The Types of Presentations you really need!
What types of presentations are existing?
I entered a google search years ago with the term “different types of presentations”. The results showed me that there are 5 to 8 types out there:
Motivational
Decision Making
Progress (report)
Informative
Instructive
Persuasive
all of them are reasonable types to have, however, I found them not very helpful and here is why:
the types give me a hint what should be in the presentation, somehow. But I already know what topic I need to prepare, so this is kind of obvious. Maybe they put me in the right mindset to get it done? No, they don't. How would they, as they just state the obvious?
in short: the styles above don’t give me a hint how I can get the presentation done. They also won't put me in the right mindset for it.
Game Changer!
a couple of years ago one of my mentors (Hey Marina!) explained me the meaning of “action titles” in presentations. An action title basically explains in a sentence or two what information you get from the slides. If I am lucky and the manager trusts my work, he will only read the title, agrees or understands it so I can directly jump to the next slide. Awesome, right? Well, it is, but this got me thinking: “Will this work for every presentation?"
no, it won’t for sure! If I do this in front of a big audience I will loose probably 50% of the people after the first slide. Why? Some people will read the title, understand it and then want to move to the next slide. Others need an explanation for the slide. This was the point where I came up with the following two types.
The two Types of Presentations I use:
there are only two types I consider when creating my slides. Everything else is a waste of time:
Management
this is the one with the above mentioned action titles. Here are the 5 most important points:
One or two sentences as header that explain the slides.
All the information you need in a summary page before the whole presentation.
The other pages are filled with the data I want or need to show.
I also use a lot of pictures so everyone can follow my thoughts better.
I keep the background empty and white so it can be printed.
⇒ I use this style if I want an agreement or a decision.
Big Audience
total opposite of "management". Here are the 5 most important points:
Headlines are irrelevant (only for later reference to the pages), so I make them small compared to the content on the slides.
I won’t put any page numbers.
I will keep the slides clean with dark background cause it’s better for the eyes.
No more than 5 items (bullet points) per slide.
I use a lot of pictures for explanations.
⇒ I use this style if I want to deliver content and get everyone on board.
you find a few things familiar? Could be the case if you stumbled across “death by powerpoint” from David Phillips!
The real World out there.
if you work for a corporate company you can probably guess what happend to all the ideas. The real world hit me cause it is almost impossible to get something like the above done within a corporate company. I have to stick to the layout from the marketing guys.
if you are in the same position than do what I do: Make the best out of it and try to influence the people and presentations as much as possible!
The two Styles explained in Detail:
the following section is for those who want to know why I do the above mentioned points.
Management
I choose this style if I need to get a decision from the management. It is also good if I need to give a summary of a project. The goal is to get a decision with a few slides and hold the complete information as backup. Here are the main 5 points I use to build the slides:
One or two sentences as header which give a summary of the slide. If the manager trusts your work, you probably just have to explain a few things on the slides cause he understands the headline.
Create a summary page right after the agenda. This will also help with the presentation. If the summary is good you will probably get an ok from the management by just showing this one slide. Just think about what the management needs to take the decision right away.
If the management wants to go through the slides you have to be sure that no information is missing. You have big tables that are not fitting on the pages? No worries, create little snippets so the management see’s what the team has done. That’s usually enough. In addition put a link to the file on the slides or in the backup so you can easily access it if someone needs to have a look.
I also use a lot of pictures and graphics to explain a process or technical details. This includes creating diagrams out of tables. I always ask myself if someone would understand the slides who had no contact with the topic before.
Some people print files. I do this sometimes as well to draw in them or add notes. This is why I keep the slides always clean and without background colour.
Big audience
I choose this type if I need to convince someone from an idea. It also works as a kick-off presentation of a project. Basically every time you have to get people on board.
I make the headlines for those slides very small. Cause the information I want to transfer to the audience is not in the headlines. It is on the pages. That's where they should focus. This will also give me a little bit more space on each slide.
"Slide 6 out of 40". I catch myself very often looking on those numbers. I always start thinking: Still so many pages left? That’s why I leave it out of the presentation. Instead I try to create awesome headlines and slides so everyone can refer to them easily.
A lot of mobile devices have a dark mode available. The reason behind it is not that it looks better and professional (although it does). It is simply better for our eyes cause it’s not as bright and therefore they don’t get tired that fast. However, I don’t use deep black but a greyish tone.
I always try to keep it simple. This also means I won’t put more than 5 items or bullet points per slide. Only 5 bullet points? Our brain doesn't allow for more. You can trick it a little bit if you show the items one after another (keyword: animation) but I try to avoid more than 5 points (expect for the summary).
Pictures are usually better than words. If I can explain something with images, I do it. No matter how unprofessional the pictures are, it is better than having 200 words on a slide. People even remember the slides better and will be able to navigate to this specific slide very easily (that’s when I leave the numbers of the pages out).
all of the above helped me very much to simplify my process of creating the slides in a effective way. The consumption of the presentation is also easier for the audience. Let me know what you think! Feel free to send me slides to have a look.
if you wanna know what I do after I figured out the type of presentation follow this link:
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thank you for your time,
daniel
