How to Create Truly Effective Slides

Knowledge and skills development in:

• developing visual materials for presentations;
• managing audience attention;
• reducing unnecessary cognitive load;
• choosing the most appropriate way to present information so that what is being said and shown is clear and easy for the audience to understand.

• Managers.
• Project managers.
• Sales, HR, communications, and marketing professionals.
• Trainers.
• Consultants and subject-matter experts.
• Any office professional who creates or uses presentation slides to explain, teach, sell, persuade, motivate, or prompt a specific action from the audience.
• Anyone who is highly proficient with presentation software but wants to improve the content and visual effectiveness of their slides.

• Define what the audience needs to understand from a slide and what they should do next.
• Turn large amounts of complex information into a clear presentation message more quickly.
• Focus slide content on what the audience needs to understand, remember, or do.
• Reduce “information noise” and help the audience maintain their attention.
• Create slides that help explain, persuade, teach, motivate, or gain support.
• Guide audience attention and reduce unnecessary information load.
• Create a clear visual hierarchy and highlight what matters most.
• Adapt presentations for in-person, remote, hybrid, and self-paced reading situations.
• Independently assess and improve the communication quality of their slides.
• Apply the knowledge gained when working with any presentation software.

Basic skills in using a presentation tool such as PowerPoint, Canva, Keynote, or Google Slides. Advanced technical knowledge is not required.

The training examples and practical exercises are created in PowerPoint.

Training materials, practical work examples and a checklist for evaluating effective slides prepared by the course instructor.

For group training within a single organization, the organization’s own presentation examples can be incorporated into the training content, subject to agreement on additional preparation time and costs. Practical exercises can be completed using the organization’s presentation template and in accordance with its visual identity guidelines.

Not intended.

1. How people perceive and process information on a slide.
2. How to define a slide’s purpose and identify what matters to the audience.
3. How to direct the audience’s attention to what matters most.
4. How to reduce information and cognitive load.
5. How to create a clear visual hierarchy and system.
6. How to choose an appropriate form of visual information.
7. How to choose images that help explain, rather than simply decorate.
8. How to adapt slides for in-person presentations, online presentations, and self-paced reading.
9. Practical slide analysis and redesign.