COMMUNICATION

Seven best practices of slide formatting

Some best practices that I have gleaned over the years of formatting slide decks, at work and at play

The author Shawn Seah speaking at a lecture theatre at the National University of Singapore. Photograph by Shawn’s team.

Each time I see a presentation that could have been formatted much better, I wince a little in pain. We all know that a well-formatted presentation can make it easier for decision makers to just focus on the substantive content.

But somehow, sometimes, and strangely, an odd font or a missing comma, small caps followed by all caps, or just a jarring colour combination sticks out so jarringly, detracting rather than adding to the narrative of a presentation.

I just had to write this story on some best practices for formatting slides. It reminds me (and I hope, the reader) that good formatting is all about consistency and coherence.

First, Keep Things Consistently Clean and Simple

Keep slides clean and uncluttered, through ample white space, minimal text (although I admit that this is not always easy, especially in a technical presentation that needs walls of text), and simple visuals.

Have a clear and direct hierarchy of information.