Why do people use slides in their presentations?

A client is preparing for a talk at an upcoming conference in May (which is in serious jeopardy thanks to the current pandemic) and asked me what I thought about using slides as a part of his presentation.

My answer was simple:

“As few as possible. Zero is a great number. Only when absolutely necessary.”

I went on to explain that you want your audience engaged with you. Looking at you. Not staring at some screen hanging over your head, filled with text and titles and bullets.

“Give an audience something to read, and they will read. Even while you are desperately trying to make a point.”

“Then why do so many speakers use so many slides?” the client asked.

I had a few answers. In fact, when coaching and consulting with speakers, I’ve heard lots of their reasons firsthand.

1. “I need slides because everyone else has slides.”

This is the reason most often given to me in defense of slides. This is also the best reason not to use slides. As a public speaker of any kind, you always want to set yourself apart from your fellow speakers and be as memorable as possible.

The last thing you want is to blend into the crowd. This is not the time to act like a zebra. Instead, you want to be more like Halley’s Comet:

Bright, unusual, and unforgettable.

I have spoken at many TEDx events. Almost every TED producer has asked me to bring a slide deck to rehearsal. I do, of course, but during rehearsal, I ask if I can try my talk without the slides to see what they think.

When I’m finished rehearsing without the slides, the response is always the same:

“You don’t need any slides.”

This isn’t entirely true. I often have a title slide, a closing slide, and slides for anything that is authentically visual:

Graphs, charts, and absolutely necessary images.

But that’s it.

At almost every TEDx event where I have spoken, I have been the speaker with the fewest slides by far, yet my talks have gone exceptionally well. I set myself apart from my fellow speakers, and I did so in a good way. I demonstrated my skill and expertise in conveying an entertaining, engaging, and informative talk without having to constantly click through a PowerPoint.

Doing something because other people are doing it is a recipe for mediocrity.

2. “I need slides to help me remember my talk.”

The response to this is simple:

Rehearse more. If your slides are your de facto teleprompter, you don’t understand the purpose of slides.

You also don’t understand how a teleprompter works. They are designed to allow the speaker to see the text.

Not the audience.

A professional speaker should be able to deliver an outstanding speech even if the projector is fried, a critical cable is missing, or your slides were corrupted during transfer.

I’ve experienced technology problems at many professional development seminars, conferences, and one TEDx Talk. Two years ago I shouted stories at a fundraiser from the top of a folding chair, blinded by cell phone lights pointed in my direction when the power went out.

I still receive compliments on that performance to this day.

Professionals can do the job when the lights go out and all they have left is their voice.

If you are relying in tech to get you through your talk, you’re just asking for trouble, and you’re certainly not a professional.

3. “I need slides to help my audience follow my talk.”

This might be true, but if this is the case, it’s also likely that you’re trying to to say too much. Offering too much information in one sitting. Or not focussed nearly enough.

Possibly all three.

Or your talk isn’t properly structured. Not organized in such a way to make the content accessible to your audience. Not providing them with auditory framing devices to allow them to organize your content in their mind.

There’s nothing wrong with an opening slide that outlines the three key points that you’ll be making as you speak, and there’s nothing wrong with a slide at the end summarizing your most salient takeaways, but if you need a multitude of slides in order to guide your audience through your talk, you might as well just hand out a pamphlet instead.

Or maybe write a book.

4. “I need slides because I need to use technology in my talk.”

Teachers and college students training to become teachers occasionally tell me that they are using slides as a part of their lesson because their administrator, supervisor, or professor require the integration of technology in their teaching.

“Requiring the integration of technology” is a stupid requirement of any lesson, but beyond that, PowerPoint and its newer (but essentially the same) cousins do not constitute technology.

PowerPoint was initially released in 1987, making it older than many of the teachers with whom I work.

PowerPoint is technology in the same way a pencil and a book are technology. Yes, all three are technological marvels, but of the three, PowerPoint is the least marvelous and also 33 years old.

If your administrator, supervisor, or professor consider the use of slides as an adequate integration of technology in a lesson, you are working for a dunderhead.

Sadly, there are a lot of them in this world.

Of all the talks I’ve ever delivered, this (which I’ve delivered more times than I can count) is probably my most well known.

Does it use slides? Yes.

How many? Close to zero.

More importantly (and this should be your standard), only when absolutely necessary.