Small Wars Journal

Do Your Slides Pass the Glance Test?

Mon, 10/22/2012 - 2:32pm

Do Your Slides Pass the Glance Test? By Nancy Duarte at Harvard Business Review.

An audience can't listen to your presentation and read detailed, text-heavy slides at the same time (not without missing key parts of your message, anyway). So make sure your slides pass what I call the glance test: People should be able to comprehend each one in about three seconds.

Think of your slides as billboards. When people drive, they only briefly take their eyes off their main focus - the road - to process billboard information. Similarly, your audience should focus intently on what you're saying, looking only briefly at your slides when you display them…