The Art of Presentations

by Tim Brandon

DTP MAN

Some Basic Rules For Corporate presentations simple is better

and also easier to do. Simple means: No Fancy Fonts or colours. No fancy styles

Make the slide clear in purpose. Readers should be able to understand the slide at a glance

Maintain consistency throughout. This means positioning and formatting

Screen vs. Print

Screenshows Font size should be readable at

the back of the room Colours can afford to be bolder Animations and transitions may

be used Don’t be afraid to add a multi-

media element Feature more pictures

Printed Presentations Font sizes below 8pt can be

difficult for some people to read

Add footnotes and sources Footers should be added

showing the relevant date and the person/organisation presenting

Backgrounds should be white

Slide Layouts Keep your text BIG Resist the urge to cram in too

much data Bold colours and boxes

should be used sparingly Good grammar is essential

as there can be no room for misinterpretation

If you are presenting your text then bear in mind people will be reading ahead of you

Do not transcribe your exact speech to the page

Do not simply read off the page instead of engaging with your audience

CHARTS, GRAPHICS AND PICTURES

Rules for Charts Always label data where

possible Sources must be shown Include units Maintain format colours and

fonts Make sure that the data

matches the geometry of the chart

Keep ideas and themes simple as well as colours in line with format.

Source: Sterling Cooper

Data should be unobstructed, clear and unambiguous

Candy51%

Drinks39%

Snacks7%

Gum3%

Our Sales on 1962

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

14

62

35 34 32 28 22 25 20 18 14 15

Nationwide Candy Bar Sales 1962$M

Bold colours can serve to highlight a statistic

More Complex Charts

A B C D Total Debt Net

5

4

6

3

18

12

6

Waterfalls

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

8052

6542

365

1023

56023

6214

379

1568 1236

Bubbles

19 1610

22

16

9

2015 12

20

15

12

Q1B Q2B Q1A Q2A

Gold Silver Platinum

Clustered Stacked bar Pie of Pie

English60%

Polish11%

French8%

Spanish7%

Bengali10%

Urdu3%

German1%

Dutch1%

Jan-

11

Mar

-11

May

-11

Jul-1

1

Sep-1

1

Nov-1

1

Jan-

12

Mar

-12

May

-12

Jul-1

2

Sep-1

2

Nov-1

2

Jan-

13

Mar

-13

May

-13

Jul-1

3

Sep-1

3

Nov-1

3

Jan-

14

Mar

-14

May

-14

Jul-1

4

Sep-1

4

Nov-1

4

Jan-

15

Mar

-15

May

-15

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0

400

800

1200

1600

Bar Line 1 Line 2 (2nd Axis)Bar and 2 Lines Some chartsrequire the use offormulas to operate

Some need the data split over a secondary axis. The data must remain accessible and fluid

Charts should maintain an obvious simplicity to keepto communicating one ortwo ideas

Trends do not need toshow all figures

Sources need to be shown for all data

All units of measurement need to be clear

Titles should be clear and consistent across all pages

Rules for Graphics Try to keep clean lines Try to avoid clutter Try to avoid fancy WordArt Let the graphic speak for

itself but be prepared to add flesh to even a simple process

Keep the text large

Maintain use of the colour palette

Shades of approved colours can be used

Lighter shades may not show up on later print-outs so choose

carefully

Connector arrows add flexibility to charts that may

undergo multiple edits before being signed off

Example Graphics

Milan

Venice

Florence

Rome

Naples

Palermo

Cagliari

ACME

SPLENDID

POOR

TOLERABLE

ADMIRABLE

THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL

MostPeople

SomePeople

JustMe

Intersection

Group A Group B

Group C

This bit

That bit

Another bit

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

August 25Strange goings on at the Circle K

June 12There's no place like home

December 1Round up the usual suspects

July 25

Show me the money!

April 4

I'll have what she's having

May 14

Soylent Green is people!

“Who areyou?” “No one of

consequence.”

“I must know”

“Get used todisappointment”

Some bulleted textBold

Some bulleted textBold

Some bulleted textBold

Some bulleted textBold

Deja vueBold

86%

3%

2%2%7%

86%

3%

2%2%7%

86%

3%

2%2%7%

86%

3%

2%2%7%

86%

3%

2%2%7%

86%

3%

2%2%7%

86%

3%

2%2%7%

Canaiolo

Pinot Noir

Chardonnay

Merlot

Cabernet Sauvignon

Rules for Pictures Always use your company-

approved images Be sure of the Copyright

status of your images Professional presentations

should seek to avoid clipart The image should support the

message of the slide

Images copied from the internet are not copyright-free and do not usually support the dpi (resolution) requirements of professional, print-worthy presentations.

Don’t use clipart!Just don’t!

Relevance?Any clues?Anyone?

Thank you

Tim Brandon tclbrandon@gmail.com 07980 642025