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The Seven Presentation Design Habits of Great Presenters

Thrown together by David Tamés, this article was originally posted to kino-Eye.com on May 28, 2015 and updated on October 28, 2020; reposted here with minor revisions with a new set of images on December 30, 2025.

After years of sitting through way too many banal, sleep-inducing PowerPoint presentations, I finally could not take it anymore and dashed off this missive which I originally wrote for my students.

I believe there are seven crucial presentation design habits that will help you develop more engaging and memorable presentations. These habits are focused on the design of the visuals themselves, however, the links in the Resources section below provide some good starting points for gaining insights on planning, preparation, and delivery, in addition to design.

1. Begin by Sketching Your Presentation

Use post-its, paper, pencils, scissors, and magic tape (the kind that you can remove and reapply easily) to sketch your presentation. Put each idea on a separate piece of paper or post-it note or 3 x 5 index card. You will restructure your work many times. Starting out working in PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides, whatever will restrict your creativity, save that for the last step, it will save you valuable time. An important part of the sketching process is working within the structure and timing limitations of your presentation format. You’ll eventually work out a system that’s best for you. Jumping straight into digital tools is not going to save you time, if you start by fiddling with your story and ideas, rather than working with presentation software during the ideation and structuring phase, you’ll be better off.

2. Place Only One Idea Per Slide

Good presentations are storytelling. When a slide contains more than one idea, you confuse the story you are telling. When you practice your presentation, make sure each of your slides only communicates one idea. Will your audience understand clearly what each slide is about? Got too many ideas on one slide? Break it into separate slides. More slides and a greater variety of images will contribute to audience engagement. Imagine if your favorite television show used long takes in which nothing changes? The visual variety will keep the audience more engaged and more receptive to your ideas.

If your presentation includes video or audio, integrate them into your presentation so you can seamlessly move in and out of them during the presentation. It is distracting to watch a presenter switching between the presentation and a browser to click on a YouTube link. Both Microsoft PowerPoint and Apple Keynote support the seamless integration of audio, video, and animation files that play automatically when a slide appears. Therefore, use this feature to avoid unnecessary distractions and keep the audience focused on the idea at hand. There are plenty of ways to acquire media files for seamless integration.

3. Avoid Bullet Points and Excessive Text like the Plague

If your audience is reading text they are not listening to you! There is nothing more boring than someone reading aloud text you can see on the screen since your audience can read faster than you can talk.

There’s a difference between the notes and prompts you to refer to during the presentation and the slides your audience sees. Your audience does not need nor want to see your notes, they want to see compelling, relevant visuals. Both Microsoft PowerPoint and Apple Keynote support the display of presenter notes (with timing and next slide information) on one screen and slides on a second screen when working with two monitor setups. This eliminates the need of using bullet points in the presentation to remind you of the key points you need to convey.

4. Keep Slide Design Simple and Primarily Visual

Avoid transition effects, especially those with sound effects. Do not use tacky clip-art. Use images relevant to your topic. Do not put any unnecessary text on your slides, this will distract from your story. In some situations a simple title at the start and contact information on the last slide is appropriate. You should never use your slides as stand-alone handouts since this leads to slides that don’t work effectively as visuals and handouts that are practically useless. In the words of Edmund Carpenter,

Each medium, if its bias is properly exploited, communicates a unique aspect of reality, of truth. Each offers a different perspective, a way of seeing an otherwise hidden dimension of reality … A medium is not simply an envelope that carries any letter; it is itself a major part of that message. (from The New Languages in Explorations in Communication, 1960).

Your handouts (probably best done as a written essay and/or list of resources) and your slides (images that evoke ideas and enhance your presentation) are working in two very different ways. Each is a very different medium with different strengths and weaknesses, dont cross the streams.

5. Use Large, Easy to Read Type (If You Need to Use Type)

For any text you do use on your sides, make sure the text is large enough to read from the back of the room. And since you are going to be using as little text as possible, there is plenty of room for large text.

One short phrase is the most you should ever need on a slide. Sometimes, there may be a good reason to have a little more text on a slide. In this case, make sure it really needs to be there, like an important quote or text excerpt that you want to take a moment and let your audience read.

6. Avoid Complicated Charts or Diagrams

Don’t put up very complicated charts or diagrams, these may work well in a book, web page, or tablet app, but they rarely work well in a live presentation. If you need to share a complicated chart or diagram, it might be better done as something you share on the web. Remember the one idea per slide rule above, as well as the next rule.

The slide shown above, from a presentation by economist Steve Keen, is a good example of a straightforward chart that shows one concept clearly with just the right level of detail. The design is clean without unnecessary ornamentation and does not distract from the discussion.

If you need to present a complex diagram, break up the salient sections on various slides in order to emphasize the particular aspect of the data you’re talking about. Take advantage of the time-based nature of presenting. Consider how to break things up into chunks in order to keep it to one concept per slide. This will also help with the pacing of your presentation and help keep your audience focused and alert.

7. Never Forget You Are Telling a Story

Make sure your speech and images work together to take someone on a journey. Narrative structure applies to presentations. Your process and experiences have a dramatic arc, with twists, turns, and reversals like a good story.

Long explanations are appropriate for a book or web page, but when you’re speaking in front of an audience with a time constraint, you need to focus on the essential story elements.

Good narrative will have some conflict along the way along with some humor, and a resolution, and with that, your audience will walk away happy. And of course, to tell the best story, it helps to rehearse with a friend and incorporate their feedback in order to deliver the best presentation you can.

Seasoned presenters know that it’s important to vary the tone, volume, and pace of your speech with dramatic pauses at the right moments to better engage your audience, watching TED talks will offer some good models of presentation styles. If you’re new to presenting, have a friend videotape you and watch yourself. It may be shocking and revealing, but the feedback will be invaluable in helping you work through your own body language and delivery style.

Resources

Presentation Zen: Simple ideas on presentation design and delivery by Garr Reynolds, this essential book will raise your presentation game, available from Amazon or Barnes and Noble

The cognitive style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within by Edward Tufte, the classic critique of “Corporate PowerPoint,” available from Graphics Press or Amazon.

The culture of “the deck” by Liz Lawley, blog post

20 world class presentation experts share their top tips by Mark Fidelman, Forbes, article

10 tips on how to make slides that communicate your idea by TED staff, article

How to Give a Killer Presentation by Chris Anderson, Harvard Business Review, article

Image Credits

  1. Montreal Design Club Meeting by Charles Deluvio, CC0
  2. Pile of post-it notes, by Christian Brok, CC0
  3. Narrative Basics Final Project Critique, Northeastern University, December 6, 2018, CC BY-NC-ND
  4. Presenter at VRTO Spatial Media World Conference and Expo, Toronto, June 25, 2025, CC BY-NC-ND
  5. Rus Gant, Visualization Research and Teaching Laboratory at Harvard, April 19, 2018, CC BY-NC-ND
  6. Guest Lecture, Cindy Poremba, Associate Professor, OCAD University, Alternative Realities Dialogue of Civilizations, Northeastern University, Toronto, May 15, 2018, CC BY-NC-ND
  7. From a presentation by economist Steve Keen, © 2025 Steve Keen, used under fair use guidelines.
  8. David Tamés at VRTO Spatial Media World Conference and Expo, Toronto, June 26, 2025, CC BY-NC-ND