During the past few weeks, I have been in output mode with one of my client projects. This means long days of just putting research insights, and recommendations on 100s-of-slides-long decks. This process is driving me to reflect on some of the practices I draw on to make slide decks. So, here it goes.
Nail your narrative first: Start thinking about your presentation outside your main deck-building tool. Brainstorm your presentation narrative and accompanying proof points on a document or offline on sticky notes. This allows you to stay focused and iterate on the logical flow of the story.
Put the main takeaway from each slide on the headline: Write longer, more descriptive headlines instead of shorter phrases. This way, if people only read the headlines on your slides, they get a concise version of your message. Including illustrative headlines will also make your deck stand on its own.
Focus on your hero slides: Not every slide in your deck needs to shine. Identify a handful of slides that are essential to your story and focus on them. Make them memorable. The rest of your deck can play a supporting role for these star slides. Doing this will help you prioritize the slides that are worth getting right.
Build pauses within the presentation: Make your deck reflect the cadence of your presentation. Make sure to have pauses built into your deck for the audience to digest information and for you to take a breath between ideas. A helpful strategy to break up successively heavy slides is to include images, models, questions, or reflective prompts.
Develop a visual vocabulary: When you're not actively building decks, spend time cultivating a visual language that makes you fluent in presentation design. Gather inspiration across common slide types and patterns so you can rely on them while designing your decks.
I'm still nowhere near proficient in designing slide decks. But these are things I practice daily, particularly when I'm functioning in 'output mode'. I'd love to hear what your go-to techniques are for slide design.