Bob Lewis
Columnist

Making each slide tell a story

analysis
Jan 10, 20071 min

Dear Bob ...From "Presenting smarter," (Keep the Joint Running, 12/11/2006): "That, in fact, is the only hard-and-fast rule of using presentation software correctly: Make each page tell a story."Could you explain further regarding "Make each page tell a story?"  In my mind, the whole presentation would be the "story."Thanks,- Presenting and accounted forDear Presenting ...The two aren't incompatible, other

Dear Bob …

From “Presenting smarter,” (Keep the Joint Running, 12/11/2006): “That, in fact, is the only hard-and-fast rule of using presentation software correctly: Make each page tell a story.”

Could you explain further regarding “Make each page tell a story?”  In my mind, the whole presentation would be the “story.”

Thanks,

– Presenting and accounted for

Dear Presenting …

The two aren’t incompatible, other than making for a confusing metaphor. Each page should tell a complete story by itself. The pages together make a larger story.

Imagine you’re putting together a presentation to explain enterprise architecture. In it, you might have slide that explains portfolio management and how it fits in.

The portfolio management slide should be complete – a stand-alone account of what that means. It should fit into the presentation so that it flows logically from the previous slide (which might be an agenda slide) and should flow logically to the next slide (which might discuss integration architecture). Each slide covers its titled subject in a complete way. They fit together to cover the presentation subject.

– Bob