I’ve discovered a remarkably inexpensive way to time travel back to the academic conference presentations of the 1990s: at the next conference you attend, sit in on sessions in which PowerPoint presentations feature prominently. Over a period of several days, you will forget that it’s 2024 (or 2025 or 2026…) as you sit through presentations whose format has changed remarkably little in four decades: too many slides crammed with too many words read at a breathtaking pace by someone looking at the screen rather than the audience.

Surely there’s a better way to do things. Thousands of articles have been written about this, but the message has been inconsistently received. Based on my own experience, observing a few simple rules would go a long way toward helping presenters reach their audiences. I recognize that making presentations is a challenging experience because of time constraints and concerns over making mistakes. My suggestions should help reduce your anxiety and give you the confidence to adopt practices that increase the impact of your presentation.

First, frame the event as an opportunity to teach people one big idea. Identify the core takeaway of your presentation and design your narrative around it. In 15 minutes, it is impossible to present an article length argument. Nonetheless, in almost every session, I see presenters trying to cram 15, 20, or even 30 pages of material into a 15 minute presentation. On average, people can say about 150 words per minute when they speak. Thus, if a presenter spoke nonstop for 15 minutes, they could say 2250 words. A typical double-spaced typed page contains about 250 words and so 15 minutes of speech would be nine double-spaced typed pages.

If someone had started with 25 or 30 pages and cut it in half, they still couldn’t get through it all in 15 minutes. And that does not allow for interruptions, digressions, questions, getting a drink of water, and so forth.

Written out, it might be possible to explain one big idea in nine pages, double-spaced. But trying to fully explain the theoretical framework, the methods, the analysis, and the results, in 15 minutes? Forget about it!

Never guess how long your presentation will take. Always run through it several times, with a timer set, and be ruthless in your editing.

Second, don’t use the PowerPoint slides as your script. Watching somebody read their PowerPoint slides puts an audience member in a very passive position. I understand why some people do this: they are nervous and afraid they will forget something.

But PowerPoint slides are meant to be a visual, not a listening, experience. If the story is fully presented on the slides, wouldn’t it pay to remain silent and let the audience read the words for themselves?! I’ve often thought to myself, “I can read faster than they can talk, and it would save a lot of time if they just stood there, silently.” But that would be an inefficient use of your time with them.

Instead of using PowerPoint as your script, prepare a set of note cards on which you’ve written, in large letters, the basic points you wish to make. Or, if the equipment permits, use the “Presenter Mode” which lets you see your notes while maintaining eye contact.

It’s almost impossible to put the same emotional heft into reading about your work versus telling somebody about it, which depends on what you recall from memory. I would rather watch somebody make a few mistakes as they work through an authentic on-the-spot explanation, rather than listen to them dryly read words they wrote several days before.

Third, fill your slides with images, rather than words. Provoke our imaginations and help us create associations between the words you’re speaking and the concepts you want to teach us. For example, cognitive neuroscience tells us that photographs are better than stick figures or cartoon images for triggering our interest and drawing our attention.

For example, in a PPT presentation to PhD students about writing, I made the point that many start trying to write before they’ve taken good notes. They find themselves surrounded by books, journals, photocopies, and other raw materials. I used the slide below to put an image in their minds of what I was describing, and then just made my positive points by talking about them (from my notes). Notice that I only needed six words on the slide.

Fourth, if you must put words on your slides, use very few. Some PowerPoint experts caution against using bullet points, but my concern is that you will write whole sentences in place of bullet points. I suggest sticking to a few words describing a concept or an idea or, in rare instances, quotes from informants/subjects/experts.

If you do use quotes, best practices call for presenters to read the quotes, given some people in the audience might be sight impaired and not able to read it themselves. But if you’re going to read it anyway, then why put the words on the screen? Instead, use an image that’s associated with the quote and then read the quote to us.

In scenarios where you are presenting highly technical or data-heavy material, using more text or detailed visuals may be necessary. In contexts where you must present specific information in a precise way, try to do that in one or two short sentences.

Fifth, don’t stare at the screen. In the old days, before classrooms and conference rooms featured screens on every wall, presenters had to step out from behind the desk or the podium and turn their back on audiences to read screens. Or, worse still for their posture, they twisted themselves sideways so they can see their notes on the podium but still see the screen. However, even with the new mode of screens everywhere, I still see presenters staring at the screens behind us or on the floor.

I carry my note cards in my hand to avoid having to stare at the screen. Or, you can use PowerPoint in “Presenter Mode,” as I mentioned above. But whatever you do, remember that the most important principle of teaching is to assess how well the audience understands you. That’s only possible if you make eye contact with them. You will discover that making eye contact helps you forge an emotional connection with your listeners and helps you relax.

The next time you create a presentation, try these tips and notice the difference. Please let me know what works for you and send me any tips of your own you’ve discovered.