Ditch that intro slide

Australian Testing days is off to an awesome start. I always enjoy the community vibe at these events. However there’s tons of poorly designed slide decks out there. Here’s some advice. Ditch the intro slide with your picture on it. The audience doesn’t care and we know what you look like. You are standing right in front of us.

Chhavi Raj Dosaj gave a good introductory talk on “on practical AI for the tester”. I have the sketchnotes here:

However, I just wish I could have walked him through my workshop material on giving better technical presentations before he got up on stage. This type of mentoring is something I offer for free. I love helping people improve their technical presentations. It makes every conference experience better for everyone involved. His slide deck could have been better. For example;

We don’t need a slide with your picture on it. You are standing right in front of us. We know what you look like. Keep this for the offline version for sharing if you like but you should never have a slide with your picture on it when standing in front of a crowd. This is my personal opinion, but do you think this adds any value?

There are too many words on this slide

Can you read what’s on this slide from that photo? no? me neither. Only the people in the front row would have been able to read this. Anyone further back in the crowd can’t. Also when people read they stop listening to what you are talking about. Think of your slide deck as a good user interface, your goal is to teach us something new. Not cause us to be distracted from reading your words when you want us to focus on what you are saying. Wordy slides are good for offline sharing. They aren’t needed in a physical presentation. Slides are free. If this content is important use the slow reveal technique to build up. If not, dump it. You have already established you credibility. the audience doesn’t need your words to figure out you are competent on stage and that you know the material you are presenting. You are already standing in front of us and we are already seated. Waiting to hear your insights on the topic.

Don’t put anything important on the bottom third

Only the front row can read this content. Everyone else has to strain or just completely ignore any information you put here.

In summary, ditch that intro slide. The audience already knows your name; it’s on the schedule. We are already convinced of your value; we are sitting in the audience. The audience just wants you to get to the learning material. Want a challenge for slide design? Try the Takahashi minimalistic slide design or a presentation using only images, it will force you to focus on your story over your slides.