If you’ve ever created a presentation deck from scratch, you know that good slide design makes a difference. A well-branded presentation conveys as much about how serious and professional you are as the content you include.
At the same time, how you present matters almost as much as what you present. It’s important to strike the right balance between showing and telling. Too much of either one can leave your audience confused about where to focus or what to take away from your presentation.
With mmhmm, you get to control your audience’s attention by putting yourself inside your presentation. Your audience no longer has to choose between watching you or following your slides. But when you become a part of the presentation, it’s important to design your slides so that your audience fully understands the message you want to get across.
Here’s what to remember when you want to design your slides for maximum efficacy and comprehension.
The rule of thirds
In photo composition, photographers use the rule of thirds to help guide the viewer’s eye to their desired area of focus. You’ve probably seen those guidelines when you take a picture with your phone camera. Placing objects of interest about one-third of the way from the edge of the frame, instead of dead-center, creates a sense of aesthetically pleasing balance and tension, making the scene feel more natural and immersive.
The same rule applies to your video. If you are full-screen, don’t just squeeze out your surroundings—you risk making it feel awkward, like you’re sitting too close to everyone in the video meeting. Moving yourself off-center (but not all the way to the edge) makes more room for your content and feels more carefully composed.
Make room for movement
When you are in the room in real life, nonverbal cues can help clue your audience in on how you are feeling—like a facial expression, or a pause at the right moment. But physical cues can also help you persuade when you are on video.
If you are a physical speaker and you like to use your hands, make sure you are far enough away from the camera that your gestures are visible within whatever frame you are using. In mmhmm, you can do this with the virtual green screen, but for maximum crispness around your body movement, try using an actual, physical green screen.
(Just make sure that if you are standing far away from your laptop camera, you pair it with a lapel microphone or headphones so your audio remains crisp.)
Use text sparingly
Viewers don’t want to be stressed out. But if you have a large amount of tiny text on screen, it becomes hard to follow what you’re showing and saying at the same time. Don’t make your speech compete for attention with words on screen. If you add text to a slide, use only a few words, and only use text to emphasize things that you are saying.
Treat text like closed captions—only post words that can be read while you speak them aloud, to maximize comprehension. If you need help remembering your talking points, you can put them into your speaker notes. That way you’ll remember all of the points you want to make without overwhelming the viewer.
Be the pointer
When you want to draw your audience’s attention to an important item on screen, you have three options. You can remove yourself from the screen entirely, use the laser pointer to draw on the screen, or, you can use an mmhmm trick and move yourself to the spot you want everyone looking at. Let’s face it, you are going to be more compelling to watch than almost anything else you put on screen (except maybe baby pygmy animals—never say no to baby pygmy animals).
Try a pre-designed layout
There’s a reason we offer pre-designed layouts when you create a new slide in mmhmm. Each one is designed to help you be a part of your presentation without too much noise or distraction. Choose the one that’s right for your content to strike the perfect balance between you and your visuals, no fiddling necessary.
For more ideas on how to look good on video, visit The Complete Guide to Looking Great on Video.
The Complete Guide to Looking Great on Video
