Presentation Design

Presentation Design

Effective presentations combine research-backed design principles, storytelling, and audience understanding. Create compelling narratives that engage audiences and communicate ideas clearly.

Research Basis: These guidelines are based on cognitive load studies (Miller's Law), TED presentation research, MIT Communication Lab recommendations, and analysis of effective technical conference talks. They prevent common mistakes that make presentations hard to follow. See references/presentation-best-practices.md for detailed research citations.

HARD LIMITS (Never Violate)

These are research-backed maximum limits that should NEVER be exceeded. If content exceeds these limits, you MUST split into multiple slides:

🔴 MAX 6 elements per slide (bullets + images + diagrams + code blocks combined) 🔴 MAX 50 words body text per slide (excluding title) 🔴 MAX 1-2 code blocks per slide (8-10 lines each) 🔴 ONE idea per slide (if multiple ideas → split slides)

Why these are hard limits:

• Cognitive load research: >6 elements exponentially increases audience confusion
• Reading vs listening interference: >50 words means audience stops listening
• Code complexity: >2 code examples creates comparison overhead

When content doesn't fit:

• ❌ NEVER compress or shrink to fit
• ❌ NEVER reduce font size below 18pt
• ✅ ALWAYS split into additional slides
• ✅ ALWAYS move details to presenter notes or backup slides

Core Principles

1. One Idea Per Slide

Critical Rule: Each slide communicates exactly ONE central idea, finding, or question.

Why this matters:

• Prevents cognitive overload
• Maintains audience focus
• Enables clear narrative progression

In practice:

• If a slide requires >2 minutes to explain → split it
• Each slide title should state one clear point
• No tangential information on slides
• Content supports only the title's assertion

Example:

• ❌ Bad: One "Background" slide covering problem + impact + existing solutions
• ✅ Good: Three slides → "Problem X costs $Y annually" → "Existing solutions fail at scale" → "No current approach handles edge case Z"