How can you improve the legibility of your presentation?

Use fewer words. Use more images. This sentence is just to reach the character limit :) it’s ironic that I have to add more words.

1. Minimize the use of special effects, such as animations and transitions, which can be distracting and reduce legibility. Use them sparingly and purposefully. 2. When presenting a list of items or key points, use bulleted or numbered lists. They break up information into easily digestible chunks and enhance legibility.

Headline fonts 54 point or above. Body Font 24 point or above. Ideally, you want to think "Billboards" rather than a document. Keep your typography clear, easy to read and choose colours that have enough contrast between the text and background.

Show don't tell. Why we feel the need to make our message heard, our audience are often treated like children. Make things interesting, take them on a journey and don't repeat what you have said in your slide presentation, rather enhace the depth of the your story, or bring it home more powerfully.

The heading is the least important on a slide and should not be the biggest thing. Serif fonts are easier to read (research says, I personally don’t think so) in long texts, you shouldn't haven't text chunks on your slides. Research says we can keep 4 things in our head (some can handle more) but that's the amount we should strive for.

Overcrowding your whitespace is a security blanket of feeling prepared for your audience, which results in attention being lost both by the audience and by you in presenting. Less is more - a well-designed presentation with key elements of your topic, visuals and then presenter engagement provides the most impact.

Be clear with yourself about the purpose for the deck. We all need to be more clear about the difference between a "walking deck" that is supposed to stand on its own and a deck for presenting. They should really be as different as possible. A deck that I'm presenting should not be able to stand on its own, because if it could, there would be no point to having a speaker. So before you even start designing, ask yourself what the purpose is.

If you have traditional bulleted list as your slide content, make sure the bullets are separated by at least some space so they can easily be perceived as separate bullet points.

One thing I've found is that people are afraid of white space, so they overcrowd their presentations. White space is a tool to help your audience focus on what matters. The proper amount of white space enriches your presentation, puts your audiences focus on what you are trying to convey with each slide, instead of being all over the place.

Au-delà de l'espace blanc, vous devez utiliser des slides complètement noires. Vous pourrez intercaler ces slides noires dans votre présentation, ce qui permettra de jouer avec l'attention de votre public. à chaque fois qu'il n'y aura plus rien à regarder à l'écran, les yeux se tourneront vers vous.

Depending on the stylization of your presentation, look to create one of two typical formats: organic, with clustering, natural offsetting, and flowing readability; or mechanic/contemporary, with clear and tightly linked formatting, often highly useful for displaying hierarchies, cause-and-effect models, etc.

A misaligned element, although it may seem harmless, can actually detract from the overall quality of a presentation and undermine the hard work put into it. It is a simple step that ties together a presentation. The little details matter.

Alignment plays a critical role in presentation design. It dictates how elements are arranged in relation to each other and the presentation's edges. Proper alignment enhances professionalism, organization, readability, and flow. Utilize alignment tools or grids to maintain precision in your design. Alignment also aids in establishing visual connections and associations between related elements. For instance, aligning text with images or bullet points with headings creates cohesion and clarity in your presentation.

I agree that animation can be helpful when not distracting in a presentation. Ensure that you have the right balance of information plus animation plus interaction and consistency with branding and text throughout your presentation. Ensure that contact information is clear and ways for attendees to follow up or reiterated throughout the presentation.

You can use color to provide subtle visual clues about where you are in a presentation (a different color for key sections or points) or the type of content on a particular slide (a quote, statistic, heading, question, etc.). If done tactfully, this can enhance visual interest and comprehension. Don’t overdo it. Keep legibility and accessibility in mind.

Color palette, when making presentations, can significantly impact the effectiveness of your communication. A strategic use of color can direct your audience’s attention to key sections of your slides, much like traffic lights use red, yellow, and green to manage flow and send signals. Choosing the right colors to highlight data, signify transitions, and underscore critical points not only adds visual interest but also serves as a visual cue system, ensuring your audience follows the flow of your presentation with ease.

A great way to use color is to highlight words when presenting longer text such as sentences or quotes. It’s unlikely that people will read the whole text on your slide but the highlight words will convey the meaning and what you thought was important with the text.

Colors are a potent tool in presentation design, enabling you to infuse interest, meaning, and emotion into your slides. They provide opportunities to establish contrast, emphasis, harmony, and variety. However, exercise caution when selecting colors to maintain legibility and accessibility. Opt for colors that align with your topic and tone while ensuring they harmonize. Avoid excessively bright, dull, or similar value colors. Utilize color palette generators or color wheels for informed color choices in your presentation.

If you use colors sparingly, when it comes time to get something noticed, having it in a bright and noticable color really makes it pop out. If everything is brightly colored, do the opposite, and make what you want to pop out be muted and grey.

Complex charts should either be animated or the data split over multiple slides. - Animation allows you to bring in parts of the chart and explain them as you go without overwhelming the audience with an overly complex chart. - Don't try to put all the information to a single chart. Slides cost nothing, split the data in multiple simple charts, instead of one complex chart.

Ensure that there are interactive parts of your presentation, and that the takeaways are quite clear. When there are things that are to be noted have a prompt to remind the audience to either take a screenshot or to write these things down. This impresses the point and boost your message. Also, if you have lost anyone during the talk, this could potentially reengage them. You never know what competing thoughts people are having.

Using animations in charts and graphs can also help you split up the information into more digestible chunks. For instance you can render the graph gradually as you explain it. Or use the animation to tell the story behind the graph or chart - I.e Timelapse.

Des tableaux, des statistiques, des données, etc. Ces éléments sont souvent chargés en informations. Une fois projetés, ces documents deviennent des pièges à attention : le public se jette dessus pour commencer à les lire. Dans la mesure du possible, il faut extraire la substantifique moelle pour ne venir présenter que les éléments clés. Ces éléments doivent interpeller et donner envie au public d'approfondir la réflexion.

What’s the Power, what’s the Point- this is what I have learned long time ago and this approach is still working when I create a PowerPoint. The rest is technique that is constantly developing given digitalization but the philosophy remains.

Once you’ve written all the text you want to include in your presentation, see if you can cut it in half. Most of what needs to be said can go in your notes and be said verbally. As often as possible, replace PowerPoint text with images, charts, graphs, or other non-text visuals. An image is more powerful than verbiage on a slide, and if your audience is reading, then they are not necessarily listening. An image can convey a feeling or a concept that aligns with spoken word.

Le public n'est pas capable de faire deux choses à la fois. Il ne pourra pas vous écouter et lire le texte simultanément. Charger votre PowerPoint avec des mots, c'est vous tirer une balle dans le pied : vous offrez de la distraction à votre public. Résultat ? Il ne vous écoute plus. Dans l'idéal, supprimez au possible le texte et devenez l'élément central de présentation. Si cela n'est pas possible, offrez du temps à votre public pour qu'il puisse lire le contenu des PowerPoints. Votre présentation ne doit pas venir vous concurrencer.

With text less is usually more. Finding short expressions or sentences to convey your meaning is powerful. Avoid adding to many text elements to a slide and find out what word/words communicate the summary of what you are trying to convey.

Text plays a pivotal role in your presentation, carrying your core message and arguments. Optimize your text by employing clear, concise language with proper grammar and punctuation. Structure your text with headings, subheadings, bullet points, and keywords to emphasize key points. Utilizing a text editor or a proofreading tool can be a valuable means of optimization.

My overall suggestion from what I've seen in many presentations is that many people overdo it with text. Pictures, symbols, images - are way easier to understand. Text can make your presentation redundant, especially if you are reading from your slides. The audience can read faster than you can speak it, thus having a lot of text and repeating it word for word disengages the audience. Speak it first. Show it later. Ideally, convey only the main ideas via short text and elaborate verbally.

The number of slides is not the problem, the amount of things on the slide is the problem. Make sure to have few things on the slide, divide them into more of needed. And only use a slide if it adds to the presentation, everything don't have to be a slide

Legibility is only crucial if the presentation will be consumed stand-alone. If you are actually presenting then your slides should be minimal in order for the focus to be on you; the speaker. They should still be legible but don’t need to tell the full story. Don’t be afraid to remove things from slides.

Lors d'une présentation PowerPoint, les orateurs font souvent la même erreur : ils ne possèdent qu'un seul document pour se préparer, pour présenter et pour résumer leur contenu. Cela donne lieu à des PowerPoints illisibles : l'orateur va vouloir tout inscrire pour ne rien oublier. Il est impératif d'avoir un document adapté pour apprendre sa présentation, un autre qui sera projeté avec un visuel léger, puis un dernier qui servira de résumé en cas de besoin (pour transmission aux participants par exemple). Avec ces trois documents, vous allez devenir beaucoup plus efficaces.

Pick out the most significant or important hot topics or key words that you will address in your presentation. If possible, just keep a few or maybe even one word/topic/issue per slide. The audience knows the topic or subject but doesn’t need to read over what you’ve already said in your presentation. If they’re reading a bunch of text, they may miss your most important points!

Effective presentations require a deep understanding of your audience. 1. Following the 10/20/30 rule (utilizing 10 slides, a 20-minute timeframe, and 30-point font) ensures concise, engaging content. 2. Avoid reading directly from slides and emphasize spoken words. 3. Engage your audience through interaction and storytelling. 4. Remember, visuals should enhance, not replace, your spoken words. If your audience is engrossed in reading slides, they’re not actively listening to your spoken presentation. 5. Practice, prepare for questions, and be mindful of body language. 6. Above all, maintain brevity while striving for brilliance and memorability. These principles, when combined, lead to compelling and impactful presentations.