5% better than the norm. People talk about the exceptions, the unexpected, the highlights. Give your audience something to talk about. Give your audience something they will never forget.

Rule Seven: Respect Your Audience’s Attention

Adult learners can keep tuned in to a lecture for no more than 15 to 20 minutes at a time, and this at the beginning of the class. In 1976, A. H. Johnstone and F. Percival observed students in over 90 lectures, with twelve different lecturers, recording breaks in student attention. They identified a general pattern: After three to five minutes of “settling down” at the start of class, one study found that “the next lapse of attention usually occurred some 10 to 18 minutes later, and as the lecture proceeded the attention span became shorter and often fell to three or four minutes towards the end of a standard lecture. A study done at Indiana University in 1996 confirmed that students’ attention spans are about 15-20 minutes maximum during teaching lectures.

You can prolong attention spans by periodically giving your audience a rest. This can be done by telling a story, giving a demo, or doing something else that gives the brain a break. An analogy to what you are doing is running hard for a few minutes, taking a break, then running hard again. However, just as you will typically not be able to run for as long after the break you cannot expect the renewed attention span to last as long after the “break”. In fact, count on having only a couple of minutes.

Rule Eight: Stand Still, Use Your Words Carefully, and Wield Silence Like Darkness.

When you move around, you distract the audience from your message. The audience concerns themselves with your movement and is always wondering where you are going or why you are moving. Only move to emphasize a point or focus the audience’s attention on you instead of the message or slides.

Talk in at a steady measured pace. Don’t talk too fast, it gets exhausting for the audience to keep up. Only speak quickly for emphasis or to make asides.

Silence is your cliffhanger ending. It leaves your audience waiting for the conclusion and sharpens their attention. A carefully placed pause is the most powerful weapon in your speaking arsenal. Use it to tease your audience, to make them want to scream, “Tell me already!”

Rule Nine: In the End… Create Action.

Your presentation has a point… right? You’re hoping to inspire some sort of action or reaction from the audience. Is there something that your audience can do to follow up on the message you’ve conveyed to them? If so, make a big deal of it at the end of your presentation. Make your audience want to jump out of their seat and get started as soon as they can. Spend a lot of time crafting a memorable and actionable ending. If nothing else, display your contact information so that your audience can follow up if they are compelled to do so.

Rule Ten: Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

It’s quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points. Read more on Guy’s blog.

Rule Eleven: Emulate Good Speakers, Then Derive Your Own Style

In this presentation Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.