Shipulski On Design

Anyone can create a presentation with thirty slides, but it takes a rare bird to present for thirty minutes with a single slide.

With thirty slides you can fully describe the system.  With one slide you must know what’s important and leave the rest.  With thirty slides you can hide your lack of knowledge.  With one slide it’s clear to all that you know your stuff, or you don’t.

With one slide you’ve got to know all facets of the topic so you can explain the interactions and subtleties on demand.  With thirty slides you can jump to the slide with the answer to the question. That’s one of the main reasons to have thirty slides.

It’s faster to create a presentation with thirty slides than a one-slide presentation.  The thirty slides might take ten hours to create, but it takes decades of experience and study to create a one-slide presentation.

If you can create a hand sketch of the concept and explain it for thirty minutes, you will deliver a dissertation.  With a one-slide-per-minute presentation, that half hour will be no more than a regurgitation.

Thirty slides are a crutch.  One slide is a masterclass.

Thirty slides – diluted.  One slide – distilled.

Thirty slides – tortuous.  One slide – tight.

Thirty slides – clogged.  One slide – clean.

Thirty slides – convoluted.  One slide – clear.

Thirty slides – sheet music.  One slide – a symphony.

With fewer slides, you get more power points.

With fewer slides, you get more discussion.

With fewer slides, you show your stuff more.

With fewer slides, you get to tell more stories.

With fewer slides, you deliver more understanding.

If you delete half your slides your presentation will be more effective.

If you delete half your slides you’ll stand out.

If you delete half your slides people will remember.

If you delete half your slides the worst outcome is your presentation is shorter and tighter.

Why not reduce your slides by half and see what happens?

And if that goes well, why not try it with a single slide?

I have never met a presentation with too few slides.

Image credit — NASA Goddard

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