slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations

1. We don’t train ourselves in design, but most of us are assessed and even promoted based on our ability to communicate visually.
2. Create audience personas and keep them to remember who you’re connecting with.
3. Don’t brainstorm with your presentation software. It isn’t built for that. Throw out as many ideas as possible on paper, then cut mercilessly - you only need one good one.
4. Effective slide design hinges on three things: Arrangement (Contrast, Flow, Hierarchy, Unity, Proximity, and Whitespace), Visual Elements (Background, Colour, Text, and Images), and Movement (Timing, Pace, Distance, Direction, and Eye Flow).
5. The three types of slides:
   1. Documents: Slides that contain more than 75 words, and are really meant for reading, not presenting.
   2. Teleprompters: Slides that contain 50 or so words. Presenters typically read off them in an unengaging fashion.
   3. Presentations: Slides that focus on the presenter, and the ideas and concepts they want to communicate. The slides reinforce the presenter’s content visually instead of creating a distraction.
6. Use template slides to govern alignment to your brand across the company. The broad categories:
   1. Segue: Branded Walk-ins, Titles, Transitions, and Q&A
   2. Content: Text, Text with Graphics, Quotes, and Charts & Tables
   3. Components: Grid, Colour Palette, Component Style, and Images Overview
7. The Five Theses of the Power of a Presentation:
   1. Treat Your Audience As King
   2. Spread Ideas and Move People
   3. Help Them See What You’re Saying
   4. Practice Design, Not Decoration
   5. Cultivate Healthy Relationships (with slides and the audience)