Unreadable Slides Suck

The next time I feel like reading a book, why don't I just come to your meeting?

This is not a “have-you-ever-had-that-feeling?” moment; it's a “how-many-times-this-week-have-you-had-that-feeling?” question.

What's even worse than reading your PowerPoint slides? Having far too many words on a slide or having text that can't be discerned by attendees.

It's proven knowledge that meeting attendees have had enough of this malpractice. Unfortunately and regretfully, there's no insurance against it, yet this abuse occurs on a massive scale daily. Even executives with supposedly “the best of the best” experience can't seem to get the basics right.

I once gave a keynote presentation at a meeting for one of the major consulting firms in the world. Speaking immediately ahead of me was an executive vice president of HR presenting a new learning and resource system. She based her presentation on a long parade of slides (PowerPoint).

I'll give her credit for having an engaging personality, but energy and engagement were lost each time a slide changed. Why? Because she turned her back to read the slide she was about to present. And each slide averaged 200 words!

How many words is that? Well, from the heading “Unreadable Slides Suck” to the number 200 in the last paragraph is about 200 words. Now, conveying all this information on one slide and having people follow it is mission impossible.

This also goes for too many graphics or charts that have an absurd amount of detail. Oh, and colors. Ever try reading text that is yellow on a light-colored background? How about a shadowed blue on black? Color can be a powerful tool. Colors can evoke emotions (e.g., red is associated with anger and green with calm). Choosing the right ones can set up different moods and affect your audience in different, intentional ways. But having a colorful slide doesn't trump sheer visibility of the content. You don't have to be a professional graphic designer to figure it out. Just keep to the fundamentals—especially readability—and your presentation won't suck.

Presenter SRDs

• Make only one point on each slide. This is not a document; it's the background to a presentation that you're making. If you want to write a book, use another program.
• If you have to use text, use no more than five words per line and no more than five lines per slide. Remember, make yourself whittle down your message into key words. When I'm using PowerPoint, I don't put more than five words on any one slide unless I'm using a direct quote.
• Keep the letters large so everyone can see the wording in the back of the room. Stay at a 30-point size for most common fonts and increase point size from there, with titles typically being larger than text.
• Highlight or circle key data in a detailed graph or chart. If you must use a chart or graph with a lot of detail, use the highlighter, marker, or other tools to graphically circle the key facts or figures the audience should focus on. Don't talk about the data; attendees will be searching on the slide for the figures you're talking about instead of focusing their attention on why those numbers are important. (You are explaining why they're important, right?)
• Split large charts and graphs into small segments if necessary. Otherwise, audience members will have no hope of deciphering what they mean to them.
• Review the PowerPoint templates included with the software. They provide acceptable predefined color schemes for you to use so you don't have to make up your own.
• When using graphics in your presentation, choose colors from the graphics as your text colors to give the slide a consistent and professional look.
• Use color combinations that create a high contrast for ease of reading. PowerPoint defaults suggest white on black, violet on yellow, light green on purple, and blue/green on red.
• Test your colors on the projector you will be using to verify they will work on that projector.
• Don't use decorative, flashy, or extreme fonts except in a large header or for a two-word attention-getting line. Overuse the fonts and they'll lose their impact.
• Your main content text should be easy to read and clear at any size. Serif fonts generally appear more formal and can some times be difficult to read on large screens, whereas sans serif fonts are easy to read onscreen and appear more informal.

Remember, people have come to listen to you, the presenter. They haven't taken time out of their busy day to try to read unreadable text on a giant screen. If you simply start reading from your slides, so will everyone else—and you've just started your very own book club. If your ego needs that to fit your role in the organization, congratulations, you are there. But good luck getting your attendees to add comments, show up on time, or go out of their way to get there. Why should they when they can simply read about it in the morning paper.