Have you ever tried reading a text and listening to someone speak at the same time? It’s tough, isn’t it?
So why do so many presenters fill their slides with text and talk over them at the same time?
Why are we still seeing so many slideuments – those hybrids of slides and documents?
Here’s an example of a classic slideument:
The term slideument was coined by Garr Reynolds of Presentation Zen fame. It refers to a slide deck that tries to do two jobs at once: act as a visual aid during a live presentation and serve as a document to be read before or after. And this is one of the main reasons that audiences get lost. Because, yes – it’s incredibly hard to read a busy slide and listen to the presenter at the same time.
Let’s be clear: slides and documents have completely different purposes.
A slide is a visual support for your spoken message – designed to help your audience understand in the moment. A document is for reading and studying, often before or after the session, and it typically contains detailed text and graphics.
To highlight the differences, here’s a short list from Phil Waknell’s excellent book Business Presentation Revolution:
- Slides are for projecting; handouts are for printing
- Slides support your speaking; handouts replace your speaking
- Slides are meant to be looked at; handouts are meant to be read
- Slides use keywords; handouts use full sentences
Even if everyone else at your company is using slideuments, don’t follow the crowd. You already know it doesn’t work – how many times have you sat through a wall-of-text presentation and come away unclear on what the speaker was really trying to say?
So be different. Use slides that are highly visual for your live presentation. Then, if needed, create a separate handout with the details people can study later.
That’s how you stand out and make sure your message sticks.
