I am a firm believer of simple, basic, lite presentations. This is a simple presentation I made to explain how to make them.

1. Simple Presentations
A forgotten art
Naga Chokkanathan
November 2014
PMU Thanjavur

2. Agenda
• Why write simple Presentations?
• Pen and paper
• Software
• Text, layout, colors
• Pictures
• Presenting, sharing

3. Disclaimer
• These are not rules, but some simple
commonsense guidances
• This is not the only way to make Presentations
• And this doesn't focus on great presentation
techniques
• You may skip some of these tips once you
master the art of writing presentations
• But as of now, these would help you to start

4. Why Keep Them Simple?
• Because that's what people understand
• Because that's what people like
• Because that's what impresses people
• Because that's what is right

5. It Is Difficult
• It takes 5 minutes to write a complex slide
• And, any idiot can do it
• It takes 15 minutes to write a simple slide
• And, only intelligent, caring people do it
• Simple slides reach more people
• It shows you care about your viewers

6. Don't Show Off
• Complexity <> genius
• In fact the reverse is true
• Nobel prize is not awarded to the most
complex research, it goes to the most useful
research
• Is your presentation useful to the listener in
some way?
• If not, don't present it

7. So How To Make It Simple?
• Invest time in thinking
• Not just topic thinking, also spend time
thinking about how to present it
• Pen and paper or a white board
• If there is no flow, rewrite until it flows
• Show it to your worst enemy
• And, implement his suggestions

8. Where To Write Presentations?
• Don't worry about a fancy software
• Start with Google slides or WPA office
• Simple, not confusing
• Write text first, you can add pictures
afterwards
• Write as many slides as you want, but follow
the flow

9. Layout
• Use a default layout provided by the software
• Don't let your text or pictures hang in different
ways
• Maintain uniformity as much as possible

10. Text
• Simple sentences
• Few words, not necessarily full sentences
• But avoid explicit spelling or grammar errors
• Preferably 6 bullet points maximum per slide
• Each bullet point short and crisp

11. Colors And Background
• Keep it simple
• Use a simple, easy to read font, large enough
to read when projected
• If text won't fit in single slide, create a new
one
• No multicolor text, except when stressing a
point
• Same for bold, italics, underline, super size
etc.

12. What To Write In Bullets?
• Don't give away everything
• Just Provide most important keywords from
what you are going to discuss
• Presentation <> document
• Add audio, video as links, if required

13. Pictures
• Use when necessary
• Picture rich slides = few (or zero) words
• Choose pictures carefully to match your
presentation theme
• Try to present things visually (for example,
graphs, flow diagrams, logos, maps etc.)

14. Where Are The Pictures?
• Use your own photos, diagrams when possible
• Clipart may not be appropriate in all cases
• Don't stretch images too much, it's ugly

15. Respect Copyright
• When adding images from Internet, add a
slide giving proper image credits with URLs
• Be aware that this may still be illegal
• Don't use watermarked images, it's stealing
and it's ugly
• Thousands of free photos and paintings
available at search.creativecommons.org
• They may not be very professional, but they
are legally free to use

16. Title
• Add a simple title to each slide
• It should convey theme of that slide
• Presentation = novel, titles = chapters
• You can ignore this rule for slides with only
pictures

17. Notes
• Add speaker notes to slides
• This can be very descriptive
• Will come handy when you are presenting

18. After Completing The Slides
• Review
• Rework
• Repeat until perfect
• Make sure flow is maintained and enhanced

19. Finally
• Add the title slide
• Simple title please
• You can add a descriptive subtitle
• Add your name, month, year and venue of
presentation
• Add an agenda slide, a contact me slide

20. Before Presenting
• Send a PDF version of the presentation to
organizers, yourself by email
• Carry a version in an USB drive
• Keep an editable version on cloud (Example:
Google drive)
• Check how it plays on the meeting venue at
least 15 minutes before the presentation
• Inform them if you need audio (speakers), test
that as well

21. Beginning Your Presentation
• Introduce yourself: elevator pitch
• Introduce your topic
• Explain the agenda
• Also mention what won't be covered in this
• Can the audience ask questions in between or
you will take questions after the slides?

22. During Presentation
• Don't read from slides
• Explain in the level appropriate for your
audience
• Use body language
• Tell stories
• Use whiteboard

23. After Presentation
• Thank your audience
• Answer their questions, or tell them you will
check and get back
• Provide your email ID
• Publish the presentation in an online service
like slideshare, tell the world (except
confidential presentations)
• Ask for feedback and keep learning

24. What Next
• Watch / view best presentations
• Look at how they are designed, presented
• It's an art, learn how you would learn any
other art!

25. Thank You
• Naga Chokkanathan
• nchokkan@gmail.com