Are you Batman or are you Robin?

Are you supporting your slides or are your slides supporting you?

There are always two communicators in any presentation. One of them is you. The other is the visuals, your slides. Which one of you is leading the parade? Which one of you is the expert that the audience should focus on?

There is a myth that the slides are the presentation. One reason the myth persists is that we have been misusing the word “presentation”. We have been sending our “presentations” as PowerPoint files and PDFs for decades. We really know that we are not sending the “presentation”, just the visuals we used to deliver the presentation. Or do we?

Here are some quotes from some papers and posts on presentations from people who have some expertise in presenting:

“Each slide should have one central objective to deliver—the main idea or question.” Me: Isn’t it the speaker’s job to deliver ideas and ask questions?

“Multiple slides are strung together to tell the larger story of the presentation.”
Me: If the slides are telling the story, what is the presenter doing?

“If you speak faster you’ll cover more slides in a minute than someone who speaks more slowly.” Me: So, the speaker’s job is to cover the slides? You mean like a colour commentator at a football game?

Yes, I’ve taken these a little out of context, but you get the idea. If the slides can deliver the ideas and tell the larger story, if the slides are the main attraction that you are covering, why do we need a speaker? You know what we don’t need a speaker for? Documents.

Are you the slides sidekick, the slides colour commentator?
Are you supporting your slides or are your slides supporting you?