Here's how you can spot signs of work-life imbalance through your presentation habits.

Creating slides isn’t the problem. Having a clear story to tell is. That’s usually the thing that keeps people up at night. Slides are nothing more than visual representations of the concepts that you’re trying to communicate, so having a clearly laid out concept will definitely help you achieve a better work-life balance. Once you have the concept in place, the slide development is relatively seamless.

When your presentations are strictly work-centric and lack personal insights, it can indicate that your professional life is overshadowing other aspects. This is particularly true if your content appears devoid of enthusiasm or personal touch. Such indicators might reflect a disconnection from your work or signify that you're stretched too thin to invest creatively. It's essential to ensure a balanced approach that includes diverse perspectives and keeps your content engaging.

Everyone has stress in their lives, and when you’re presenting to a group, your demeanor speaks volumes about how you feel as a person. Imagine if you were presenting a slide deck and a presentation on improving a certain sector of your company’s business. How would your audience feel if you came across as tense or rushed or stressed because your personal challenges were coming out in the energy of the presentation? I’ve been creating presentations for more than 25 years and can tell you that being able to balance out the work-life stress in your world will make a huge difference in how your presentations are delivered and perceived. Take time to breathe, practice your presentation out loud, and to a colleague to get their feedback.

When someone asks me about creating slides for a project, I in turn ask them what it is they want to communicate. I ask them if they have a story, concept, or ideas for visuals that they’d like to use. Creating a slide deck without a script to go by is similar to driving from point A to point B without any idea of where you’re going or how to get there. The visuals you are trying to create are hard to develop because you’re trying to communicate ideas without having clearly defined and approved content to use as your roadmap. Always start out with a script and your slides will be easier to design.