The Photo That Changed How I Think About Slides

A dermatologist once tried to persuade me with stats about sunscreen. Numbers. Risk. The whole lecture. I heard it. Nothing changed.

Then they showed me a photo. Years of sun damage, made obvious in a single image. I got it immediately.

Facts are weak. Images are strong. If you can show it, don’t tell it.

That photo is the whole lesson, and almost every bad presentation I sit through violates it. Too much text. Too many ideas. Too much of the presenter, not enough of the audience. You can fix that. Here’s how.

What do they need to hear?

Before you write a single slide, ask: what does the audience need to hear, and in what format?

Most bad presentations fail because the presenter focuses on displaying their own brilliance or technical knowledge rather than solving the audience’s problem. You’ve built a tour of your work. They’re sitting there waiting for something they can use on Monday.

If you’re trying to persuade, you’re marketing. Tell them what they want to hear (the benefit), but give them what they really need (the solution).

Audit your next deck with that filter. If the slides are about you, rewrite them so they’re about the audience. Does that sound familiar? Be honest.

One big idea. Three points.

A good presentation has one overarching theme, supported by three distinct points. If you’re trying to convey five different ideas, you’re creating confusion, not clarity.

Use the Rule of Three for structure (beginning, middle, end) and for content (three supporting arguments). It reduces cognitive load. People can actually remember what you said when they leave the room.

Brooks has suggested this works for 80% of presentations. Hold onto that number. There’s a real exception, and the structure flips when people need to act this week. For everything else, pick the one idea and stop stuffing in extras because you “also wanted to cover” something.

Script first. Slides second.

Never start by opening PowerPoint or Keynote.

Write the script in a document, or mind map the flow. Only once the narrative is 80-90% complete should you open the slide tool.

Slides are a visual representation of the script, not the script itself. Start in the deck and you write to fill boxes. That’s the wall of text trap. The content should drive the design.

Try writing your next talk in a Google Doc before you touch a slide deck. You’ll know the story before you start decorating it.

You don’t need to be a designer

Canva has evolved from a graphic design tool into a full presentation platform. Built-in assets, templates, AI tools. If design is the part that slows you down, it’s often faster and more visually appealing than traditional PowerPoint.

You don’t need to be a designer to make beautiful slides. Try creating one slide in Canva using their AI image generator to replace a text block. Same move as that photo. One image doing the work of a paragraph.

Don’t demo live unless you have to

For technical presentations, avoid live demos unless they’re absolutely necessary.

Pre-record the demo as a video or an animated GIF and embed it in the slide. Snagit works for this. Internet failure, software bugs, all of that risk goes away.

If you must do a live demo, rehearse it 15+ times. The live demo should never be the first time you’re doing it.

Record a 30-second GIF of your most complex workflow and use it in your next update. That’s your safety net.

Rehearse for detours

Rehearsing isn’t about memorizing a script. You’re building the confidence to handle detours.

A tennis player hits thousands of balls to develop hand-eye coordination. A speaker rehearses to develop speaking muscle memory. That’s what lets you handle questions, tech glitches, or audience reactions without losing your train of thought.

If you haven’t rehearsed, you are not ready for the unexpected. Are you timing your run-throughs, or just reading the slides once the night before?

Time your next rehearsal and leave a 10% buffer for questions. That’s the part you can’t fake, and it’s the part that shows whether you actually know the material.

Flip it when they need to act now

The One Big Idea rule covers most talks. Invert the structure when the goal is immediate, time-sensitive compliance.

Update your software by Friday or it breaks. That kind of message.

Start with the call to action immediately. Give the hook, then the action, then the context and justification. Even if people leave early, they know exactly what to do. The rest of the talk reinforces that decision.

Use this for critical project updates or deadline-driven announcements. Don’t bury the ask.

One slide. Right now.

Open the deck you’re about to present. Find the most text-heavy slide. Replace it with a single high-impact image.

That’s the move. One photo did what a pile of sunscreen statistics couldn’t. Start there.