The 5-Point Guidance I Give to Clients Who Want a Slide Deck

1. Headers
Ditch the headlines, or headers, on each slide. This format reduces the space you have to work with, thus making your slides cramped.

2. Visuals
Make your visuals bigger — much bigger. (And make sure to use only hi-res pics.)

3. Transition Slides
Use transition, or chapter, slides. This has the added benefit of giving your audience more time to process what you’re saying.

4. One Point Per Slide
Perhaps most important — and I can’t say this enough — limit each slide to one point. Not one point with multiple subpoints. One single solitary takeaway per slide.

5. Bullet Points
If you feel compelled to use bullet points, find a more visually interesting way to display them than a boring list.

I realize this is a big departure from what you’re used to. It also entails a lot of work. But I fear that your current slides don’t do justice to your content.

The Problem With PowerPoint Is Worse Than You Thought

“Think about what happens when you open PowerPoint. A blank format slide appears that contains space for words—a title and subtitle. This presents a problem. There are very few words in a Steve Jobs presentation. Now think about the first thing you see in the drop-down menu under Format: Bullets & Numbering. This leads to the second problem. There are no bullet points in a Steve Jobs presentation. The software itself forces you to create a template that represents the exact opposite of what you need to speak like Steve!”

—Carmine Gallo, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs