In a world where slide decks have become a staple of business presentations, it’s becoming more important than ever to put the speaker—not the deck—at the center of the conversation.
John Bowe, acclaimed speech and presentation expert and author of I Have Something to Say: Mastering the Art of Public Speaking in an Age of Disconnection, has spent his career helping individuals communicate with confidence and clarity. We sat down with John to get his insights on common presentation mistakes, the art of creating an impactful slide deck, and tips for delivering a message that resonates with audiences.
INAS: You’re a speech and presentation coach. How do you feel about the way decks are used in everyday presentations?
JB: Decks are great for conveying and illuminating certain kinds of information. They can even be beautiful and entertaining. But I feel like people have come to depend on them too heavily. They often replace what we, as speakers, need to be doing.
The heart of a talk or presentation is one person talking to other people. There’s a point of view, an opinion, a sharing of expertise that’s transmitted between eyeballs, from person to person(s). Decks should enhance and support that.
When speakers begin their writing process by dumping all of their information onto slides, they give the deck top billing. It’s boring and ineffective. There’s a presumption that the facts on the slides will just speak for themselves. But it doesn’t work that way. You have to tell people what they mean, why you’re showing them, and what’s important about them.
INAS: What are some common mistakes people make with slide decks?
JB: Oh boy—so many to choose from.
Mistake #1 is preparing your slides BEFORE writing your talk track. I mentioned this above—people have a habit of dumping all their info onto their deck, then contributing kind of passive commentary about the deck and calling that a presentation. It deprives the speaker of their authority and makes their presentation boring. If you write your talk track first and hammer out the main points you want to make before creating your slides, it frees you up to be a lot more fun and interesting with your deck.
Mistake #2 is overloading your deck. Most decks contain too much information. It’s too much for anyone to take in, and it numbs the audience. To make it worse, the information is often displayed in confusing ways that take way too long to grasp. By this I mean words and numbers that are too voluminous or too small to read; slides that contain a pie chart, a line graph, a flywheel, and symbols no one understands — all on one slide.
Speakers need to pay attention to how their audience will read their slides. If you want them to understand the info, you have to simplify, slow it down, and explain bit by bit what’s on your slides. Otherwise, you’re just whizzing through a ton of data with no regard for their ability to take it in, which is very disconnecting.
Mistake #3—and this is deathly—is when speakers read from their slides. You will bore the attendees or insinuate they can’t read. The only thing worse is turning your back to them and *then* reading.
INAS: What are the key elements of a successful slide deck?
JB: Successful slides enhance and expand upon a speaker’s points. When they’re well done, they make you easier to understand. They lock information into the audience’s brain in a way that’s pleasing and easy to retain. They also make you look cool and smart by demonstrating a kind of effortless, confident mastery.
I worked once with a logistics guy at Amazon. His presentation was for the main warehouse managers in the US, explaining how they can avoid and fix certain kinds of logjams. Before we got to work on the deck, he was just rattling off a long list of technical-sounding problems, then another long list of technical-sounding solutions.
By the time we were done, we made him some great slides that totally simplified and organized the information. We broke the problems into five main categories. For each category, we made a slide with the problem on the left, illustrated by a really funny .gif, with red design motifs. First, we showed that, then on the same slide, AFTER he had time to narrate and explain the problem, on the right side, we put another .gif illustrating the solution, with green design motifs. We did this with each issue, showing first the before, then the after, and by slowing it down and simplifying, we kept the issue light and solvable. It allowed him to demonstrate his authority –and even some humanity — pretty deftly.
There are so many elements of successful slide decks, but clear thinking, clear organization, simplicity and consistent visual thinking can really help people understand you much better.
INAS: Do you have any tips for choosing the right font and color schemes to ensure readability and accessibility?
JB: In one sense, it’s important to be simple and consistent. Don’t use a million different colors and fonts. Choose a limited universe of them that pertain to the material. That said, variety is also important. Don’t use 10 pie charts or bar graphs; mix it up. Use different kinds of proof. Use photos or videos or .gifs—keep your audience surprised. But again, as with the example above, if visual elements can help create and maintain a sense of organization, it saves a lot of mental work for the audience.
INAS: How can someone tailor their slide deck to fit different audiences or presentation settings?
JB: I think every talk has to be tailored for every audience to the extent it’s possible. If you’re talking about a complicated tech or finance matter, you have to adjust it to the sophistication of the audience. You have to use terms and examples they understand. You certainly don’t want to have more slides than they can take in, unless they’re the kind of audience that in fact wants to get granular and see a lot of slides.
INAS: What’s your process for reviewing and refining a slide deck?
JB: One thing I do every time is look for where the speaker is speaking to or about the audience, instead of speaking about themselves or their company. I see it all the time: “Here’s me, here’s my invention / company / team, here’s our team history, here’s the history of our invention,” and so on. I always ask, “Where’s the slide that’s about the audience and their needs?”
I always review slides for legibility: can your audience actually read this? First step: get rid of all the info you don’t really need. Next step, slow it down to maybe one idea per page. Make the info easier to absorb, make it meaningful, interesting, and relevant.
One thing I talk about in workshops is “visual hierarchy.” If you look at famous paintings or good design work, they have a very clear, specific idea of where a viewer’s eye is going to land first, then where it’s going to go after that. Good design doesn’t just lay out a bunch of visual elements – it takes you on a journey, just like good writing does. So, as we go through a deck, this is a great way to get the speaker to pay attention to how people will read their slides. After a while, the speaker and the deck begin to work together with a lot more harmony, and that’s when it gets good.
INAS: You are a successful coach for speakers, helping them fine-tune their presentation and slide deck. When should someone seek help from a coach or consultant?
JB: I think almost everyone, including me, almost always benefits from working with a coach. It’s the same with writing: everyone benefits from having an editor, no matter how good or accomplished you are.
Of course, you don’t always have the time or money to work this way. But when it’s important, and when you need to prepare something really fast at a high level, it’s a great investment.
The best thing I offer people is the discipline to do things in the proper order: think about the audience and purpose, think about the best way to organize the talk, THEN work on the deck. Someone who’s not you is going to think on a much higher, more detached level about how to visualize the organization, motifs, information-flow, and so on. That person can also watch you do your talk along with your deck and assess what’s working and calibrate both at once, you and your deck. In the end, your deck is almost like your dance partner; it’s great to have someone watch how you’re working with it.
INAS: Describe your ideal client.
JB: Great question. I have so many ideal clients. I think the best client is someone whose expectations are in line with their resources and the importance of the job. I worked once with a multi-billionaire for a TED talk. We spent about 70 hours working on every single part of the talk, making new slides, videos, animations, multiple times, searching repeatedly for the best, most economical, charming, amazing way to convey information and make her points. I’ve also worked for two hours with “normal” people just culling 50% of the bloat from their slides and giving them a clear organizational plan that allows them to really speak with authority and clarity.
A good client interaction is one where the client ends up being happy and confident, feeling like they achieved something they couldn’t have achieved by themselves, and they feel ready to walk into their meeting or pitch or whatever and show their intellect and ideas in a way they’ll be proud of.
Think of all the great ideas in your head— business ideas, commentaries on other people’s ideas, songs, arguments you’d have with a family member, and so on. Imagine if you could hire someone to help you give perfect form to that, so you could finally explain yourself with confidence and without fear of doing it wrong. Working on decks almost always involves working on their talk track as well—it’s the whole package.
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John Bowe is a speech and presentation consultant specializing in corporate and individual presentations. He has worked with students, business and charity leaders, entrepreneurs and executives from all over the world. He has given talks at the New York Public Library, the 92nd St. Y in New York City and many other companies and organizations.
He is the award-winning author of I Have Something to Say (Random House, August, 2020) and contributes regularly to CNBC about public speaking. He has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine. His work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, and he has appeared on CNN, The Daily Show, with Jon Stewart, the BBC, and many others.
If you’d like to engage John’s services, email info@ineedaspeaker.com for details.