How do you craft a clear and concise message for your slide deck?

At the risk of being provocative, perhaps the first question should be "do you actually need a slide deck in the first place?" How about putting that time & effort into building your scripting skills to create stories that will impact, will land exactly as you designed?

Your objective is your north star. It's the reason you've been asked to present in the first place, so keeping that front-and-center is critical. As you create your deck, always check your work against the goal. Everything you do must serve that goal, or it should be re-evaluated or deleted. That doesn't mean that elements which bring levity or humanity are not allowed. Quite the contrary. Every presenter wants to have the audience enjoy their presentation, and if the presence of humor, clever timing, or surprises helps achieve that goal, go for it. But in the end, keep checking (with yourself and others) on whether or not what you're creating is serving the end goal. If not, lose it.

'Story' is perhaps the key word here. We are hard wired to remember stories rather than statistics or numbers. A risk - particularly in business presentations - is the speaker engages their audience, then does a data dump so losing their attention. How about scripting content, using specific scripting techniques to achieve the desired impact, in order to go beyond engagement to engage, compel, haunt then obsess your audience....

Designing effective slides - if they really, really have to be used! - is a specific skill which many of us do not have. My recommendation would be to outsource this aspect to someone who's role in life is building 'WOW!' slides. I do have a colleague in mind; just let me know if a referral would be welcome!

When it comes to design, less is definitely more. I try to keep my elements as few as possible, with text and/or imagery being the primary assets on each slide. I design my slides to support what I'm saying, unless there is a slightly complicated idea I'm trying to get across. Otherwise, think of slides like billboards, with clear, singular statements.

Now we're talking (or rather, speaking...). Every time you speak, whether 'in the room' or virtually, you are performing. Delivering a 'Speak Performance' to your audience. Would you go on stage to perform in a production without thoroughly rehearsing? Rhetorical question; you know the answer. This coming weekend, along with a couple of hundred other voices, a mahoosive orchestra and professional soloists, I'll have the privilege of singing in the Verdi Requiem, taking the roof off the Dorking Halls. It will be an amazing, incredible, sensory experience for singers and audience alike, not in the least because we have spent three months rehearsing for this one event. That's performing.

Always keep the amount of time allowed for the presentation in mind as you're creating your deck. If you only have thirty minutes, don't make a huge deck with tons of complex information. This will make your presentation feel overwrought, rushed, and undisciplined. Also, always allow for conversation at the end. If I have a half-hour pitch, I usually limit my delivery time to under twenty minutes, allowing for a few minutes to settle in at the beginning as well. If I need more time, I usually request it. But if that's not possible, I edit my deck down. I never shoehorn in too much information. Every audience wants to give feedback, and no matter what, you want to hear it. So allow plenty of time for your ideas to breathe.