To use a slide template or not??
Last week for my presentation to the Dallas .NET User’s Group I chose to use a blank slide template. That is plain black text on a white slide. My theory was that this simplification made the content of the presentation more clear. With less cool graphics to get lost in the audience is able to focus on the content more easily.
I was in the middle of pulling together another deck when I accidentally applied a theme (one from last year’s PDC)… and I hate to say, the deck looks “cooler” and more professional.
So my I am torn. Should I go with a blank slide template or use “cool” side template for the rest of the “road show”?
Comments
Anonymous
February 14, 2005
Definitely use the cool template. Looking at large collections of B&W slides bores me and causes the whole presentation to blend into one long B&W slide and I tend not to remember specifics ( if anything ).Anonymous
February 14, 2005
I disagree with the first commenter. No point fluffing the slides in pursuit of some vague definition of 'coolness'. When we come to your presentations we come for substance. In the DDNUG meeting I didn't even notice that you had a plain white/black combo.Anonymous
February 14, 2005
There's one thing you need to remember (aside from coolness) when choosing a theme: visibility.
If it's a dark-background theme, then that would be preferable as it's easier to read from further back. Black-on-white is difficult to read from the back of many rooms due to lack of contrast, more difficulty in focusing the projector, and additional glare caused by the additional white light. This gets worse for those who are near-sighted wearing glasses. (Remember, a large number of programmers are near-sighted, partially due to sitting in front of monitors all day long...)
For a small audience and a short presentation (<1 hr) then it probably doesn't matter much. But for 2 hour, half-day or all-day events (e.g., MSDN events, PDC, etc.), then it becomes important to prevent eye strain.
It also depends upon the ambient room lighting. If you're in a conference room with the overhead lights on, then black-on-white is ok. A larger room with the lights out or dimmed, white-on-black is better.Anonymous
February 14, 2005
People are emotional beings--yes, even programmers. If you instinctively felt an attraction to the version of your slide that had the cool graphics on it, then I would listen to your instincts. Logic would tell you that quality of the message is all that is needed to get your point across. In this case, logic is wrong. Everyone is influenced by these psychological forces, even the people who don't realize it.Anonymous
February 14, 2005
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February 14, 2005
Content is key...
http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4106&n=3Anonymous
February 14, 2005
When a set of slide is posted to the web, no template should be used. All logos etc should be removed. That way the size of the file is reduced to be as small as possible.Anonymous
February 14, 2005
The recorded presentation is a relatively small screen. Any kind of fancy template would simply distract. If you scale down images, they will look ugly, so what's the point? ;)Anonymous
February 15, 2005
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February 15, 2005
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February 15, 2005
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February 15, 2005
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February 15, 2005
seems to be an echo in here... I got an ASP.NET error the first time I posted. Can you delete the duplicate?Anonymous
February 15, 2005
Your presentation needs more cowbell!
I'll be at your upcoming RTP Trinug presentation, and I'm bringing all the (many) NC State graduates I work with. Usually NC State produces nothing but mediocre software engineers, but there's always that one exception that proves the rule...Anonymous
February 15, 2005
Consider NOT using it...
Check out http://www.beyondbullets.com
This guy has changed the way I think about PowerPoint.Anonymous
February 15, 2005
Thank you Scott. I am honoured that you agree with me.Anonymous
February 16, 2005
Cool template, but not one of those templates that everyone else who uses POwerpoint uses. Blue gradient with those freaky stick-like figures that look like early Sims concept art is almost as boring as B&WAnonymous
February 16, 2005
"Cool" is one thing and "professional" is another. Templates don't necessarily add anything to the content, and can definitely detract if they are not professional-looking.
A template sends a definite message/impression to the audience about the speaker and the importance they place on their presentation. It's about as important has how you dress for your presentation.Anonymous
February 16, 2005
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February 17, 2005
Go look at the stuff at www.beyondbullets.com. Cliff also has a blog where he gives some great ideas...and has recently completed a book by the same name, available from MS Press.Anonymous
February 19, 2005
Minimum graphs and the correspondence to standard!
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http://www.ddnug.net/
This page is not Valid HTML 4.0 Transitional!
Errors: 137
HTML 4.0 Very old standard.
HTML 4.0 Specification W3C Recommendation, revised on 24-Apr-1998
I use XHTML 1.0 example of my site. http://www.webosoft.net/Anonymous
February 20, 2005
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February 20, 2005
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February 24, 2005
nothing worse than white bacgroung full of small black text ....unless it's for 1 slide onlyAnonymous
June 09, 2009
PingBack from http://insomniacuresite.info/story.php?id=1450Anonymous
June 18, 2009
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