Recommendations for creating presentations

Often met situations where people do not understand the purpose of presentations. For example, at a scientific conference (!), A girl inserted animation into a scientific report so that “the report was not boring to watch.” For me it was wild.

Creating presentations, or reviewing others, I was guided by my own impressions. When I stumbled upon the documentation for LaTeX Beamer , I was delighted: there was not only a detailed guide to the latest beteh bimer, but also general guidelines for creating slides. While reading the documentation, I literally enjoyed every paragraph, catching myself thinking “Yes, yes. Right, right. ”

And when it became necessary to make recommendations for creating presentations for the RuPyRu conference , I remembered the documentation for the beemer. It served as the basis for general recommendations . And already on the basis of general recommendations, I have compiled a simplified version, which I quote here:

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These recommendations should not be taken as requirements, there will be nothing catastrophic if you do not strictly follow them. The main rule of typography is also applicable to the creation of slides: any rule can be broken, but not all at once .

Time

• The number of slides approximately corresponds to the length of the report in minutes. If you have a lot more slides than time, then you simply will not have time to show all the slides, or you will show them too quickly and the audience will not understand the report. If you have too few slides, this means that you are not using them effectively.
• Most of the time is not enough.
• It is better to talk fully about one topic than not to have time to talk about two. Regardless of the degree of importance of the second topic.

Report

• The narration should be consistent and logical.
• Returning to the old slide is often not a good solution.
• The report should be divided into sections.
• If a report lasts more than 15–20 minutes, a short plan should be given before each section.
• In each section there should not be more than 4-5 paragraphs (otherwise, by the time you get to the last paragraph, the audience will have time to forget the plan of this section).
• Titles of sections and paragraphs should be short and capacious.
• Begin the report with an explanation of what you will tell.
• Conclude your report by summarizing the main points already mentioned in a shorter and more understandable form. People are most attentive at the beginning and end of the report. Results - this is your second chance to bring the main idea to the listener.

Slide

• Each slide should have a title.
• An incomplete slide is better than a full one. Usually, the slide should be from 20 to 40 words. A reasonable maximum is 80 words.
• Make the slide easier. The audience has only about 50 seconds to perceive it.
• Do not overestimate the audience. Make the report more accessible.
• Do not show in the slides what you will not tell.
• Avoid solid text. Better use numbered and bulleted lists.
• Do not use an attachment level in lists deeper than two. Better use charts and diagrams.
• Use short sentences or phrases.
• Do not carry the words.

Fonts

• Use no more than two fonts (one for headings, one for text).
• Do not use similar fonts for headings and text.
• Do not use decorative, handwritten, gothic, fixed-width fonts for the main text and headings.
• The font in charts and diagrams must match the main font of the text.
• The font size should be chosen so that the slide fits about 10-15 lines, not more.
• For semantic text, use color or bold intensity.

Colors

• Use colors carefully. You must have a good reason for adding each new color.
• Be careful to use light colors on a white background, especially green. What looks good on your monitor looks bad when you report, because monitors, projectors and printers represent colors differently. Use dark, saturated colors if you have a light background.
• Use contrasting colors. Normal text should be black on a white background, or at least, something dark on something very light. Never use combinations such as "light green text on a not-too-dark green background."
• Shadows reduce clarity without increasing information content. Do not use shadows just because it looks more beautiful.
• Inverse colors (light text on a dark background) can be a problem in light (not darkened) rooms. Inverse colors are also harder to reproduce in the handouts and on transparencies.

Graphics

Graphics often reveal concepts or ideas much more efficiently than text: one picture can say more than a thousand words (it happens and vice versa - one word can say more than a thousand pictures).

• If possible, insert pictures into each slide. Visualization greatly helps the audience.
• Place the pictures to the left of the text: we read from the left-to-right, so we look first at the left side of the slide.
• Graphics should have the same typography as the main text: fonts, typeface.
• Photos may well be full-color, and vector graphics (diagrams, charts, graphs) should correspond to the basic color scheme (for example, black - regular lines, red - highlighted parts, green - examples, blue - structure).
• As with the text, you must explain all the elements of the graphic.

Animation and transitions

• Use animation to explain the dynamics of the system. algorithms, etc.
• Do not use animation to attract the attention of the audience.
• Do not use slide change effects, such as “dissociation”, unless you have good reasons to do so.