One of the things that really gets to me is the huge divide between people thinking they know how to design great visual support for a presentation (or sermon) and visual support that actually is great.
Years ago (2005), Guy Kawaski gained my attention with his 30-20-10 rule. Essentially, using at least 30 point font, no presentation longer than 20 minutes, and only 10 slides. This is - of course - super limiting to many people but, for most situation, I think it's a great guideline to follow.
However, this is 3 year old advice and - while makes for a great guideline, there have been a number of changes in culture even since then.
First, there is the continual divide between general/introductory content and the deepening of niche content. For a keynote speaker with an audience of thousands, the content has to be kept high-level to keep the audience engaged. It is here that the 30-20-10 rule thrives. This is your base content.
Podcasts, company blogs, and enthusiasts have driven people to full engage into some products and ideas, and desire to be able to dig out deeper content. This is where - if you go to a conference - the break out sessions occur. People choose the topics they want to hear, and they want to go deep.
Whenever we talk about podcasts here in the office, we have to decide who the audience is. Are we hoping to use the podcast to reach the macro audience, or is it really a tool to reach the niche, microaudience? It's here where the visual support for a presentation can get tough, and unweildly.
The reaon I bring all this up is that SlideShare recently posted their awards for "World's Best Presentation." What impresses me about these presentation is that they truly do stand out as better than most all visual support slideshows/powerpoints I've seen. They are dripping with visual creativity, and each slide seeks to make new connections in the viewer's mind.
Here's one of my favorites, that uses fonts to tell the story about... well.. using fonts in presentations:
Who are some of the churches out there that are doing dynamic work with their visual support? Does your pastor put together their visual support, or is he getting help from the artisans in your community? Do you appreciate when great thought has gone into the visual support?
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