Say It. Don’t Display It.

Given what I do, I see a lot of slide decks. Some good, most fair and some just awful. Every now and then I see one that makes me smile and think, “Yes, this is how it’s meant to be done!” Sadly, that’s rare.

Most decks I see are riddled with text, most of which is too small to read from the third row let alone the back of the room. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched a presenter squint at their own slide and say, “You probably can’t read this.” And they were right. We couldn’t read it, yet we all politely sat there quiet, united in the struggle.

A slide deck is a form of visual aid. Let’s actually break that down.

Visual: a picture, piece of film or display used to illustrate or accompany something.

Aid: help or assist in the achievement of something.

Put together, a visual aid is a display used to help illustrate or accompany your message.

It is not meant to stand alone. It is not meant to be a script or carry you through your talk like a teleprompter with bullet points.

Whenever I say this, someone inevitably raises a hand and says, “But Shannon, I need to email the slides to people who missed it.”

Great. Then you need two decks.

One is your presentation deck: visual, simple and built to support your message. 

The other is your informational deck: imagery, text, context and details…designed to stand on its own.

Yes, it’s more work, but it’s worth it.

Once you build that informational version, you can reuse it as a leave behind, a lead magnet, or a resource for prospects. It becomes a living document that evolves with you and can even be customized for different audiences.

Meanwhile your live audience gets something far better than a reading assignment.

There’s also a brain science reason this matters. We process spoken and written language through the same system. When you force people to read and listen at the same time, you create a bottleneck. They either stop listening to read or stop reading to listen. Most choose reading. And since people read faster than you speak, they get ahead of you, get bored or mentally check out.

Your slides are not your presenter notes. They are visual support for the story you are telling out loud.

So what should you actually be doing? Here are some common myths and tips for using slides as your visual aid. 

MYTH: The 6x6 Rule

Six bullet points. Six words per line. Sounds tidy, but in reality, that’s still 36 words on one slide. Thirty six words people feel compelled to read while you are talking. If you must use text, treat 6x6 as an upper limit, not a goal. 

My motto is simple: when in doubt, spread it out. If you have a lot to say, give each idea its own slide instead of cramming them together like passengers on an overbooked flight.

TIP: Use Large, Simple Imagery

The brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text. A strong image can anchor a concept in a way a paragraph never will. So when designing your slides, think big and bold. 

Avoid tiny charts packed with numbers and detailed images that require explanation. If someone needs to squint, lean forward or tilt their head to figure out what they’re looking at, it’s too much. Design for the person in the back row. 

MYTH: Your Slides Need to Contain Everything 

This one often sneaks up on smart people who have a lot of knowledge to share and genuinely value supporting information. You want to show the research, the data and the nuance. You want to make sure your audience sees how much thought has gone into your work. But your slides are not your résumé or a textbook.

Your expertise should come through in how you explain the idea, the examples you share, the stories you tell and the way you respond to questions. The slide is there to guide your audience toward the core message, not to dump every supporting detail onto the screen.

TIP: One Thought Per Slide

One clear idea. One visual. One message. If someone cannot grasp what your slide is about within a few seconds, it’s doing too much. Slides should support the point you are making, not compete with it.

MYTH: Fewer Slides Is Always Better

There are all kinds of “rules” about how many slides you should have and how long you should stay on each one. One to two minutes per slide. Forty seconds per slide. Twenty slides at twenty seconds each. 

The number itself is not the point. If you are using image driven slides that each represent a single idea, you will naturally have more slides, and that’s fine. 

What matters is pacing. If you are clicking so fast that people cannot absorb what they are seeing, you are working against yourself. And if you linger too long on one slide, you risk losing the room.

TIP: Design for the Room, Not Your Laptop

That beautiful tiny chart you can read perfectly on your 13 inch screen may be completely illegible projected onto a wall in a bright ballroom. Before you finalize your deck, zoom out…literally. Stand back from your computer. Better yet, project it and stand at the back of the room. If you have to lean forward to decipher it, it’s too small.

At the end of the day, you are the presentation. Your slides are supporting actors. When they try to steal the show with dense text and complicated graphics, everyone loses. 

The bottom line? Build slides that work with you. Let them amplify your message instead of drowning it out. 

And please, for the love of your audience’s eyesight and attention, design slides you never have to apologize for.

Speak Success,