What are the best ways to structure your slides and use visuals to support your message?

The best way to connect with your client/audience is to create a structured roadmap which showcases that you understand them well, you have identified their core issues and you have the required competency to solve their problems.

Structuring Your Slides: -- Clear Structure: Title, agenda, main content, conclusion. -- Concise Text: Bullet points, avoid long paragraphs. -- Visual Hierarchy: Use headings, contrast for emphasis. -- High-Quality Images: Relevant, clear, non-cluttered. -- Consistent Style: Uniform colors and fonts. -- Data Visualization: Easy-to-read charts and graphs. -- Minimal Animation: Use to highlight, not distract.

Besides knowing their title and company, they are associated with, will help, but knowing more such as their background in terms of their education, family, hobbies, passion and also their past working experience and employment will help in breaking the ice better.

To structure slides effectively, keep them simple and focused on one key point per slide. Use clear headings to guide the audience and maintain consistent fonts and colors. Limit text, focusing on bullet points or brief statements to avoid overcrowding. Use visuals like charts, graphs, and images to enhance understanding and emphasize data. Ensure visuals are relevant and support your message rather than distract. Maintain a balance between visuals and text, using whitespace to make the slide easy to read. Keep slide transitions smooth and avoid overuse of effects for a professional flow.

You can use a section title slide when introducing the next topic to clearly punctuate your presentation. The obvious thing to put on that slide is the title of the next section, but there is something more effective. Put a question that the next section answers. When people see/hear a question, they naturally try to answer it or want to know the answer and pay attention. They can be simple. Instead of "Overview of XYZ technology," say "How does XYZ technology work?" I learned this technique from a TED talk: "How to present to keep your audience’s attention," by Mark Robinson.

It is quite important to structure the message well. A presentation or a document is well presented and well structured allow the consumer of the information to understand the concept better, and with less effort. Moreover a skilled presenter can use the power of structuring the improve their story telling, thereby ensuring that the message delivered and absorbed as intended by the original author of the concept.

I always like to use references and citations to iron-clad the visuals by making them more credible and also professional. Having logos, tagline, etc will help too, if data sharing visuals are from third party research companies like McKinsey, Deloitte and the likes.

I agree that we should use visuals as cues, not as scripts. I advocate none to minimum texts on slides. So much so that I try not to use even slide titles. Here is why. When the audience sees a text on the screen, they can't help but start reading it. They can not read a text and listen to the speaker simultaneously. So a text on a slide only distracts them from your presentation. If you need a script, you can put it in the presenter notes.

Verbal and non-verbal body language is also pivotal besides the content. Voice intonation and volume being verbal body language, and dressing, the look of confidence, hand gesture, eye-contact and sweeping eye-contact across the floor is key.

Start the opening of the presentation with an anecdote, joke, or something humorous that is key to easing the situation or environment.