We have to be careful about how much information we load onto one slide. We need to ask ourselves if our content is being clearly illustrated or if the valuable information is being lost in the clutter. I distinctly remember one presentation where a presenter divided his slide into four quadrants and then listed four detailed bullet points under each quadrant. What irritated me more was how an audience member was addressed when complaining that the slides were difficult to read. The presenter's response to this concern? "Get better glasses." He then proceeded to turn around and read these slides to us.

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Imagine looking at these slides from fifty feet away on a screen only six feet tall.

This is obviously a case of visual clutter. The presenter is trying to cram too much information on a slide. Some people think this looks impressive, but what are you trying to accomplish? Do you want your audience to say, "Wow! That's a lot of information to digest," or do you want them to say, "Wow! It's so clear to me now?"

In these slides, the y-axis represents the Bloom's taxonomy level of a task, and the x-axis describes how broadly-applicable a task is. Items in the A quadrant would have a low cognitive domain and narrow application while items in the D quadrant would require higher-level cognitive skills and have very broad application. This is good information, but the delivery leaves much to be desired. Here is one possible alternative.

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Now no one will need new glasses!

This approach keeps the same basic approach as the example slides. The first slide retains the chart, but it is vastly simplified. I've eliminated the miniscule text that obscured the labels. Also, the numbers are gone. Simple, meaningful labels win over meaningless numbers any day. A simple gradient and translucent border was added to the circles to give the illusion of depth, and a soft white drop-shadow is applied behind the skill set we're going to cover next.

The second slide just highlights important verbs in the skills we're talking about, emphasizing what is done in higher-order, broadly-applicable tasks. The various steps do not need to be typed out word for word. Of course, if you wanted to include more verbs, build out those points you are finished with, and build in the new ones as you are ready. This simply helps to control slide clutter.

This is only one possible approach to this information. What would you do differently? How would you convey this information in your own style? One of the great things about having someone else look over your material and slides before you present is that they may suggest an entirely different approach to your material. However you organize your content, though, cluttered slides will either be distracting and frustrating to your audience, or they will be utterly forgettable because that's how so many other presentations look. Taking the time to illustrate your material uniquely and clearly will make your presentation stand out as something different.

Tags: clutter, examples, text, makeover