How to Write Presentations People Remember
Simple tweaks that make slides stick.
This week my girlfriend had to do a small presentation in front of her colleagues.
She’s not used to write presentations for adults as she works with children most of the time. “This is one of the most stressful things I’ve done in my life.” She said. Quite relative as I think that working with 20 children is way more stressful than doing a presentation for your colleagues.
Anyway, I was just walking behind her and I read on of the slides and pointed out few things I thought she could improve. After a bit of back and forth I realized what she wanted to say in the slide and I helped her to write it in a way that will make it memorable and impactful.
The next day she came back to me while I was working: ”I need your help,” ”I need to make this slide good, like the other.” This, coming from my girlfriend is a win. She is a proud little animal that would not admit that I’ve done anything right, even if my life depends on it.
I ended up negotiating a price of 20€ per slide, almost as much as I got paid when I was working in consulting. By reading this article you will learn the keys I told her that are necessary to create a good presentation that people remember.
What Makes a Presentation Memorable?
The key to make a presentation memorable is to don’t make them boring!
They must be interesting, exciting and to the point.
I’ve work in consulting for many years and sometimes I had to sit through gargantuan deck of slides that were doing very little to inform, persuade or motivate.
I grew against doing these kind of presentations.
I had to spend countless hours tweaking slides underneath a desk light when was dark outside only to see the people I was presenting attending to their phones or their emails in the middle of the presentation.
After so many people ignored my presentations I realized what make them pay attention and what not.
Here are the keys that changed that:
What Do You Want Your Audience To Remember?
When you finish your presentation what do you want to your audience to remember or think about?
I’ve seen this before, people jumping directly to write and design slides without knowing what idea they want their audience to walk away with.
Educational research confirms that people process presentations best when there is one big idea anchoring everything else.
One main takeaway
Backed by 3 to 5 supporting points
That’s your outline.
Getting clear on this is the first step to create an immersive presentation that will make your audience remember you after you’ve finished.
What’s ’The Story’ In Your Presentation?
Every presentation has a story. Your job is to find what‘s new or exciting about yours before you step in front of the room.
So dig. What makes this presentation different from every other one they’ve sat through? What’s interesting enough for them to stop checking their email and start paying attention to what you have to say?
People are distracted, except if they think that what you’re saying will benefit them. All they usually want to know is ”What’s new, and why does it matter to me?.” Answer that at the beginning of your presentation to keep them hooked.
Find the thing that genuinely excites you about this material. That excitement is contagious and will transforms an information delivery presentation into something people will remember.
Bring the news and the excitement into your slides.
Show Don’t Tell
Information doesn’t move people. Emotions do.
Think about the last presentation that genuinely stuck with you. I’d bet it wasn’t the slide with the bar chart. It was a moment, a story, an image, something that made you feel something. The bigger the emotion, the deeper the memory. That’s how human brains work.
I learned this firsthand during COVID. Our hardware supplier got hit by the supply chain shortages, and for months we had zero iPhone replacements for employees. I had to deliver this news on a company call.
I could have walked through the logistics. The timelines, the supplier issues, the inventory numbers. Instead, I told them a story about Mark.
”Last month Mark dropped his iPhone in the sink while he was in a conference call with a client. Unfortunately we could not replace his phone with a new one and he had to use al old iPhone 4 as a replacement for 2-3 weeks.”
Then Mark said that the phone was so tiny he kept double-tapping letters when texting. People had a good laugh, but most important, the message landed.
Same information. Completely different impact.
Use anecdotes, examples, visuals—anything that creates feeling. And when it comes to your slides, research is clear that text is one of the least effective ways to communicate in a presentation. Minimize it.
Make it Short
The best thing you can do for a good presentation is to cut it.
Deck building is slide discarding. Your job Is to cut until nothing is left that isn’t essential.
Any presentation benefits from being shorter.
Bad Content & Long = Bad
Bad Content & Short = Good
Good Content & Long = Good
Good Content & Short = Excellent
Is best to leave the audience willing to know more than not wanting to hear more about the topic.